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Mr. Mr. Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Hey! Thought you could sneak by me, huh?
What do you think you're doing snooping around this mecca of merriment? This camp is a comedy.
Get over here. Who are you?
Sit down over here. Come on, sit down right over here.
Ah! What would you do?
So, what are you doing here anyway?
I want to be a clown.
I want to be a clown, just like that, huh?
Yeah.
Not just anybody can be a clown, you know.
Only those very special people can be clowns.
This is that famous school of skullduggery.
That home of hilarity.
That lot of ludicrous learning.
That's very special place.
Oh, please, mister.
You want to be a clown?
That's the funniest thing I ever heard.
Clowny is only for people that are serious about being a clown.
Now, go on out of here, however you came in here,
because I got guard duty stuff to do.
Go on.
Okay, okay, okay. Don't cry.
I can't stand to see anybody unhappy.
Why do you want to be a clown anyway?
Because I want to make people laugh.
Oh, I got an idea.
I got it. Stay right there.
Hold that thumb. Hold that thumb.
I know. I got the answer.
The whole thing is here. I can just find it.
I know I didn't put it up here.
Oh, wait a minute. It's got to be in here. Hold on.
Ha-ha! Ha-ha!
I got it. There it is. There it is.
Everything you ever wanted to know about being a clown is in this book.
So go over there. Come on. Go over there.
I want you to read this book cover to cover,
and everything you ever wanted to know about being a clown is in there,
because I got some guard duty stuff to do.
Go ahead.
Good luck.
Becoming a clown takes work in lots and lots of practice.
Some of the things you have to learn are the mini clown skills,
how to put together a clown costume,
various clown gags,
and how to put on your funny face.
Now let's get started.
So you want to be a clown, huh?
Well, you've come to the right place.
This is Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's world famous Clown College,
the only school of its kind in the entire world.
And I'm your host, Professor Pratfall.
Hi, Professor Pratfall.
How you doing?
That's the Pratfall.
Excuse me.
Now, Clown College is a very special place,
and we're going to let you in on our secrets.
So if you pay attention and keep practicing and practicing,
maybe one day you'll be a clown with the greatest show on Earth.
And that means you'll be one of those very lucky people
who get a chance to give the greatest gift of all,
the gift of laughter.
If you should become a clown, you'll be a part of a long history.
Did you know that clowns have been around for over a thousand years?
Back in that time, they used to call them court jesters.
And one of the most famous authors of all, William Shakespeare,
put a lot of clowns in a lot of his plays.
That, Willie, what a cut-up.
Now, the first thing you must learn to become a clown
is how to act like one.
And to help you learn, here are my assistants.
Let's start with how a clown moves.
When most people move, they walk, run, and move their arms like this.
But as a clown, the most important thing to remember is to exaggerate.
Overdo every move you make.
You want your audience, whether they're close up or far away,
to see and feel everything that you do.
When you're happy, beat your hands together, slap your thighs,
smile from ear to ear, hug yourself, and spin around like a top.
When you're sad, be terribly sad.
Bury your head in your knees or lie flat on your back
and beat your fists and heels around the ground.
Do you feel like crying?
Pull a great big handkerchief from your pants.
But if you want to add a laugh to your crying,
poke your head through the middle of it.
This all may look easy at first, but to move in a funny way
and not hurt yourself or anyone else takes a lot of practice and homework.
You can start by using a large mirror and then try it out with an audience.
Even if it's only your friends, go find your friends and ask them to watch.
They'll love it.
Just use your imagination and see what happens.
But always be careful and keep your body under control.
You can still exaggerate, but don't get wild about it.
That's not funny. That's dangerous.
Clowns have to learn some unusual skills,
and one of the most important is juggling.
And here to demonstrate is Steve Russell.
Steve, can you teach us how to juggle?
I think so, Ron.
Most anyone can learn to juggle if they give it a try.
And the best way of learning how to juggle
is with using some dime store scarves like this.
They're very lightweight, as you can see.
Yeah, they are light.
All right, so what you have to do is throw them in the air, one like this.
You see? You can see how it falls slowly.
It's very important for learning to juggle.
Now, the next thing you should do is put your hands up in the air like this.
Just like this.
Look at those two places where your hands are.
I got them.
You see?
