Agency’s “Battle of the Bozos” raises cash for kids with cancer
October 13, 2009 – 3:42 pm by ChrisLet it be said that I don’t like clowns very much. As a kid, I found them loud and scary in person, and though I did see the reruns of the Bozo the Clown show on New York’s WPIX-TV, I never became a Bozo fan.
But I did have a Bozo the Clown bop bag toy. You know, the inflatable type with the weight on the bottom, the type you could repeatedly punch on his big red nose, and he’d spring back up, until the inevitable leak developed or the big kid from next door threw himself on it, blowing out a seam. These days, he gets tortured on YouTube. Poor Bozo.
I haven’t thought about this toy in years, until a release from Harrison and Star was sent to me today. Apparently, someone at the agency, after receiving a Bozo the Clown bop bag toy at the office holiday party last year, decided to have a little fun with it. The toy visited various staffers (maybe even sitting in on brainstorming sessions and pitch planning meetings) until everyone got tired of it and stuck it one of the office windows, where it was meant to entertain the construction crew across the street.
This being New York City, the time being early spring, and office workers looking for any chance for fun in the work day, the staff at the media company VideoHelper across the street decided to get into the act. In VideoHelper’s own seventh floor office window, a Bozo challenger appeared, staring at Harrison and Star’s Bozo.
Of course, Harrison and Star couldn’t let that go unanswered, and their staffers put a note on their Bozo: “Hey Beefcake.”
On VideoHelper’s Bozo came the response: “STAY TUNED.” And within a week, a second Bozo appeared. And then a third. And a fourth.
Harrison and Star struck back hard. On March 30th, VideoHelper was confronted by an army of 13 Bozo bop toys in Harrison and Star’s back office windows. (I am wondering if anyone at the novelty toy company that makes these Bozos had any curiosity about why there was this sudden spate of orders.)
Harrison and Star’s clown army apparently was too much for VideoHelper’s Betsy Todd, who had led that company’s Bozo assault efforts. According to Harrison and Star, “Betsy Todd realized her team had been beaten and she quickly leaned out the window of VideoHelper’s seventh floor offices and waved the white flag of surrender. ”
Being magnanimous in victory, Harrison and Star invited VideoHelper out for drinks at a local bar, Slate, to celebrate the cease-fire. The two teams and a third company in the neighborhood, Endeavor Studios, decided to turn the celebration into a fund-raiser for Ronald McDonald House New York. All together, more than $5,000 was raised.
“The Battle of the Bozos was great on every front,” said Larry Star, CEO of Harrison and Star. “It lifted the spirits of the troops on both sides of the battle lines, brought a lot of laughter to all the New Yorkers who witnessed it in person or heard about it in the media, but most importantly, it resulted in support for Ronald McDonald House making it possible for kids with cancer to get through tough treatments with family at their side. I am so proud of this team.”
Susan Harmon, the wife of Larry Harmon, one of the original Bozo the Clowns, even wrote a congratulatory note: “I want to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of my late husband, Larry Harmon (a.k.a. Bozo) and myself for turning the simple Bop Bag Caper into such a worthwhile event. You certainly should be proud of what you are doing. I know I am.” (One thing I did not know, when I looked up information about the original character and show: apparently there were many Bozos. Mr. Harmon was the one who bought the licensing rights to the character and took it into nationwide franchises.)
As to what happened to all of Harrison and Star’s and VideoHelper’s Bozo bop bag toys, there has been no word. Hopefully, they were treated better than this one was.
