No Bozos

I first thought of writing this post when I saw a headline that the creator of Bozo had died. But Alan W. Livingston, who left this mortal coil on March 13th at age 91, was no Bozo.

A short sketch of his career: In 1956, he had the idea for a series of children's records that came accompanied by storybooks. One of them was Bozo at the Circus, which was the clown's start. It sold more than a million copies.

A few years later, as president of Capitol records, Livingston signed Frank Sinatra, whose career was in eclipse, and paired him with Nelson Riddle. Some of the great records of the '50's and '60's came out of that partnership. In the mid-50's he left Capitol to go to NBC, where he put together a western called Bonanza. (His brother, songwriter Jay Livingston, co-wrote the famous theme song).

Oh, and then he went back to Capitol where, in 1963, he reversed the decision of others in the company and decided to releas a record called "I Want to Hold Your Hand," by a little-known group called the Beatles.

Now that's a career!