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Harmon is indeed a world-class marketer. In the late 1950s, he went from city to city, creating local Bozo TV shows in every nearly every major U.S. market and in such faraway places as Thailand, Greece and Brazil.

Harmon says he trained some 200 clowns along the way. But several Bozos — including WGN's Bob Bell and Joey D'Auria — say they developed their act without him.

In a 1984 magazine article in the Chicago Tribune, Harmon admitted that Bell was self-taught. "He was a natural Bozo," Harmon said. "Bob was able to jump into my soul … He was able to reach into my mind and my emotions, because Bozo was me … And Bob has my love for the children, my sensitivity, my understanding."

The article quotes Bell as recalling a cooler relationship with Harmon: "I haven't seen him for years. He never calls. He never comes around. Even when he's at the station, contracting for his cartoons, he never stops in and says hello. Never."

Bell's daughter, Joan Roy, says Harmon failed to offer his congratulations when Bell was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1996. She says Harmon even objected when Bell wanted to attend the ceremony in his Bozo greasepaint. "My father was 74 and frail," Roy says. "It was outrageous."

In artwork from the ceremony, Bell appears as the only honored clown out of makeup, a sure disappointment to fans.

The Clown Hall of Fame honored Harmon in 1990. But Bill Lange, founder of the Hall of Fame, says he regretted giving him the award, after researchers looked into Bozo's true origins.

"We'd like to finally honor Pinto Colvig," says the current Hall of Fame executive director, Kathryn O'Dell. "The problem is, a lot of people don't realize all he did as Bozo."

Still, Colvig, who died in 1967, certainly left his mark. He led the quintessential clown's life, running off to join the circus as a teenager. He served as the voices of Goofy and Grumpy in Walt Disney cartoons and helped composer Frank Churchill write "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf."