As the morning light squeaked through my “Sugar Shack,” I gazed at the television. It had the dates 1928-2012 with a picture of my hero, J.P. Patches in the background. “Oh no. not this,” I thought, “The world now has one less clown.”

I grew up with J.P. Patches, a clown who lived “in the little old shack by the railroad track.” J.P. Patches was a Pacific Northwest icon. His show was on from 1958-1981. He had a morning show and an afternoon show. I woke up to J.P while he was stretched across a couple of boxes. He would always wake up to water spilling on him, courtesy of his Grandfather Clock. J.P. took delight in advising us all to say our prayers and follow the Golden Rule as if it were a shining sword.

Friends and Such of J.P.Patches

J.P. Patches had a few cohorts. He had a girlfriend named Gertrude, as played by local actor, Bob Newman. This gentleman also played Ketchikan the animal man who would always do a do-si-do with J.P. to the strains of marching music. My mother cornered Bob Newman in McDonald’s. They both laughed and exchanged jokes as the day giggled around them. He towered over my 5 foot 7 inch mother.

Another cool cohort of J.P.’s was Professor Weiner Van Braun. He was a short man with a goatee. His presence was announced by a million seagulls. Another one of my favorite J.P. Patches characters was I.M. Rags. He was a convict clad in black and white stripes. I dressed up as him for Halloween in first grade. My dress was tucked into a black and white suit. I had a plastic baseball attached to a chain on my ankle to simulate my prison status.

Epilogue to the Clown as a Man

“The world is full of a thousand clowns!” noted actor, Jason Robards, said in the 1960’s. How true, I can only dreamily agree. And now, there are 999 clowns left. Thank you J.P. Patches for making my growing up days a little more cheery. Oh, and about that time you pulled my second grade ponytail in the Mercer Island Tradewell parking lot…..How can I ever forget such a beaming time in the history of this Daily Planet?