Peter Pitofsky on Leno

Hey everyone, sorry for the sporadic posting. I had to run up to Wisconsin to take care of some business.

To get things going again, here's Peter Pitofsky doing what he does best.

Los Rivelinos

Los Rivelinos performing on Circo España in Spain in 1988.

Ringling: Lottery Gag

 

Hey guys, sorry for the couple day lapse of not posting. Had to come up to Wisconsin to work on some stuff.

I bought a Mega Millions ticket on the way up, and the drawing is tonight, so here's Mark Branner and Huel Speight performing the lottery track gag on the 121st Edition Red Unit in 1991 for good luck! 

Ringling: Lou Jacobs

 

A slide from Gary Cybul showing Lou Jacobs at Madison Square Garden on May 8, 1969.

HOUSCH-MA-HOUSCH: Rabbits

Rest In Peace Kevin Ryan

Kevin Ryan passed away Wednesday morning from complications due to COVID-19.

Kevin was a graduate of the Clown College class of 1982 and toured with the Blue Unit of Ringling for two years.

He was an Advance Ambassador of the Ringling Readers program and also an instructor for Clown College Japan.

He spent many seasons with both Culpepper Merriweather Circus and Kelly Miller Circus making families around the country laugh.

Rest in peace, Kevin. Thank you for making the world a happier place.

Circus Vargas: Clown Walkaround

Members of the Circus Vargas Clown Alley perform walkarounds around 1987. I can spot George Clyatt, Scott Parker, Chris Green, Marty T. Clown, and Lorenzo (last name I don't know). Aside from that, I have no idea who the rest are. Heck, even people that were in the Alley couldn't ID them for me!

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!