Starred on the
Howdy Doody show. Quite a large
clown, very
typical with white face, red nose, etc. He was played by
Bob Keeshan (who later became known as
Captain Kangaroo). He would generally honk a horn to communicate (compare to
Sideshow Bob and
Sideshow Mel), and never spoke until the final episode when he said, "Goodbye, kids." And that was all.
According to some, one of the inspirations behind
Krusty the clown was quite possibly Clarabell. Supposedly, in one particular episode of the filming of an episode, Clarabell had stepped off the set to smoke a
cigarette and partially remove his
costume to cool off. One young
boy wandered up to him to see what was going on, and Clarabell is reported to have
hissed at the child, "Get back, kid!" and sent the boy fleeing in
terror. It took two
security guards,
Buffalo Bob Smith and the child's sisters to get him under control. So, according to this story, there's some speculation that the
evil clown in Krusty (the part that hates kids, that is) was modelled after the differences in Clarabell's on-camera and off-camera
demeanor.
References
Rusignola, Mike. Who was Krusty Modelled After? <http://www.silverbox.com/krusty/debate1.html>
Howdy Doody - Yesterdayland Saturday Morning Cartoons. <http://207.114.151.6/saturday/shows/synopsis/110.php>