Friday, January 11, 2008

MONTE CARLO 2008: The Martini Family

Photos courtesy of Raffaele de Ritis




Ask and you shall receive...

From Raffaele de Ritis

The Martini are a relatively recent classic musical entree from the French family Massot. I think it exists after no more than 7 years or so. David, the auguste at the left of the picture, is also a nice reprise clown.

Not to be confused with the Martini-Llata, a Spanish musical entree from the late 70s.


Thursday, January 10, 2008

MONTE CARLO 2008



The 32nd annual Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo will take place January 17th - 27th, 2008 and Raffaele de Ritis was kind enough to send me information on the comedy acts in this year's competition.

There is one more act listed, the Martini Family of musical clowns, about which I have not been able to find any information.

MONTE CARLO 2008: Barry "Grandma" Lubin





To watch video of Mr. Lubin receiving the 2007 Lou Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award please click the title of this post.

MONTE CARLO 2008: Donimo



Learn more about Donimo by clicking the title of this post.

MONTE CARLO 2008: Scott and Muriel



Learn more about Scott and Muriel by clicking the title of this post.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

CHARLIE RIVEL: Maria Callas Entree; Eurovision Song Contest, 1973



Charlie Rivel as "Carlotta Rivelo" assisted by his son Juanito (of the Charlivels) during an interval at the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest.


From Raffaele de Ritis...

It's great to share such a gem. The straight man is Juanito and yes, he was one of the Chalrivels. They were one of the greatest act ever.

This "diva" act was the entree Charlie performed the most when he started to work as a soloist, after WWII.


CHUCK SIDLOW NEWS!




I saw this posted the other day on The Clown College onelist and thought that it was important to share with everyone.


From Cowboy Mike Keever...


Calling all clowns who care...that we are very lucky to have one of our best American Circus Clowns still with us.

Chuck Sidlow and his lovely wife Noriko were driving home from work late on New Year's Eve when their car was struck head on by a drunk driver.

We all love Chuck. He has touched so many lives. I have never known anyone who ever met Chuck to ever say (even many years later)..."Chuck, Chucko, Chuck Sidlow...no I don't remember him." Chuck is truly one of a kind. "Unbrerievable!" Thank God they are home, but they are banged up and bruised and of course pretty shook up. I spoke with him tonight.

I would like to ask as many of you as I am sending this out to...to please send Chuck (& Noriko) a card, a whoopie cushion, a coloring book & crayons, a goofy toy, a gag gift, some candy, a copy of an old photo would be great!!!!!! Send him some money if you want.... this is going to be a costly recovery I am sure!

Mostly though....let's all give him a big hug, as our friend Mr. Steve Smith would so lovingly say!!!!! Let's let this X-tra Special friend of ours know that we love him and are glad that he's still here!!!!!!!
I don't know if he wants me to give out his address so let's do it this way....please send your cards and gifts ASAP to...


Chuck Sidlow
c/o Circus Sarasota
8251 15th St. E Suite B
Sarasota, FL 34243




Tuesday, January 08, 2008

COCO & CO. : Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia, Circa 1940s



Nicolai "Coco" Poliakoff and friends (including Percy Huxter, The Francescos and Alby Austin) at the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia, circa 1940s.

COCO'S CRAZY COLORISTS: Coco & Co. Ringling 1961



Michael "Coco" Polakovs performing COCO'S CRAZY COLORISTS on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus 1961.

COCO'S CRAZY COLORISTS: Coco & Co. Sarasota Showfolks Circus 1983



Michael "Coco" Polakovs and Co. performing COCO'S CRAZY COLORISTS at Robarts Arena (3000 Ringling Blvd.) as part of the 1983 edition of the Showfolks Circus in Sarasota, FL.

COCO'S CRAZY COLORISTS: Coco Jr, 1980s



Coco Jr. (Graham Coco? Graham's son?) on what looks like Allan C. Hill's Great American Circus in the 1980s.

Making this possibly the last great clown gag to appear in a three ring tented American circus.

Monday, January 07, 2008

GREG DESANTO: More on Recreating Coco's Crazy Colorists on Ringling, 1988/89

Photos courtesy of Greg DeSanto


Kevin "Nasty" Thompson giving Greg DeSanto a face full of soap.


