Career
His program on KPTV was the second-longest running children"s program in Portland, second only to Ramblin" Rod Anders. He hosted shows on KOIN, KPTV, and KATU as Rusty Nails. In 1998 he wrote an autobiographical book called "Send in the clowns".
Rusty Nails inspired Portland"s Matt Groening to create Krusty the Clown for The Simpsons.
Allen died on July 28, 2015, of congestive heart failure at the age of 87 after a month of hospice care surrounded by his family and friends in Portland.