TEX AVERY

Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery

(February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, creating the characters of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, and developing Porky Pig and Chilly Willy (this last one for the Walter Lantz Studio) into regular cartoon characters. His influence was found in almost all of the animated cartoon series by various studios in the 1940s and 1950s.

Avery's style of directing encouraged animators to stretch the boundaries of the medium to do things in a cartoon that could not be done in the world of live-action film. An often-quoted line about Avery's cartoons was, "In a cartoon you can do anything," and his cartoons often did just that. He also performed a great deal of voice work in his cartoons, usually throwaway bits (e.g. the Santa Claus seen briefly in Who Killed Who?), but Tex did fill in for Bill Thompson as Droopy, although the individual cartoons where Avery did this have never been specified.

Biography

Early years

Tex Avery was born to George Walton Avery (b. June 8, 1867 - d. January 14, 1935) and the former Mary Augusta "Jessie" Bean (1886 - 1931) in Taylor, Texas. His father was born in Alabama. His mother was born in Buena Vista, Chickasaw County, Mississippi. His paternal grandparents were Needham Avery (Civil War veteran) (October 8, 1838 - after 1892) and his wife Lucinda C. Baxly (May 11, 1844 - March 10, 1892). His maternal grandparents were Frederick Mumford Bean (1852 - October 23, 1886) and his wife Minnie Edgar (July 25, 1854 - May 7, 1940). Avery was said to be a descendant of Judge Roy Bean. However his maternal great-grandparents were actually Mumford Bean from Tennessee (August 22, 1805 - October 10, 1892) and his wife Lutica from Alabama. Mumford was son of William Bean and his wife Nancy Blevins from Virginia. Their relation to Roy is uncertain though his paternal grandparents were also from Virginia. Avery's family tradition also claimed descent from Daniel Boone.

Avery was raised in his native Taylor. He graduated in 1927 from North Dallas High School. A popular catchphrase at his school was "What's up, doc?", which he would later popularize with Bugs Bunny in the 1940s.

Avery first began his animation career at the Walter Lantz studio in the early 1930s, working on the majority of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons from 1931-35. He is shown as 'animator' on the original title card credits on the Oswald cartoons. He later claimed to have directed two cartoons during this time. During some office horseplay, a paperclip flew into Avery's left eye and caused him to lose use of that eye. Some speculate it was his lack of depth perception that gave him his unique look at animation and bizarre directorial style.

"Termite Terrace"

Avery migrated to the Leon Schlesinger studio in late 1935 and convinced the fast-talking Schlesinger to let him head his own production unit of animators and create cartoons the way he wanted them to be made. Schlesinger responded by assigning the Avery unit, including animators Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones, to a five-room bungalow at the Warner Bros. Sunset Blvd. backlot. Schlesinger placed the Avery unit there so as not to tip off Avery's predecessor Tom Palmer that he was about to be fired. The Avery unit, assigned to work primarily on the black-and-white Looney Tunes instead of the Technicolor Merrie Melodies, soon dubbed their quarters "Termite Terrace", due to its significant termite population.

"Termite Terrace" later became the nickname for the entire Schlesinger/Warners studio, primarily because Avery and his unit were the ones who defined what became known as "the Warner Bros. cartoon". Their first short, Gold Diggers of '49, is recognized as the first cartoon to make Porky Pig a star, and Avery’s experimentation with the medium continued from there.

Creation of Looney Tunes stars

Avery, with the assistance of Clampett, Jones, and new associate director Frank Tashlin, laid the foundation for a style of animation that dethroned The Walt Disney Studio as the kings of animated short films, and created a legion of cartoon stars whose names still shine around the world today. Avery in particular was deeply involved; a perfectionist, Avery constantly crafted gags for the shorts, periodically provided voices for them (including his trademark belly laugh), and held such control over the timing of the shorts that he would splice frames out of the final negative if he felt a gag's timing was not quite right.

Daffy Duck

Porky's Duck Hunt introduced the character of Daffy Duck, who possessed a new form of "lunacy" and zaniness that had not been seen before in animated cartoons. Daffy was an almost completely out-of-control "darn fool duck" who frequently bounced around the film frame in double-speed, screaming "Hoo-hoo! hoo-hoo" in a high-pitched, sped-up voice provided by veteran Warners voice artist Mel Blanc.

Bugs Bunny

Avery's 1940 film A Wild Hare is seen as the first cartoon to feature Bugs Bunny, after a series of shorts featuring a Daffy Duck-like rabbit directed by Ben Hardaway, Cal Dalton and Chuck Jones. Avery's rabbit was a super-cool rabbit who was always in control of the situation and who ran rings around his opponents. A Wild Hare also marks the first pairing of him and bald, meek Elmer Fudd, a revamp of Avery's Egghead, a big nosed little fellow who, in turn, was modeled after radio comedian Joe Penner. It is in A Wild Hare that Bugs casually walks up to Elmer, who is out "hunting wabbits", and asks him calmly, "What's up, doc?" Audiences reacted positively to the juxtaposition of Bugs' nonchalance and the potentially dangerous situation, and Avery made "What's up, doc?" the rabbit's catch phrase. Later Warner's named Avery's Rabbit Bugs Bunny after Ben "Bugs" Hardaway who created an earlier rabbit.

