SCOTT AND MURIEL: Post MC Press Release

Press release forwarded by David Engel



Heartfelt congratulations go out to the cast of Scott and Muriel's BIG SHOW with Joe (Scott Nelson, Muriel Brugman and Clown College alum and former Abbott of Unreason Joe Dieffenbacher) and we look forward to seeing you here in the States soon!

PRESS RELEASE

Date: 23 January, 2008

Scott & Muriel, the first ever comedy act to win the Grand Prix at the FISM 2000 World Championships of Magic, have now become double prize winners at the 32nd International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo.

The festival is held every year and is considered the 'Oscars' of the circus world. It was sponsored and presided over by H.S.H. Prince Rainier until his death in 2005 and that role has now passed to H.S.H. Princess Stéphanie.

Scott & Muriel were invited to participate after having been seen by the festival director, Mr. Urs Pilz, in the World Christmas Circus in Carré, Amsterdam, in 2004/2005. They are only the 2nd illusionists ever to appear in the festival, the last one being Danish Illusionist Lee Pee Ville some 30 years ago.

Scott & Muriel received a standing ovation every time they performed their act, a shortened version of their FISM act done right in the middle of the ring. The standing ovations included H.S.H. Princess Stéphanie, H.S.H. Prince Albert II, the entire jury, and most if not all of the 4500 people in attendance.

They were awarded a special prize from the Nice-Matin newspaper in which they had a photo and the quote "Comedy Illusionists Scott & Muriel reinvent the illusion 'Sawing a Woman in Two.'"

They were also awarded the special prize from the four-star Fairmont Hotel (formerly the Grand Hotel and before that the Loews Hotel.)

"Not being a traditional circus act" was the reason given by the jury for not awarding Scott & Muriel a 'clown,' (the prizes that are awarded by the jury.) They were the only act to receive a standing ovation for every performance that did not receive a clown.

They have since received offers for a two year contract with Ringling Bros. in America, the Big Apple Circus in New York, and from circuses from most of the countries in Europe and even South America.

Scott & Muriel continue to tour their own full evening theater show 'Scott & Muriel's B!G Show with Joe' throughout Europe. Negotiations are under way to bring the entire show to Monte Carlo next season.

Scott & Muriel first performed together in Monte Carlo in the famous Magic Stars Festival in 1999. Only their third contract, they did not win an award. However it was at this festival that they got engaged backstage in the beautiful Theater Princess Grace. Ten months later they would go on to win the World Championships in Lisbon, Portugal.

"Monte Carlo has a very special place in our hearts and it was a thrill to be back and be asked to take part in such a prestigious event" said the couple. Participation is by invitation only with all acts being approved by H.S.H. Princess Stéphanie.

For more info on Scott and Muriel's BIG SHOW with Joe, please click the title of this post.

JEFF DARNELL REMEMBERS: Prince Paul Backstage at Madison Square Garden

Photo courtesy of Jeff Darnell

RUBE SIMMONS: Autographed Photo

Photo courtesy of "circusbutterflygirl"

DIME AND CONNIE WILSON

Photo courtesy of "circusbutterflygirl"

HAROLD CONN: Autographed Photo

Photo courtesy of "circusbutterflygirl"

JOSEPH GRIMALDI: International Circus Clowns Club Annual Mass

Link suggested by Mike Naughton


A very nice segment from the program SHOWROOM, which shows members of the International Circus Clowns Club attending the annual mass in honor of Joseph Grimaldi at Holy Trinity Church in East London.

From Marcelo Melison...

Hello Pat:
Thank you very much for posting that clip on Grimaldi's service; I heard about it and I saw photos of it for years, but I never saw any film before. You are right, Sonny Fossett is the auguste with the white derby hat, he can be spotted at 1:43, 2:11 and 4:53. Then, at 4:32, helping the little girl to put her nose on, I saw Smokey (sometimes I saw it spelled Smoky) who was founder and president of The Children's Clowns Club (I understand he passed away a few years ago). The auguste with the bald wig and orange hair talking at 7:09 is Jack Collins, Weedy the Clown, author of the book "Clowning around for children" (don't bother to read it, it's terrible) and at 7:32, the camera takes the back of white face clown Davide, from the group Clowns Cavalcade (I recognize the costume with the very fluffy ruffles). So, there you have some names. Of course... take what I say with a grain of salt, after all, what do I know about Clowns?. I don't collect clown figurines...

Love and sincere gratitude always from this argentine-canadian clown, Marcelo PEPPO Melison.

TONY ALEXIS FAMILY: Benneweis, 2002

Photo courtesy of Circus Scandanavia


At the urging of Mr. Mike Naughton of the Yankee Doodle Circus here is the Tony Alexis Family as seen of Circus Benneweis in 2002.

Does anyone know if there is any video of the act circulating?

BERNHARD PAUL: From Raffaele de Ritis

Photo and comments courtesy of Raffaele de Ritis



Bernhard Paul, as Zippo.
Bernhard Paul created his Zippo clown character in 1976.
It is interesting to remark how often in clown history a combination of shoes, shirt, neck, make-up, nose, even suspenders can meet incredible coincidences.

MORRIS BROTHERS: Kansas City Police Circus, 1943

Will and Bobby Morris at the Kansas City Police Circus May 4, 1943.

I'm wondering just where it is that Bobby lands as there is no seat on that bicycle.

HAROLD SIMMONS: Autographed Photo, 1962

ALF LANDON: Autographed Photo, 1962

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

Enjoy the game and remember, it's not important whether or not the Giants win.

Just as long as the Patriots lose ; )

~P

SUNDAY MORNING ART GALLERY: Grock and Nock

Art by René Käsermann

JIMMY FOLCO: Circus Sarasota Opens!

Dolly Jacobs and Pedro Reis' CIRCUS SARASOTA opened their season last night with reprise clown Jimmy Folco providing the comedy this year.

Let me get this straight, Fumagalli and Jimmy Folco are in the States? Barry Lubin is in Europe? Wait just a cotton pickin' minute... JUST WHAT'S GOING ON HERE ?!?

Where is Frosty Little this season? Cirque d'Hiver?!?

; )

CHARLIE FRYE has COMPANY

Photo and comment courtesy of Captain Mike Heidtman


Hey Pat,

It's your old pal Cap'n Mike here ... trust all is well with you and yours. As a followup to your posting of Charlie Frye & Co. I'm forwarding this photo from a couple weeks ago. It's Charlie, me and Sherry taken in Columbia, SC where Charlie was headliner for the SCAM Con's public show (South Carolina Association of Magicians Convention). What a strong act he presents and the magi were seriously blown away with his skills both as an object manipulator and as a magician.

All for now - keep up the good work with The Alley.

Aloha-ha,
Cap'n Mike

BARRY LUBIN: The Reviews Are In!

Photo courtesy of Circus Scandanavia


From a Liz Aratoon's review of the 32nd annual Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo


The second night of competition opens with a repeat of Kid Bauer’s big cat act. This is followed by the first appearance of the famous American clown Grandma (Barry Lubin). Dressed in his trademark red shift, yellow stockings, grey wig and pearls, his comedy is gentle and beautifully observed. Entrees involving popcorn, a running machine and Nat ‘King’ Cole’s duet with daughter Natalie - sung with a man at ringside - are all masterpieces.

Nice.

CHARLIE FRYE: Circa 1990

Clown College graduate and former Ringling circus clown, Charlie Frye and his partner in real life as well as on stages around the world, his wife Sherry.

The act is so good that you can deal with the poor sound quality.

Find out more about Charlie (and order his ECCENTRICKS videos) by clicking the title of this post.

OLEG POPOV: Programma Maximum, 2008

A very recent television segment on, and interview with, Oleg Popov.

ROB TORRES: International Circus Festival of Budapest

Did I hear right???

Did Clown College grad and former Beatty-Cole circus clown Rob Torres really just take home the Bronze in Budapest???

Nice!!!

DICK MONDAY & BARRY LUBIN: Disneyland Circus Fantasy 1986

Dick Monday and Barry Lubin at Disneyland Circus Fantasy, 1986.

I have a brief snippet of Dick's "Yard Sale" bit which he did on Main Street that I'll post if he's willing to tell the story about it.

GEORGE CARL: Stockholm Sweden, 1970s

While I certainly believe that this was shot at the same performance as the other clown footage from the Swedish television special CLOWNS (the one that features The Rastellis, Joe Jackson Jr, Eric Braun and Charlie Rivel), I have no way to confirm the date.

It looks to have been shot in the same building, by the same crew but features far more cutaway shots of the audience than the footage that I've seen of other acts shot during that taping.

The American TV special that I found this on gives the place as Stockholm, Sweden (the name of the show or the building is not given) and the year as 1979, which I believe is incorrect and only given to make the footage seem more current.

NORMAN WISDOM: Sunday Night at the London Palladium, 1961

Edited from the Wikipedia entry on "Sunday Night at the London Palladium"...


Sunday Night at the London Palladium was a British television variety show made by ATV for the ITV network, originally running from 1955 to 1967, with a brief revival in 1973 and 1974. The London Palladium is an actual theatre in London's West End.

Perhaps the most famous episode of all took place during a strike by the British acting union Equity, who refused to allow any of its performers to appear that week. Exempt from this, host Bruce Forsyth and comedian Norman Wisdom appeared in the entire show, improvising wildly on the live broadcast December 3, 1961.

The format was revived in the 1980s as Live From Her Majesty's, Live from the Piccadilly and Live From the Palladium with comedian Jimmy Tarbuck once again doing the hosting duties. Live from Her Majesty's is however mainly remembered as being the show on which comedian Tommy Cooper suffered a fatal heart attack, collapsing midway through his act on the popular program.


From John Cooper...

There is certainly a notable routine with Norman Wisdom and Bruce Forsyth doing this on "Sunday Night at The London Palladium" when there was some sort of strike so that the pair had to perform the entire show with just the two of them LIVE.

The paper-hanging sequence they did on that occasion was adapted from the routine used (if not devised) by Naughton and Gold (i.e. Charlie Naughton and Jimmy Gold) of The Crazy Gang.

OLEG POPOV: Stirka, 1957

Oleg Popov in the ring, in some of the most appealing footage I've ever seen of him, from the 1957 film which was posted to YouTube with the title STIRKA but which IMDB lists as ARTISTRY TSIRKA and was released in the US under the title CIRCUS STARS.

OLEG POPOV: with Zviaginy, 1953

Oleg Popov with trampoline artist Zviaginy from the film ARENA SMELYKH (which was titled DARING YOUTH CIRCUS or RING OF DARING in the US) released in 1953.

OLEG POPOV: Goluboy Ogonek

Since I don't read or speak any Russian I can only guess that these are scenes from a Russian film called GOLUBOY OGONEK (which AltaVista BabelFish translated to mean "Goluboy Ogonek") which features Oleg Popov.

It isn't listed with IMDB so I'm not sure of the year of it's release...

2008 FELIX ADLER AWARDS

Starting on March 1st we are going to start accepting nominees for the 2008 Felix Adler Awards which will be announced at 12:00 PM on April 1st.

That gives us one month to hash out a few questions that need to be resolved by "The Academy" but I'd like to gauge reader response to the following questions...

1) Do we keep it to the three awards given in 2007 (Otto Griebling Award for Solo Clowning, Paul Jung Award for Ensemble Clowning and Lou Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award)? Do we add some? Subtract some?

2) The awards are for American circus clowning. They are open to all circus comedians who have performed in an American circus during the calendar year 2007. Does that exclude American circus clowns who performed in the three major festivals that took place in China in 2007? There was far more American circus clowning going on there than there was in the circus industry stateside!

3) In a given calendar year Big Apple has two productions, the one that premiered the previous fall and the one that premiers THAT fall. Are both, or only the new show, eligible for award?

We have a few more questions to resolve before the voting begins but let's start the discussion with those.

~P

COMEDY ACROBATS

A killer, but unidentified, comedy acrobatic act from a Colgate Comedy Hour hosted by Abbott and Costello.

LES BILI-BILI

Anyone have any information on Les Bili-Bili?

HARRY ATWELL: Jerome, Lewis and Jung

Back when the world was younger, the sky was bluer, grass was greener and Paul Jung was a young upstart in the Alley of The Greatest Show on Earth...


Paul Jerome


Lewis, Jung and Jerome


Paul Jerome, Jojo Lewis and Paul Jung

FELIX SAYS...

Isn't it about time we started discussing the 2008 awards?

OTTO GRIEBLING: Want Ad Wonder

Scan courtesy of circusbutterflygirl

JEFF DARNELL REMEMBERS: Mitch Freddes

Photos courtesy of Jeff Darnell


Mitch Freddes on Ringling in 1975.



The cover of Mitch Freddes most recent promo package.

PAUL JUNG: Envelope

One of Paul Jung's envelopes.

Even in mail Jung is more visually interesting than just about any clown in history.

GRANDMA IN MONTE CARLO

Photo courtesy of AUCIRQUE, comments courtesy of Barry Lubin


From Barry...

I am in Monte Carlo and what an experience this has been!

There were four shows in the competition with Grandma performing 4 acts in two of those shows. I won no major prize, but I seemed to have succeeded here otherwise.

The audience received the character very nicely, and now we are doing shows post-competition and the audiences are fantastic. What fun finally to just go out there with no other agenda than showing up and having fun doing my thing.

The festival performances have been running 4 1/2 to 5 hours each. Amazing huh, but people do stay and frankly, they are witnessing some of the greatest talent the world has to offer.

I have met some wonderful folks and have joked around with the producer of the Festival, Princess Stephanie. She is a huge fan of the circus and has been quite gracious to all of us. Tonight she personally asked me to sing Unforgettable in the show with her bodyguard, which I considered a great honor and it was my pleasure and the audience's to sing and dance with this huge, bald man.

Life is good!

Barry Lubin

JEFF DARNELL REMEMBERS: Peare Family at Cobo Hall

Photo and comments courtesy of Jeff Darnell



From Gary Peare...

I think this was '79. The Blue Show played Detroit when I was in Venice. Tom Dougherty did my dad's (Gene Peare) make-up. The design looked as though my dad had used it for years. It became his makeup for the rest of his life!

His costume is entirely vintage. Those are my great-uncle Hank Peare's shoes (Lou told me they were made out of felt boot liners); they used to be about 30 inches longer. Hank, Bobby Clark, and Paul McCullough all took turns wearing them. The pants and coat were made by Hank's brother-in-law who was one of those Circus Fans of America guys who used to be allowed to work spot dates when shows came to town. He reused all of Hank's stuff


From Jeff Darnell...

Here's another one! Thanks for confirming the date Gary.

JD

Folks in photo: Peare family..... Mom? brother?
In make up: Kelly Tansy, Tom Dougherty, Jeff Darnell, Mr Peare.

A POEM

Scans courtesy of Bill Strong

From Bill...

Almost posted this, but decided it belongs in "The Alley", I was barely able to get it scanned but only lost a couple words on one page. It's from the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows, 1901 route book.

CLOWN ALLEY: Sawing a Woman In Half, Ringling 1969

From Michael Karp...


The "Sawing the Woman in Half" gag was written and produced by Prince Paul Alpert (you spell his name "Albert" on the blog, but I remember it as "Alpert"--at this distance in time, I can easily stand corrected, however) for the Red Unit's 1969 season...

The cast included Billy Ward and Scott Bryan (and later, Chuck Sateja, replacing Billy) as the Magician's assistants, Dalton Dearborn (clown school grad) as the Woman, Paul and Mike Padilla as the Woman after Sawing, and me as the Magician.

The prop box and mammoth saw were rented to Ringling for the gag by Paul Jung's widow, Elsie Jung, who had warehoused all of Paul's props, costumes and gag paraphernalia and made it available--for a fee--to clowns in need of sure-fire material...And I will say, she kept the old props in terrific condition, even though they were not always easy to use...

For example, the saw was supposed to hook a latch in the box which held the two halves together. At the appropriate moment, one assistant would hook the latch on his side, the other would quickly hook the latch on HIS side and the two halves would be released, letting the two halves of the now sawed Woman run out and around the ring...

I suppose it COULD have worked that way, but it never did. The assistants had to pop the latch with their fingers, which often caught them in the mechanism and pinched them hard. Billy complained so much that Paul later had Chuck do the First Assistant part in his place.

Prince Paul and Elsie were long-time friends and Prince was one of Paul Jung's friends and favorites, so he got first dibs on :Paul's old props...

And Paul was among the few of the veteran clowns that Irvin Feld liked and/or respected (the Kings of the Alley comprised the rest: Lou, Mark, Bobby, Otto and, of course, the younger ones--Dougie and Lazlo). Prince's warm relationship with Duane and Harold Ronk also guaranteed him good parts in spec and production numbers since they, in turn, were tight with Richard Barstow...

Which is not to say that Prince was not an excellent performer in his own right and probably the best, among the little people, that the show had by that time in its history! But his political skills didn't hurt, either.

(And, of course, Irvin needed the gag, since we all had heard he was disappointed by that first class to graduate from Clown School, for reasons that were not really the fault of those initial clown grads..Most of that first class had great potential and were certainly willing to learn, but were ill served by the very loose structure and informal nature of the training the first organizers gave us--although I will say that Danny Chapman worked very hard and had a great deal to offer! We all thought Irvin's dismay was the real reason that the Firehouse gag never made it to the Garden (aside from its bulk--it included a pretty sizable fire-engine, after all--that made it difficult to transport) and why he brought in the Brizios as comedy insurance!))

As for Prince...Bright, swaggering and tough with a low threshold for annoyances great or petty, he was easily the most well-spoken of the little people (and many of the big ones, too) with a ready laugh and good, albeit sarcastic and often raunchy, sense of humor.

He and I got along well, after the first months in which I "took the water" severely! And I was really flattered that he cast me in the gag!

But he got mad at me for "overreacting" when he and Mike came running out of the box and he fired me!!! He replaced me with Scott Bryan and shifted around the others to cover for Scott...

The firing only lasted a few weeks: Scott decided to go back to school, so Prince put me back in, with the warning to play it with less animation!

As far as "overreactions" go, Dalton ad-libbed that first pratfall when he entered the scene! So there! (Petty old resentments die a hard death, don't they???? Keeping them going is one of the comforts of middle age!)

I was surprised that Dougie and/or Latzie didn't pitch a fit when the gag got chosen for TV; but they were pros, understood the nature of the biz, and, in those bygone days, not everyone felt that an appearance on television was the sole standard by which their worth as performers could be judged! Dougie was much more interested in getting into movies, I think...and was very proud of his appearance (as part of his family's risley act, "The Seven Flying Ashtons") in Red Skelton's movie "Public Pigeon Number 1."

As far as Arthur Godfrey was concerned, I enjoyed working with him immensely! I did an Axion Detergent commercial with him as part of the special (and I wish I could find a video of that commercial now!). After rehearsal, he walked over to the agency reps from Procter & Gamble's ad agency and invited me to join them in the impromptu meeting.

"Well, Arthur," one of the reps asked deferentially..."How did you like the copy?" Godfrey paused. "I think it stinks!" he said, with a sneering emphasis on the word "stinks." Each one of the reps raised their cigarettes robotically to their lips and, as one, took a loooooong, deeeeeeep drag....

Godfrey had "the suits" on the run and it was great!

He analysed what was wrong with the script and told them, "I know what to do...Just leave it to me..."

During the actual taping of the commercial, he ad-libbed the copy in his inimitable, folksy, cornpone style...The spot came out on time to the second! And he got in every cue for my bits of business!

Say what one will...and there's a lot to say...about Godfrey's arrogance and nastiness...the man was a real pro!

BIG APPLE CIRCUS CLOWN CARE

I have an audition this morning for the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit.

Wish me luck!

JEFF DARNELL REMEMBERS: Clown Car, Ringling Blue Unit 1979

Photo and comments courtesy of Jeff Darnell



From Jeff...

This photo was taken in 1979 in Cobo Hall.... (I think.)

Peter Pitofsky is adjusting Guest Clown Mr. Peare's hat (I believe this is Gary's dad)

Checkered shoes of Scotty Parker then Tom Dougherty with the flowered lapel, JD in the striped shirt to Tom's right in the back ground, and the little person is Elizabeth in the police uniform.

For the life of me, I can't remember the clown in the "car wash" overalls is.

I think Michael Brevig's curly wig is poking out from behind Peter's head.

FETTUCINI BROTHERS: Plate Spinning in the Great Hall

Video courtesy of the Fettucini Brothers



My pals Captain Mike Heidtman and Steve Langley perform at the Zhejiang People's Great Hall in Shanghai, China.

From their original post...

This is a video from one of our China performances. This is from the Zhejiang People's Great Hall, which is like The Lincoln Center of this area. This was the kick-off show for the whole festival and was performed for government officials and invited guests. We were asked to do our plate spinning routine. They love the spinning plates in China. Go figure...

JEFF DARNELL REMEMBERS: Ringling Blue Unit, 1980

Photos courtesy of Jeff Darnell


Jeff Darnell performing a walkaround.



Tuba Heatherton using Richard Fick's falsie as a drumpad



Peter Pitofsky in the Alley.



Michu getting ready to rush into a phone booth to change into Alf.



Jeff Darnell practicing his drumming at his trunk as young Florian Richter looks on.



Portrait of The Artist As a Young Kid: The man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, a young Florian Richter.

STANLEY AND LESTER JANUS

Stanley Janus passed away on January 17th, 2008 at age 84.

If anyone has any photos or video of Stanley or his brother Lester (who passed away several years ago) that they'd like to share with the family, please send them to their nephew, Mike Janus at maddogjanus@yahoo.com

They still have two brothers alive and living in southern Florida.

GREG AND KAREN DESANTO: Water Gag

Greg and Karen DeSanto performing on what might be the Royal Hanneford Circus.

CLOWN ALLEY: Dead and Alive, Ringling 1987

Video courtesy of Andrew Bedno


One of the first gags most folks were taught at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College performed by the guy who taught it to many of us, International Clown Hall of Fame inductee and former Clown College director Steve "T.J. Tatters" Smith.

Steve is assisted here by Jeffrey Steele. They are introduced by another former Clown College director, Ron Severini.

This is from the 1987 Ringling Home Video Be a Clown.

MONTE CARLO 2008: News?

Performers from the 32nd annual Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo (among them International Clown Hall of Fame inductee and 2007 Lou Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Barry Lubin) which began last night January 17th and will run through January 27th.

Has anyone got any news?