Willard Herman Scott Jr. (March 7, 1934 – September 4, 2021) was an American weatherman, radio and television personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, whose broadcast career spanned 68 years, 65 years with the NBC broadcast network. Scott was notable as a weather reporter on NBC's Today show where he also celebrated US centenarian birthdays and notable anniversaries. Scott was the creator and original performer of McDonald's mascot clown Ronald McDonald.
The 6'3", 290 lb. (, ) Scott was described by The New York Times as a "garrulous, gaptoothed, boutonnière-wearing, funny-hatted, sometimes toupee-clad, larger-than-life American Everyman". Scott parlayed his national exposure as weather presenter into a highly successful career as a pitchman who promoted an ever-widening range of products the fees for which outstripped his million-dollar annual salary at NBC (equivalent to $ in ). Scott said, "I run me like a conglomerate, because that's what I am. I always keep lots of balls in the air."
Scott credited his success to his efforts to make everyone, his audience, his clients feel loved. Scott said, "If you watch, you’ll see that I am trying to weave a web of love. I want to make the whole country feel as if we are one. I may be a cornball, but I am me — not a sophisticated, slick New York wazoo act." Early radio contemporary Johnny Holliday said of Scott, "Everybody he came in contact with just loved the guy. He just had that magic about him, that he made everybody feel special."
In Scott's autobiography The Joy of Living he summed his life, saying "If you were to look at my resume, you’d see that I’m ...bald, I’m overweight, I don’t make all the smooth moves and I dress like a slob. I take tremendous pride in the fact that I beat the system."
Early life and education
Scott was born on March 7, 1934, in Alexandria, Virginia, the only child of parents Willard Herman (1905—1977) and Mattie Thelma (née Phillips) Scott (1905—1977). Scott was raised as and remained a fundamentalist Christian who considered becoming a minister before starting his broadcasting career.
Childhood interest in broadcasting Scott showed an early interest in broadcasting. Recounting his first experience visiting a radio station, he said "One day when I was eight, Mom took me to the movies in DC. Afterward, she wanted to shop, so I wandered over to my favorite radio station, WTOP. I introduced myself to the receptionist and told her I was a fan. She took me to the control room and said, 'You can sit here if you stay very quiet. That man will be broadcasting live'. The man was Eric Sevareid, then a correspondent for CBS. He’d just gotten back from Burma, where he’d been lost in the jungle for months. I sat there enthralled as Sevareid recounted his ordeal".
At the age of nine, Scott organized a group of 15 boys into a radio club on his neighborhood block. Scott built his own radio station in his family home's basement and sold ads he aired during his low power broadcasts. The club netted about $25 a month () in advertising revenue from neighborhood businesses. Scott said "...I set to work building a station in our basement. My parents bought me an oscillator, which enabled me to broadcast to 20 neighborhood homes within a radius. My friends and I read the news, played tunes on a phonograph, and chattered away. A few months after we started, three men from the FCC showed up. They told us our signal was reaching National Airport — Pan Am’s radios were picking up kids talking and playing records. So ended my basement station".
Spending time at local Alexandria radio station WPIK-AM on Friday nights as a teenager, a local disk jockey allowed him to create a radio show called "Lady Make Believe". Scott also served as announcer for the show. Scott also held two part-time disk jockey jobs while in high school, "High School Hit Parade" on WOL 1450 AM and "Dancing Party" on WCFM 99.5 FM.
NBC radio announcer at 16 Scott was 16 years old in 1950 when he worked as an NBC page at WRC (AM), NBC's owned-and-operated radio station in Washington, D.C., for $12 per week (). Scott explained how he started announcing at NBC – "I auditioned to be an announcer but was never hired. Then one of the announcers left for vacation and my boss said, 'What the hell, let Scott fill in — it’s only two weeks.' When he returned, I became a regular substitute".
High school and college Scott attended Alexandria, Virginia's George Washington High School. While a freshman in 1947, Scott broadcast a high school news report on a local FM radio station every Saturday. Scott graduated high school in 1951. He was elected class president all four years of his attendance. Named "Our capable and popular class president", he was also voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by his classmates.
Scott attended American University, where he worked alongside fellow student Ed Walker at WAMU-AM, the university's radio station (1951—1953). Scott became a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity while at American University and graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in "philosophy and religion".
Military service Scott enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving from 1956 to 1958 as a seaman.Beloved television personality Willard Scott dies at 87 Spectrum News NY1. Retrieved November 28, 2021.Willard Scott, Longtime ‘Today’ Show Weatherman, Dies at 87 Variety. Retrieved November 28, 2021. Then 22 years old, Scott recorded his feelings on November 23, 1956, the day before he enlisted.
Broadcast radio career Joy Boys radio show From 1955 to 1972, Scott teamed with Ed Walker as co-host of the nightly Joy Boys radio program on NBC-owned WRC radio (this was interrupted from 1956 to 1958 when Scott served on active duty in the U.S. Navy). Scott routinely sketched a list of characters and a few lead lines setting up a situation, which Walker would commit to memory or make notes on with his Braille typewriter (Walker was blind since birth).
