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Clif St. James, 91, St. Louis broadcast journalist, meteorologist, kiddie-show host "Corky the Clown"
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That Derek
Dec 10, 2016, 9:38:55 AM12/10/16
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http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/columns/joe-holleman/clif-st-james-known-to-many-as-corky-the-clown/article_d4c93d7c-7e1a-5e0a-a704-5dc1fdc93786.html
Joe Holleman's St. Louis
Get your daily dose of local news right here
Clif St. James, known to many as Corky the Clown, has died
By Joe Holleman St. Louis Post-Dispatch
1 hr ago
“Corky the Clown” is gone.
Clif St. James — known to countless St. Louis area baby boomers as the big-eared jovial clown who hosted a children’s cartoon show for three decades — died Friday (Dec. 9, 2016) of pneumonia at St. Luke’s Hospital. He was 91.
Mr. St. James was a longtime resident of Webster Groves.
“I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad word about anyone,” said his son, Chip St. James. “And in the TV business, that’s saying something.”
Mr. St. James was born June 3, 1925, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., the oldest of three children. His family moved to Honeoye Falls, N.Y., where his father owned a small advertising agency.
He joined the Army in 1943, serving with the 591st field artillery battalion of the 106th Infantry Division in northern France and Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge.
“I was 18 years old, and I was assigned to be radioman for a forward artillery observer,” Mr. St. James said in an interview in 2001.
“It was an awfully scary thing, especially when your observer is killed on your first night out,” he said. “I learned what it is like to have it be open season on you. You were fair game for the enemy.”
In Germany, he also helped put on shows for the troops and found that he loved performing. So when he was discharged in 1946, he enrolled at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
While at Eastman, he met his wife, a St. Louis native named Nance Babcock. They were married in 1948 and for a time, they did a husband-wife routine on the air.
Nance St. James, who survives her husband, also was a popular voice for years in St. Louis.
In the early 1950s, he came to St. Louis to work at KWK and KSD radio stations. Two years later, he took a job as a freelance announcer at KSD-TV, the only TV station in town at the time.
Mr. St. James began hosting “Corky the Clown” in 1954 and stayed until 1980. It was one of the highest-rated local children’s shows in the U.S. In 1966, it became “Corky’s Colorama” and was the first show in St. Louis to be broadcast in color, which is why Corky sometimes had a green or blue face.
Station executives didn’t want to experiment with color on the news broadcasts, “so they gave it to a clown” to lead the way, Mr. St. James noted in a past interview.
Also, it’s likely he was the first, and only, person in St. Louis television history to do the weather in full clown regalia.
Corky’s show was televised from 4 to 4:30 p.m., followed by the news at 5 p.m. St. James needed at least 20 minutes to get out of his clown makeup and costume, put on a coat and tie and rush down the hall to the newsroom studio.
But TV during the 1950s was live, and sometimes shows ran longer than scheduled. When that happened, viewers watching the news would sometimes see Corky appear instead of Mr. St. James on the weather segment.
After leaving KSDK in 1981, he worked in promotions and community relations for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. until 1989.
He also continued doing TV and radio appearances, and was one of the most in-demand voice talents in the St. Louis market.
In 2014, Mr. St. James was inducted into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame.
Frank Absher, a radio veteran and executive director of the St. Louis Media Foundation, noted that the Corky theme song was played for Mr. St. James when he was inducted.
“Everyone in the room could tell how much he savored the fact that his work was so important to an entire generation of kids,” Absher said.
Along with his wife and son, Mr. St. James is survived by two daughters, Stacy Physioc of Kansas City and Lori Doll of Dallas; five grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.
Another daughter, Pat St. James Roberts, who made many appearances at the Muny during a long stage career, died in 2010.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Mr. St. James donated his body to medical research.
“Dad really did live his life according to Corky’s motto: ‘Be careful, be cheerful, nobody likes a grouch,’” his son said. “He was a lovely man.”
Joe Holleman's St. Louis
Get your daily dose of local news right here
Clif St. James, known to many as Corky the Clown, has died
By Joe Holleman St. Louis Post-Dispatch
1 hr ago
“Corky the Clown” is gone.
Clif St. James — known to countless St. Louis area baby boomers as the big-eared jovial clown who hosted a children’s cartoon show for three decades — died Friday (Dec. 9, 2016) of pneumonia at St. Luke’s Hospital. He was 91.
Mr. St. James was a longtime resident of Webster Groves.
“I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad word about anyone,” said his son, Chip St. James. “And in the TV business, that’s saying something.”
Mr. St. James was born June 3, 1925, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., the oldest of three children. His family moved to Honeoye Falls, N.Y., where his father owned a small advertising agency.
He joined the Army in 1943, serving with the 591st field artillery battalion of the 106th Infantry Division in northern France and Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge.
