Way Back When: A Need for Laughter

Image: Motion Picture News, December 29, 1917

By Betsy J. Green

There was a big show at the Potter Theatre on State Street in April 1918. This was a benefit for the Red Cross and featured a Shriners’ band from Los Angeles, as well as Toto, a well-known clown, who was sure to lift everyone’s spirits during the dark days of the war. Toto the clown was popular in vaudeville in the early 1900s. He had a face made for comedy, as they say.