Vance DeBar Colvig (1892 - 1967)

Born 11 Sep 1892 in Jacksonville, Jackson, Oregon, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Mary (Slavin) Colvig — married 23 Feb 1916 in Vancouver, Clark, Washington, United States

Husband of Peggy Bernice (Campbell) Colvig — married 4 Jan 1952 in Los Angeles, California, United States

Died 3 Oct 1967 at age 75 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

This profile is part of the Jacksonville, Oregon One Place Study.

Pinto Colvig is Notable.

Pinto was an American Actor best known as the voice of Goofy and as the Original Bozo the Clown

Pinto Colvig was a voice actor, circus performer, and newspaper cartoonist, who is best remember as the original voice of Walt Disney's Goofy, and as the very first Bozo the Clown. He was the quintessential clown whose own identity was often hidden, but whose innate warm-hearted character always came through his many talents. His humor tickled the funny bone and touched the heart. Incredibly gifted in music, art and mime, he spoke to different generations in different roles: as a child clown playing a squeaky clarinet, as a full-fledged circus clown under the big top, as a newspaper cartoonist, as a film animator, as a mimic and sound effects wizard, and as the voice of dozens of well-known characters on film, records, radio and television. (From IMDB)

Birth and Youth

Pinto was born Vance DeBar Colvig, 11 Sep 1892, in Jacksonville, Oregon. He was son of lawyer William Colvig and his wife, Addie (Birdseye) Colvig, both of pioneer Oregonian stock.

In 1900, Vance was a seven-year-old boy, living in Jacksonville with his parents and six older siblings.^[1] It was about this time that he was given the name Pinto by his schoolmates, due to his generously freckled face.

Showbusiness Beginnings

Pinto grew up in Jacksonville and nearby Medford, where he attended school and played clarinet in the town bands. At age 12, while visiting the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland with his father, he met a huckster who hired him to play a screechy clarinet while distorting his face and crossing his eyes on the high notes. From that point on, he was hooked on circus and show business.

In 1910, Pinto was residing with his family in a home at 8 Laurel Street in Medford.^[2] He would soon begin attending winter sessions at Oregon Agricultural College (later Oregon State University) in Corvallis, where he played in the cadet band and drew cartoon illustrations for college publications. In the spring, he would leave school to travel the country as a circus clown or to play the vaudeville circuit. His college career came to abrupt end in the spring of 1913, when he accepted an offer to do his the prestigious Pantages vaudeville circuit where he performed his popular "chalk talks" improvising a monologue while quickly sketching out cartoons. Pinto soon ended up in Seattle, Washington, where he joined a circus band and traveled throughout the country struggling to make ends meet.

By 1914, Pinto was in Reno, Nevada, where he drew cartoons, first for the Nevada Rockroller in Reno, and later for the Carson City News in Carson City. But when the Al G. Barnes Circus came through Carson City in the spring 1915, Pinto joined the troupe, once again clowning and playing his clarinet in the circus band. During the winters, when the circuses closed down, Pinto would returned to newspaper cartooning wherever he could find a job.

Marriage

In 1916, while working at a Portland newspaper, Pinto met Margaret Bourke Slavin. The couple was married 23 Feb 1916, in Vancouver, Washington.^[3] No longer able to live the travelling circus life, Pinto and Margaret moved to San Francisco, where he registered for the World War I draft in 1917. At that time, he listed his home address as 235 Oak, and his occupation as a cartoonist for Animated Cartoon and Film Corp., located on the 16th floor of the Hewes Building in San Francisco.^[4]

In 1920, the couple was residing in an apartment at 1385 Clay Street in San Francisco, along with their 2-year-old son, Vance Jr.^[5]Pinto and Margaret would eventually have four sons born in San Francisco, and a fifth in Los Angeles.

In San Francisco, Pinto returned to the newspaper business, writing and drawing cartoons full-time, first at The Bulletin and later at the San Francisco Chronicle. His satirical cartoon series, Life on the Radio Wave, was syndicated nationally by United Features Syndicate. On the side, Pinto also set up his own own animation studio, Pinto Cartoon Comedies Co., where, in 1919, he created one of the first animated silent films in color called Pinto's Prizma Comedy Revue.

Hollywood and Disney

In 1922, Pinto moved his family to Hollywood, California, where he eventually got an offer to join Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company as a film animator, although Pinto soon found himself also writing gags, titles, and scenarios for a number of live-action studio films. Among Pinto's specialties, was combining animation with live action by hand-drawing cartoons over film frames of live actors. In 1928, Pinto teamed up with his friend Walter Lantz to create an early talking cartoon, Bolivar, the Talking Ostrich (1928), but when it failed to become a hit, both Pinto and Lantz moved on to larger studios.

It's unclear what was going on with the Colvig family in 1930. Vance and Margaret have not yet been found in the 1930 US Federal Census. However, the couple's two oldest sons, Vance (12) and William (10), were listed as lodgers in the home of the widow Florence Cumberland (37) and her two teenage daughters, Virginia (15) and Vidona (13), at 5127 Denny Street in Los Angeles. It is unknown what relationship, if any, Florence had the Colvig family. At the same time, son Byington (8) was residing back in Medford, Oregon, with his aunt Mary Warner's family. It is unknown where son Bourke was residing in 1930.^[6][7]

In 1930, Pinto was signed to a contract with Walt Disney, which allowed him to expand his acting talents. He became the original voice of such legendary animated characters as Goofy, Pluto, Practical Pig in Three Little Pigs (1933), and Grumpy and Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). He also co-wrote several songs, including the lyrics to "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" Other Disney cartoonists copied Pinto's silly fascial expressions in developing their own animated characters.

