Paul Jung Sugar Smacks

Some examples from Paul Jung's tenure as the mascot for Kellogg's Sugar Smacks. Various clowns were used on the boxes from 1953 to 1956. The first two were Lou Jacobs and Paul Jung from 1953 through 1954. Then Cliff "Cliffy" Sobier from ABC-TV's Super Circus took over for 1955 and the last to be used was Charlie Bell in 1956. It was then that Kellogg's replaced them all with a seal named Smaxey.

It would have been nice if the series had continued and circus clowns had a place to be recognized the way athletes do on boxes of Wheaties.

Charlie Bell Sugar Smacks

Charlie Bell as the fourth (and final) clown featured on boxes of Kellogg's Sugar Smacks. I'm sure the excitement from Cecil B. DeMille's the Greatest Show on Earth had subsided and shows like Super Circus and Big Top were winding down so it was time for Kellogg's to move on to something else...like a seal in a sailor suit...to sell Sugar Smacks. When I was growing up their mascot was a frog named "Dig 'Em". Makes about as much sense as a circus clown or a seal in a sailor suit I guess..

An extremely nice and very thoughtful note (and some more information on Charlie Bell's family) from CC grad and former Ringling road clown John Darragh...

This is a Sincere compliment , for the Beautiful work you've thus far displayed via your Blog. There is no doubt in my mind, that you will do your best to enhance this Blog dedicated to the Most Ancient and Honorable Art Form, to the fullest degree.

Sadly as time moves on, the Art of professional Clowning is further diminished and bit by bit the Men and Women who were at the forefront of our craft are sadly forgotten. Thank you for keeping the memories and spirit of those who travelled before us, alive and well.
Thank you also for providing the story regarding Marceline and as well Charlie Bell.

I had the Great fortune to join the show just in time to meet and eventually befriend Charlie's daughter Charlotte and Grand daughter Tessi (Dancer/Showgirl- Red show 81, 82- Sells Floto 84. I think she may have at one time married into the famous Knock Circus Dynasty, by marrying Joe Bauer jr. son of the legendary fearless sway pole artiste Joe Bauer, but I'm not certain. I lost contact with her many years ago, Unfortunately. The Humor, Charm and Talent of Charlie Bell certainly traveled through the blood line. His other Grand daughter Tosca was a headline aerialist attraction at the time I joined the show, but was married to Gunther's ex right hand man Henri Schroer at the time, so I never really got the chance to know her.

Frank and Charlotte's son was also an aerialist and trapeze flyer, performing most notably in the late sixties, early seventies with the likes of Keith Anderson and the various flying troupes that came out of Cape Town, South Africa during that period of time.In the obituary you posted for Charlie Bell, his Daughter's name is incorrectly spelt.Her marriage name is Kora, not Korak. I know for some it means nothing, but for others it makes a World of difference.

In closing, I would just like to say Once Again, Thank You- you're doing a Great job, and do so Hope you'll be able to maintain your Blog on a continuous basis. I give you a lot of creditfor creating this Blog, and I'm sure I'm not alone in my Thankfulness for someone to finally come forward and provide a site that is Seriously devoted to the Silliness of our craft and at the same time Very Educational and Extremely Entertaining. Sincerely, John Darragh

Bumpsy Without Makeup

A very rare treat from the Bill Strong Collection, George "Bumpsy Anthony" Hulme without makeup.

Billie Burke, Harold Simmons and ?

From Bill Strong...

Pat,
These were sent to me by a friend, Paul Creason, who was on the Gil Gray Circus with us in the early '60's. They must have been taken either before we came in '60, or in '64, after we were gone, because I don't remember the 3rd clown. Paul said his name was Charlie Lewis, and he did a Clown Cop. The other two of course are Billie Burke & Harold Simmons. - Bill

Visit Bill's ebay store at...

http://stores.ebay.com/THE-GIBTOWN-CIRCUS-DIMES-STORE_W0QQsspagenameZL2QQtZkm

Lou Jacobs

Lou. The best. Ever.

Bozo and Burch

A photo from the Mike Martin collection...

Mike Martin back when he played Bozo the Clown live on-air six days a week at the Cincinatti Shrine Circus with Ernie "Blinko" Burch in the late 60s/early 70s.

Marceline Orbes

Born in Saragossa Spain in 1875 he began clowning in circuses, mastering his craft and working his way up to playing the London Hippodrome for five straight years.

