Seattle........Beloved local celebrity clown J.P. Patches dies

[rsmith6621]

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/JP-Patches-163360336.html


SEATTLE - Chris Wedes, who played beloved local celebrity clown J.P. Patches and entertained generations of kids and adults during a career spanning more than 50 years, died Sunday. He was 84.

His family was at his bedside at his death and confirmed that he passed away Sunday morning.

"We've lost an institution," said his widow, who was married to Wedes for 56 years.

The Emmy Award-winning J.P. Patches Show was one of the longest-running locally-produced children's television programs in the United States, appearing on Seattle TV station KIRO channel 7 from 1958 to 1981.





From my Facebook post..

J.P Patches is now watching us all from his I C U 2 TV in heaven.. I was on Patches show once as a Cub Scout and when he asked me a question I said something that caused a sudden commercial break and my troop was escorted off the set..

RIP Master of my morning entertainment..

[Suich]

1. Oh, no!

My kids were huge fans...so was I!

RIP Chris Wedes

[loli phabay]

2. condolanaces, personally i find clowns scarey and downright something evil

[shanti]

3. rip, jp!

wow, i remember watching him in the late 50's as a kid living in everett. i never forgot his show...

[KT2000]

4. Oh no - he was our friend

We were so lucky to have real local kids shows back then. JP was the best. He was not a goody-two-shoes for the kids - he was a scamp and we loved him for it. The moms loved him too.

Several years ago I went to an event where JP was the featured guest. The people who showed up were in their 40's and 50's and the funny thing was - everyone was acting like they were 10 years old - shy and goofy.

Whatever you said that caused the commercial break - I am sure JP got a kick out of it!

I hope Seattle has planned a fitting tribute to him.

RIP JP!

[rsmith6621]

5. It Was Something That Today...

...would have warranted a visit by CPS.....LOL

[Wounded Bear]

6. A sad day for PCNWers.....

and a kick for us all. A local icon that helped children (and adults) laugh and just generally have fun for decades.

Fare thee well to the Mayor of the City Dump.

,,,,,and I was already feeling a bit depressed.

[chknltl]

7. .

.









.
(my moment of silence for Julius Pierpont Patches.)
I started watching him (in black and white) before school in 1960. He will be missed by thousands and thousands of his Patches Pals.

[suffragette]

8. Went to find something from his website to post here in memory of the joy he brought

but it has exceeded bandwidth. Must be many of us looking to it tonight.

RIP

[Panasonic]

9. Our own Blinky the Clown is getting up these years. He is 91 years old.

For those in Denver and remember watching KWGN Blinky's Fun Club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Scott

[Bob Alexander]

10. The Best Job I Ever Had

After a series of interesting events in 2005 I became JP's webmeister. The Best Job I Ever Had. I had a clown for a boss. Every once in awhile we'd go out to lunch at Vince's or Stell's burgers and I'd get to listen to story after story about the early days of tv broadcasting. Chris never ran out of stories. He never met an accent he couldn't do.

He was an amazing friend.

(The bandwidth problem has been solved. Too many Patches Pals at once.)

[KT2000]

12. Thanks for fixing

the problem. This Patches Pal wants to leave a message of appreciation for his family.
The comments after the Seattle Times story are just precious. you may want to post there too.

[HiPointDem]

11. rip

[Generic Other]

13. Poor Gertrude

She must be devastated.



Sad. Very sad.