Future Blue Unit Boss Clown Jeff Schott, future Amazing Race contestant Al Rios and Greg DeSanto.

NY GOOFS Winter Workshop and Intensive



The NY Goofs

present

Winter Workshop Southwest: Dallas, TX February 1-3, 2008
Winter Intensive NYC: New York, NY February 15-17, 2008


Details for New York:
February 15-17, 2008
with
Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley
joined by Jeff Gordon (le Clown Gordoon)
Seth Bloom & Christina Gelsone (Full Bloom Theatre)

Jeff Gordon has been performing as a clown for nearly 30 years. He has performed all over the world, including serious stints under the tent of the Big Apple Circus; on Broadway with Bill Irwin; as a member of the Big Apple Clown Care unit in hospitals all over New York City, on cruise ships, and in movies, theatres, and other venues. Utilizing circus skills, audience participation, improvisation and puppetry, Gordoon brings joy and laughter to all of his audience members. His one man show is called Fools Foolin', and finishes with his signature act, where the clown blows billowing rolls of toilet paper high up into the air with the use of a powerful leafblower. This act has since been appropriated by many clowns all over the world.

Seth Bloom is the co-creator of The Acrobuffos, founder of Full Bloom Theatre, co-founder of Split Knuckle Theatre, and the International Artistic Director for the Mobile Mini Circus for Children, headquartered in Kabul, Afghanistan. Seth brings to his expertise his education at the London International School of Performing Arts (MFA), the Dell' Arte School of Physical Theatre, Wesleyan University, and the Ringling Brothers Clown College (BFA--bachelor of fun arts). He has worked--performing, directing, and/or teaching-- in Afghanistan, Argentina, Japan, Canada, China, England, Romania, Scotland, and the USA.

Christina Gelsone is the co-creator of The Acrobuffos, co-founder of Fool's Academy, and a member of Bond Street Theater. As a non-verbal clown and street performer, Christina has performed in festivals in Singapore, Albania, Scotland, Japan, Holland, France, Venezuela, Portugal, and Greece. She has performed and taught extensively in areas of post-conflict, including Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, and Afghanistan. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the Dell' Arte School of Physical Theatre and is a former faculty member of Adelphi University.


Details for Dallas TX:
February 1-3, 2008
Dick Monday & Tiffany Riley
joined by Jeff Smithson direct from the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut!

His bio:
Jeff Smithson plays for life. He has brought Improv to business professionals through corporate coaching with Performance of a Lifetime, and performed with both the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Program and the NY Goofs in over a dozen hospitals and on a multitude of stages over the past 10 years. With a B.A. in Religion and certificates from Ringling Clown College and Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater, Jeff integrates compassion and creativity into each moment. He has run various workshops for Health Care Professionals including the first New England Child Life Professionals Conference and various Hospice and Caregivers Retreats. Jeff supervises the Central New England portion of The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp’s Hospital Outreach Program. He currently resides with his wife and 16-pound cat in Connecticut.

Both workshops will be Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Feel free to reply to this email with any questions you may have! Or check our website for details:
www.nygoofs.com
phone: 212.591.0028

Thanks for supporting The NY Goofs and Slappy & Monday's Foundation for Laughter! And please feel free to pass this info along to anyone you think might benefit!

To visit the NY goofs website, please click the title of this post.


Sunday, January 06, 2008

SUNDAY MORNING ART GALLERY: Walter Galetti




A TALE OF TWO COCOS


Nicolai "Coco" Poliakoff, star of the Betram Mills Circus and father of Michael and Sascha. Michael left for the United States, first with the Mills Bros. Circus and then with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey before setting out on his own.

Sacha stayed in the UK and adopted his father's makeup and costume appearing as "Coco II" or "Sacha Coco".



Michael "Coco" Polikov, star of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and designer of the makeup and costume of the internationallly known fast food mascot Ronald McDonald. Michael came to America and began a clowning dynasty of his own as his son Graham and several other family members have appeared in the States as "Coco".

GREG DESANTO: Recreating Coco's Crazy Colorists on Ringling, 1988/89

Photo courtesy of Greg DeSanto



That's Greg De Santo on the ladder getting a face full of high pressure water. Nasty Thompson is seen working the water in the base of the statue during the 1988/89 Ringling Blue Show recreation of Mike "Coco" Polikov's painter's gag.

From Greg...

We did the painters gag (in the days before video reference, the only clips we had were about 30 seconds of poor 8 mm footage of Coco & Co.) in 1988-89, the year they saluted 20 years of Clown College. In addition we did the Firehouse, Dentist Chase, Clown Car, and Cable Car (borrowed by Keith Anderson from a South African Ice show bit). The clowns had four Ring Gags in 1 show!

Trolle Rodin(sp?) walked us though the bits of the paint gag. Trolle booked the show all through the 60's and 70's, so he knew Coco and the Britzios versions very well.

The version they had put together at Clown College wasn't working out, and Kenneth was very unhappy with it. Of course all they had to do was call the home office and have them send down the video of the 1969 TV special with the Britizo's doing it and we would have had no problems.

I do remember looking at the music charts that Bill Pruyne handed out to the band for the gag and you could see it read Coco's Paint Gag-1963 on the original papers.

The second year of that tour in Kentucky, Coco came out with his wife and I brought him back to the alley and he was very complementary of our salute to his signature routine.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

NICOLAI "COCO" POLIAKOFF: More Coco



Young Jeremy Soames (aged 3) and his sister Emma (aged 6) are introduced to the world-famous entertainer Coco the Clown at an opening luncheon given by the Bertram Mills Circus. They are accompanied by Viscount Montgomery and cabaret star Connie Moore.




Coco the Clown performs a stunt where he appears to be sitting in a basket on a woman's back. However, the woman is just a dummy.




Coco the Clown and his associates from the Bertram Mills Circus put on a matinee performance for the children from the local hospitals, orphanages and children's homes.



Coco the Clown, the Bertram Mills Circus' world-famous entertainer, paints the face of his son Michael, watched by two of his daughters, Alexandra and Helen.



Coco the clown presents his little grandson, Graham, with a clown's wig which he himself and his son, Michael, both wore when clowning for the first time. The family are hoping that Graham, for whom the wig was a birthday present, will carry on the clowning tradition.

CLOWN ALLEY" Sumo Clown Car

Video courtesy of Super Steve Copeland



From Steve...

"Hey, it was funny on paper."


Friday, January 04, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY!


Happy 29th birthday wishes go out today to my very favorite costumer in the whole wide world, Ms. Mary Derosier!

Mary made costumes for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College for many years, still makes them for several folks and has made all of mine for the last few years including the beautiful Ringmaster jacket that I wore in the photo to the right from New Year's Eve.

If you've seen THE INCREDIBLES, she's like the Edna Mode of American circus clowning : )

She's unbelievably gifted and one of the very nicest people it's ever been my pleasure to know.

Happy birthday, Mary!

NICOLAI "COCO" POLIAKOFF: Bertram Mills Circus


Nicolai Poliakoff OBE, reading his fan mail,


Combing out his flip-top wig,


Putting the finishing touches to his famous face


And entertaining audiences at the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia where he was featured for decades.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

WE LOVE LUCY!

Photo courtesy of Greg DeSanto



Legendary comedianne Lucille Ball accepting an honorary degree from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in this undated photo.

From Greg...

Not quite sure....ran across this in an old unnamed file. It looks like Kenneth Feld presenting Lucy with the diploma on some TV show (Good Morning America?). I've never seen or heard of this before.

Anyone out there have any more information on this one?

PHILIPPE “PIPO” SOSMAN, JR.


Pipo Sosman, Jr. The very picture of a classical white clown and, while extremely underutilized during his time here in America, a great pleasure to watch and study.

The Fool Time Circus blog had the following...

Born and raised in Paris, France, he began clowning at age 14 in Cirque Medrano, working side-by-side with the man who inspired him - his father Gustave Sosman. “A clown does not play a character - a clown is the person himself. I am a perfectionist in everything I do. My father told me, ‘Practise erases practise, work erases work.’ I try to live by that,” says Sosman Junior. Today, Philippe enjoys the same recognition and adoration as his famous father. He has starred in the Cirque Bouglione (France), Cirque de Paris, Cirque Knie (Switzerland National Circus), Circus Nock (Switzerland), and Circus Roncalli (Germany). Sosman lives in Paris with his partner, ex-Bluebell dancer Judy Benson. His hobbies include collecting old musical instruments and circus photographs.

