AVNER THE ECCENTRIC

Photos courtesy of Bill Strong





Avner's show the other night with Mark Jaster seems to have put everyone in an Avner frame of mind and "Avner-mania" is running rampant across the country.

But why talk about him here? This is a forum for circus clowns, not "New Vaudevillians".

There is a lot more circus-style clowning to Avner than one would expect. While he may not wear the wig, big shoes or emerge from a tiny car that audience still associate with circus clowning in America, I don't think he'd be at all out of place on a show like Circus Flora or Big Apple. It's actually suprising to me that he HASN'T toured as the "featured clown" with a one-ring "New American Circus". He's mastered virtually all of the manditory "New Circus" skills in Hovey Burgesses' CIRCUS TECHNIQUES and I think that his unique character would really flourish outside the strict confines of the procenium stage.

Maybe if I taught HIM the Chair Gag... ; )

Bill Strong sent along these pictures from a time long ago and far away when Avner still linked to circus clown tradition via that smallest of masks, the red nose. He has since dropped it, and I think it's for the better. His face is more than expressive enough to convey the idea of "clown" without any help from makeup or noses.