He came to this country under the management of Thomson & Dundy bolster the lineup at the opening of the New York Hippodrome in 1905 where he was partnered with Frank "Slivers" Oakley. He played the NY Hippodrome successfully for nine consectutive seasons then he went back to circus clowning, just another Alley clown doing walkarounds with Ringling. He returned to the Hippodrome in 1920 but silent film comedy had changed the public's taste in clowning and Marceline had a hard time entertaining audiences who had adored him just a few short years before.

Like his former partner, he died alone and broken, committing suicide in 1927. The largest wreath on his casket came from Charlie Chaplin who had performed onstage with him as a small child.

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From Time magazine November 14, 1927...

Essie Goodman, maid in a smallish Manhattan hotel, at two o'clock in the afternoon, tiptoed into a room, followed by the manager and a policeman. The room was in some disorder. Photographs were littered across the bed; a few had slid down to the floor. A picture of a girl was propped up on a chair near the window and in the corner three theatrical costumes were heaped on top of a trunk. A man was kneeling by the bed, his hands stiffly and desperately twisted together, his head pushed down against his arms. He did not say anything when the three people came into the room. The policeman touched him, shook him a little, then saw the smear of blood that ran down his cheek from a hole in his temple. "I guess he bumped himself off," said the policeman, "I'll have to have his name." "Orbes," the manager told him, "Marceline Orbes."

Twenty years ago the policeman would not have had to ask how to spell "Marceline." He would have been accustomed to seeing it in big shiny letters over the entrance to the Hippodrome, biggest Manhattan theatre. The little, inexpressive brown face with the smear of blood would have reminded him of another face, with the same features, set in a foolish pointed smile. He would have recognized the dusty, madly tailored evening clothes that Marceline had taken out of his trunk before he killed himself, as the uniform of the most famous clown since the days of Grimaldi.

According to legend, in 1876, aged three, Marceline, perched on the shoulder of an old clown, entered a bullfight arena where his helpless sprawlings made him funny. Marceline preferred to say that he had run away from the tailor to whom he had been apprenticed, crawled under a circus tent and fallen asleep. Then an old clown had saved him from the crouching lion against whose cage he had dozed and taught him the astonishing art of making people laugh. All the legends made Marceline a Spaniard, but he talked with a tight cockney whine in his voice.

In 1905, already famous after a five years' run in London, Marceline came to New York. The people who saw him during the nine years he played at the Hippodrome, damaged his reputation by trying to tell their friends how funny he was. "He just comes out," they said. "He sort of comes out on the stage and moves around ... he looks so funny . . . and his shoes, well they look like broken coal shovels . . . you have to see his face ... it makes you laugh. . . ." Marceline hated to be called a clown in those days. Clowns are the silly fellows in the circus who get guffaws by contorting their inane rubber faces, by painting big spots on their cheeks and putting putty on their noses. Marceline was a droll, or better still, an

"august;" he wore, not pantaloons, but a baggy tailcoat; he could make a thousand people roar with laughter by saying nothing, merely looking at his left foot.

In 1912, Slivers Oakley, his partner, killed himself. When Marceline came back to the Hippodrome in 1915 after a trip abroad, his crowds were already beginning to prefer the silent flutter of faces on a screen to the gayeties of a nimble droll. A mocking shadow ran after him for the next few years, whispering an insult in his ear every time the crowds at Ringling's sat silent when he twisted an eyebrow at them. By 1920, he used to pick up dollars by coming in at business men's dinners and trying to make the solemn faces crack.
All his money was gone, but he still gave his wife, who had left him, $35 every month. At the last he pawned his ring for $15. . . .

In his hotel room he got out the photographs that had been taken of him years ago. Marceline himself had to smile a little at those merry mocking faces. Then, at four o'clock in the morning, he reached for his revolver and shot himself. His body slumped down by the bed on which the photographs were spread out; when Essie Goodman came in the first time, she went out again very quietly, because she thought he was praying.

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This from the "Dark Humor" website...

MARCELINE

In the days before video games and pornography on the "information superhighway," people were often entertained by clowns.

Yes, gaily painted idiotic creatures in funny clothes with very little on their minds and no talent...would come into a theater to see clowns.

One of the greatest clowns was Marceline Orbes, who left our world on November 5, 1927.

