The white face clown is Don "Sparky" Washburn. The photo was of him and his dancing magical cane, the cane being cut from the photo. Don was one of the few non Clown College clowns to be hired by RBBB in the very early years of CC. He was on the Blue Unit.
that's Don "Sparky" Washburn on the cover who was on RBBB Blue in 1970. I was the announcer for Carden-Johnson in 1973 and did the full indoor-outdoor tour with Donny Johnson. At that point, he had split from his wife, Jeannie, who was still traveling with the show, and Larry Carden was retreating from the partnership but we were still playing some of the Carden-Johnson (now Carden) signature dates like Tulsa, Springfield, etc., a lot of what was at one time the "Gil Gray" route. In those days, George Carden, I believe, was selling concessions. We had a lot of fun on the tour, which featured the Dubskys, Guy Gossing, Moore’s Mutts, Maryse Begary, and various acts that rotated in and out of building dates, and from there I went directly to Ringling for the rest of the decade.
Sparky could make that cane dance! I saw him several times in California. Sadly, he passed away on Dec 1, 1979 from head injuries sustained in a car wreck earlier in September. Final curtain came while he was with Big John's circus.
8 comments:
The clown face illustration in
the center appears to be cut
from the RB 69 logo of the 3
cartoony characters
So sue me it was actually
4 cartoony characters
Chic,
Agreed. That clown drawing was definitely lifted from the Ringling four character logo.
Jack
Thats Don "Sparky" Washburn....
The white face clown is Don "Sparky" Washburn. The photo was of him and his dancing magical cane, the cane being cut from the photo.
Don was one of the few non Clown College clowns to be hired by RBBB in the very early years of CC. He was on the Blue Unit.
This reminds me of a wonderful
Conklin Shows simple graphic
clown logo that I saw plastered
on a slew of vending carts on
Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran
some few years back
that's Don "Sparky" Washburn on the cover who was on RBBB Blue in 1970. I was the announcer for Carden-Johnson in 1973 and did the full indoor-outdoor tour with Donny Johnson. At that point, he had split from his wife, Jeannie, who was still traveling with the show, and Larry Carden was retreating from the partnership but we were still playing some of the Carden-Johnson (now Carden) signature dates like Tulsa, Springfield, etc., a lot of what was at one time the "Gil Gray" route. In those days, George Carden, I believe, was selling concessions. We had a lot of fun on the tour, which featured the Dubskys, Guy Gossing, Moore’s Mutts, Maryse Begary, and various acts that rotated in and out of building dates, and from there I went directly to Ringling for the rest of the decade.
Sparky could make that cane dance! I saw him several times in California. Sadly, he passed away on Dec 1, 1979 from head injuries sustained in a car wreck earlier in September. Final curtain came while he was with Big John's circus.
Bob Swaney
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