Clyde Beatty Clowns 1994

 

Laurie Dwyer

Jerry Nye

Ringling: Time Machine Clown Car 1982

Members of the Ringling Blue Unit Clown Alley perform the Time Machine themed clown car on the television special for the 112th Edition in 1982.

The International Clown Hall of Fame Needs Your Help!

From ICHOF Executive Director, Greg DeSanto:

Yesterday, October 24th, the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center experienced heavy water damage to the interior of the museum. We were able to move artifacts to safer locations and have begun assessing the damage. Clean up and restoration of the building and artifacts will tax our very limited resources at this time, and it is with deep respect that the Board of Directors of the ICHOF humbly ask for your assistance. 

Any size contribution is greatly appreciated and we are confident that 2021 will see a return to full operations and many new exhibits celebrating clowns all around the world! 

Thank you for your support.

https://www.facebook.com/donate/733466610584280/10224273333955991/

From a man resembling a potato: 

If you enjoy the content of this blog, much of which comes from the ICHOF archives, please consider making a donation during this difficult time. No amount is too small, and if you don't have any money to give, please consider sharing the above link on social media.

Thank you, everyone!

Emmett Kelly and Jerry Lewis

 

Emmett Kelly sketching Jerry Lewis most likely in the late 1950s or 1960s. Any more information on this photo would be most welcome!

Les Rudi Llata Clowns- La Piste Aux Étoiles

Les Rudi Llata Clowns performing on the French television program, La Piste Aux Étoiles, filmed at the Cirque D'Hiver Bouglione in 1966.

Sandy Totman

 

The beautiful female tramp makeup of Sandy Totman, who graduated Clown College in 1972 and toured with the Red Unit in 1973.

Circus Smirkus: Josh Shack

Josh Shack performing his music act at the Circus Smirkus Alumni Show in 2007. Josh began performing with Circus Smirkus in 2000, and currently performs residencies with the company and acts as production manager when the show is on tour.

Josh is also a fantastic director and has directed multiple pantomimes, the clown show Out of Orbit for Dan Berkley, and two productions of Nothing But Nonsense for Steve & Ryan.

Tandarica

For those of you paying attention, I mentioned Tandarica in yesterday's blog post about Los Calugas.

I did a little digging and found this info about him on an Argentinian website:

-Dear friends, first of all I thank you for everything shared and for having accompanied us throughout 2019. I also sought information about Alexandru Veterany and discovered that he was actually born in Bucharest on 16 January 1926 and died in Buenos Aires on 1 May 1995. He was a very popular comic actor and comedian of film, theatre and television and performed in Argentina during the 1980s. Tandarica was a great character with which he would adopt as his own stage name and label in two Argentine films and several television programs. He was a very clumsy and suspiciously drunk waiter who, with his silly acts and falls, caused discomfort and disasters around him. He was regarded as an Argentine Chaplin, an actor who was his great inspiration. He also performed in the circus of the Río de la Plata and in magazine theater. He went on to shoot a film in Hollywood with Silvester Stallone. In fact, I believe that the name of his artistic character comes from the Romanian T.D.R., a Puppet of Puppets of Bucharest, founded in 1945 (https://www.teatrultandarica.ro/

Los Calugas

Los Calugas performing the "Tandarica act" on El Gran Circ De Nadal De Girona in 2019.

I call it the "Tandarica act" because I always associate it with Alexandru Veterany, who performed comedy in Argentina under the stage name Tandarica.

I bet you can guess who tomorrow's post will be about!

Chase Culp

 

Chase Culp is an alumni of Circus Smirkus, and has performed on Ringling, Cirque Musica, Circus Gasser Olympia in Switzerland, and most recently the Venardos Circus.

Ringling: Sideshow Charivari

 

Photo courtesy of Gabor Hrisafis

Matt Morgan, Joel Jeske, Adam Kuchler, Thom Wheaton, Mark Myers, Steve Lough, Lance Brown, and Gabor Hrisafis dressed for the sideshow themed charivari in the Blue Unit's 128th Edition of Ringling in 1999.

Gardi Hutter

 

From Wikipedia:

Born on 5 March 1953 in Altstätten, Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Gardi Hutter graduated at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zürich (Schauspiel-Akademie Zürich) from 1974 to 1977, where she absolved an induction and training in theatre education and theatre pedagogy. Gari Hutter gave lessons to the students, but she felt unhappy not to practice what she taught. At the Centro di ricerca per il teatro (CRT) in Milano Gardi Hutter graduated as maestros (master), being also her so-called Clownsgesellenzeit (literally: apprenticeship as a clown) of three years to become an approved member of the Clown community. Gardi Hutter was taught by Mario Gonzales, Pantalone of the Théatre du Soleil, Nani Colombaioni (I Colombaioni) and Ferruccio Cainero of the Teatro Ingenuo.,^[1][2]

For the national "700-year anniversary" of Switzerland, Gardi Hutter played the women jester in the Federal Assembly Chamberof the Swiss Parliament in 1991. For the festival "700 years" of 1998 of her hometown, Gardi Hutter acted as co-writer. In the winter season 1997/98 she was starring in Romulus der Grosse at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.^[2]

Since 1981, Gardi Hutter had more than 3,300 performances in 30 countries and four continents, including Andorra, Brazil, China, Russia, Spain, Sweden, USA and Switzerland. There were also recordings on TV stations of 17 countries and auditions in numerous radio programs.

Les Fratellini: Big Time Comedy

 

François, Paul, and Albert perform their explosive photography entrée. I REALLY wish I could have seen THIS act!

Clyde Beatty: Recycling Machine

Elmo Gibb, Larry Armstrong, Greg Long, Doug Keady, Mat Coes, James Houser, Jay D’Amico, and “Lil’ Dave” Williams perform the Recycling Machine gag on Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus in 1991.

The Recycling Machine and many other beautiful Clyde Beatty clown props of that time were built by Producing/Advance clown Elmo Gibb.

Yann Rossi

 

                                                

                                                

                                                

Dominique Secher took these beautiful photographs of Yann Rossi preparing for a performance. Ryan and I met Dom while we were working in Paris, and he captures many beautiful backstage moments with his wonderful photography.

Kelly Miller Circus: Baby Gag

Claire Wedemeyer performing the baby gag on Kelly Miller Circus in 2006. Claire spent two years on the Ringling Red Unit in 2003 and 2004, and was the clown on Kelly Miller for a few seasons after that.

Lou Jacobs: Little Car

 

Photo shared by Mark Renfro

Lou does his impression of Old Faithful during his famous little car routine.

Ringling: Engine Gag 1991

Greg DeSanto and Kevin Carr perform the engine gag during Come In of the Blue Unit's 120th Edition of Ringling in 1991.

The engine gag is one of those rare Feld era clown routines that lasted for two tours. In 1990 it was performed by Greg and Chris Wilson. Kevin Carr replaced Chris for 1991 and 1992, and Joey Kohler was Greg's last partner for the gag in 1993.

Spike Jones and the City Slickers: Poet and Peasant Overture

One of my favorite Spike Jones routines. Freddy Morgan's performance is a master class in clowning.

Vidbel Circus: Boxing Gag Part II

 

Photo credit Paul Gutheil 

A follow up to yesterday's post. Here are Scott O'Donnell, John Kennedy Kane, and Mike Snider photographed by Paul Gutheil on Vidbel's Olde Tyme Circus in 1995 as they prepare for the boxing gag.