As Mr. Smith, chronicler of chronic comics, reports in his "Who's Who in Comedy," tales of "defeated, broken-hearted "Pagliacci" clowns may have been widespread in literature, but it was the tragic reality of Marceline...Not confined to the circus, Marceline played the finest venues including five years at England's Hippodrome...One critic wrote of his stage act, 'part of his appeal lay in a bewildered expression, as though life puzzled him. He picked something up only to drop it. He sought to help others, but always got in the way. Children, and adults too, howled and rocked in their seats with laughter as Marceline grew entangled in the rugs...meanwhile dropping trays of dishes.'

"Just ten years later, the same Marceline played the Hippodrome in 1915 to far less praise. His comic routines were evidently now deemed old fashioned. Under such conditions, it was hard for him to even perform his old standards with enthusiasm.

Unable to recapture his old form, Marceline lent his name to a restaurant. When it failed, he invested his money in a second restaurant. It too failed. He and his wife separated and his remaining savings withered away.

"The proud Spaniard couldn't find a way create new material or to revive an act that was now viewed with scorn and indifference. The years passed slowly for him, but quickly enough to make his name only a dim memory for audiences. Nearly broke, he checked into the Hotel Mansfield at 226 West 50th Street in New York. The manager recalled that in many months, "Nobody ever telephoned him; he never received mail, he never smiled or complained. We knew nothing of his business."

"On November 3, he pawned his diamond ring for $15. Two days later, between midnight and 4am, Marceline knelt at his bed, staring at the photographs of himself he had placed there, like cards. His first trembling pistol shot went into the wall. The second did not miss.

"Marceline was found "kneeling as though in prayer" the following morning. The shots had been heard and had been ignored. Six dollars was all he had left besides the pictures of a once-loved clown."

His ex-wife was one of the few at the funeral. She had great compassion for the great Marceline. As reporters gathered around, she announced, "I expected something like this."

Happy Kellems

From Jerry Jay...

Pat, I really enjoy your blog(s). Here is a photo I shot of Happy Kellems in the 60's. It was in Cleveland (a winter date). Keep up the good work. Jerry Jay

Thanks for the kind words and for sharing the great picture Jerry!

Cole Clowns with Equestrienne

Posing with an unidentified woman is Dick Lewis, unidentified and Horace Laird on the Cole Bros. Circus in the late 30s/early 40s.

Polack Alley

This photo from the Tegge Circus Archives, Lou Jacobs, Rudy Dockey and Charlie Cheer from a Polack tour in the mid-50s.

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Confirmation of Charlie Cheer's identity comes to us from Bill Strong.

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More on the story comes courtesy of our intrepid reporter in the field, Robin Estes...

This one is from the 1954 Polack show. I don't really know if Lou ever actually played a fiddle, but he did indeed play the accordion!—Tim Tegge

The year I have verified that Lou Jacobs was with Polack Bros instead of RBB&B was 1956. I have a Polack Bros program from that year which lists his Lunimobile as a featured act. He was assisted by Harold Simmons and Jackie Gerlich in his little car act that year. I believe when he was with RBB&B, Frankie Saluto assisted him most often as the gas station attendant. I've heard references to him being with Polack Bros for more then one season, but I don't know which other years, if they were consecutive or not. The 1956 season was the year AGVA went on strike against RBB&B.The 1956 Polack Bros clown alley was Lou Jacobs, Rudy Docky, Chester Sherman, Joe Sherman (actually Joe Vanni), Harold Simmons, and Jackie Gerlich. The Sherman Bros. duo have been inducted into the ICHOF. That would have been some alley to see.Emmett Kelly, Otto Griebling, and Felix Adler were the clowns with RBB&B who honored the picket lines and didn't appear with the 1956 production. Emmett never returned. In 1957, when the strike was settled, Emmett was the mascot of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team and St. Louis Hawks basketball team. He was a natural as mascot for the Dodgers since their nickname at the time was Dem Bums. He was with them only one season because the next year they moved to Los Angeles and he thought their new stadium was too big for him to be effective in.—Bruce Johnson

Lou Jacobs was on the Polack show for three seasons... 1954, 1955 and 1956. Lou and my dad were very close and I have letters from him to my dad during this period of three seasons, talking about various things on the Polack show. Also have some wonderful, candid shots of him backstage at Chicago's Medinah Temple, in 1954, as well as 16mm color footage of Lou, Rudy Dockey and Charlie Cheer doing their musical routine on an outdoor Shrine date, possibly out West.—Tim Tegge

A Collection of Photos

From the upper left: Felix Adler and Paul Jerome (tramp makeup) with Lola Dobritch, Charlie Bell and Peanut, Lou Jacobs and lastly Paul Jerome (whiteface).