“I was 18 years old, and I was assigned to be radioman for a forward artillery observer,” Mr. St. James said in an interview in 2001.
“It was an awfully scary thing, especially when your observer is killed on your first night out,” he said. “I learned what it is like to have it be open season on you. You were fair game for the enemy.”
In Germany, he also helped put on shows for the troops and found that he loved performing. So when he was discharged in 1946, he enrolled at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
While at Eastman, he met his wife, a St. Louis native named Nance Babcock. They were married in 1948 and for a time, they did a husband-wife routine on the air.
Nance St. James, who survives her husband, also was a popular voice for years in St. Louis.
In the early 1950s, he came to St. Louis to work at KWK and KSD radio stations. Two years later, he took a job as a freelance announcer at KSD-TV, the only TV station in town at the time.
Mr. St. James began hosting “Corky the Clown” in 1954 and stayed until 1980. It was one of the highest-rated local children’s shows in the U.S. In 1966, it became “Corky’s Colorama” and was the first show in St. Louis to be broadcast in color, which is why Corky sometimes had a green or blue face.
Station executives didn’t want to experiment with color on the news broadcasts, “so they gave it to a clown” to lead the way, Mr. St. James noted in a past interview.
Also, it’s likely he was the first, and only, person in St. Louis television history to do the weather in full clown regalia.
Corky’s show was televised from 4 to 4:30 p.m., followed by the news at 5 p.m. St. James needed at least 20 minutes to get out of his clown makeup and costume, put on a coat and tie and rush down the hall to the newsroom studio.
But TV during the 1950s was live, and sometimes shows ran longer than scheduled. When that happened, viewers watching the news would sometimes see Corky appear instead of Mr. St. James on the weather segment.
After leaving KSDK in 1981, he worked in promotions and community relations for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. until 1989.
He also continued doing TV and radio appearances, and was one of the most in-demand voice talents in the St. Louis market.
In 2014, Mr. St. James was inducted into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame.
Frank Absher, a radio veteran and executive director of the St. Louis Media Foundation, noted that the Corky theme song was played for Mr. St. James when he was inducted.
“Everyone in the room could tell how much he savored the fact that his work was so important to an entire generation of kids,” Absher said.
Along with his wife and son, Mr. St. James is survived by two daughters, Stacy Physioc of Kansas City and Lori Doll of Dallas; five grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.
Another daughter, Pat St. James Roberts, who made many appearances at the Muny during a long stage career, died in 2010.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Mr. St. James donated his body to medical research.
“Dad really did live his life according to Corky’s motto: ‘Be careful, be cheerful, nobody likes a grouch,’” his son said. “He was a lovely man.”
Bryan Styble
Dec 10, 2016, 9:46:26 PM12/10/16
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As a youngster in southwest suburban St. Louis during the '50s and '60s, of course I watched the late Cliff St. James as Corky many weekday afternoons, and then later on Saturdays. While of course I noticed his program's title change to Colorama, they never highlighted the fact that at first it was the only local color program in The Gateway City, so I was clueless about that until this obit.
It should be noted: while Cliff St. James, as explicated above, additionally was also a veteran (and witty) weatherman for NBC affiliate KSD-TV Channel 5 (nowadays KSDK) with an out-cue slogan ("Drive with care, and buy Sinclair!") which plugged his longtime sponsor Atlantic Richfield's Midwest brand Sinclair gasoline--the late Cliff St. James was NOT, despite persistent local popular belief, related to Scott St. James (who, I suspect, was using a stage name anyway).
This other St. Louis-identified St. James broadcaster is an extraordinarily talented DJ and radio talk host, who was heard on KMOX, KATZ, KSD and other stations during his several years in '70s St. Louis radio, until he headed to L.A. in 1979 to do commercial newstalk for KMPC initially, and soon enough transitioning into a local TV sports guy, first for KHJ Channel 9 and these days for somebody or other, I'm sure. The second St. James helped steer me straight after I started in radio, ended up spinning records across the courtyard from me at a competing Westport Plaza discotheque in 1977, and would eventually cross paths with me again out in Hollywood during the '80s. When this other St. James graciously spoke to my high school radio station staff--I'm proud I was the inaugural programmer of KLSR, even though it was (UGH!) a noncommercial educational-band station--at Lindbergh High School in late 1972, he opened his address this way: "First, let's get this out of the way: Corky the Clown and I are NOT related..."
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
It should be noted: while Cliff St. James, as explicated above, additionally was also a veteran (and witty) weatherman for NBC affiliate KSD-TV Channel 5 (nowadays KSDK) with an out-cue slogan ("Drive with care, and buy Sinclair!") which plugged his longtime sponsor Atlantic Richfield's Midwest brand Sinclair gasoline--the late Cliff St. James was NOT, despite persistent local popular belief, related to Scott St. James (who, I suspect, was using a stage name anyway).
