Ronald McDonald First Appeared On TV In 1963, And Boy Was It Creepy

It's hard to believe, but there was once a time when clowns were seen as jovial, kid-friendly merrymakers, rather than as avatars for our collective nightmares. Public access television in the mid-20th century was flush with kids' shows hosted by clowns, inspiring Krusty the Clown from "The Simpsons" along the way. After years of frightening pop culture figures like the Joker, Pennywise, and Art the Clown, one of the few non-ironic clowns most people know is the McDonald's mascot, Ronald McDonald. It's funny; when we watched the first Ronald McDonald commercials from 1963, they were terrifying.

Well, maybe "terrifying" is overstating matters somewhat. It's not as though there's anything outwardly sinister about what Ronald does in these commercials. He introduces himself to the children, roller-skates around, and does a pratfall ... things of that nature — but goodness gracious, does he look off-putting. 

The familiar red hairdo is nowhere to be found; early Ronald has a ratty blonde wig that makes him cut a distinctly Gary Busey-esque profile. In place of a red clown nose, he has what appears to be a paper cup attached to his face with string, and practically the entire bottom half of his face is painted red in a way that evokes Hannibal Lecter's face mask from "The Silence of the Lambs." All this, coupled with the grainy, Zapruder film-like quality of the old commercial recordings, gives the feeling that you're watching something you really, really shouldn't be watching.

You might think Ronald McDonald's creation was a top-down decision from corporate, courtesy of controversial McDonald's "founder" Ray Kroc, but it actually originated from a franchisee in the Washington, D.C. area named Oscar Goldstein. He produced the first commercials to drum up business and tapped Willard Scott to play Ronald. Scott, who played Bozo the Clown for the local public access channel in a show Goldstein was involved with, would go on to great success without the clown makeup. After his brief Ronald McDonald stint, he became the weatherman for "The Today Show," remaining a nationally recognized figure for decades before being succeeded by Al Roker.

Ronald McDonald didn't do too badly for himself, either. After remaining mostly local for a couple of years, he made his national debut in 1965 at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and quickly thereafter became an iconic mascot seen in commercials, Happy Meals, and McDonald's PlayPlaces. His years in the spotlight have not been without controversy, like how the clown was accused of promoting childhood obesity, and there are some shady things about the rest of the McDonaldland characters, too. But whatever else you want to say about Ronald, at least he doesn't have that busted blonde shake-and-go wig anymore.