Glen Tracy portrait of Harry Dann

The face that launched a thousand imitators: A fantastic pencil drawing by Glen Tracy of Harry Dann. It is signed and dated upper left hand corner...Harry Dann, April 1950.

Charlie Bell

The extremely classic early century whiteface of Mr. Charlie Bell. 35 years on RBB&B, dog trainer extraordinaire and creator of the hunting gag that Lou Jacobs kept alive for the rest of his career, Charlie was featured extensively in Ceil B. DeMille's THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

In the 1950s Charlie was also featured on boxes of Kellogg's Sugar Smacks in a series that also included Lou Jacobs and Paul Jung.

From the New York Times Sept. 26, 1964:

CHARLES D. CHASE, CLOWN KNOWN AS CHARLIE BELL, DIES

(SARATOGA (sp) Fla., Sept. 25 (AP) Charles D. Chase, an acrobat and circus clown for 63 years died today in a Saratoga (sp) hospital. He was 78 years old.

Mr. Chase started his career at the age of 7 when he ran away from home in Barnesville, Ohio as an acrobat in a medicine show. He adopted the owner's last name, Bell, as his own and was known thereafter as Charlie Bell.

During his early career he was billed as the world's greatest tumbler. In his main act he would somersault from a springboard over a small herd of elephants.

Later he worked in a comedy acrobatic team called Rice, Bell and Baldwin. He spent 35 years with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey before he retired in 1956.

He is survived by his widow, Gertrude, also a circus performer; a daughter, Charlotte Korak and a brother, Harry.

Nairobi Trio Video

Ernie Kovacs gave us one of the most perfect clown gags in the world and to the best of my knowledge it's never been performed in a circus. I think this would work just fine in a one ring format or as a track gag.

Charlie Rivel

A link to a 2:55 film of ICHOF inductee Charlie Rivel (possibly the greatest circus clown of all time) from 1979, very late in his career...

http://www.br-online.de/kultur-szene/thema/clowns/rivel.xml

Lou Jacobs in Whiteface

A color photo of Lou Jacobs in whiteface. Just in case anyone had any questions about where Capitol records came up with the design for the face of Bozo the Capitol Clown. If you look inside the top of Lou's trunk in his first scene (the one in the Alley in Winter Quarters) in the GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH you'll see that he has a very large picture of Bozo taped up in there.

Linon

Linon, a very funny Belgian (or possibly French) lowwire walking clown who appeared several times on both Ed Sullivan and Hollywood Palace and is featured in the film JUMBO where he doubles for Jimmy Durante.

Polack Alley 1952?

The Polack Bros. Clown Band in an undated photo. From left to right: Unidentified, Chester Sherman, Harry Dann, Chester "Bobo" Barnett, unidentified and Joe (Vani) Sherman.

I don't recognize the drummer but it looks as though the showgirl on the floor is Dennis Stevens.

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UPDATE:

Bill Strong tells me that the clown between Bobo Barnett and Joe Vani is Lawrence Cross. Now I wonder if the whiteface on the far left isn't Bobo's wife who worked with him for a number of years before the birth of their daughter Bonnie Ann.

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"Mr. Lee" tells us that the clown on the floor may be Dougie Washburn.

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Robin Estes adds this info from Ray Kadlec...

The picture was posed in Chicago (where Polack's head offices were located), at Medinah Temple. I found the right box and dug out my Polack programs for the Medinah shrine. The 1952 edition matches the most of the clowns you list. 7 are pictured and 8 names are given in a listing. The clown to the left should be Rusty Benson, who lived in central Illinois. The smaller person by process of elimination from the names, should be Tommy Roberts. The 1949, 1951, 1953 & 1954 do not match.— Ray Kadlec

Gene Lewis

Gene Lewis, a fixture of the post-war Ringling alley. He performed on the show from 1952 - 1957, 1961 and from 1964 through 1968. This much I know: Gene was born in Bloomington, Indiana around 1900. He was in vaudeville, and his partner Frank Faylen later went on to work in many Hollywood films, including It's A Wonderful Life. He was often partnered with Albert White and in the mid 60s he did a very funny Twiggy parody walkaraound.

This from Rick Whelan:

"I've been enjoying your blog on the great old-time circus clowns.

I was wondering if you ever came across the name of an old friend of mine - Gene Lewis?

