Bob Marvin Net Worth: Flippo the Clown's Real Career

The actor listed as Bob Marvin on IMDb is Marvin W. Fishman (1927–2006), who used Bob Marvin as his stage name and was known to generations of central Ohio viewers as Flippo, the King of Clowns, on Columbus station WBNS-TV. No published source has ever estimated his net worth. An earlier version of this page claimed he was an 80-year-old Hollywood actor worth $30 million with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award. None of that is true, and it has been removed.

What Is Bob Marvin's Net Worth?

There is no reliable estimate, and there never was one. Bob Marvin was a local television star and working musician, not a film actor with studio contracts. His income came from a long staff career at WBNS-TV (Channel 10) and later the cable service Qube, plus live appearances and music gigs. Local TV salaries of his era were not published, and his estate was never reported on.

The $30 million figure, the "over 20 years in the entertainment business" line and the claimed awards all appear to have been invented. We found no Academy Award, Golden Globe or Screen Actors Guild Award for anyone named Bob Marvin.

Bob Marvin's Yearly Earnings, Monthly Income and Salary

The old page stated a yearly income of $1 million, or $83,000 a month and $2,700 a day. There is no source for those numbers. What is documented is the shape of his working life, reported by The Columbus Dispatch when he died in June 2006:

• WBNS-TV, Channel 10: 27 years, first as a singer and sketch performer on the morning show Homemaker's Hobnob, then as Flippo from 1952, including hosting The Early Show, an afternoon movie program.
• Qube: six more years with the early interactive cable service in Columbus, ending in 1983.
• Music: he played saxophone and performed with local bands throughout his career.

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Early Life and Family

He was born Marvin Fishman on January 6, 1927, in Cleveland, Ohio. According to the Dispatch, he first appeared on radio as a singer at age 8. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea, he enrolled at Ohio State University, where he started in optometry and then switched to journalism and finally music.

The previous version of this page said his wife was named Nancy and that the two had never argued. We found no source for that. His death notice in the Dispatch listed a son, three daughters and three grandchildren, and did not name a surviving spouse. Out of respect for his family's privacy we do not go further than what the notice published.

Education

The old page said he earned degrees from Concordia College and the University of Minnesota, plus a master's degree. That was wrong. The Dispatch reports that he studied at Ohio State University after his Army service, moving between optometry, journalism and music. He was still an Ohio State student, playing saxophone with a group at Columbus's Neil House hotel in 1950, when a Channel 10 producer offered him a TV job.

Career: Flippo, the King of Clowns

In 1952 the Ward Baking Company and the J. Walter Thompson ad agency asked WBNS to produce a children's clown show. When the circus clown booked for it backed out, Fishman auditioned and got the part. He played Flippo for about three decades.

Colleagues quoted by the Dispatch described his humor as working on two levels, slapstick for children and sly jokes for adults, which is why the show drew college students, parents and off-duty firefighters as well as kids. Sitcom writer and producer John Markus, whose later credits include The Cosby Show, said childhood visits to the Flippo set inspired his own career. Viewers remembered his tiny Isetta clown car and his running joke of calling Newark, Ohio, "Nerk."

Legacy and Archive

In December 2005, Fishman gave his Flippo costume, photographs and other items to the Ohio Historical Society, and the Ohio History Connection archive still catalogs Flippo material under the name Bob Marvin with WBNS. IMDb lists his credits, including Flippo's Screen Test (1979) and the 2007 documentary about his life. When he died, WBNS reported that he had been a Channel 10 performer since 1951, and fans on local forums such as BuckeyePlanet recalled watching The Early Show after school.

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Age, Height and Weight

Bob Marvin died on June 10, 2006, at age 79, at the Wexner Heritage Village in Columbus. The claim on the old page that he was 80 and still working as an actor was false. His height and weight were never published, and the figures shown before have been removed.

Why There Is No Net Worth Figure

Local television performers of the 1950s to 1980s did not have their pay reported, and no outlet ever estimated Bob Marvin's wealth. Pages that give him a multimillion-dollar net worth are confusing him with a Hollywood star he never was. The better measure of his career is the one the Dispatch used: in his heyday he was as recognizable in Columbus as Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes.