Bozogate

Here we go with another whopper from Christine O’Donnell:

The latest suspicion of inflated credentials, which arose over the weekend, involved Ms. O’Donnell’s father, Daniel O’Donnell, a long-ago local television personality in the Philadelphia area whose main claim to fame, according to the O’Donnell family, was that he used to play Bozo the Clown.

The Bozo bombshell was first reported by The News Journal of Wilmington in November 2006, during one of Ms. O’Donnell’s previous Senate campaigns. The detail was included in a profile of Ms. O’Donnell that I wrote for Saturday’s Times. Ms. O’Donnell’s older brother, Daniel, confirmed in a phone call that indeed his father had played Bozo.

The family claims that Daniel O’Donnell played Philadelphia’s Bozo the Clown. However, it doesn’t appear in any official lists. An anonymous tipster pointed us to this post from an expert:

My name is Pat Cashin. I have a daily clown history blog called clownalley.net and am on the Board of Directors of the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center in Baraboo, WI.

I’ve researched the Bozo character for many, many years. I have NEVER heard of Daniel O’Donnell portraying the character.

The New York Times followed up and finally spoke to Daniel O’Donnell.

“Who told you I was Bozo?” he wanted to know.

“Your son,” I said, at which point he confirmed that yes, he was Bozo, but not an official, full-time certified Bozo, more of a part-time Bozo.

“To be an official Bozo, you had to go to a special school in Texas,” explained Mr. O’Donnell. He never did. Instead, he was asked to fill-in for the official Bozos whenever they would have to travel out of the Philadelphia area for acting gigs.

“They would leave, I would come in and work for two or three weeks, whatever, until the regular Bozo came back,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “I was the fill-in Bozo.” He worked out of a local station in Jenkintown, Pa., he said, adding that station employees did his make-up and hair. He would also do remote appearances, got to supermarkets, meet kids, sign autographs and ride around in the Bozo Mobile. His son Daniel was his assistant.

All I can say is – what an odd family.