When I was boy and enamoured with the circus, Gene and I were pen pals and I still have his many letters which detail his life as a Ringling circus clown. I lost touch with him in the mid-1960s, but I believe he retired shortly after that and last I heard was living in a trailer park somewhere near Los Angeles.

I assume he is passed on by now, but I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has any additional information on his life. rickwhelan@sympatico.ca".

Red Skelton: CLOWN ALLEY

The above photos from TV Guide and the blurb below represent all I know about Red Skelton's CLOWN ALLEY, a special that aired November 11, 1966. It was described in Time magazine that week as...

"CLOWN ALLEY (CBS, 10-11 p.m.). Red Skelton & Co. in a special tribute to the circus funnymen. With Jackie Coogan, Audrey Meadows, Robert Merrill, Vincent Price, Martha Raye, Cesar Romero, Amanda Blake and Bobby Rydell."

Why CBS aired a special so obviously aimed at children at 10:00 PM is odd. Why Red cast Jackie Coogan (He had worked with Chaplin in THE KID as a small child but was much better know in 1966 as The Addams Family's Uncle Fester), Robert Merrill (who?), Vincent Price (?!?), Caesar Romero (who played the Joker on the Batman TV show), Amanda Blake (again, who?) and teen heartthrob Bobby Rydell is even odder.

I believe Time may have it wrong and it was Jackie GLEASON, not Jackie COOGAN who was in the special but I don't know as I've never seen it and can't locate a copy anywhere, not even from the Red Skelton estate who have no record of any surviving master tape.

Anyway, it might be interesting. It's a series of clown gags done by the above mentioned celebrities, co-written by Mort Greene (who wrote many of the "silent spots" on Red's show) all performed under the direction and supervision of "technical advisor" ICHOF inductee and Ringling Master Clown, Bobby Kay.

Then again, it could be an hour of material that resembles actual circus clown gags about as much as the last 7 minutes of JUMBO, which had Albert "Flo" White as a consultant.

Anyone who remembers seeing it, or better yeat actually has a copy, please drop me a line ASAP!

More Bumpsy

More photos of Bumpsy Anthony from the collection of Mr. Bill Strong.

Clown Alley

An often reprinted picture but a great one nonetheless, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown Alley back in the "Golden Age". Pictured among the stars we see Jack Le Clair, Charlie Bell, Gijon Polidor, Felix Adler and Chesty Mortimer and Paul Wentzel poking their heads up in the back.

If you look between Chesty and Felix there are two men; one a whiteface, the other a man without makeup but wearing an auguste-fleshed bald top wig with yak hair out the sides. This may be Lou Jacobs but it's hard to tell as he's so far away from the camera.

Bumpsy Anthony

All I know about Bumpsy is what I've read. In addition to the material below I know that he was married to one of the Hanna triplets and that at some point in the late 60s he went down to Venice in the to speak to someone about the possibility of re-joining the Ringling show. When he found out what they were paying he turned on his heel and left. So much for the popular story that Irvin Feld had searched all across the country but couldn't find enough clowns left anywhere for his new second unit so he had to open Clown College. I guess then, like today, the pros would just prefer to work the Shrine circuit where they earn a lot more money and work a much less hectic schedule.

He is also mis-identified on page 37 of Charles Meyer's HOW TO BE A CLOWN as Levoie Hipps.



From the ICHOF website:

George "Bumpsy Anthony" Hulme left home to join the circus at the age of 16, and for 62 years worked on various shows including Hamid, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, Tom Mix, Sells Floto, Clyde Beatty, the Robbins Brothers, Hoxie, Walter L. Main, the Keith Brothers, Hagenback-Wallace, Howe's Great London Shows, Sparks, and Cole Bros.

He wore a baggy suit with low cut neckline and continued the lines of his unique make-up design down his neck to accentuate his long neck. An acrobatic clown, he performed a table rock act. One of his trademarks was carrying a long knotted rope which would get tangled on objects causing him to do a pratfall.
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From Bill Strong's YESTERDAY'S TOWNS blog:

Bumpsy was one of a kind, he was on the Hamid Show for awhile. He and Dime did a surveyer gag where Dime would stand in the ring with a prop surveyer's transient, and Bumpsy would take a roll of toilet paper into the seats and have someone hold the end. Then Dime would direct him through the seats, and I'm sure you know where this is going. Once they had the whole section covered Dime and Bumpsy would just walk off the floor. I can see the building people allowing that now.

http://yesterdaystowns.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_yesterdaystowns_archive.html

Hagenbeck-Wallace Alley

What I believe to be the Hagenbeck-Wallace alley of the 20s or 30s in a publicty shot for an unknown film. If you look in the lower left you'll find a very young Glen "Kinko" Sunberry.