Avery ended up directing only four Bugs Bunny cartoons: A Wild Hare, Tortoise Beats Hare, All This and Rabbit Stew, and The Heckling Hare. During this period, he also directed a number of one-shot shorts, including travelogue parodies (The Isle of Pingo Pongo), fractured fairy-tales (The Bear's Tale), Hollywood caricature films (Hollywood Steps Out), and cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny clones (The Crack-Pot Quail).

Avery's tenure at the Schlesinger studio ended in late 1941, when he and the producer quarreled over the ending to The Heckling Hare. In Avery's original version, Bugs and hunting dog were to fall off of a cliff three times, milking the gag to its comic extreme. According to a DVD commentary for the cartoon, historian and animator Greg Ford explained that the problem Schlesinger had with the ending was that, just prior to falling off the third time, Bugs and the dog were to turn to the screen, with Bugs saying "Hold on to your hats, folks, here we go again!" Schlesinger intervened (supposedly on orders from Jack Warner himself), and edited the film so that the characters only fall off the cliff twice (the edited cartoon ends abruptly, after Bugs and the Dog fall through a hole in a cliff and immediately stop short of the ground, saying to the audience, "Heh, fooled you, didn't we?"). An enraged Avery promptly quit the studio, leaving three cartoons he started on but did not complete. They were Crazy Cruise, The Cagey Canary and Aloha Hooey. Bob Clampett picked up where Avery left off and completed the three cartoons.

Speaking of Animals

While at Schlesinger, Avery created a concept of animating lip movement to live action footage of animals. Schlesinger was not interested in Avery's idea, so Avery approached Jerry Fairbanks, a friend of his who produced the Unusual Occupations series of short subjects for Paramount Pictures. Fairbanks liked the idea and the Speaking of Animals series of shorts was launched. When Avery left Warner, he went straight to Paramount to work on the first three shorts in the series before joining MGM.

Avery at MGM

By 1942, Avery was in the employ of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, working in their cartoon division under the supervision of Fred Quimby. Avery felt that Schlesinger had stifled him. At MGM, Avery's creativity reached its peak. His cartoons became known for their sheer lunacy, breakneck pace, and a penchant for playing with the medium of animation and film in general that few other directors dared to approach. MGM also offered him larger budgets and a higher quality production level than the Warners studio. Plus, his unit was filled with ex-Disney artists such as Preston Blair and Ed Love. These changes were evident in Avery's first short released by MGM, The Blitz Wolf, an Adolf Hitler parody which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) in 1942.

Avery's most famous MGM character debuted in 1943's Dumb-Hounded. Droopy (originally "Happy Hound") was a calm, little, slow-moving and slow-talking dog who still won out in the end. He also created a series of racy and risqué cartoons, beginning with 1943's Red Hot Riding Hood, featuring a sexy female star who never had a set name and whose visual design and voice varied somewhat between shorts, but who influenced the minds of young boys — and future animators — worldwide. Other Avery characters at MGM included Screwy Squirrel and the Of Mice and Men-inspired duo of George and Junior.

Other notable MGM cartoons directed by Avery include Bad Luck Blackie, Magical Maestro, Lucky Ducky, and King-Size Canary. Avery began his stint at MGM working with lush colors and realistic backgrounds, but he slowly abandoned this style for a more frenetic, less realistic approach. The newer, more stylized look reflected the influence of the up-and-coming UPA studio, the need to cut costs as budgets grew higher, and Avery's own desire to leave reality behind and make cartoons that were not tied to the real world of live action. During this period, he made a notable series of films which explored the technology of the future: The House of Tomorrow, The Car of Tomorrow, The Farm of Tomorrow and TV of Tomorrow (spoofing common live-action promotional shorts of the time). He also introduced a slow-talking wolf character, who was the prototype for MGM associates Hanna-Barbera's Huckleberry Hound character, right down to the voice by Daws Butler.

Avery took a year's sabbatical from MGM beginning in 1950 (to recover from overwork), during which time Dick Lundy, recently arrived from the Walter Lantz studio, took over his unit and made one Droopy cartoon, as well as a string of shorts with an old character, Barney Bear. Avery returned to MGM in October 1951 and began working again. Avery's last two original cartoons for MGM were Deputy Droopy and Cellbound, completed in 1953 and released in 1955. They were co-directed by Avery unit animator Michael Lah. Lah began directing a handful of CinemaScope Droopy shorts on his own. A burnt-out Avery left MGM in 1953 to return to the Walter Lantz studio.

After MGM

Avery's return to the Lantz studio did not last long. He directed four cartoons in 1954-1955: the one-shots Crazy Mixed-Up Pup and Shh-h-h-h-h, and I'm Cold and The Legend of Rockabye Point, in which he defined the character of Chilly Willy the penguin. Although The Legend of Rockabye Point and Crazy Mixed-Up Pup were nominated for Academy Awards, Avery left Lantz over a salary dispute, effectively ending his career in theatrical animation.

He turned to animated television commercials, most notably the Raid commercials of the 1960s (in which cartoon insects, confronted by the bug killer, screamed "RAID!" and died flamboyantly) and Frito-Lay's controversial mascot, the Frito Bandito. Avery also produced ads for Kool-Aid fruit drinks starring the Warner Bros. characters he had once helped create during his Termite Terrace days.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Avery became increasingly reserved and depressed, although he continued to draw respect from his peers. His final employer was Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he wrote gags for Saturday morning cartoons such as the Droopy-esque Kwicky Koala.

On Tuesday, August 26, 1980, Avery died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California at age 72. He had been suffering from lung cancer for a year. He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

Legacy

Although Tex Avery did not live to experience the late-1980s renaissance of animation, his work was rediscovered and he began to receive widespread attention and praise by the modern animation and film communities.

All of his MGM shorts were released uncensored in a North American MGM/UA laserdisc set, called The Compleat Tex Avery, including the "politically incorrect" Uncle Tom's Cabana and Half-Pint Pygmy (although these were removed from the Region 2 DVD release, now out of print). Several of them were released on VHS, in four volumes of Tex Avery's Screwball Classics, and two Droopy collections, with many gags edited out for television showings left in. Screwball Squirrel, King-Size Canary and Little Rural Riding Hood were included on MGM/UA's first non-Tom and Jerry tape of vintage animated shorts, MGM Cartoon Magic. Two other cartoons by Avery appeared on Christmas compilations. The Peachy Cobbler was part of MGM Cartoon Christmas, and One Ham's Family was part of Tom and Jerry's Night Before Christmas. Avery's Droopy cartoons are available on the DVD set Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection. The seven Droopy cartoons produced in CinemaScope were included here in their original widescreen versions, instead of the pan and scan versions regularly broadcast on television.

Also, some of his works could be found on tapes of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes shorts, and the same is true of his few Lantz Studio cartoons.

His influence is strongly reflected in modern cartoons such as "Roger Rabbit", Ren and Stimpy, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Tom and Jerry Kids Show, Spongebob Squarepants, and the Genie character in Disney's Aladdin.

In fact, an Averyesque cowboy character bore his name in the otherwise unrelated series The Wacky World of Tex Avery. His work has been honored on shows such as The Tex Avery Show and Cartoon Alley. His characters (particularly Bugs Bunny and the risqué antics of Red Hot Riding Hood) were referenced in the Jim Carrey film The Mask. In the mid 1990s, Dark Horse Comics released a trio of three-issue miniseries that were openly labelled tributes to Avery's MGM cartoons, Wolf & Red, Droopy, and Screwy Squirrel.

It should also be noted that Tex Avery, unlike most Warner Brothers directors, kept many original title frames of his cartoons, several otherwise lost due to Blue Ribbon Reissues, and were recently sold on eBay. In 2008 France issued three stamps honoring Tex Avery for his 100th birthday, depicting Droopy, the girl and the wolf.

Today, the copyrights to all classic color cartoons directed by Avery at Warners and MGM are owned by Turner Entertainment, with Warner Bros. handling distribution. (WB owns the black-and-white cartoons directly.) Turner and WB are both units of Time Warner. The cartoons he directed at the Lantz studio are owned by their original distributors, Universal Studios. A few of Avery's WB shorts are in the public domain, but WB and Turner hold the original film elements.

FUMAGALLI: Out of Makeup

This piece on Alexandre Lacey ends with Fumagalli and Daris, out of makeup, rehearsing in the ring.

CLOWN BAND: Festival International du Cirque de Monte Carlo (2010)

Video courtesy of Mike Naughton

Does anyone know what the story is here? John Cooper informed us last year that this group is called "Clowns en Folie". Every year I see video of this clown band in and around the festival in Monte Carlo but none of these clowns are never listed as appearing in the show.

LEONID LEMI

JIMMY DEAN AND ROWLF THE DOG: Courtesy of Stephen Worth

Courtesy of Boing Boing contributor Stephen Worth, the Director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, a museum, library and digital archive devoted to the use of professional artists and students....

Jimmy Dean and Jim Henson's Rowlf, "You Are My Sunshine"

"I mentioned before how upset I was to find out that "The Jimmy Dean Show" DVDs were out of print. It was a really important show- the first country-western music show in prime time. But it was also the first nationwide TV series to feature Jim Henson's Muppets.

This clip is brilliant. Henson is a drop-dead genius. Since he passed away, the spark of life and vivid spontaneity of the Muppets' performances have faded away with him. The characters all seem to be reading lines off of scripts now, but look at the brilliant feeling of ad-lib and give and take between Rowlf and Jimmy Dean in this clip. Also, keep in mind that the puppet is operated by two people- Henson operates the mouth and one hand and his wife operates the other hand. The complexity of co-ordinating that sort of co-operative performance is totally erased by the vivid performance. Animators can learn a lot from puppeteers when it comes to creating a living, breathing character."

I would add that clowns could learn a lot from puppeteers and animators when it comes to creating living breathing characters.

TOM & JERRY CARTOON KIT: Dir. Gene Deitch (1962)

The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit is a Tom and Jerry cartoon produced and released in 1962. It was directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder. Despite mixed reception, it is mainly known as the most critically acclaimed of the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry shorts among members of the Tom and Jerry fanbase.

Plot

The cartoon is a seven-minute "commercial" for the Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit, with which "anyone can now enter the lucrative field of animated cartoons." The items in the kit include the following:

• Tom (described as "one mean, stupid cat")
• Jerry ("one sweet, lovable mouse")
• a hammer, knife, and stick of dynamite (collectively referred to as "assorted deadly weapons")
• coffee and cigarettes (removed from kit and described as being "for the cartoonists")
• a slice of watermelon

The narrator points out, "The result may not make sense, but it will last long enough for you to be comfortably seated before the feature begins." This statement refers to the original theatrical exhibition of the cartoon, in which it ran ahead of a feature film.

At first, the kit is set up by having Jerry eat the watermelon. He spits the seeds out, hitting (and thus waking) Tom. From this point the two torment each other in typical Tom and Jerry fashion by using the remaining items in the kit (not counting the coffee and cigarettes, or the dynamite stick which gets broken in half).

During the course of the cartoon, some other items appear, such as a book entitled Judo for Mice (from which Jerry learns to fight and, thus, overpower Tom), a gym with boxing equipment (where Tom gets training after being defeated by Jerry), a judo school (in which Tom enrolls - and subsequently graduates - after fighting and losing to Jerry again), assorted bricks, a plank of wood, a cement block, and a large block of marble (which Tom and Jerry use to prove their strength to each other by breaking them with bare hands). However, the block of marble falls through the floor due to its weight, putting Tom out of commission in the process. Aside from these items, the entire cartoon takes place over an almost non-existent background of plain color washes.

The cartoon ends with the box battered and empty except for the unconscious Tom. Jerry places the lid back on the box as the narrator explains, "Our next film will be for the kiddies, and will demonstrate a new poison gas. Thank you and good night." The music winds to a stop as if it were being played on a slowing phonograph record, then Jerry bows to the audience in stereotypical Japanese fashion.

Censorship

Some syndicated stations aired a version of this episode without the narration. The reasons for this cut are not known; quite possibly, those prints were used for dubbing the narration into languages other than English. In additon, some TV reruns cut the "coffee and cigarettes" references.

LESTER ALLEN: We Need More Info!!!

I'm looking for more info on Lester Allen, here's what I have...

He started out as an acrobat with Barnum & Bailey, did burlesque and vaudeville (as a double act with Nellie Breen), spent six years with George White's Scandals and another five with Earl Carroll's Vanities.

He played bit parts in films between 1929 and 1949 and toured with both revues and book musicals.

He was killed by a 25 year old driver in 1949 when he was run down crossing the street to return to work at Bud Abbott's Back Stage Club.

Abbott and Costello organized and headlined the benefit show to help his widow.

As to his actual comedy and performing style? I haven't a clue.

Courtesy of Robert Edwards...

LESTER ALLEN

Birth: Nov. 17, 1891
Death: Nov. 6, 1949

Entertainer. Born in Utica, New York, he made his stage debut in 1905 and joined forces with Nellie Breen to create the popular vaudeville comedy duo, Allen & Breen. He enjoyed even greater success as a solo act and was a frequent emcee at New York's Palace Theatre. On Broadway, the dapper, mustachioed Allen was featured in the first six editions of George White's "Scandals" revues (1919 to 1925), and he also wrote the book for Earl Carroll's "Vanities" (1925) and lyrics for the hit musical "Gay Paree" (1925). With the decline of vaudeville in the 1930s he moved to Hollywood and played comic character parts in films, notably as Uncle Capucho in MGM's "The Pirate" (1948) and as Geoduck in "Ma and Pa Kettle" (1949) and "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town" (1950). His other screen credits include "The Great Flamarion" (1945), "The Dolly Sisters" (1945), "The Dark Mirror" (1946), and "That Lady in Ermine" (1948).

Cause of death: Hit by car

THE FRATELLINIS

The Fratellini Family was a famous circus family in the late 1900s and 1920s. An engagement at the Circus Medrano in Paris, France, after World War I was so successful that it sparked a strong resurgence of interest in the circus. By 1923, the Fratellini brothers had become the darlings of the Parisian intellectuals. They were lauded in print and worshiped by adoring fans who would show up at the circus just in time for the Fratellini entree, which sometimes ran as long as forty-five minutes.

The Fratellini's success has been attributed to many factors, but above all they succeeded because of their talent and experience. The Fratellini brothers were:

• Paul Fratellini (1877–1940)
• François Fratellini (1879–1951) poetic clown
• Albert Fratellini (1886–1961), very wild, and crazy

Their father, Gustavo Fratellini (1842–1905), was an Italian patriot rebel, along with Giuseppe Garibaldi. Gustavo Fratellini took part in the unification of Italy. Some of the family later settled in France.

GROUCHO MARX: Horsefeathers

It wouldn't matter what either side said at this point. I want a REAL third party this November so we can begin voting ALL the incumbents out.

DALE LONGMIRE: Artist, Clown, Friend

CLOWN ALLEY ARTICLE: Sunday Morning Star (May 23, 1937)

Please click the title of this post to read the article.

REMEMBERING DALE: Mitch Freddes

"No amount of words can describe the friendship Dale and I shared. From the first day of Clown College until now. You were always a true professional and had a great love for the circus. It showed in everything you did. I am proud we crossed paths in this lifetime. You were an influence and always there to support whatever I did. Thank you for all the years."

- Jonathan Mitch Freddes

PETER PITOFSKY

Photo courtesy of Drew Friedman

GREG DESANTO: Baraboo News Republic Article

Courtesy of Don Covington


Greg DeSanto sorts through memorabilia at the new Baraboo headquarters of the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center. DeSanto was recently named the organization's executive director.


Baraboo News Republic
Baraboo, Wisconsin
January 18, 2010

By Tim Damos / News Republic

An organization dedicated to historic preservation announced Monday it is moving its headquarters to Baraboo, and has appointed a clown as its new leader.

Sound like they hired the wrong guy?

Not if you’re talking about the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center.

"We are delighted to send in the clowns — and send them to Baraboo, back home where they belong," said Greg DeSanto of Baraboo, who was recently named the organization’s executive director.

As a husband and wife clowning duo, Greg and Karen DeSanto performed at the Circus World Museum for more than seven years. Greg has also been featured in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the Big Apple Circus and other major shows around the world.

After ICHOF’s lease ran out at its former Milwaukee base, memorabilia was moved into storage, where it has sat for the last year and a half, DeSanto said.

He was busy Monday sifting through boxes of old photos, props, and shoes so big they would make Shaquille O’Neal blush, at ICHOF’s new Baraboo headquarters on Fourth Street across from the Sauk County Courthouse lawn.

DeSanto has had some help sorting through material from Ralph Pierce, president of Circus World Museum, Inc., a founding and fundraising arm of Circus World.

Pierce, a longtime collector of circus memorabilia, said ICHOF’s new headquarters is a perfect fit for Baraboo, the capital of circus history. And he said ICHOF provides a unique look at life as a circus clown through pictures and documents that show performers in their personal lives outside the circus tent.
"It’s adding some additional history that might not have been known before," Pierce said. "It kind of shows how they interacted with people. You’re getting the whole social aspect of the performer."

DeSanto said he is hoping to open the downtown ICHOF office to the general public on April Fools’ Day.

The non-profit ICHOF was created in 1986 and is dedicated to honoring and supporting the international art of clowning.

ICHOF also runs a Caring Clown program that provides therapeutic humor for children and families at the Milwaukee’s Children’s Hospital. The organization’s Long Term Laughter Care entertains elderly residents at nursing homes and assisted living centers.

Since its inception, ICHOF has enshrined 61 people, such as Charlie Chaplin and Red Skelton, who have been instrumental in enhancing and advancing the art of the clown.

The long list of entertainers includes Jimmy Williams of Baraboo, who spent 50 years as Happy the Clown.

Williams said DeSanto is the perfect man to lead the organization.

"He was at Circus World after I was and they were very funny, he and his wife," Williams said in a phone interview Monday. "It’s a wonderful thing for Baraboo.

CLOWN ALLEY: RBB&B 140th Edition Blue Unit Clown Car

BOZO THE CLOWN: Vance Colvig Story

Please click the title of this post to link to Stephen Worth's (Director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, and former SPUMCO employee) retelling of a story told to him by the legendary Vance Colvig.

CONGRATULATIONS! Ring of Fame Inductions 2010

Congratulations to the 2010 inductees of the Circus Ring of Fame. (l to r) Bill and Carol Hall (sponsors); Sue and Rudi Lenz, inductees; Shelagh Yelding-Sloan (sponsor), Brigitte (sponsor) and John Pugh, inductee. (Photo courtesy of Jack Ryan)

Circus Ring of Fame Honors Legendary Performers

Ceremony Applauds Contributions to Circus Arts

The official program (below) for the 2010 23rd Annual St Armands Circle Ring of Fame induction ceremony outlined the activities held in St Arrnands Circle Park but left out the best part: As each person took the podium, we heard circus history firsthand.

The crowd loved every minute of the event. Wild applause came easily. Tourists sensed the excitement and joined the crowd to celebrate six giants of the circus arts.

Rousing circus music set the mood, thanks to the Sarasota Concert Band under the baton of Charles Schlarbaum. The Honorable Richard Clapp, mayor of Sarasota, highlighted recent local circus news, including the unveiling of a historical marker at the former home of circus greats Karl and Helen Wallenda and the announcement about expansion plans for the Circus Museum at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Master of Ceremonies Chuck Sidlow created mini-shows for each inductee. First a speaker introduced the honoree. Then Sidlow called the circus star forward and placed a lavalier with the Circus Ring ofFame medal around the person's neck in Olympic fashion. Then the emcee read aloud the individual commendation.

Renowned Chimpanzee Trainers Rudi and Sue Lenz were first up, followed by John Pugh of Cole Bros. Circus, Animal Trainer Manuel "Junior" Ruffin, Trapeze Artist Tony Steele, Highwire Walker Tino Wallenda-Zoppe and the multi-talented Dime Wilson Family. Follow the links to read in-depth about each of these legendary performers.

After the inductions and sponsor recognition, everyone adjourned to the southeast side of St. Armands Circle Park and six new plaques swaddled in a red covering. After Sidlow counted 1-2-3 and blew a whistle, the inductees whisked off the wraps and posed for the cameras.

Tino Wallenda - Zoppe, Kathy Nelson, Penny Wilson Rodriguez, Trudy Strong, Donna Bannister, Linda Wilson

The Wilsons (Photos courtesy of Tracey Degirolamo Bannister)

STAR FAMILY CIRCUS: Nada Scharff

Here's the Larible version of the Knifethrower Gag performed on Oscar Garcia's Star Family Circus by my friend Andrew Scharff.

Oh wait, that's NOT Andrew, that's just his costume with a beret.

Tomorrow morning, I'm having waffles!

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: By Rick Whelan

Rick Whelan was childhood pen pals with none other than Gene Lewis...

Heavy hangs the head that wears the wig

By Rick Whelan
Beacon-Herald, Ontario, Canada

What better way to start off 2010 than with some thoughts on clowns. Not the Ottawa or Washington variety. I mean the genuine article ... those guys in the big shoes and baggy pants who make life a little more palatable with their often inspired takes on the wacky ways of the world.

For some reason I have always been fascinated by clowns. I used to want to be one. (I can hear the little woman's voice in my ear saying "You got your wish, honey!")

I wrote a letter to a Ringling Bros. clown when I was a boy and we became pen pals for 10 years. He tried to discourage me from following in his footsteps. He advised me to get as much education as possible and do something "useful" with my life. So it is with some authority that I say that clowns are, by and large, a melancholy lot.

Maybe it's because the profession means no stability ... no permanent home with friends and family ... because they are always on the road, always trying to find that next gig that hopefully will be waiting for them.

But maybe it's not nurture. Perhaps it's nature. People become clowns because they are natural outsiders. To be a clown ... to understand the comedy and tragedy in everyday life ... is to be an observer and not a participator. I think clowns have to be lonely in order to do their life's work.

One of the most famous clowns that nobody ever heard of is Frank "Slivers" Oakley. But if you had lived at the dawn of the 20th century, Slivers would have been as familiar to you as Charlie Chaplin.

Slivers' life was fraught with tragedy. His wife died young. His clowning partner, Dan Luby, was killed in a freak circus accident. When silent films came in, circus clowning was relegated to the back burner of the show business hierarchy.

Late in life, Slivers fell in love with a girl much younger than himself. He lavished gifts upon her and convinced her to come live with him. The young girl eventually ran away, stealing Slivers' wife's jewellery as she left.

She was nabbed by the police and sent to a reformatory. Slivers, obviously heartbroken, wrote her a letter forgiving her. He wanted her to come back to him when she got out of jail. She sent word that she never wanted to see him again.

Several days later, Slivers' landlady found him in his room, dead ... the doors and windows sealed tight, the gas jets on full blast.

Another famous clown of the early 20th century was Grock, whose real name was Charles Adrien Wettach. Grock, from Switzerland, charmed all of Europe with his musical and acrobatic talents. He was perhaps the entertainment world's first superstar.

As the story goes, a man in Vienna suffering from depression went to see Sigmund Freud. Freud had been to the circus the night before and he gave his patient some unique advice.

Freud told the man "after watching Grock for 10 minutes I was completely charmed by this clown's brilliance. Grock has given me a new lease on life. He makes people forget their troubles. So before I start any long-term therapy on you, my first advice is ... go see Grock!"

The patient looked at Freud with a wistful smile.

"I am Grock," he replied.

DAVID LARIBLE: Interview

OLEG GLAVATSKIY & OLGA

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Greg DeSanto Named Director of the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center!!!

INTERNATIONAL CLOWN HALL OF FAME AND RESEARCH CENTER SENDS IN THE CLOWNS–AND BRINGS MUCH MORE – TO BARABOO

World’s Foremost Organization Dedicated To The Preservation Of The Art, Craft And History Of Clowning Names Greg DeSanto Executive Director

Baraboo, WI (January 18, 2010) – A bright addition to Baraboo’s unique circus heritage was revealed today as The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center announced the opening of its new headquarters in America’s Circus City.


Internationally renowned for its research and involvement in the art, craft and history of clowning, the ICHOF boasts the world’s most wide-ranging collection of clown artifacts and memorabilia, including wardrobe and props from many of the most famous names in clowning history.


“We are delighted to send in the clowns – and send them to Baraboo, back home where they belong,” said Greg DeSanto, recently named the ICHOF’s Executive Director. Himself a celebrated clown and circus historian, DeSanto, a Baraboo resident, performed at the Circus World Museum for over seven years. He’s also been featured in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the Big Apple Circus and other major shows around the world.


As we expand our presence in Baraboo, we hope that scholars and historians and the public at large will experience our fascinating exhibits and extensive archives,” DeSanto says.


Founded in Delevan, WI in 1986, the ICHOF was created as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, honoring and supporting the international art of clowning. The first and only group of its kind, it provides both rich research opportunities and educational outreach, along with the world’s largest collection of artifacts and collections concerning the art of clowning.


