Posted on 01/21/2004 7:18:12 PM PST by mhking
The man who entertained generations of Chicago children with Chelveston the Duck, Cuddley Duddley and morning turtle races is dead.
Ray Rayner, who hosted the morning kid show “Ray Rayner and Friends” on WGN for nearly 20 years, and also played clown Oliver O’Oliver on the Bozo Show, died this morning of pneumonia in a hospital in Fort Myers, Fla., where he had been living in retirement, according to his daughter, Christina Miller. He was 84.
Known at one time as the busiest man in Chicago television, during one period in the 1960s, Mr. Rayner performed in three live television shows per day on Channel 9.
The best known was “Ray Rayner and Friends,” a morning show that was to kids what the “Today” show was to adults. In fact, Mr. Rayner regularly beat the “Today” show in the ratings.
Using notes pinned to his jumpsuit to tell him what was scheduled next, Mr. Rayner presented “Diver Dan’’ and other cartoons and gave weather and traffic reports and school closing announcements. He also improvised comedy routines with a duck named Chelveston, where most of the laughs came when the duck would snap at and bite Mr. Rayner.
At noon he was on again, this time as clown Oliver O’Oliver, the butt of Bozo the Clown’s jokes and pranks.
In the afternoons, as Sgt. Pettibone, Mr. Rayner hosted “The Dick Tracy Show,” again showing cartoons and engaging in colloquies with puppets.
Another afternoon show was “Rocket to Adventure,” where Mr. Rayner dressed in a spacesuit and introduced Japanese animation, like Gigantor and 8th Man, to a Chicago audience.
At the height of his television career, he returned to college and earned a master’s degree in humanities from the University of Chicago in 1970. One of his favorite pastimes, according to his daughter, was reading philosophy.
Mr. Rayner was born in Queens, N.Y., but got a scholarship to attend a high school in Manhattan.
A 2nd lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War Il, he was shot down over France and captured by the Germans. For a while Rayer was in the same prison camp that became known as the place the “Great Escape” was launched. Though he helped prepare the escape, he was transferred before it took place.
After the war, Mr. Rayner got a degree in philosophy at Fordham University, but wound up performing in musical theater. He came to Chicago in the 1950s and worked at a Highland Park musical theater company and other venues until TV beckoned in the latter part of the decade. In his first broadcast job he helped host a local adult morning show. Later he became Chicago’s version of Dick Clark with an afternoon teen dance show.
But he really clicked when he took over a kid show called “Breakfast With Bugs Bunny” in 1961, later changed to “Ray Rayner and Friends.”
In 1980 he moved to New Mexico where he did children’s shows and was also a TV weatherman. He returned to Chicago frequently to perform in dinner and children’s theater and also participated in Bozo anniversary shows.
Mr. Rayner’s first wife, Jeanne, died in 1995, and he moved to Fort Myers in 1999. Other survivors include his second wife, Marie Moore, and son Mark Rahner. A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday in Fort Myers.
His passing not only leaves a lump in my throat, it is more of a reminder of how old I truly am.
Just damn.
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That's understandable. The clowns on the Today show would frighten small children.
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