This other St. Louis-identified St. James broadcaster is an extraordinarily talented DJ and radio talk host, who was heard on KMOX, KATZ, KSD and other stations during his several years in '70s St. Louis radio, until he headed to L.A. in 1979 to do commercial newstalk for KMPC initially, and soon enough transitioning into a local TV sports guy, first for KHJ Channel 9 and these days for somebody or other, I'm sure. The second St. James helped steer me straight after I started in radio, ended up spinning records across the courtyard from me at a competing Westport Plaza discotheque in 1977, and would eventually cross paths with me again out in Hollywood during the '80s. When this other St. James graciously spoke to my high school radio station staff--I'm proud I was the inaugural programmer of KLSR, even though it was (UGH!) a noncommercial educational-band station--at Lindbergh High School in late 1972, he opened his address this way: "First, let's get this out of the way: Corky the Clown and I are NOT related..."
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
cathyc...@aol.com
Dec 10, 2016, 11:56:54 PM12/10/16
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Who?
Bryan Styble
Dec 11, 2016, 3:38:59 AM12/11/16
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In answer to your dismissive inquiry, "cathyc":
Cliff St. James was generally familiar only to those who lived in Greater St. Louis from the '50s to the 90's. Adults knew him as the KSD-TV chief weatherman, whereas kids watched him during his afternoon Corky the Clown Show, and some of us--because, in my case, my folks had tipped me off early on as to his true identity--knew he was both.
Stylistically, Corky was more in Chicago's Bozo the Clown mode than in Seattle's J.P Patches, based on vintage Patches video I saw during my stint propagating conversation at the speed of light over KIRO/Seattle. And Corky also didn't do as much surreal schtick as did Patches, and Corky had no sidekick (that I can recall, at least), unlike Patches, who always worked with an (apparently) male character--in any event played by a decidedly masculine-looking actor, five-o'clock shadow and all--who nonetheless wore some often-female-looking outfits under a mop-like wig and went by the name Gertrude.
If you didn't happen to grow up near St. Louis, Seattle or Chicago, I'm sure your presumably-American city, if sufficiently sizable, had your own counterpart local TV clown. Apart from the over-the-top anchors, I mean.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
Cliff St. James was generally familiar only to those who lived in Greater St. Louis from the '50s to the 90's. Adults knew him as the KSD-TV chief weatherman, whereas kids watched him during his afternoon Corky the Clown Show, and some of us--because, in my case, my folks had tipped me off early on as to his true identity--knew he was both.
Stylistically, Corky was more in Chicago's Bozo the Clown mode than in Seattle's J.P Patches, based on vintage Patches video I saw during my stint propagating conversation at the speed of light over KIRO/Seattle. And Corky also didn't do as much surreal schtick as did Patches, and Corky had no sidekick (that I can recall, at least), unlike Patches, who always worked with an (apparently) male character--in any event played by a decidedly masculine-looking actor, five-o'clock shadow and all--who nonetheless wore some often-female-looking outfits under a mop-like wig and went by the name Gertrude.
If you didn't happen to grow up near St. Louis, Seattle or Chicago, I'm sure your presumably-American city, if sufficiently sizable, had your own counterpart local TV clown. Apart from the over-the-top anchors, I mean.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
Bryan Styble
Dec 11, 2016, 5:01:14 AM12/11/16
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D'oh !
I just now noticed that Corky the Clown's alter-ego spelled his given name Clif, not Cliff. I'd like to blame my cataract-compromised aging eyesight, but at least my own boneheadedness is equalled by that of the hardware engineers who designed my MacBook Air so the algorithm for enlarging my screen font beyond micro is nonintuitive, at least to little ol' cyber-inept me.
Of course, zero of that excuses the obvious fact that I had nearly two decades back in St. Louis during which to notice the odd single-F configuration of St. James's first name in his weathercasting supers--TV speak for the chyron names, titles, and locales that are superimposed below all talking heads. Well, at least I didn't grow up under the misimpression his clown persona spelled it Corkie.
STYBLE/Florida
I just now noticed that Corky the Clown's alter-ego spelled his given name Clif, not Cliff. I'd like to blame my cataract-compromised aging eyesight, but at least my own boneheadedness is equalled by that of the hardware engineers who designed my MacBook Air so the algorithm for enlarging my screen font beyond micro is nonintuitive, at least to little ol' cyber-inept me.
Of course, zero of that excuses the obvious fact that I had nearly two decades back in St. Louis during which to notice the odd single-F configuration of St. James's first name in his weathercasting supers--TV speak for the chyron names, titles, and locales that are superimposed below all talking heads. Well, at least I didn't grow up under the misimpression his clown persona spelled it Corkie.
STYBLE/Florida
cathyc...@aol.com
Dec 11, 2016, 7:57:53 AM12/11/16
to
I see enough clowns here on a daily basis.
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