Don Sandburg

Photo postcard of Oliver O. Oliver (Ray Rayner), Bozo the Clown (Bob Bell), Sandy the Clown (Don Sandburg), and Ringmaster Ned (Ned Locke) on Bozo's Circus on WGN-TV.

Don Sandburg (1930 – October 6, 2018) was an American writer, actor, and producer who worked in television, most notably as producer of The Banana Splits for Hanna-Barbera as well as WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus.

Career Early career Sandburg started in television on WCPO in Cincinnati, Ohio when he was 21. He was initially a prop manager but later became production supervisor for The Paul Dixon Show. He left after a year, hoping to get work in Denver, Colorado but ended up doing a series of other jobs until returning to Cincinnati with WLW Radio and WLWT-TV in 1953, where he joined Wally Phillips and Bob Bell to produce, direct and write The Walt Phillips Show. When WLW and WLWT's executive vice president moved to WGN Radio and Television, he brought Phillips, Bell and Sandburg along.

Bozo's Circus When WGN-TV started Bozo in 1960, Sandburg was not involved with the show until after it went to an hour format as Bozo's Circus in 1961. He was approached by station management to write for the program – he already wrote material for a morning program, Breakfast With Bugs Bunny, that evolved into Ray Rayner and His Friends – but refused, suggesting instead that he be hired to appear as a character on air, offering to write material for the show at no extra charge (union pay rates for on-air talent were higher than for writing). WGN agreed, and the character Sandy the Tramp was born. Sandy was a mute clown reminiscent of silent film comedians, although Sandburg said he primarily based the character on Harpo Marx. Eventually, Sandburg would be named the show's producer as well. He was instrumental in the creation of the "Grand Prize Game". By 1965, Larry Harmon added Sandburg's "Sandy" and Ray Rayner's Oliver O. Oliver to Bozo the Clown coloring books. Sandburg was part of The Bozo Show 30th Anniversary Special (aired September 8, 1991), and on the final episode of Bozo: the WGN-TV special Bozo: 40 Years Of Fun, aired July 14, 2001. One of his Sandy costumes is part of the collection of Bozo's Circus artifacts at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Personal life Sandburg and his wife lived in retirement in Oregon. He died of complications of Alzheimer's disease on October 6, 2018, at the age of 87.