Now, this is what we call an imaginary point over here,
and this is another imaginary point there.
I got two imaginary points.
That's right.
And every ball that you throw has to go to one of those two points.
You can put your hands down.
That's fine.
Take one scarf.
Here's a nice greenish-yellow one for you.
Take it in your right hand.
Got it?
Got it.
All right.
Now, take that scarf and put it over to this imaginary point.
Oh, throw it up.
And throw it in the air.
Right.
And catch it in the other hand.
Got it.
Good.
Very good.
You're a good student.
All right.
Then you take the left hand, and you throw that to this imaginary point here.
Okay.
Just like that.
Very good.
One.
But that's not all.
There's more.
There's more.
All right?
You didn't tell me there was going to be more.
Well, I'm sorry.
You need at least two to juggle.
Okay.
And three is real juggling.
How about just two first?
Two.
All right.
So let's do two.
All right?
One on each hand.
Got it.
Let them hang down like that.
That looks like it's going to be tougher.
That's all right.
Got it.
So it's exciting, you know?
I'm having a ball.
I'm having the silk.
The silk, correct.
What you do, you start with the right, put that over to this point, and you drop it.
Don't do it yet.
You start with this left-hand side point and drop it.
Then, as that's falling, you throw this to the right-hand point and drop it.
Got it.
All together, it looks like this.
Watch first.
Catch.
Catch.
Let me try.
All right.
Give it a try.
One, two, catch, catch.
Got it.
Good.
Try it again.
One, two, catch, catch.
One, two, catch, catch.
Very good.
Very good.
Now, here comes the rough part.
There's more.
There's more.
There's more.
There's more.
There's more.
There's more.
The third scarf.
Let's give you a colored one here.
Okay.
If you can, you should...
Which hand?
No, you should start probably with which hand you feel comfortable with.
If you're left-handed, you use your left hand.
If you're right-handed, you use your right hand.
Okay, I'm right-handed.
So, here's what you do.
You put one scarf in the crook of your thumb like this.
Got it.
All right.
The next scarf, you put at your fingertips, like that.
Got it.
Got it.
Got it.
Got it.
Got it.
All right.
The way to do this is you can throw the one at your fingertips without throwing the one
in your thumb.
So, just try that.
Throw one in the air, like that, and catch it in the same hand.
All right.
Very good.
Very good.
Now, here we go.
The exciting part.
Okay.
You throw this over to that point, then this over to that point, then this over to that
point.
Oh, okay.
It looks like this.
One, two, three.
All right.
All right.
Ready?
Oh, it's exciting.
Go ahead.
I'm going to do it.
All right.
I bet you I'll do it.
Three to one.
How much?
No, go.
Three to one.
One, two, three.
Catch.
That's it.
Wonderful.
Wonderful.
Now, once you've learned how to do the scarves, all right, scarves are very wonderful to watch
and to juggle, too, because then you can get carried away, all right?
You see?
You can come over and under and around, and if you want to do some tricky things, whew.
All right.
Hey.
Oh, but I bet you're thinking, this is not real juggling.
Go on, admit it.
I was thinking that's really not juggling.
Oh, I thought you would think that.
Go.
I think probably everybody was thinking it really wasn't juggling.
Oh, it could be.
When I think about juggling, I think about throwing three balls up.
Oh, funny you should mention that.
Look, here we have three balls, but these are special.
These are not real ball balls.
These are bean bag balls.
You see, it's very important because a ball ball, when it hits and bounces, all right,
very good bouncing ball, but for learning, you don't want everything running all over
the place, going all over under the rug and under the sofa and everything and hitting
the dog.
All right, so what you want to do is get a bean bag ball because when it drops, it stays
right there.
That's it?
That's it.
It's dead.
You don't have to go chasing it around.
Really, you don't have to.
Once in a while, you have to chase it around.
All right.
So the same thing.
Okay.
You start with two balls in whichever hand you're comfortable with.
Okay.
And one in the other.
Got it.
All right.
Here, trade.
To learn, though, you use two, you go one and two, just as you did with the two scarves.
Back up to the same imaginary points.
One, two.
Yeah, to the imaginary points.
And it's very important that you throw the balls to the same imaginary points, but at
different times.
Do you understand that?
Yeah.
All right.
So it looks like this.
One, two.
It's not this.
Everyone seems to make this mistake.
It's a way of juggling, but not the easiest way, all right?
And it's not this.
Because there, you're catching two balls at the same time, and you have to think about
two hands at the same time.
Okay.
So what you want is one and two.
And you should be able to count even out loud.
One, two.
Okay.
Counting's no problem.
Oh, you can get that.
Up to two.
All right.
Wait till we get to three.
It gets more difficult.
One, two.
All right?
Okay.
One, two.
So you're going to do it perfectly about ten times, all right?
Ten times perfectly, one, two.
You should be able to do it.
Then you move on to the third one, all right?
The bigger embedded things, huh, Steve?
Ready?
Okay.
It's going to be great.
One, two, three.
That's as much as you need to do.
That's one juggle.
One, two, three.
You've thrown each of the balls.
So it's similar to the same thing you did with the scarf.
Same thing as with the scarf.
Okay.
I get it now.
All right?
One, two, three, four, five, six.
But really, it's only the same motion over and over.
Just like that.
Oh, okay.
All right?
Good.
But with any juggling, it really doesn't matter what you do.
It's how you do it.
Well, how you do it.
No, how you do it.
Me?
If you can only do two balls like this, what you have to do is make the audience think
it's the most amazing thing they've ever seen.
Yeah, but that one you just do with just two balls.
Oh, sure.
What can you do?
You can do one ball.
All right?
One ball.
The most amazing thing.
I can do one ball.
All right.
Here.
See, like this?
Go ahead.
All right.
One ball.
See?
All right?
And if you want to do two balls, you just do two balls.
The most amazing juggler you've ever seen.
All right.
It all depends on how you do it.
So if you're going to do three, it doesn't really matter if you can do all these tricks.
What matters is...
That fancy guy.
Is your clown inside.
Oh, sorry.
Oh, sorry.
This is so fancy.
This is good stuff.
So are you juggling three balls?
stuff so you're juggling three balls if you can do two in one hand try two in one hand
you see now my left hand is not doing anything it could be doing something well it could be doing
this it's a good trick it's called two in one it's very easy i do a lot of it all right there's two
in one all right but if you want to make this funny what you have to do is hold on to the ball
in the left hand and it looks like this see it's funny that's good it is that's funny it's good
see here's a yo-yo i like that one too we're measuring spaghetti one of the two here's a
lollipop how the heck do you keep control where all these balls are practice and the theory of the
universe all right and that's chocolate
oh
charlie the clown our balloon blowing expert that looks terrific yeah that's pretty isn't it
beautiful swan yeah that's a really pretty hey would you please show everybody and teach them
how to make a balloon animal all right but first of all i think they should know where to get
balloons okay where do you get these what do you do these aren't regular balloons like you buy in
a you don't just go to 7-eleven or something these are special balloons these are called pencil
balloons okay now you can get pencil balloons probably in a magic shop or maybe you'll find
them in the supermarket okay i've seen them at magic shops what you need to do is you need to
get the 360e or the 360a that's a special long one 360e or 360a it's all right now i've got
something in my pocket here let me get this one out now first of all before you blow one up you
give it a good stretch like this okay okay this warms the balloon up and makes it a little easier
to blow up because it's not an easy thing to blow up so when you stretch it out it makes it easier
that's right okay look at that that's great right you almost got all the way to the end
yeah would you like to try and blow one up uh yeah okay all right i'll get you one
okay just drop that on the ground down okay you try and fly down just let it fly down okay swan
give it a good stretch okay stretch it out now i can get you back okay now blow it up
try and blow from your stomach keep your lips keep your cheeks no don't let your cheeks come out
blow from your stomach like you're blowing a trumpet
well you can keep practicing on that but i'll tell you what ron hey there it goes
well got it he's got some of it very good okay a little bit more a little bit more
more great okay that's that's enough you can stop the time thanks joey okay that wasn't easy was it
no if you find it very difficult you can always use a bicycle pump yeah or you can buy a special
balloon pump yeah yeah those are balloons yeah at magic shops 360 360 okay i'm learning okay now
what i'm going to make here is i'm going to make the most simple balloon thing that you can make
which is well i'll tell you what it is at the end or maybe you'll be able to see what it is
okay i've blown the balloon up almost the whole way it's just a little bit at the end okay first
thing i do is i bend the balloon in half yeah not actually in half in about a third okay and then i
bend it back again in half in half okay now you can see it's going zigzag like okay so it's like an s
i get it now i give these two these three pieces of balloon i got a really it's gonna break
