LIUZHOU, CHINA: Alive from Stage Five

Which brings us to the last of the stage lineups from Liuzhou, China's Happy Liuzhou International Clown Festival: Stage 5


Stage 5

El Magnifico
David Engel and Hilary Chaplain

The Hello Show
Peter Straus and Brian McNelis

Bizzurkus
Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone

FELIX ADLER: The White House Clown

Emboldened after a day in Orlando at Disney with the family and a two hour phone call with Rik Gern about clowning I'm going to take yet another break from posting Liuzhou photos and instead post this historical photo of Ringling clown Felix Adler, often called "The White House Clown" for the number of times he was photographed with American Presidents and/or their families.

Here is "Funny Felix" with "Sistie" and "Buzzie" Dall (don't you just love the "pet names" that the rich and powerful give to their offspring?), the grandchildren of President and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They "enjoyed at day at the show" and are seen here with George Harmon (little person), Felix Adler and Peter Marold.

I know. There are three children and a grown-up in this photo "with the clowns". "Is the woman in the photo a Roosevelt or a baby-sitter"? I don't know. "Which of these three children hasn't yet received an affluent nickname"? I'd suppose the youngest but I really don't know.

I'm just suprised to be able to provide proof positive that supports Felix's claim to being "The White House Clown"...

LOU JACOBS: Lou & Pee Wee

A photo that I found in an auction currently on eBay of Lou & Pee Wee, the dog Lou had after his longtime friend and comedy partner, Knucklehead.

Click the title of this post to view the auction.

LIUZHOU, CHINA: The Roar from Stage Four

The powerful lineup of performers at Stage Four of the Happy Liuzhou International Clown Festival...


Peter Panic

Lauren Muney and Michael Menes

Greg Frisbee

Cheryl Schruefer & Michael Saab (Bubble Boy Danger Show)

Tak

LIUZHOU, CHINA: The Melee at Stage Three

The talented cast of performers from Stage Three of the Happy Liuzhou International Clown Festival at Long Tan Park in Liuzhou, China...

Stage Three

The Martian Brothers

Chris, Gina and Hunter Allison

Festival Organizer Extraordinarie: Brenn Swanson

Ron "Toto" Johnson

Kevin Brown

Eric "EZ" Zander

MYSTERY CLOWN: Substitute Ringmaster

I'm in Orlando with the family and staying at the beautiful Marriot Cypress Harbor resort right around the corner from Sea World. I'll get back to the Liuzhou festival photos tomorrow, I PROMISE and then it's right back to posting classic videos.

As for today's photo: Many Ringling clowns have acted as substitute Ringmasters on the show over the years. Duane "Uncle Soapy" Thorpe did it for many years during the North era. How many of you can identify the former Ringling clown in this photo? Hint: He was in Liuzhou AND works here in Orlando...

RINGLING RED ALLEY AND HAMID SHOW: Thank You!

Thanks go out to the Ringling Red Unit Alley, especially Leo, Kelly and Alan for showing my son Shane and I a really wonderful time with a nice long post-show conversation in the Alley. Thanks for the homecoming!

We left the Red Show in Trenton, NJ and headed over to Plymouth Meeting, PA to catch the Hamid show where Shane played with all the show kids while I visited with friends and shared stories about the trip to China. Everyone there raved about how Greg and Karen DeSanto KILLED in Springfield.

I leave for Orlando at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning and hope to get to see Todd Zimmerman, Thom Wheaton, Kirk Marsh and maybe Brian Weckerly while I'm there.

Oh, by the way, the above photo comes from Gary Peare and is of Mike Coco, his son, Coconut and Bobby Kay doing a LA area hospital visit to promote the Ringling show July 31, 1970. It has nothing really to do with what I've posted but it's a really great photo!

WE INTERUPT THE LIUZHOU PHOTOS...

To ask this important question: Can anyone positively identify this clown from the Tom Mix Show?

LIUZHOU, CHINA: Stage One

Stage One AKA The Traditional Stage AKA Woodstock/Led Zeppelin Stage List of Performers...

The Troubadors:
Greg May & Sean Fagan

Clowns Without Bearings:
Ted Lawrence, Chris Grabher & Chris Shelton

Supersonic Hypercool Awesome Clown Show:
Matthew Duncan, Brian Foley & Erin Schmahl

LIUZHOU, CHINA: More from Stage Two

Here are more Stage Two photos from the Happy Liuzhou International Clown Festival in Liuzhou, China...


Stage Two in the final stages of construction and decoration.

Stage Two fully completed and being rocked by Thom Wheaton (reaching for hat), Jesse Dryden (holding ladder on left) and Todd Zimmerman (holding ladder on right) who KILLED with a 40 minute trio show of amazing circus skills and really well-planned and executed slapstick.

Backstage Stage Two with Jason T. Stewart (foreground), Gary Spear (left) and Mike Smith (right). This picture gives no indication of the frequently hectic backstage pace but all three teams got along famously and jelled into a great "Alley" back in the dressing rooms.

LIUZHOU, CHINA: The Stage Two Crew

As CLOWNALLEY.NET's 800th post, here are the first of a series of photos from what was surely the largest international clown event in history, The Happy Liuzhou International Clown Festival in Liuzhou, China. The performers on Stage Two (the "Water Stage") were...



Todd Zimmerman (back to camera), Jesse Dryden (holding ladder) and Thom Wheaton (on ladder).



Jason T. Stewart (back to camera) and Mike Smith were a huge hit performing the classic Washer Woman Gag in their own style.



Andrew Scharff, Pat Cashin and Gary Spear. A guy couldn't ask for two better partners.

DOUG ASHTON: Royale Super Circus

Notoriously eccentric, Doug Ashton's Chaplinesque clown character is widely regarded to be one of the funniest ever to appear with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He also appeared on several Shrine circuses and enjoyed a long run at Knott's Berry Farm while here in the States.

He appears in this clip with "His Gal Sal" (his beautiful and talented wife Sally) from Royale Super Circus in his native Australia.

Doug Ashton and Michael Karp both joined Ringling at about the same time that Freddie Freeman retired. Doug Ashton's makeup and costume were very different in '66 and '67 from what his character evolved into. I wonder if there was any conscious "passing of the torch" from Freddie to Michael and Dougie?

JACKIE LE CLAIRE: Happy 80th Birthday!

Larry H. writes in to tell me that congratulations are in order. According to his records former Ringling great (and according to some sources the STAR clown of the Ringling European tour), International Clown Hall of Fame inductee and current Circus Sarasota "Ambassador of Mirth" Mr. Jackie LeClaire turns 80 years young today.

Very happy returns of the day, Mr. LeClaire. Your friendship throughout the last 10 years has helped me immeasurably and your impressive body of work (and that of your father) continue to serve as an inspiration to the next generation of clowns.

And to think, we started corresponding because you were amazed that anyone in that Clown College class of '97 knew who Chesty Mortimer was ; )

Happy Birthday, Jackie!

CIRQUE BOUGLIONE: The Bird Entree

Here it is again: The Bird Entree.

I'm not sure who this is performing it. They do a masterful job with the material but it's still not my favorite routine. I've got one more version around here somewhere that I have to track down and post here for comparison.

HOME AGAIN!

I'm finally home again after the enormous Happy Liuzhou International Clown Festival in Liuzhou, China.

I'll post some photos and some video from the festival in a few days, after I've had time to decompress. Right now my son Shane and I are going to see Spiderman 3.

Until then, here is a link to some photos and thoughts from an Englishman working in Liuzhou that we met and befriended while we were there...

http://liuzhou.blog-city.com/

And here are some of the local media photos...

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a268/Liuzhou/clowns/

WALTER GALETTI: Cirque Bouglione

Sorry, it's EXTREMELY hard use blogger from China.

Enjoy!

CHARLIE CAIROLI & CO. : Cirque Bouglione

I don't have a lot of time, I have to catch a plane. This clip will have to speak for itself.

I'm hoping that John Cooper will be so kind as to fill us in with some more information on this one.

BARRY LUBIN: Circus Krone

Photos courtesy of Don Covington (via aucirque.com)






Photos from American clown Barry "Grandma" Lubin's recent triumphant run on Germany's Circus Krone.

Go granny, go granny, go granny, go!

CALLING ALL CLOWNS!

I leave today for an large international clown festival in Liuzhou, China where I'm thrilled at the opportunity to work alongside (and get to watch) dozens of talented performers from around the globe. I will try to keep updating The Alley while I'm away.

As an appropriate parting gift, here is Millie Schofield's portrait of Beatty-Cole's Bernie Kallman, entitled "Calling All Clowns".

To link to Ms. Schofield's eBay site, please click the title of this post.

CLOWN ALLEY: Ringling at the Garden 1920s?

A photo that looks to have been taken at the old Madison Square Garden, probably in the 20s, at a PR event with "non traditionally or differently-abled" children. The ringmaster at right looks to be the legendary Fred Bradna and I'm not sure but the little clown on the left looks to be a very young Frankie Saluto.

LES FRANCESCOS: Military Entree

Paul Jung wasn't the only clown with an Army Gag way back when. Even though his was VERY widely imitated in America, this one is entirely different and doesn't seem to reference it at all. I do have to say that, as good as this one is, I think Jung's had a MUCH better blow-off. The alien/boogeyman just doesn't compare with loading Prince Paul into a canon and firing him up into the rafters.

One day I'd like to take Jung's gag. this one, Abbott and Costello's and the one Joe Besser did in Olsen & Johnson's show SONS O' FUN and combine them with new material to create an "ultimate" military style gag.

But then, how would I do it when most producers never hire more than one clown anymore?

And does anyone know if Francesco, who is back in France recovering from a surgery while his son covers for him on Big Apple, is related to these Francescos?

Anyone know how Francesco is doing? I'm hoping that he's doing well and will be able to return by the end of the season.

GOLDEN NOSE AWARDS

NEW YORK DOWNTOWN CLOWN
GOLDEN NOSE AWARDS

New York Downtown Clown is proud to present the ONLY Clown Awards Show in North America- The New York Downtown Clown Golden Nose Awards.

This first-annual event will honor Clown Excellence from performances of the New York Downtown Clown Monthly Revue’s inaugural year. In addition to the awards presented, the evening will include performances by nominees, dance numbers, door prizes, red carpet, and audience participation games with prizes. The show will also feature Clown Superstar Presenters, including Barry Lubin (Grandma- Big Apple Circus) and Hovey Burgess (The Father of the New Circus Movement). The Golden Nose Award Statues will be designed and created by Clown Nose/Mask Maker, Stanley Allan Sherman (creator of the WWF Mankind Mask).

Dress: Formal Attire- Noses Optional

The Categories and Nominees for the 2007 New York Downtown Clown Golden Nose Awards are:

Audience Choice Best Clown:
Brent McCoy
Hilary Chaplain
Mark Gindick
Poofy Du Vey

Audience Choice Best Clown Piece:
Classically Trained by Hilary Chaplain
Glamourpuss by Kendall Cornell
Super Nova by Mark Gindick
Jeff Seal and His Big Red Ball by Jeff Seal

Clown of The Year:
Eric Davis
Hilary Chaplain
Joel Jeske
Kendall Cornell

The Producers of Slava’s Snowshow (David Foster and Ross Mollison) will receive the Clown Achievement of The Year Award for running the show for two record breaking years off-Broadway.

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE SHOW

This is the First Clown Awards Show in NYC and the only one in North America.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Well' the only one CURRENTLY in America.

For more on the New York Downtown Clown Monthly Revue, please click the title of this post.

CHRISTOPHER "HOOT" HUDERT

A great clown, a great puppeteer and a great dinner conversationalist, Mr. Christopher "Hoot" Hudert on the Ringling Red Unit during Gunther Gebel Williams' Farewell Tour.

For more on Mr. Hudert and his company APPLAUSE UNLIMITED, please click on the title of this post.

CHAZ CHASE: Cirque Bouglione

After a long career in vaudeville Chaz Chase sort of dropped out of sight in the 1940s, only to re-emerge in the 1950s as a sought-after guest on many television variety programs.

This mid-60s clip tells us that he was working in European circus during that time and I've recently found out that his final two appearances were on Late Night with David Letterman shortly before his death in 1983.

THE SLIVERS OAKLEY PROJECT

It's time to get moving on something that Tom Dougherty had suggested when I saw him a few months ago...

Frank "Slivers" Oakley, the single greatest and most influential American circus clown of his generation, has been languishing in an unmarked grave in NYC for almost 100 years now and it's high time someone gave the man a marker befitting his enormous contributions to American circus clowning.

That someone really should be us.

So I throw this open to the floor: Does anyone have any suggestions on how to best raise the funds necessary to get Slivers a really world class monument?

I'm open to any and all suggestions on this one.

If this project is successful there are two far more cheerful and less expensive ones that I'd like to embark on before year's end.

GIJON POLIDOR

After the era of Slivers Oakley, Spader Johnson, Al Maico and Buck Baker guys like Bluch Landolf, Paul Wenzel, Jack LeClair, Felix Adler and this man, Gijon Polidor, were central to the Ringling Alley before the well known JRN-era Alley lead by Lou Jacobs, Emmett Kelly, Paul Jung, Paul Jerome and Otto Griebling.

Here we see Gijon (I've been told he was Belgian despite the "French Funny Face" of his signature) as one of the three classic elements of good circus promotion: Funny Clowns, Pretty Girls and Elephants.

Sadly, this photograph couldn't be taken in Connecticut today.

COMEDY CAR ACT

I'm hoping some of the European folks could help me out with the name of this act? It's from a 1960s French video and I can't make out the performers' names from the introduction.

WILLIE, WEST & McGINTY: Plastered (1930)

The greatest knockabout comedy act in the history of vaudeville, Willie, West & McGinty in their Paramount short PLASTERED from 1930.

Irvin Feld missed a very narrow window of opportunity in the late 60s to recreate this act when the Ringling circus featured three clowns who would have been dead ringers for WW&M, Michael Karp, Doug Ashton and Freddie Freeman.

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.

AVNER THE ECCENTRIC: Exceptions to Gravity Promo Video

The promo video for Avner's show EXCEPTIONS TO GRAVITY.

It strikes me that Avner's show is actually closer to what people are trying to describe when they talk about the "New Vaudeville" performances of Bill Irwin. Irwin's shows are uniformly brilliant, but I think owe more to the Commedia tradition and silent film comedy than to vaudeville.

There are bits and pieces that bring to mind previous vaudevillians such as W.C. Fields, Chaz Chase, George Carl and many others but they are all being channeled through Avner's unique and very distinct persona and style and morphed into something original and new.

Avner could be working today, tomorrow or 90 years ago, anywhere on earth, and would still be considered a legendary vaudeville comedian.

PAUL LOPEZ: Hat & Broom Gag

Here's Paul Lopez, a very talented young clown that I worked with last season on Mike Naughton's Yankee Doodle Circus, performing Giovanni "Nino" Zoppe's hat and broom routine on the Zoppe Family Circus in Racine Wisconsin in the summer of 2006.

Gordoon taught the chair gag to me, I taught it to Paul.

And the virus spreads...

AVNER THE ECCENTRIC and MARK JASTER Tonight in Frederick, MD!!!

Two of the most respected masters of contemporary American "New Vaudeville" stage clowning are appearing together tonight at the Weinberg Center in Frederick, MD. If you missed out on seeing Gordoon and Drew the Dramatic Fool in Pittsburgh on April 10th, this is a good way to begin to deal with your immense sorrow and loss.

This one is not to be missed.

Click on the title of this post for more information.

AL MIACO: Out of Makeup

Turn of the century American circus clowning legend, Al Miaco out of makeup.

ONIONHEAD

A slideshow featuring Robert "Onionhead" Dunn, a longtime fixture on the UniverSoul Circus.

CLASSIC GAGS: The Chair Gag

For those out there who are unfamiliar with the Chair Gag (and I can't believe there are many of you) here it is, done pretty well, save for the whistle. I'm not sure of the clown or the show.

I was always afraid to do this one because I was worried one of the volunteers would drop to the floor. Jeff "Gordoon" Gordon was kind enough to teach me the gag in all of about 5 minutes and I've used it (without incident) when needed ever since.

Once, when we needed to cover some time, I stretched this gag to the breaking point and got 12 minutes out of it by using virtually every audience volunteer bit I'd ever seen or thought of. It worked out well but I wouldn't want to do it that way every night.

EMMETT KELLY: Emmett Smiles

There are A LOT of silly mistruths about Emmett Kelly that are obviously false but have nonetheless have repeated for so long that it's hard to believe that they are still being circulated on the clown convention circuit and by lazy newspaper reporters, but they are.

One is that Emmett Kelly always added a little black tear in the corner of his eye to his makeup after the tragic 1944 circus fire in Hartford. Oh yeah? Then why doesn't this legendary "little black tear" appear in any one of the six billion photos of Emmett taken in the years after? Does it appear in the films THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH or in his movie THE CLOWN AND THE KIDS? No, it does not. Next time someone tells you that one slap them hard for me.

Another is that Emmett never smiled in makeup and was never photographed that way.

See above, which looks staged but was reportedly taken when Emmett heard the news of the birth of his daughter, Stasia during his tenure as mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

And another one bites the dust.

The funniest of all, I recently had a Shrine clown tell me WITH A STRAIGHT FACE that Emmett, knowing that he was dying, went to the doctor to see if there wasn't something to cure his growing depression. "Go to the circus and see Emmett Kelly, the famous clown. He's the funniest man in the whole world. He is sure to cheer you up." "But doc" said Emmett. "I am Emmett Kelly. Who is there to cheer me up?"

First of all, I've read this story in print in just about every book on clowning or circus that I've ever opened and it's never attributed to the same clown twice. I've heard that it was Grimaldi. I've heard that it was Grock. I've heard that it was Chaplin.

It's not a true story.

Second of all, Emmett hadn't worked steadily in circus for more than 20 years before he died. It had been quite a long time since Emmett had been a full-time circus clown that people expected to see at ANY circus, much less Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey (the one he is most associated with in the minds of the American public) which hadn't played Sarasota in many years.

Third of all, Emmett died suddenly of a massive heart attack while taking out the garbage at his home in Sarasota, FL. Even if he did realize that he was having a fatal heart attack and was consumed with depression at the thought of immenently facing his own mortality AND had the good fortune to meet a doctor somewhere in the middle of his own driveway on his way to the curb...WHAT DOCTOR WOULDN'T KNOW THE NAME OF HIS PATIENT?!? WHAT DOCTOR IN THE CIRCUS COMMUNITY OF SARASOTA FLORIDA WOULDN'T KNOW THAT HE WAS TREATING THE FAMOUS EMMETT KELLY?!?

And, of course, what kind of a respectable doctor keeps regular office hours outdoors in someone else's driveway? Much less that of a semi-retired circus clown? Even if it was just a walk-in clinic, what kind of money is there in something like that?

Fourth, what would stop Emmett from laughing at any one of thousands of comedians on film, on television on radio, on cassette tape, 8 track or LP or even opening the newspaper to the comics page? But because Emmett was a circus clown the assumption is that he could only be made to laugh by OTHER circus clowns?!? And that no clown was ever funny enough to make Emmett himself laugh?

This one is really beyond dumb. If someone tells you THAT one, slap them REALLY hard for me.

DAVID LARIBLE: Scarf Juggling Ballet

Closing out this week of Larible videos, here's David's scarf juggling ballet from Circus Massimo in 2002. Also in this clip is a fairly amazing rola bola act but we don't care about that, do we? No we most ceratinly do not. Not here.

They aren't posting Otto Griebling or David Shiner clips on rola bola blogs, are they?

BILLY VAUGHN: With Katie and Magaret Naughton

Photo courtesy of Mike Naughton



One of the truly great American circus clowns of recent times, Billy Vaughn, with Mike Naughton's daughters Katie (l) and Margaret (r). I hope to be able to post some video that I just got of Mr. Vaughn (auguste) teamed with Mike Snider (whiteface) working together on the Vidbel show next week.

DAVID LARIBLE: More From David

More of David Larible from Circus Massimo in 2002.

I'm glad that someone else compared Larible with Oleg Popov yesterday. I've always found him extremely "Popovian" (?) but he's overcompensating for one of Oleg Popov's biggest character defects: David smiles almost constantly, from what I've seen Popov almost never smiles in the ring unless he's doing something to someone else.

He doesn't smile when he enters.

He doesn't smile when he leaves.

He only smiles when he being "clever".

Which strikes me as a strange approach for a clown to affect. I've seen several versions of his famous Juggling Cook routine, recorded over a period of decades, but it always seems to be presented with an air as if Popov is doing the audience a favor by allowing them to bask in his particular genius.

But, he's a legend.

It may just be that I don't know enough about Russian comedy, Soviet circus history or the intricacies of their politics to get some subtext that would snap Oleg Popov into better focus for me.