Gotta Love Ho-Ho

[oneforone]

YouTube - Vintage KOCO: Ho-Ho The Clown, Part 1

[ddavidson8]

Very interestling.

[Intrepid]

Wow...was expecting this to be another Brian Bates Video Vigilante production.

[Rifleman2C]

So... anyone have any idea who the person is who actually dressed up as Ho-Ho? And how long did that last?


I can't imagine that being an overly popular segment with most viewers, but it might have found a niche... it does speak volumes for the quality of television in the late 70's, though!

[oneforone]

I found this on Wikipedia:

Ed Birchall was born on July 16, 1923 of Irish heritage in Colchester, Connecticut and served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. A lover of the circus, he performed as a freelanceclown before being hired as an entertainer who by KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. There, he starred in a local children's television show named after him, which typically featured an array of firefighters, police officers, zoo animals, visiting circus clowns, and other guests, as well as Pokey the Puppet, played by Bill Howard, the station's long-time stage manager wearing a sock-puppet on his arm. HoHo was all over the TV schedule, for much of the 1960s he was on six days a week. Various titles were "HoHo's Showboat", "Lunch With HoHo", "Good Morning HoHo", and "HoHo's Showplace". The show survived for 29 years, long after the station was acquired by Gannett, airing in its last years without commercials to fulfill the station's public service requirements. He was a frequent visitor to children's wards at local hospitals, providing a kind of medicine the doctors could not. He also appeared at restaurants, charity events, parades, and children's parties, from which he derived most of his income. Mr. Birchall was a diminutive and slightly round man of cheerful spirit and hippie inclinations. Friends remember him as behaving much the same in real life as on his show. He lived in Bethany, Oklahoma for most of his life, and suffered declining health leading to his death in the hospital at age 64 from a heart attack while undergoing treatment for cancer. His popularity was so great that it took three funeral services to accommodate all of his well-wishers, the first of which was attended by an honor guard of professional clown friends and carried live by KOCO-TV

[magicchord]

HoHo's show in the 1960s was quite funny and imaginative.
He was a great man and an OKC institution in his day.

[NativeOkie]

I remember him on the show and in town without the nose. (grew up in Bethany)
My favorite was Mr. Mist-o who was the director doing the special effects. Pokey the puppet used to always have him laughing over mistakes due to live TV.

[PennyQuilts]

HoHo was wonderful. He was just a nice guy dressed in a clown outfit and it worked. He had no gimmick. But for the makeup, he was just a nice man.

Anyone remember the show where the puppet noticed that the dog had died and HoHo was oblivious? That puppet was a real b*stard.

My husband has a picture of Ho Ho framed over his desk here in Virginia.

When my son was 13 years old, he and I went out on a "date" so he could practice opening doors for a date, how to order from the menu, how to make small talk etc., etc. We went to a "sit down" restaurant to practice and Ho Ho came out just as we were going in. I don't recall much of what he said but remember how nice he was. It was kind of a big day in my life with my young son who was growing up. HoHo recognized that it was a big deal and behaved accordingly.

[angel27]

I was more impressed with the quality of sesame street in those days when my boys were young. I volunteered with the zoo for some years and they sent me with an iguana and a couple of other animals to appear on HoHo. Was fun, but I never got to see the three shows I was on. I will echo that Mr Birchall was a very nice and cordial man, and from what I hear a good Catholic.

[dismayed]

Ho Ho was on TV for a long time. I remember him still being on the air in the early 1980s. He had a kid's show Saturday morning's on KOCO 5. At one point I knew one of his daughters a long time ago. I never met him but understand he was a very kind man.

I remember that much like Mr. Rogers he had a very calm way of doing his show.

[Matt]

His show was still on the air up until he went into the hospital in mid-1988.

[CCOKC]

I absolutely loved Ho Ho and I enjoyed watching those clips on You Tube.
Ho Ho was a lecter at my church (St Charles) when I was growing up. I think I was in high school before I figured that out. I just did not recognize him without his baggy clothes and red nose. (and pokey of course)

[yukong]

Most any kid who grew up on OKC in the 60s will never forget HoHo and Foreman Scotty. HoHo was an institution. I never missed that show. Pokey was the best. Of course, it helped that we went to church with Bill Howard, and he and his wife were very good friends with my mom and dad. Bill is the funniest guy I have ever known. Even now, in his later years, he is still hilarious.

[Pete]

Ed (HoHo) was one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.

He lived in the house on the SE corner of 50th & Council and the trim was painted pink.

[Matt]

He lived on Alexander Lane, just south of Eldon Lyon Park, for years.

[NativeOkie]

someone should start the Ho HO, Forman Scotty Dannys Day museum or exhibit.

[CCOKC]

There is a pretty nice exhibit at the OK History Museum about early TV in OK.
Don't remember Ho Ho being in there but I believe Foreman Scotty is in there.

[oneforone]

The 2nd Floor of Jim Thorpe Rehab at INTEGRIS Southwest medical center has a bronze bust dedicated two him and huge paiting on the wall in one of the hallways. They call that area of the unit Healing Through Humor.

[yukong]

There is a pretty nice exhibit at the OK History Museum about early TV in OK.
Don't remember Ho Ho being in there but I believe Foreman Scotty is in there.

Yes, there is an exhibit on HoHo show at the history museum. They have one of the Pokey puppets donated by Bill Howard on display as well as the magic mailbox. Not sure of what else is there.

[Matt]

Update:

Anyone remember the show where the puppet noticed that the dog had died and HoHo was oblivious? That puppet was a real b*stard.

This never happened.

He lived in the house on the SE corner of 50th & Council and the trim was painted pink.

Neither did this.

[PennyQuilts]

Update:



This never happened.



Neither did this.

My husband saw it happen! Don't know anything about the house...

[Matt]

My husband saw it happen!

Okay, but my dad saw his dad take the dog to the vet to be put to sleep!

[PennyQuilts]

Okay, but my dad saw his dad take the dog to the vet to be put to sleep!

Different dog?

[SoonerDave]

I think there were at least two dogs that endured through the HoHo era. I think one was named "Dog."

Birchall was a legend we never appreciated, back when the feds didn't tell us how much "children's time" was required on local TV, and local TV production really saw value in producing a fun, simple, TV show for children. It deliberately lacked the freneticism of WGN's Bozo; HoHo was more of an Emmiit Kelly "hobo" clone. He showed children's crayon-colored pictures, gave away giant Tootsie roll container banks, cans of strange stuff called Suga Duga, took kids on wonderul trips through the "Tempus Levitator." Pokey was hilarous, spontaneous, and timely, even though kids would never get the frequent in-jokes.

HoHo did the one thing unthinkable in most contemporary "kids" TV; he treated kids like kids, not idiots. He celebrated childhood by, in large part, becoming a child himself for, if I recall, an hour every weekday; as TV "progressed," it was squeezed to thirty minutes a day; then on Saturdays, then, sadly, not at all.

HoHo and Foreman Scotty were a wonderful and, sadly, kinda forgotten part of OKC TV history. I'm glad some folks here still remember those great shows.

-SoonerDave

[PennyQuilts]

I think the other dog was named Jeanie. She is the one I am told died.