I wasn’t always afraid of clowns. In fact, I begged my parents to take my older sister, Jennifer, and me to see Bozo Circus. A children’s variety show along the lines of whipped cream pies in faces and supposed buckets of water actually filled with confetti.

Bozo Circus, filmed at the WGN Studios, five miles from our home on the northside of Chicago, had a waitlist for tickets, ten years long. We never secured our own tickets, but we were friends with the granddaughter of our next door neighbor.

The Grand Prize Game was played each episode. Six red buckets were lined up and one boy and one girl were chosen from the audience each day. An arrow would float around on screen, whoever it pointed to when it stopped was called to play. I was chosen that day! Unfortunately, the live show ran out of time and I never played. Sent away with gifts, the only one I recall was a home version of Bozo Buckets.