Everything about Ronald Mcdonald totally explained
Ronald McDonald is a
fictional clown who is the primary mascot of the
McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. Ronald McDonald is the second most recognized figure in the world (after
Santa Claus). In
television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called
McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and The Fry Kids. The McDonald's Corporation has also characterized Ronald McDonald as being able to speak 31 different languages including
Mandarin,
Dutch,
Tagalog, and
Hindi. In recent years, the "childish"
McDonaldland has been largely phased out, and Ronald is instead shown interacting with normal kids in their everyday lives. He was originally created by
Willard Scott.
Many people work full-time making appearances in the Ronald McDonald costume, visiting children in hospitals. There are also
Ronald McDonald Houses, where parents can stay overnight when visiting sick children in nearby
chronic care facilities. Since August 2003, McDonald has been officially recognized as the "Chief Happiness Officer" of the
McDonald's Corporation.
Origin
Willard Scott
The first version of the origin of Ronald McDonald involves
Willard Scott (a local radio personality who also played
Bozo the Clown on
WRC-TV in
Washington, D.C. from
1959 until
1962), who performed using the
moniker "Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown" in
1963 on three separate television spots. These were the first three television ads featuring the character, whose later appearance was substantially similar to George Voorhees' prior appearance as
Ronald Mcdonald (spelt with a lower-case "d") as shown in the
Valley News and Green Sheet, a
San Fernando Valley newspaper of the time.
Scott, who went on to become
NBC-TV's
Today Show weatherman, claims to have "created Ronald McDonald" according to the following excerpt from his book
Joy of Living:
» "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."
McDonald's doesn't mention Voorhees or claim that Willard Scott "created Ronald" in their statement:
» "The smile known around the world," Ronald McDonald is second only to Santa Claus in terms of recognition.
(According to one survey, 96% of all school kids in the United States of America recognize Ronald (stunning-stuff.com
)). In his first TV appearance in 1963, the happy clown was portrayed by none other than Willard Scott."
Additionally, and disregarding Voorhees' claim, on
March 28,
2000, Henry Gonzalez, McDonald's Northeast Division President, thanked Scott for creating Ronald McDonald, during a taped tribute to Scott on the
Today Show.
In 1965, Roy Burgold assigned
Aye Jaye as Boss Clown worldwide in charge of hiring, writing, creating shows, media handling, training, and major events such as The White House appearances, Macy Days, etc., and finally opening Ronald worldwide for 35 years. Aye Jaye was responsible for the hiring of hundreds of past field Ronalds.
Actors
At any given time, there are dozens, or possibly hundreds, of actors retained by McDonald's to appear as Ronald McDonald in restaurants and events. It is assumed, however, that the company uses only one actor at a time to play the character in national television commercials. Following is a list of such primary Ronald actors.
Various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume
clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonald's trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, to contribute to the illusion that they're one character.
McDonald's marketing designers and stylists changed elements of the Ronald McDonald character, persona, style, costume and
clown face when they adopted the clown as a trademark, possibly in deference to
"The Code", the tradition of
clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style.
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald was a series of retail
animated direct-to-video features produced by the ka-chew! division of
Klasky-Csupo (an animation company famous for creating shows like
Rugrats,
The Wild Thornberrys, and
Duckman) for the
McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. A total of six forty-minute tapes were produced, released at various times between
1998 and
2003.
Scared Silly a haunted house tale
The Legend of Grimace Island, dealing with the Grimace's origin
Visitors From Outer Space, a science fiction tale dealing with extraterrestrials
Birthday World, dealing with a scheming mad scientist's plot
Have Time, Will Travel, A story of Time Travel
The Legend of McDonald-Land Loch, homaging the Nessie myth
Although the series is "free-standing," ongoing artistic influences can be inferred from the ways certain characters were drawn for animation. For example, the character Birdie shares certain aspects of grooming and costume with Eliza Thornberry, and the rendition and bearing of the Hamburglar, reminiscent of Darwin and of Chuckie Finster, may have been an influence on the design of Otto Rocket. Elements of early K-C "house style" are also very evident on other supporting characters like Sundae the dog and the Chicken McNuggets. Co-protagonist Tika, however, is a very normal looking human girl of color. Iam Hungry appeared to be in one part of the episode Visitors From Outer Space.
Miscellaneous
Voice talent on these tapes includes K-C veterans such as Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, and Charles Adler. The role of Ronald McDonald is credited as "Himself."
Ronald McDonald
Birdie the Early Bird
Hamburglar
Grimace
Iam Hungry
CosMc
Fry Kids
King Gonga
Mayor McCheese
Uncle O'Grimacey
By various accounts, the titles turned out to be rather popular, and individual McDonald's locations frequently ran out of tapes. Klasky-Csupo therefore agreed to carry them for direct sale at their online gift shop, which closed in the fall of 2005.
In other countries
In Thailand, Ronald McDonald greets people in the traditional Thai "wai" greeting gesture of hands together.
In Japan, Ronald McDonald is called ドナルド・マクドナルド - Donald McDonald - apparently because this is easier for the Japanese to pronounce. An ad campaign for the Tomato McGrand featured a young man and woman dressed in colors similar to Ronald's garb.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ronald Mcdonald'.
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