Spader Johnson

A turn of the century photo of Barnum & Bailey alley great Spader Johnson, widely known in his day as "The King of the Clowns", remembered for Barber Shop Gag which brought him to prominence in the last decades of the 19th century.

On the Barnum & Bailey European tour (1898 to 1902) he apparently performed with an elephant named Mary:

Display 5: "Children´s Number. Five Concurrent Exhibitions of many Cleverly Trained Animals. This was Spader Johnson in ring 1 with baby elephant "Mary", Capt. Wills with seals at stage 1, Misko with a horse and dog act in the middle ring, Charles White with pigmy goats at stage 2 and Harry Wentworth with educated pigs at ring 3.

Toto

Longtime star clown of the NY Hippodrome and brief film star,"Toto" distributes cardboard Easter bunnies packed with lollipops from W.T. Grant Company. This event was held in the 2nd floor playroom at U W Children's Orthopedic hospital, 436 N. Randall Street March 18, 1932.

Gijon Polidor

Possibly the greatest circus clown of the "Golden Age" that no one has ever heard of, Gijon Polidor. Like Bluch Landolf, finding information on Polidor is harder than licking your elbow.

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For more on the Polidor story we turn to correspondent Robin Estes:

I believe Polidor's real name was Eadward Guilliaume. He clowned for Ringling in the '20's, '30's and '40's. He died, tragically, in the '50's (maybe about 1956). Also, I believe he was from Cuba.

And forwards this info from Tim Tegge:

Apparently he worked in a very freelance style and mocked everything happening around him, including himself. He did the boxing gag with Lou Jacobs, Billy DeNeero and a tumbler, Charles Siegrist at various times (this comes from references in Fred Bradna's book).

Polidor's make-up was indeed a unique one, which underwent only minor alterations only throughout his career. In the mid-1930's, Ringling Barnum artists used his likeness on a lithograph. Johnny Meah has done extensive research on Polidor's life, with intentions of writing a book. GiGi and I have read some of the work in progress some time ago and it is a fascinating story.

-Tim Tegge

Cole Bros. Alley

Here we have a photo from the Cole Bros. alley in what appears to be the early to mid-40s. Those I can identify from left to right are Freddie Freeman, Horace Laird, Dick "Roscoe" Lewis down front in his very Lou Jacobs inspired makeup and Boss Clown Otto Griebling (sans any nose putty) on the right.

1934 Ringling Alley

A group shot of some of the Ringling alley of 1934. 2nd from the left in the back row we see Lou Jacobs celebrating his 5th year on the road. His makeup has come together but the proportions will continue to be fine tuned, the headpiece will be added, the costume will come together and it will continue to be honed until it becomes the classic look we've all come to love.

Charlie Bell is in the center of the back row, surrounded by a group of other guys who look like they all shop for striped shirts at the same place.

On the far left in the center row we find Chesty Mortimer looking like he's in deep meditation or something. 2nd from the right in that same row we find Felix Adler, King of Clowns, who looks like he's about to be crowned with a clarinet by a member of the Charlie Bell Mob.

Card Game

Now it's WiFi, MySpace, video games, satellite TV, iPods and cellphones but back in the early half of the 1950s it looks like all the alley had to pass the time was a game of cards. In the crowd we see Emmett (front and center) Kelly, Otto Griebling, Felix Adler, the Hanlons, Charlie Bell, Freddie Freeman and Prince Paul.

Jack La Pearl

Jack La Pearl, who I don't know anything about...but Robin Estes forwarded this remebrance from Timothy Noel Tegge...

