A CLOWN DIED

I was born in the late 1940's, right around the time TV was starting to “catch on.” We didn't have a TV for the first few years of my life, so, we listened to the radio. Kids shows, ball games, sitcoms, soap operas, sports, news....it was all theater of the mind. Pictures were “told to us” and we saw them with our ears. The DeLongs had the first TV on the block and, at 5 'o'clock every weekday afternoon, all the neighborhood kids would pile into their family room to gather around a small black & white screen to watch the wonder that was “Howdy Doody.” We finally broke down and joined the video revolution when I was about 8. We bought a TV set. I was fortunate enough to grow up smack, dab in between two giant markets, New York and Boston. The amount kids TV that was available was staggering. From Boston we had “Boomtown” with Rex Trailer, “Romper Room” with Miss Jean and “Big Brother” Bob Emery. The Big Apple gave us “The Sandy Becker Show,” Ray Heatherton, “The Merry Mailman,” Officer Joe Bolton on WPIX, “Wonderama” with the Sonny Fox that was NOT my radio partner and myriad others that would take the rest of the day to list. But, I was in Manchester, Ct. and I was more impressed (at least as impressed as a 9 or 10 year old can be) with our “local” fare. TV that came from Hartford. The Boston and New York programming was distant and, deemed, in my immature mind, to be “professional.” It was great stuff, but, it wasn't local and therefore, something that I could only watch from a distance, but, not be part of. Local Connecticut programming was what I waited for. It was “home grown,” tangible and attainable. The hosts were no less heroes to us than those in the surrounding metropoli, but, when the make-up and costumes came off, our local stars were our neighbors, although, that particular fact could really blow up a fantasy if you saw one of them in “civilian clothes,” at the local market. “Ranger Andy” came to us from WTIC in Hartford. It was a short ride to the studios and my mother, who was Cub Scout Pack 152's den mother, knew people and was able to get us on the show as part of the kiddie audience in the “Ranger Station.” I was the lucky kid who got to stand up and introduce our group to all the kids who were watching their TV's wishing it was them. It was then that fire in my belly grew to a point of no return and my career path was set. But, that was not the spark. That came from my very first local TV hero - “Flippy, the Clown.” Flippy the Clown came to us on channel 18 in the Hartford area. Channel 18 was a small, independent station in a medium that provided us 4 channels to watch. NBC(30), CBS(3), ABC(8) and our “local” channel 18. The other 3 had the big shows from the big cities, but, channel 18 had Flippy the Clown and his wonderful puppets like Curtis the Crocodile, Beverly the Beaver and everyone's favorite, Leroy the Duck. Flippy not only gave us hours of joy and laughter, he also introduced the kids to the wonders of classical music and, for that, I will be eternally grateful. Flippy and the characters were the creations of Ivor Hugh, an immigrant from England who came to these shores at the age of 10. He had a very long and fruitful broadcasting career that included Flippy, Ring Around the World, narrations of children's concerts from the Bushnell Auditorium by the Hartford Symphony and 35 years at WJMJ doing a classical music program called "Good Evening, Good Music," delighting a dedicated audience with great music and vast knowledge. Ivor Hugh passed away last week at the age of 86 and I and scores of others will long remember his contribution to our lives. He is survived by his wife Beth, 9 children,15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. One of those children is son, Grayson Hugh, who is an amazing entertainer in his own right having given us a huge hit song with the Sam Cooke sounding “Talk it Over.” I was a fan from the very first time I played it on the air and I never got tired of it as most deejays do with most songs. I did not, however, connect the dots and didn't realize that he was the offspring of Flippy the Clown, the character that infused in us a set morals, ethics and values that reinforced everything our parents were teaching us. These lessons were coming from our hero rather than a mom or dad, who we knew were supposed to be telling us those things. When Flippy said them, they became the right things to do. When I realized who Graysons father was, I felt an immediate kinship. He began to feel like a brother who was taught the same lessons I was by the same man. Rest in Peace Ivor Hugh and rest assured that your years of dedication to the children of the greater Hartford area have paid off in spades as we have now passed these lessons on to our children and our grandchildren who will continue to pay it forward. A clown died last week, but, he will live forever in our hearts and our deeds.