CLOWN ALLEY: Dentist Chase Ringling, 2004

Video courtesy of Steve Copeland



Gregory Parks (Dental Hygienist) and Steve Copeland (Mouth) performing the Dentist Chase on Ringling in 2004.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

CLOWNALLEY.NET AD SPACE AVAILABLE



As of tomorrow morning CLOWNALLEY.NET will begin accepting advertising and sponsorship. Banner ads will now appear on the top of the right hand side of the page.

If you have a circus or clown-related business and are interested in buying or bartering for ad space, please contact me at cashincomedy@yahoo.com.

BUZZY POTTS


Buzzy Potts in spec wardrobe on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in the 1940s.

LEE MARX: Shrine Circus, 1982

Photo courtesy of Larry Clark


Lee Marx, son of Carl Marx, who, like Joe Jackson Jr. and Emmett Kelly Jr., adopted his father's makeup, costume and material.

Lee also did Rolling Globe and a bit of juggling.

He toured with the Hubert Castle Circus for many years working with with Rex "Boxcar" Young, Gene Randow, Harold Simmons and Chester "Bobo" Barnett. Lee also did halftime shows for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Photos courtesy of Shane Cashin


Last night Andrew Scharff and I performed our two-man show (some material from our shows in China, a lot of new stuff) to two SRO audiences at the Citizens Bank Downtown Theater as part of First Night State College, PA.

Here are some photos from the shows...













Monday, December 31, 2007

ANDREW SCHARFF: With Pope John Paul II


My friend Andrew Scharff, during his tenure with Circo Americano, entertaining Pope John Paul II.

Andrew and I will be appearing at the Downtown Theater in State College, PA today at 3:00 and 8:00 PM as part of First Night State College.

CHARLIE CHEER: March 27, 1954



The story that accompanied this AP photo...

Victim of one of his own tricks, circus clown Charlie Cheer has a built-in expression of woe to go with the hand injury he suffered at the Shrine Circus in Indianapolis last night. He suffered a broken finger and burns when a blank cartridge in a trick mechanism on his accordion exploded accidentally. Nurse Judy Vandeiver gives first aid.

TOM DOUGHERTY: "Baby, It's You"


We close out 2007 with the winner of the Otto Griebling Award for Solo Clowning at this year's Felixes, Tom Dougherty.

Thank you all so very much for a truly wonderful 2007.

Let's make 2008 even better.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

SUNDAY MORNING ART GALLERY: Lou Jacobs by Cowboy Mike Keever


Photos and comments courtesy of Cowboy Mike Keever



Jean & Dolly Jacobs with Cowboy Mike Keever, Oct 2007 Sarasota Florida



I just thought I would finally get around to sending you this photo...it is my wedding gift to Dolly and Pedro....I made it down to Sarasota, thanks to Chuck Sidlow for the Circus Wedding of the Century...that of Dolly Jacobs....to deliver it myself.

It is a figure of Dolly's Papa, Lou Jacobs, about 3 months of carving a block of basswood then hand-painted and to capture that special sparkle always in Lou's eye(s) I placed a diamond in one eye.

The piece is on a base with a plaque showing the title......."Lou Jacobs....my Hero...my Friend" 2007 by Cowboy Mike Keever.



(No it's not a lamp ...the light is just above it in this photo)


I hope this finds you well,my friend. Happy New Year!!!

Your Friend,
Cowboy Mike Keever




For more information on Mike's artwork, please click the title of this post.

CHARLIE RIVEL






BOZO AUDITIONS: Los Angeles, January 13, 1993





Larry Harmon conducting Bozo auditions at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, CA January 13, 1993.

Top photo: Bozo with Heidi Karp-Briggs

Middle photo: Larry Harmon with Tuba Heatherton in the background

Bottom photo: Harmon and Bozo (most likely portrayed here by Kevin "Roofus T. Goofus" Bickford) surrounded by Bozo hopefuls including Tuba, Heidi and Jimmy Graham (checkered nose).

CIRCUS CIRCUS: Huel Speight and Benny Schultz


It looks like this video starts off with Huel Speight and Benny Schultz performing their comedy juggling as a "come-in" at the Adventuredome at Circus Circus in Las Vegas to "Hot, Hot, Hot" by Buster Poindexter.

It then switches to Huel's solo skill act, accompanied by the Charlie Brown music of the Vince Guaraldi Trio.