"Jack was a close friend of my dad. They trouped together on Howard Suesz's "HAGEN BROS. CIRCUS" back in the late 1950's. At that time, my dad was spending his vacations away from his towner job on the road with the show, clowning. The Hagen show came and went before I was old enough to know much about it. I have some pretty good 8mm film that my dad shot around the show and included in its content are a few shots of Jack.As a kid of maybe seven or eight years old, I remember my dad and I driving out many times to visit Jack and his wife at their home, somewhere outside of Chicago (for some reason Wheaton, Illinois rings a bell). By this time (about 1964-ish), Jack had pretty much retired and was staying in one place, clowning a date here and there and agenting for the MILLS BROS. CIRCUS, as well as Suesz's indoor CLYDE BROS. CIRCUS when they would hit the Chicagoland area.How well I remember listening to their conversations about circusing and clowning. Often times we would plan our visits on the same night that Don Ameche's TV show "International Showtime" aired... all of us huddled around the TV like schoolgirls watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan! Whenever the clown numbers would come on Jack would begin reminiscing about the various gags he had done over the years. It was just great.And, even as a kid, I knew well enough to take it all in.Jack clowned on a few of my family's first circus dates when we started our show. Believe it or not, I actually had the chance to work with him in a couple of gags. He seemed to get such a kick out of the fact that I was so into what I was doing. I don't really remember a lot of details, as it was so long ago, but I do remember him as being a pretty down-to-earth character that really loved the circus and clowning. —Tim Tegge"

Charlie Franks

Another clown cop, Charlie Franks, from a blow up of a photo taken at the 1952 Hamid-produced circus at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ. His Chalinesque makeup reminds me of Doug Ashton, Mark Stolzenberg and Kochmanski. Bill Strong (who supplied the photo) tells me he did the eggs from the mouth bit for a walkaround and was still working up until a few years ago.

Chuck Burnes

Chuck Burnes who spent several seasons on Ringling, several years on ice shows and now runs Periwinkle Productions out on the Left Coast. He's a regular contributor to Circus Report and his son Chipper is a successful variety entertainer.

Cage Wagon

Here's a photo that raises a few questions. Here we find, seated atop a cage wagon, (from left to right) Unknown, Paul Wentzel, Felix Adler, Jack LeClair, Lou Jacob (before he added the "s"), Unknown (possibly Shorty Flemm?) and Paul Jerome.

OK, what do we know from looking at this picture? It was most likely taken after 1937 as Jack LeClair has changed his makeup and Paul Jerome is no longer wearing his whiteface. Is it a photo from spec? I don't know. Why would the clowns be riding a cage wagon during spec? Is it from a street parade? Could be. There is a Ringling "Wait" poster behind them. But why would they be in a street parade after 1937 and why would there be that striped sidewall behind them? Indoors, outdoors, possibly just a photo op? I don't know. Anyone have any more info or insight into this one?
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QUESTION ANSWERED!

This just in from Domic Yodice:

Hi Pat,

I tried to comment on your blog and I didn't want to set up a blog for myself in order to comment on yours. I am trying the email route. I don't know if the one I sent earlier went through or not so I will try this way.

Cage photo:
This photo is from 1943. The first display in the 1943 program for Ringling was a recreation of the old time street parade. It was called "Hold your horses....".
They used about 5 or 6 cages with two and four horse hitches and a couple with elephant hitches. Also included was the new Liberty Bandwagon with a 6 horse hitch and a few assorted small vehicles and riders. The posters were set up around the Garden and Big Top to give it an old time circus parade down Main St. USA atmosphere.

The cage the clowns are on was # 73 pygmy hippo cage pulled by a four horse hitch. Joe Bradbury covered this in his terrific series on Ringling in the White Tops many years ago. There is even a photo of the cage and hitch with the clowns in almost the same position as your photo.

I hope this helps to answer your questions. Good luck with the blog.
Best regards,
Dom

Thank you Dom!!!

Lou Jacobs' Car Gag

The heavily edited presentation of Lou Jacobs classic clown car gag as it appears in Cecil B. DeMille's film, The Greatest Show on Earth.

The Rastellis

Footage of the Rastellis from what appears to be the 1950s.

Jackie LeClaire/Keith Crary

ICHOF inductee Jackie Le Claire early in his career before he'd settled on his trademark whiteface makeup or his stage name.

This early version of his makeup makes me wonder if he ever showed these pictures to early Ringling Clown College graduate Keith Crary? Keith was always very classic in his makeup and his costumes and was one of my favorite whitefaces as a kid seeing the circus at Madison Square Garden. A Ringling billboard featuring Keith stood unchanged in my town for YEARS before it was replaced.

Irv Romig

ICHOF inductee Irv "Ricky the Clown" Romig in and out of makeup. A veteran of many shows, he enjoyed a 22 year association with the Shrine Circus and 12 years as a Detroit area kid show legend becoming WXYZ's favorite TV clown. His comedy mule act appears in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth.