Saturday, April 02, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY CLOWN COLLEGE TO BE RECIPIENT OF 2011 KENNEDY CENTER MARK TWAIN PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR
RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY CLOWN COLLEGE TO BE RECIPIENT OF 2011 KENNEDY CENTER MARK TWAIN PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR.
For Immediate Release: March 31, 2011
Washington, D.C. — "The Fourteenth Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize" celebrates The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, an entity which has spawned some of the most versatile and prolific careers in the entertainment industry, finding success in the circus ring, on stage, in front of the camera, as a performers in film and television, and behind the scenes as a writers directors and producers. The program airs Monday, November 12, 2011, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS stations nationwide. A ceremony is scheduled to be taped at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on October 11 and the 90-minute special will feature tributes and comic testimonials from a star-studded cast of graduates and colleagues including Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell, Robin Williams, Steve Martin, David Letterman, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Irwin, Jon Lovitz, John Leguizamo, Rob Reiner and Martin Short. The program will also include an assortment of classic clips from the school’s 30 year career.
“For clowns to receive the same award as Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, and Neil Simon is a great honor,” said former dean Steve Smith. “As my grandfather said, if you hang around the store long enough, once in a while they’ll give you something!” He shared, “ I’m looking forward to a wonderful evening.”
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College is the Fourteenth recipient of The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Past recipients of the prize have been Richard Pryor (1998), Jonathan Winters (1999), Carl Reiner (2000), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Lily Tomlin (2003), Lorne Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005) Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), Bill Cosby (2009), and Tina Fey (2010).
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College: The Fourteenth Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize is a co-production of WETA Washington, D.C.; The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Mark Krantz Productions; and Comedia. Executive producers are Robert Kaminsky, Peter Kaminsky, Mark Krantz and Cappy McGarr. WETA executive producers are Dalton Delan and David S. Thompson.
Funding for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College: The Fourteenth Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize, is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service. Media partner is USA TODAY.
The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was created in 1998 by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mark Krantz, Peter Kaminsky and Bob Kaminsky and John Schreiber to recognize the art of humorists who have had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain*. As a social commentator, satirist and creator of characters, Samuel Clemens was a fearless observer of society, who startled many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective of social injustice and personal folly. He revealed the great truth of humor when he said “against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld will be presented a copy of an 1884 bronze portrait bust of Mark Twain, sculpted by Karl Gerhardt (1853-1940). The bust and its images are courtesy of the Mark Twain House, Hartford, Connecticut.
The Kennedy Center, as the nation’s center for the performing arts, recognizes and presents all of the performing arts including opera, jazz, musical theater, drama, ballet and dance, as well as symphony and all kinds of smaller musical ensembles performing every imaginable kind of music.
WETA Washington, D.C., is the third-largest producing station for public television. WETA’s other productions and co-productions include The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal, In Performance at the White House, The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and documentaries by filmmaker Ken Burns, including The Civil War and THE WAR. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. More information on WETA and its programs and services is available on the website at www.weta.org.
*"Mark Twain Prize" TM/© Chase Manhattan Bank and Richard A. Watson as trustees of The Mark Twain Foundation Trust under license authorized by CMG Worldwide Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46256 USA.
# # #For more information from the Kennedy Center website please click here.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
ICHOF: Car & Driver Article
Click here to read International Clown Hall of Fame director Greg DeSanto interviewed on the physics of the Clown Car Gag from the April issue of Car & Driver magazine.
ROBB ZEISER ON LENO
Robb Zeiser on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno thrilling William Shatner in the "Thrill Bill" segment right after the monologue.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
COMEDYFORANIMATORS.COM
Thank you to John Towsen for introducing me to comedyforanimators.com, a much needed resource bridging the gap between physical and visual comedy live (in the ring, on stage or on screen) and the physical and visual comedy of animation.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Every year for St. Patrick's Day I post information on Irish history with a particular focus on the horrors of the Irish Holocaust at the hands of Oliver Cromwell. No one ever seems to care.
So here's the Muppets. Enjoy...
If you're interested in something other than potato famine jokes, leprechauns, green beer and drunken brawls in the vomit-soaked streets after a dull-as-dishwater bagpipe parade, read last year's post.
So here's the Muppets. Enjoy...
If you're interested in something other than potato famine jokes, leprechauns, green beer and drunken brawls in the vomit-soaked streets after a dull-as-dishwater bagpipe parade, read last year's post.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
SHANE CASHIN: POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Shane Cashin, age 8, at 2:00 PM on 3/11/11 fighting the power, sticking it to the man and raging against the machine by walking out of his elementary school in solidarity with the students in Wisconsin.
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| This Backpack Kills Fascists! |
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Monday, March 07, 2011
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Friday, March 04, 2011
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
GROUCHO MARX: I'm Against it!
It's amazing how the sight of 100,000+ people protesting in support of the rights of American workers, news the Koch brothers have their websites hacked by Anonymous and word that Fox News' Roger Ailes may be indicted any minute now can warm a man's heart and bring a smile back to his face...
And for those of you still walking around with your comically oversized pantaloons in a bunch, I promise to refund each and every one of you the entire cost of your February subscription to clownalley.net.
Fight the power.
Friday, February 25, 2011
NO CLOWN ALLEY.NET TODAY. NONE FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE. TOO DISGUSTED...
WI Assembly GOP Passes Walker Budget In Surprise Vote -- Dems Chant "Shame!"
MADISON, WI -- The Wisconsin State Assembly has just passed Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, including its controversial provisions to eliminate almost all collective bargaining rights for public employee unions as well as many other provisions to weaken union organizing.
After much buildup in the 61-hour debate -- of Republicans wanting things to be over, and Democrats railing against Republicans who they said would cut off debate -- at about 1 AM Speaker Pro Tempore Bill Kramer (R) announced that he would hear a voice vote for a roll call on final passage. Immediately, the majority Republicans shouted their ayes, and the Democrats were booing, as they tried to be recognized to demand a separate motion to cut off debate.
Then Kramer called the vote. Within seconds, the digital vote system on the wall announced 51 ayes and 17 nays, and voting was suddenly closed. With a total of 96 members, that got to a majority for the bill but left 28 members who hadn't had a chance yet to vote.
At that point, the Democrats got up, chanting "Shame! Shame! Shame!" and similar exclamations, as the Republicans filed out of the room.
There were many Democrats I spoke to and overheard in the chamber, who said they didn't get a chance to vote, or that they were pushing the "No" button at their desks as hard as they could -- keep in mind that a majority of their 38-member caucus was recorded as casting no votes at all. (Interesting to note there were also four Republicans who voted no -- after having joined every party-line vote against Democratic amendments. Some Dems speculated that the GOP leadership had allowed some Assembly Republicans in marginal districts to skip the vote or vote 'no' on the final tally.)
Some of the Democrats I spoke to, such as state Rep. Kelda Roys, maintained that the vote was illegal. Let's see whether they pursue such avenues in court.
Soon after the vote, as local CBS affiliate reporter Jessica Arp showed me in a video replay in the press room, an unidentified Democratic legislator could be seen throwing his papers and a beverage of some kind into the air in the heat of passion, as the booing broke out after final passage.
Afterwards, the Dems filed out into the rotunda, to cheers of "Thank you! Thank you!" from the protesters who have filled the halls of the Capitol for over a week. An interesting question has been whether the day and night Capitol building protests would end after this vote. But as I write this in the Capitol's press room, it's up in the air to me whether the protesters will even clear out at all. I can still hear them chanting and singing songs out in the halls -- including at least one round of "Hell no, we won't go!"
Keep in mind that this is not the end of the issue -- far from it. The 14 state Senate Democrats remain in exile in Illinois, preventing the state Senate from having the three-fifths quorum required to take a vote on the budget. For now, Wisconsin has become ground zero in an unexpected but pitched battle over the political future of the labor movement and the question of whether the Tea Party-fueled GOP resurgence of 2010 will trigger a backlash all its own.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GREG DESANTO!
Happy Birthday today to International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center Executive Director Greg DeSanto, someone who has done more to preserve the legacy of American circus clowning than just about anyone in history.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
CLOWN ALLEY: RBB&B 1969 by Mark Solomon
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| Michael Karp, Billy Ward and others in Clown Alley |
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| Michael Karp, Reggie Montgomery and Dougie Ashton. The Barry Sloan parade heads behind them are still on tour with the Cole Bros. Circus. |
I took these in Oakland, California in Feb 1969. The negatives were then stored and long forgotten in my dad's attic since the late 60s. After he passed, they were discovered about five years ago along with hundreds of prints, negatives and other memorabilia.
The digital prints were scanned from a Nikon film scanner.
Enjoy.
Yours, Mark Solomon
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
PAYASOS DE MADERA
Featuring recreations of Albert Fratellini, Antonet, Grock, Charlie Rivel and Oleg Popov.
QUOTE
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
- Anonymous
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
MUBAREK RESIGNS! Sic Semper Tyrannis!
CAIRO – Egypt's Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on Friday, bowing down after a historic 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands.
