Pinto Colvig

Vance DeBar Colvig (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American vaudeville actor, voice actor, newspaper cartoonist and circus performer, whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Colvig was the original Bozo the Clown, and the original voice of the Disney characters Pluto and Goofy. In 1993, he was posthumously made a Disney Legend for his contributions to Walt Disney Films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fun and Fancy Free. 2Personal life Colvig was born Vance DeBar Colvig in Jacksonville, Oregon, one of seven children of Judge William Mason Colvig (1845–1936) and his wife, Adelaide Birdseye Colvig (1856–1912). Although William Colvig was a pioneer, an attorney and a distinguished Oregonian, he was never actually a judge. Pinto attended Oregon State University sporadically from 1910 to 1913.After marrying Margaret Bourke Slavin (1892–1950) in 1916, he settled with her in San Francisco, where four of their five boys were born (their last son was born in Los Angeles).A lifelong smoker, Colvig was one of the pioneers in advocating warning labels about cancer risk on cigarette packages in the United States.Colvig was the father of the character and voice actor Vance Colvig, who also later portrayed Bozo the Clown on a live TV program. 2Career In 1916, Pinto Colvig worked with Byington Ford and Benjamin Thackston "Tack" Knight at the Animated Film Corp in San Francisco. The company produced animated cartoons over a decade before Walt Disney did. In 1922, Colvig created a newspaper cartoon panel titled "Life on the Radio Wave" for the San Francisco Chronicle. The feature ran three or four times per week on the newspaper's radio page, was syndicated nationally, and lasted six months.As his reputation grew, he worked for the Disney studio, the Warner Bro