In 1988, the ICHOF began enshrining international artists who have enhanced and advanced the art of the clown. Since then, sixty-one performers have been inducted into the Hall, including Red Skelton, Lou Jacobs, Emmett Kelly, Otto Griebling, Felix Adler, Barry Lubin, Bobby Kaye, Jimmy Williams, Frosty Little, Steve Smith, Grock, Charlie Chaplin and Bill Irwin. The prestigious Lifetime of Laughter achievement award is also presented annually.


Fulfilling its commitment to community outreach, the Hall’s Caring Clown program provides therapeutic humor for children and their families at the Milwaukee’s Children’s Hospital. With Long Term Laughter Care, the ICHOF brings fun and comfort to residents at skilled nursing facilities and assisted living centers.


“We are honored to join the Circus World Museum and the Al Ringling Theater as key spokes in Barboo’s celebrated wheel of circus history,” adds DeSanto. “We welcome residents and visitors alike to join us in our ongoing efforts to promote and preserve the grand and glorious history of hilarity.”

GLEN SINGER: El Gleno Grande

LOU JACOBS ARTICLE: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (March 9, 1979)

Please click the title of this post to read a very nice piece on Lou from the March 9, 1979 Sarasota Herald-Tribune. And yes, I need you feedback. Please let me know that you could or could not access the article. Thanks!

PRESS RELEASE: Not Yet Released!

The press release that we've been waiting for has been pushed back to Monday morning.


Keep checking back just in case we get clearance to post it early!!!

HARRY DANN ARTICLE

Please click the title of this post for an interesting Milwaukee Journal article from August 10, 1947 about Harry Dann teaching school on the Ringling show.

SHRINE CLOWNS

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

I believe that the big announcement that we've all been anticipating will be posted overnight tonight and will be waiting for you when you wake up.

I am just waiting for the finalized press release from the organization now.

CAMPUCHITO: Circo Vasquez Hnos

CLOWN ARTICLE: First Post

Please click the title of this post and see if it links you to a Google News archival article on clowning. This is a first attempt to add these links to clownalley.net and, if it works, it greatly increases the information from Google News that I can share here.

DALE LONGMIRE: With Sue Lenz

Dale's memorial at Showfolks looked to be a wonderful remembrance and was very well attended yesterday. I will try to share photos from it as soon as I get clearance from those that posted them.

He is seen here with his dear friend Sue Lenz. Sue shared several very touching stories about Dale with me when I met her at the Robarts Arena.

We should all be so lucky as to have a friend like Sue.

CLOWN ALLEY: Ringling Blue Unit (1978)

Photo courtesy of Daniel Neil Rodgers


Danny "Taz" Rogers, Kevin "Roofus T. Goofus" Bickford, Billy " Elwood Smooch" Baker, Dean "Elmo Gibb" Chambers and Kenny "The Great Gumby" Columbo

MICHAEL BONGAR: At Circus World, Haines City, Fl. (1973)

Photo courtesy of Larry Allen Dean

SALVINI CLOWNS

WHAT HAVE THE ROMANS EVER DONE FOR US?: Marco Minnemann and Monty Python's LIFE OF BRIAN

CESLEE CONKLING: December 6, 1965 - January 13, 1994

Photos courtesy of the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center

A Graduate of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College Class of 1991, Ceslee was a clown on the Blue Unit from 1992-1994. Loved by everyone, she died tragically when the Blue Unit circus train derailed outside of Lakeland, Florida on the morning of January 13, 1994. Always helpful and concerned for her friends, Ceslee was killed enroute through the train to alert everyone of a broken wheel on the Clown Car. Always helpful, always concerned; that was our Ceslee.

~ Joel Heidtman

Pages from the program from Ceslee and Ted's memorial service

Ceslee's costume on display at the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center





Ceslee and Ethel
photo courtesy of Mike Weakley

BRUNO CHICKY

Courtesy of the International Clown Hall of Fame

LITTLE RED RIDING RABBIT: Merrie Melodies dir. Friz Freleng (1944)

Little Red Riding Rabbit is a 1944 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is a sendup of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and is the first time in which Mel Blanc receives a credit. This cartoon was voted number 39 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

Plot

Little Red Riding Hood is depicted as a typical 1940s teen-aged girl, a "bobby soxer" with an extremely loud and grating voice (inspired by screen and radio comedienne Cass Daley, provided by Bea Benaderet). After she sings "The Five O'Clock Whistle" in the opening to establish this fact, Bugs pops out of her basket to ask where she's going. She replies that she's going to "bring a little bunny rabbit to my grandma's. Ta HAVE, see?"

With this part of the story set up, the wolf is now introduced. The wolf switches a "Shortcut to Grandma's" sign, so that Red has to go through a long mountain path, while the wolf uses the real shortcut – a few short steps to the house. Seeing a note on the door that Grandma isn't home (apparently a "Rosie the Riveter" type who's working the "swing shift" at Lockheed), the wolf sneaks inside and dresses like grandma – only to find that a bunch of other wolves are similarly dressed and waiting in the bed for Red! The wolf (voiced by Billy Bletcher) growls for the others to "take a powder – this is MY racket!" Once in bed, the wolf waits for Red to come to the door. But in a twist, the wolf isn't interested in eating Red, but rather the rabbit she brought with her.