The show opened with Scott and Walker singing their Joy Boys opening theme song set to the music of John N. Klohr's "The Billboard March". They recorded it in two versions, a duet between them, and Walker singing in four-part harmony with himself, for use as, respectively, the opening and closing themes for the show:
We are the Joy Boys of radio; We chase electrons to and fro-o-o. We are the Joy Boys of radio; We chase electrons to and fro.
In a 1999 Washington Post article recalling the Joy Boys at the height of their mid-1960s popularity, said the Joy Boys "dominated Washington, providing entertainment, companionship, and community to a city on the verge of powerful change".Marc Fisher, "Washington Comes of Age", The Washington Post, September 13, 1999 The Joy Boys broadcast on WRC until the station changed to a rock music format in October, 1972. The Joy Boys show moved to WWDC-AM for another two years. Scott wrote in his book The Joy of Living, their close professional and personal bond continued until Walker's death in October 2015. Scott said they were "closer than most brothers".Willard Scott, The Joy of Living. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1982 ().
After the Joy Boys show ended, Scott thrived as a Washington D.C. area personality, doing product pitches and popping up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
WAVY AM 1350 disk jockey while in the Navy In 1956 Scott lived near Norfolk, Virginia while serving in the U.S. Navy and moonlighted at WAVY AM radio as one of four staff disk jockeys who presented the "WAVY Nifty Fifty, Tidewater's Top Tune Tally.". He was promoted on local advertising for the Tidewater area radio station.
Early broadcast television career Children's programming Scott felt his early work in children's programming was one reason for his success in engaging and entertaining television viewers. "I have always said that the best training to be a TV newsman or anybody on television is to do a children’s show because you are oblivious to the fact that there is a camera there. ...You are playing to the kids in the studio, and then you are playing directly to the kids at home. You look in the lens and you are never using a teleprompter ...and you get a tremendous, comfortable feeling in front of a camera doing a children’s show. There are no two ways about that: Doing a kid’s show is great training."
Scott's first children's television appearance was on WNBW TV's Barn Party in 1954. Scott said "My first chance to do kiddie shows professionally came before I was in the Navy, on a Saturday TV show called Barn Party. I was 'Farmer Willard' and I played opposite a very refined lady named Betsy Stelck, who had a fairyland aura about her..." The show was a hit. When children were asked to mail in requests for tickets to attend the weekly broadcast production, 6,223 requests were received. The studio only seated 50.
Scott later co-emceed with Mac McGarry on the 1955 afternoon variety program, Afternoon, broadcast on WRC-TV. The show featured live music, vocalists, fashion and food segments by Inga Rundvold and Jim Henson's puppet group Sam and Friends, an early incarnation of the Muppets. At the time, Henson was a college freshman. Scott remembered Henson's work as "... an innovative bunch of puppets created by a guy named Jim Henson. ... I worked with a bald-headed Muppet with a big nose, named Sam, sort of the way Fran Allison worked on Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Then there was the frog named Kermit. I used to do a commercial for a local peanut butter called Schindler's. He'd open his mouth, I'd give him a big spoonful, and he'd go 'ahh'".
Scott would later create and host the 1966 children’s series, Commander Retro. He later described his experience as, "The worst show I did in my life, in my opinion, was the best show I ever did in my life, we had more fun". Scott used Lester, his basset hound, as "Doctor Strangedog", a human German physicist and spy who had stowed away on the rocket ship. The spy had eaten too many hotdog sausages, exploded and turned into a talking dog. Scott played the commander of their traveling spaceship. The rocket ship set had control panels made of plastic mini-ice cube trays with blinking Christmas lights behind them. Scott said "This was a terrible show, a real turkey ...but it was more fun to do than any of them".
From Bozo the Clown to Ronald McDonald's creation
Scott later portrayed Bozo the Clown on WRC-TV's one-hour, weekday show Bozo's Circus. Scott said "WRC bought local rights to Bozo the Clown, and I was cast in the role. Bozo went to the White House and met JFK and Caroline. I played him from 1959 to 1962, doing a daily one-hour show".Listed References on Wikipedia's "Bozo the Clown" Discussion Page Washington, D.C., area McDonald's hired Scott – as Bozo – to attract customers. Whenever Scott as Bozo arrived at one of the then five D.C. area McDonald's, he caused traffic jams. Roads were shut down for two miles and extra police had to control thousands of kids as they arrived to see Bozo. WRC-TV canceled the show in 1962.
Washington, D.C., McDonald's stores had enjoyed incredible customer attendance when Scott appeared as Bozo the Clown. When WRC-TV cancelled the show, Scott could no longer appear as that character. The local McDonald's franchisees wanted another clown to drive sales and asked Scott to develop a new character. Scott said "At the time, Bozo was the hottest children's show on the air. You could probably have sent Pluto the Dog or Dumbo the Elephant over and it would have been equally as successful. But I was there, and I was Bozo... There was something about the combination of hamburgers and Bozo that was irresistible to kids... That's why when Bozo went off the air a few years later, the local McDonald's people asked me to come up with a new character to take Bozo's place. So, I sat down and created Ronald McDonald".