'Welcome to Funsville!' | Presto the Clown left a magical legacy for Louisville kids in the 70s

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- David Conover remembers the simpler times fondly, when the things he collected in a binder and box came to life on the television screen.

"I had begun the second grade," Conover remembered. "You'd get home, you'd flip on the TV. The first thing you saw was Presto the Magic Clown hosting Funsville."

Presto was Louisville's very own mix of Bozo and Mr. Rogers. Presto had sidekicks, and magic tricks.

"You could send in letters, or they would say 'Happy Birthday' to all the kids on TV," Conover recalled.

When Presto left the lights of the old WDRB studios, people came in crowds to see him. For Kentuckiana kids of the 1970s, he was a big deal.

Jack Dopp saw it up close, minus the face paint and clown clothes. His dad, Bill Dopp, played Presto.

Jack remembered telling his future-wife that for the first time: "I said, 'well he's a clown,' and she just looks at me and says, 'aren't they all?'"

Becoming Presto was sort of an accident. Bill Dopp was a magician and booking agent.

"My mom and dad were kind of like rolling stones," Jack said. "They would never stay in a place very long."

When Bill was in Chicago for work one time, he got a nudge toward clowning in a parade.

"The clown that was supposed to do it, couldn't do it, or whatever," explained Jack. "They asked my dad to do it, and he'd never done a clown before. He said to me later, 'boy once you're a clown, you kind of like it.'"

So Presto, red nose and all, was born right there in the Windy City. Some time would pass, experience gained, and then he found himself interviewing in the Derby City, after seeing an ad for a kid's show from WDRB.

"They hired him on the spot," Jack said. "He moved to Louisville, with my mom (June), and she became Hunny Bunny and J Fred Frog."

Then the childhood memories began for others, who didn't have the last name of Dopp. Today, Presto the Clown and Funsville are cherished nostalgia around here.

"I'm very much a believer in the idea that time is place, and this was our city, and our town growing up," said Conover.

He even has a replica J Fred Frog puppet, and he helps run an "I Grew Up in Funsville" Facebook group where Presto pictures are shared and stories are exchanged.

"This can instantly take you back," said Conover.

Bill Dopp passed in 1994. The photo in his obituary was of Presto. His honest love for entertaining children couldn't be extinguished, not even in death.

Those Kentucky kids, now adults, loved him just as much right back.

"It gives me a lot of hope I guess, that there people out there that can make change," said Jack Dopp. "The fact that it was my dad. That's great."

Sadly, Dopp doesn't have much left from his father's days at Presto - just a single wand.

The costumes, magic rings, and all his magic equipment was given away by his mother, after his dad died. It's tradition in the magic community to pass along those items to fellow magicians. 

While working on this story, Bill Dopp's nephew Bob shared a VHS tape of his beloved uncle as Presto.  The tapes of the tricks and segments were gifts to family that became treasured keepsakes.  We've shared these clips on our WDRB News - Official YouTube page. 

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