In 1937, Pinto left Disney in 1937, after he two men had a falling-out. For a while, Pinto freelanced voices and sound effects for Warner Bros., and provided voices for some of the Munchkins in MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939). He then joined Max Fleischer Studios in Miami, where he did the voice of Gabby in Gulliver's Travels (1939), as well as that of Popeye's arch-nemesis, Bluto, in Popeye the Sailor cartoons.

By 1940, the Colvig family had been reunited and was now living in a home at 2177 Moreno Drive in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.^[8] There, their sons attended John Marshall High School. In 1941, Pinto began freelancing, working again with Disney among other companies. He performed as the original Maxwell automobile on Jack Benny's show, the hiccuping horse for Dennis Day, and a variety of voices for "Amos 'n Andy."

In 1942, Pinto registered for the World War II draft, listing his occupation as a freelancer in the motion picture & radio industry in Los Angeles. Interestingly, when asked to provide the name and address of a person who would always know his address, he listed Walt Disney Studios. Also of note was the fact that he was described as having a tattoo of a tiger head on his left arm.^[9]

Bozo the Clown

In 1946, Pinto was hired by Alan Livingston, who was heading a project for Capitol Records, which involved a first-of-its kind series of children's storytelling record-albums accompanied by illustrative read-along books, which would enabled children to read and follow the story in pictures while simultaneously also listening to it. Pinto was hired to portray the title character, Bozo the Clown. On some of the records, Pinto provided as many as eight other voices, including most of the animals and odd creatures under the sea and in outer space. The series was a major hit for Capitol Records, and Bozo soon became the company's mascot, under the name "Bozo the Capitol Clown."

As Bozo, Pinto also starred in the very first Bozo television series, Bozo's Circus (1951) on KTTV-Channel 11 (CBS) in Los Angeles. He made numerous guest appearances on radio and personal appearance tours all over the country. Pinto's turn as Bozo would come to an end in 1956, when Larry Harmon bought the licensing rights to the character Capitol. However, in January 1959, Bozo returned to Los Angeles television beginning, this time with Pinto's son Vance playing the legendary clown character.

As he brought joy to millions of children across the nation, Pinto's Bozo years were perhaps also some of his darkest. As World War II raged across Europe and Asia, Pinto spent much of his time at home nursing a sick wife who had by now become a semi-invalid, and worrying about whether any of his draft-age sons would be called to serve their country oversees. Margaret would die 30 Aug 1950, at the age of 57. He married his second wife, Mrs. Peggy (Campbell) Allaire, 4 Jan 1952 in Los Angeles.^[10][11]

Death

Pinto died of lung cancer on 3 Oct 1967, in Woodland Hills, California. He was 75 years old. He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.^[12] Disney Studios honored Colvig posthumously in 1993 with the Disney Legend Award, and in 2004 he was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Sources

1. ↑ 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Ancestry.com (database online with images). Oregon, Jackson County, Jacksonville Precinct, ED 98, page 3B-4A, dwelling 70, family 75, household of William M. Colvig, [image 6].
2. ↑ 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Ancestry.com (database online with images). Oregon, Jackson County, City of Medford, Ward 2, ED 114, page 3A, dwelling 45, family 48, household of William J. Warner, [image 5].
3. ↑ Certificate of Marriage (#8124), Washington Marriage Records, 1854-2013, Ancestry.com (database online with images) Vance De Das Colvig to Margaret Mary Slavin (Clarke County, 1916).
4. ↑ World War I Draft Registration Cards, Ancestry.com (database online with images) California, San Francisco City, Draft Board 9, Draft Card 55 Vance De Bar Colvig.
5. ↑ 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Ancestry.com (database online with images). California, San Francisco County, City of San Francisco Assembly District 32, ED 190, page 3B, dwelling 22, family 76, household of Vance D. Colvig, [image 6].
6. ↑ 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Ancestry.com (database online with images). California, Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles, Assembly District 51, ED 19-614, page 14A, dwelling 151, family 151, household of Florence Cumberland [image 18].
7. ↑ 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Ancestry.com (database online with images). Oregon, Jackson County, City of Medford, ED 40, page 3B, dwelling 77, family 80, household of Wm. J. Warner [image 6].
8. ↑ 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Ancestry.com (database online with images). California, Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles, Assembly District 56, ED 60-1051B, page 5A, dwelling 100, household of Vance Colvig [image 21].
9. ↑ World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, Ancestry.com (database online with images) California, Los Angeles County Local Board No. 226, Serial No. 982, Vance DeBar Colvig.
10. ↑ California Marriage Index, 1949-1959, Ancestry.com (database online with images) Vance D. Colvig to Peggy B. Allaire (1952)
11. ↑ Clown Married, Ottowa (Ontario, Canada) Citizen, 5 Jan 1952, p. 8.
12. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #19477

See also:

• Wikipedia: Pinto Colvig
• Wikidata: Item Q945591
• IMDB: Pinto Colvig
• Disney Wiki: Pinto Colvig
• WikiTree: Classic Disney Project