Early career Sandburg started in television on
WCPO in
Cincinnati, Ohio when he was 21. He was initially a
prop manager but later became production supervisor for
The Paul Dixon Show. He left after a year, hoping to get work in
Denver, Colorado but ended up doing a series of other jobs until returning to Cincinnati with
WLW Radio and
WLWT-TV in 1953, where he joined
Wally Phillips and
Bob Bell to produce, direct and write
The Walt Phillips Show. When WLW and WLWT's executive vice president moved to WGN
Radio and
Television, he brought Phillips, Bell and Sandburg along.
''Bozo's Circus'' When WGN-TV started
Bozo in 1960, Sandburg was not involved with the show until after it went to an hour format as ''Bozo's Circus
in 1961. He was approached by station management to write for the program – he already wrote material for a morning program, Breakfast With Bugs Bunny
, that evolved into Ray Rayner and His Friends
– but refused, suggesting instead that he be hired to appear as a character on air, offering to write material for the show at no extra charge (union pay rates for on-air talent were higher than for writing). WGN agreed, and the character Sandy the Tramp'' was born. Sandy was a mute clown reminiscent of silent film comedians, although Sandburg said he primarily based the character on
Harpo Marx. Eventually, Sandburg would be named the show's producer as well. He was instrumental in the creation of the "Grand Prize Game". By 1965,
Larry Harmon added Sandburg's "Sandy" and
Ray Rayner's Oliver O. Oliver to Bozo the Clown coloring books. Sandburg was part of
The Bozo Show 30th Anniversary Special (aired September 8, 1991), and on the final episode of
Bozo: the WGN-TV special
Bozo: 40 Years Of Fun, aired July 14, 2001. One of his Sandy costumes is part of the collection of ''Bozo's Circus'' artifacts at the
Museum of Broadcast Communications. ==Personal life==