The wolf quickly shuffles Red out the door and tries looking for Bugs. Bugs, however, gets the better of the wolf and runs around the house, being 'chased' by the wolf. The wolf, however, is constantly interrupted by Red, who continues asking the questions from the story, such as "That's an awfully big nose for you – ta HAVE."

Towards the end of the cartoon, after eluding the wolf by distracting him into singing, "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet (With the Blue Ribbons on It)", Bugs manages to get a glowing coal from the fireplace and sends the wolf to the ceiling by scorching his backside. When the wolf comes down, Bugs has a large shovelful of coals waiting to scorch the wolf. However, the wolf manages to catch his feet on the ends of two benches just in time, doing the "splits", facing the camera (see photo). Instead of simply kicking one of the benches away, Bugs proceeds to dump heavy weights into the wolf's arms. After clearing out just about everything in the house (except the kitchen sink), Bugs is about to apply the coup de grace on the wolf – by placing a flower on top of the mass of junk and furniture the wolf is holding – when Red comes back in, bellowing "Hey, GRANDMA!" (Since Red has by now already questioned the wolf on his big eyes, big nose, big ears, and sharp teeth, one wonders what she was planning to ask next.)

By this time, even Bugs has had enough of Red's interruptions, prompting him to say, "I'll do it, but I'll probably hate myself in the morning." He descends the ladder, out of frame, there's a shuffling of the furniture... and now RED is the one desperately trying to avoid getting scorched (doing the "splits" in her dress, but modestly facing away from the camera), while Bugs and the wolf, arms around each others' shoulders, share a carrot and self-satisfied looks, and await the inevitable.

Later Appearances

• Red returns as a guest character among the crowds cheering for the Looney Tunes' Toon Squad at the end of the basketball game in the 1996 movie Space Jam.
• In an episode of the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, ("It's a Plaid, Plaid, Plaid, Plaid World") Red appears as a character called "Myopia". Her voice, performed by Tress MacNeille, is just as shrill as the original, but now with a distinct Scottish burr. Her name is an ironic misnomer, as she suffers not from nearsightedness, but colorblindness.

ANATOLY & LAIMA

ANTONIO: Circus Renz, Berlin

EGGHEAD: My Favorite Cartoon Character of All Time

Egghead

In 1937, Tex Avery introduced a new character in his cartoon short Egghead Rides Again. Egghead initially was depicted as having a bulbous nose, funny/eccentric clothing, a voice like Joe Penner, and an egg-shaped head (thus the moniker "Egghead"). Many cartoon historians believe that Egghead evolved into Elmer over a period of a couple of years. However, animation historian Michael Barrier asserts "The Egghead-Elmer story is actually a little messy, my sense being that most of the people involved, whether they were making the films or publicizing them, not only had trouble telling the characters apart but had no idea why they should bother trying."

Egghead made his second appearance in 1937's Little Red Walking Hood and then in 1938 teamed with Warner Bros.' newest cartoon star Daffy Duck in Daffy Duck and Egghead. In 1938 Egghead continued to make appearances in the Warner cartoons, including The Isle of Pingo Pongo, and A-Lad-In Bagdad. In A Feud There Was (1938) Egghead made his entrance riding a motorscooter with the words "Elmer Fudd, Peacemaker" displayed on the side, the first onscreen use of that name. Egghead shifts from having a Moe Howard haircut to being bald and wearing a brown derby, a baggy suit, and a high-collared shirt.

His voice, laugh, and mannerisms are very much like those of Joe Penner. In the same period, a Warner's publicity sheet for Cinderella Meets Fella refers to Elmer as Egghead's brother, which seems to argue that at least internally at the studio the characters were always viewed as distinct, even as Fudd emerged and Egghead receded into obscurity. Egghead himself returned decades later in the compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters. More recently, he also made a cameo appearance at the end of Looney Tunes: Back in Action and was also given in his own story, which starred him alongside Pete Puma, in the Looney Tunes comic book.

Egghead has the distinction of being the very first recurring character created for Leon Schlesinger's Merrie Melodies series (to be followed by such characters as Sniffles, Inki, and even Bugs Bunny), which had previously contained only one-shot characters, although during the Harman-Ising era, Foxy, Goopy Geer, and Piggy each appeared in a few Merrie Melodies.

In the 1939 cartoon Dangerous Dan McFoo, a new voice actor Arthur Q. Bryan was hired to provide the voice of the hero dog-character and it was in this cartoon that the popular "milk-sop" voice of Elmer Fudd was created. Elmer Fudd has since been the chief antagonistic force in the majority of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, initiating one of the most famous rivalries in the history of American cinema.

SALVINI MUSICAL CLOWNS

MYSTERY CLOWN: Herman Circo

Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang, we LOVE you!

INTERNATIONAL CLOWN HALL OF FAME AND RESEARCH CENTER

The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center is trying to reach a fan page goal of 2,000 fans for their facebook page by midnight tonight with a very special surprise for the 2,000th fan from the hall's new prize closet.

If you have a facebook acoount, please click the title of this post to become a fan.

There might be big news on the horizon...

NCI: NOUVEAU CLOWN INSTITUTE VIDEOS

Please take a moment to click the title of this post and watch three videos of Jango Edwards and the faculty and students of the Nouveau Clown Institute. You're going to like what you see.