Monday, August 06, 2007

CLOWN ALLEY: Ringling 1917



The only clown that I recognize immediately is Paul Jerome, to the right of center, in his cartoonish, grotesque whiteface.

If Jerome was working on Ringling in 1917, and continued working into the 1950s...well, THAT'S quite an impressive career!

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2 comments:

  1. Gary3:10 PM, August 06, 2007

    That's my great-uncle Hank Peare front row, third from left. The guy holding the terrier in the front row is Herman Joseph. And I think that's Charlie Bell right behind Herman.

    This was Hank's last season with Barnum. He was drafted during the season.

    This was at a time when Ringling owned Barnum & Bailey, but still operated them as separate shows. Hank started out on Sells Floto before around 1906 (Ringling also owned Sells then) and Ringling by 1910. So my complete speculation is that Ringling may have moved clowns around between shows much like the Red Show/Blue Show set up.

    I think Paul Jerome was with Hank on Ringling before 1915. I'll have to check.

    I've never seen this photo before! Thanks for posting!

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  2. Pat Cashin7:38 AM, August 07, 2007

    You're absolutely right! That IS Herman Joseph.

    I can't be certain that Charlie Bell is the person right behind him (something about the angle of his face) but now we have Hank Peare, Paul Jerome, Herman Joseph and possibly Charlie Bell.

    Does anyone have a Barnum & Bailey program from 1917 so we can compare names and try to match them up with faces?

    ~P

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