A massive crowd in Cairo's central Tahrir Square exploded into joy, waving Egyptian flags, and car horns and celebratory shots in the air were heard around the city of 18 million in joy after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall.
"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," a grim-looking Suleiman said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."
Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young suporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, "This is the greatest day of my life."
"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.
CHARACTER DESIGN: Salon Article
From Cartoon Brew...
Salon just published an excellent piece about animation character design. They interviewed designer Shannon Tindle (Coraline, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, and some as-yet-to-be-released DreamWorks films) about why films like Gnomeo and Juliet and Bob Zemeckis’s mo-cap efforts have such poor character design and asked him to explain which mainstream features work and which don’t from a design perspective.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
FUNNYMEN: Life and Times on the Greatest Show on Earth by Joe Wood
Click here to order now. Right now. I'm not kidding, you HAVE to buy this book right this very second!!!
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
MICHAEL "COCO" POLAKOVS: Sailor Circus and Pat Valdo
Newspaper clipping from the personal collection of Levoi Hipps
Michael and Hazel Polakovs had told me the story of how, after leaving the Mills Bros. Circus, Coco had come back to America in the late fifties and was working at the Circus Hall of Fame in Sarasota.
His son Graham was a student at the Sailor Circus and Coco had taught Graham and some of his friends an entree that his father, Nicolai, had performed at the Bertram Mills Circus. After much rehearsal over at the Circus Hall of Fame they presented their gag in the show. The act was a sensation.
No less than the legendary Pat Valdo attended the performance, seated in the very first row, and when he heard the audience's reaction he stood and turned to watch the audience's laughter. They were in hysterics. He hired Michael "Coco" Polakovs on the spot.
This newspaper photo proves Mike's story to be true. Upon offering Mike the job Pat Valdo asked the photographer from the local newspaper to get a photo of him shaking hands with his newest clown.
Graham is there in the photo (next to Mr. Valdo) as well as Mr. Levoi Hipps, graduate of the very first class of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and first Boss Clown of the Blue Unit.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Monday, February 07, 2011
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Friday, February 04, 2011
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
TUMBLING PIERROTS
Does anyone know who this is or when it is from? All that I can tell is that it is English and from about the turn of the last century.
Monday, January 31, 2011
LES CHABRI: Ballerina Entree (1976)
From circopedia
Les Chabri, clowns, with Nora (née Dedessus le Moutier) and Victor "Toto" Chabri, in The Ballerina at Brussel's Cirque Royal during Les Olympiades du Cirque, a Jean-Pierre Richard production, in 1976. The voice over is that of Jean Richard.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
HORACE WEBB
Some of you might know Mr. Horace Webb. Some of you may even have sat for his wife, Aerial.
Friday, January 28, 2011
PIE ROUTINE
A variation on the one done by Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl and at the Secret Policeman's Ball.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
ICHOF: Sarasota Update
We are having an AMAZING time in Sarasota, seeing friends, meeting heroes and getting oral histories.
We visiting the archives of the Ringling Museum, had lunch with Levoi Hipps, visited with Penny and Donna Geneva (Otto Griebling's step daughters) and held a meeting at Showfolks of Sarasota.
The meeting was an incredible gathering of American clowns (and their families) stretching all the way back to the 1920s and the room's support for the Hall of Fame was wonderful. We get the feeling that we are on the right track...
Today: a visit to Palmetto, FL...
BELLO NOCK: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Congratulations go out to Mr. Bello Nock on his winning the Gold Clown at the 35 International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo. Local boy makes good indeed!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
ICHOF: Sarasota Trip, Day One
Today we are off to visit Levoi Hipps, Penny Griebling (Otto's daughter), some time at the Ringling Museum and a presentational meeting tonight at Showfolks of Sarasota.
Anyone in the Sarasota area interested in joining us tonight, the meeting starts at 7:00.
Monday, January 24, 2011
ICHOF: Heading Down to Sarasota!
Fellow International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center board members Greg DeSanto, Sandy Weber and myself are off to Sarasota, FL today for the most exciting project in the hall's history.
We are beginning an oral history project, meeting with several performers and their families over the next four days and recording their memories for posterity.
It's a project that is long overdue and one that I wish the hall had begun at its inception. Circus clowning is a rapidly changing American folk art, the history and culture of which has sadly gone without being properly preserved.
Bright and early tomorrow morning we go about correcting that!
If you are in the Sarasota area, PLEASE join us on Wednesday night for a meeting discussing the ICHOF's past, present and future at the Showfolks of Sarasota club.
We'd love to see you there!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
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