From Bill Strong...
"Al Ross was always a favorite of mine, mostly because he was such a quiet, and gentle man, the girl with him is Joanne Sherman, who's husband Dennis was a Flyer in Phil, & Fran Schacht's Flying Apollos. A lot of people now don't know Phil & Fran did a Flying Act, they also did a Fabulous Cradle Act. Taken in Hawaii in the early 70's"
Al Ross (1907 - 1981)
Born Alphonse Helwig in Cincinnati, Ohio, he took the professional name Al Ross in 1930 when he was part of the Ross acrobatic troupe.
Ross, a tramp clown, provided training for fellow shrine clowns in proper clowning skills and etiquette. He would shoot long balloons into the circus crowd. When he threw away his black derby hat, it came right back to him. He rode an old bicycle that fell apart, and was adept at acrobatic balancing and tumbling. Ross was a member of the Aladdin Temple Shrine unit and was seen in many shrine and other circuses in the U.S. He was a performer with the Jack Parr Special Service Unit.
During his last interview he stated, "anyone who can make people laugh has the greatest gift God can give a man."
Al Ross was inducted into the 1993 Clown Hall of Fame.
- From the International Clown Hall of Fame website
Glad to see Al Ross... don't see much of him anywhere. When I was a kid in the late 35 years ago, he was very helpful to me. I was working props and concessions and just dreaming of being a performer. He taught me to juggle 3 balls and said he was going to mail me some props. I was amazed when, a week later at home, UPS delivered my first set of clubs and hoops. I have discarded many old juggling props since then, but I still have those clubs and hoops from Al Ross.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I saw Al was at the Ohio State Fair when I was still a town kid. International Harvester had a promotional show, "Square Dancing Tractors", and Al did the come-in, I was really amazed how he could sail his Derby out & it would come back to him. Many years later I was watching him walking around the floor on an indoor date, looking for convinient places to hang his black thread, and thinking back that the dancing wasn't the only thing that was "square".
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