James H. Allen (May 15, 1928 – July 28, 2015) was an American actor who portrayed the
clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
character Rusty Nails and was the host of various children's television shows in the
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
television market from 1957–1972. His program on
KPTV
KPTV (channel 12) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States. affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Vancouver, Washington–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations s ...
was the second-longest running children's program in Portland, second only to
Ramblin' Rod Anders.
In 2003, ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' creator
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
credited Rusty Nails as the inspiration for ''Simpsons'' character
Krusty the Clown
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The Si ...
.
Show
He hosted shows on
KOIN Koin or KOIN may refer to:
* KOIN, a TV station in Portland, Oregon
* Koin, Guinea
Koin, Guinea (Pular: 𞤂𞤫𞤧-𞤯𞤢𞤤𞤭𞥅𞤪𞤫 𞤑𞤮𞤴𞤭𞤲) is a town and sub-prefecture in the Tougué Prefecture in the Labé Regi ...
,
KPTV
KPTV (channel 12) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States. affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Vancouver, Washington–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations s ...
, and
KATU
KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on NE ...
as Rusty Nails. In 1998 he wrote an autobiographical book called ''Send in the clowns''.
Among Allen's guest stars was American voice actor
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
, a personal friend of Allen's and fellow Portland native.
On the show, Blanc would demonstrate his various
voice acted characters; these included
''Looney Tunes'' characters such as
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
,
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon fictional character, character created for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American black duck, black ...
,
Tweety
Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for th ...
,
Sylvester
Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...
,
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...
,
Foghorn Leghorn
Foghorn Leghorn is a cartoon rooster who appears in ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons and films from Warner Bros. Animation. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 29 cartoons from 1946 to 1964 in the golden age of A ...
, and the
Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...
.
Death and legacy
Allen died on July 28, 2015, of
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
at the age of 87, after a month of hospice care in Portland.
In a 2003 interview,
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
credited Rusty Nails as the inspiration behind ''Simpsons'' character
Krusty the Clown
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The Si ...
, a corrupt and cynical TV clown.
Groening described Allen as "a very nice guy and a very sweet clown", but he found his stage name "incredibly disturbing as a child because, you know, you're supposed to avoid rusty nails."
See also
*
List of local children's television series (United States)
The following is a list of local children's television shows in the United States. These were locally produced commercial television programs intended for the child audience with unique hosts and themes. This type of programming began in the late ...
References
External links
*
''Rusty's Hour'' September 1958 to December 1959
January 1960 to March 1962
January 1967 to September 1972
September 1972 to March 1973
1928 births
2015 deaths
American clowns
American children's television presenters
Culture of Portland, Oregon
Local children's television programming in the United States
Male actors from Portland, Oregon
Roosevelt High School (Oregon) alumni
The Simpsons
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