We Puget Sound Boomers who grew up watching live local TV in the late 1950s to 1960s came to love J.P. Patches. Contrary to legend, I do not believe Portlander Matt Groening based his Simpsons Krusty the Clown character on J.P., but rather on Portland's Rusty Nails, an Oregon J.P. counterpart.
J.P. was not really a clown, he was not really an adult, he was something else. Something special. An adult who understood us. He introduced us kids to Spike Jones music, improv theater, and anarchy. He certainly was a key figure in shaping the lives of local cartoonists and was a big influence on my own art.
I interviewed J.P. in person in 1975. I was impressed how he gave me, a nobody college student, his entire morning. Bob Newman, who played Gertrude, joined us as well. I had seen J.P. a couple times before, first at the opening of the big shopping center in west Olympia (now the home of Grocery Outlet) ca. 1960 and later I saw him at the Century 21 World's Fair in 1962 on a go-cart with Gertrude.
Goodbye J.P., we love you. And thanks for all the fun you gave to us Patches Pals.
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