charlie yeah well it didn't break it didn't break now what we got is we'll straighten it out like
it and we've got a little sword i know it's a sword how's that let me try let me try
you're tying it out in here you're tying it out in there okay i take it and make an s bend it into
about a third like that okay one third now you bend it back again and then i bend this side back
now you've got to twist all three pieces right in the middle of all that right in the middle of all
this right okay give it one twist okay okay and you want to turn these a little bit sideways i did
it that's right i did it that's very good that's the point of the sword over there all right not
bad aha i give up all right now i think we should make something a little bit more advanced than this
you know what i like to see what would you like to see i every time i see somebody blow up balloon
animals they make a dog you want to see a dog yeah what kind of dog a fancy dog a french poodle
okay would you like a french poodle fanciest poodle you can make all right here's a french
poodle i'm going to do this nice and slowly so everyone can see how to make this okay all right
i think a white white's a good color for a french poodle give it a good stretch okay i got the
stretch aha you got to be careful of that okay now you blow it up a little bit
not as long as the first yeah how do you know when that where to stop it you stop with about
five inches on the end okay okay got it you tie a knot on this side now the first thing you got to
do is you got to make a long bubble okay you make a bubble that's about so now you squeeze it that
long and you're twisting squeeze it and you twist it i'm twisting it away from me okay and how many
how much do you i twisted it around about twice okay okay after that long bubble you make three
small bubbles okay that's one and then you got to hold on to this one i'm holding on to this one
i'm holding on to the second one in which way you turn that one same way that one the same way
one bubble that's number two two bubbles okay so i've got the long one and two bubbles and the
third one oh okay so what i've got here now is i've got one long one and three small ones got it now
i'm going to take the two points you see where my thumbs are yeah here i'm going to take those
two points together okay and give them a twist ah they're joined together like that got it
okay now the nose of the poodle i'm going to take and i'm going to push it through
the three bubbles spread those bubbles you spread those bubbles apart and you push it through
ah look at that and that gives you the look at how fancy the the noses i got it looks pretty
nice yeah that looks really good so that's the poodle's head i got it three bubbles with a
long bubble going through got it now we're going to make a neck that's the poodle's neck you twist
that the same size it's about the same size as the three head bubbles okay you twist it like that
after the neck you're going to make the front legs now to make the front legs you make two long
bubbles and two small bubbles okay first of all start off with a long bubble like this
you actually make the one long bubble and you spun it all one time around all the same way okay two
small ones and then another long one so both of these two are the same so what i've got here is
one long one and two small ones okay and now i'm going to make another long one oh so it's pretty
much as a long bubble so what i've got here is i've got one long one yeah two small ones got it and
then another long one got it all right i twist those two points together there right underneath
the neck right underneath the neck i got that makes the front legs aha now i got it now what
you do this is the back here this is going to be the back okay you can do exactly the same thing
for the back legs because the back legs and the front legs are going to look the same thing so
you have exactly the same thing the back you give a body you want to make the body about that long
now i understand now you do the same thing you make one long bubble one small one it looks like
you're going to run out of balloons another small one now i think we're doing all right oh yo you're
doing and then another long one so these two are the same size exactly the same as the front legs
the two are the same size and the two little ones so it's just almost two just two different
size bubbles that's right two long ones and two small ones we just twist those two together like
that i got it and that's the tail that's the tail okay now you can make a little bubble on the end
of that tail oh i said the fanciest pool you can make yeah you can just give it a little
aha that's terrific that's terrific look at that all right now if you really want to get fancy yeah
you can take one of these do you know what this is this is a magic marker all right
do you know what this is this is a magic marker all right you take the magic marker and you can
draw a face on it would you like a happy face or a sad face a happy face are you kidding me
yeah we'll always give happy faces to these dogs there's a big smile
see the big smile yep now i do all right look at that give him two little eyes oh i see so
the knot in the balloon is like the tip of the nose that's right so that's his nose that's his
mouth that's so cute and the two eyes can i give that to my wife sure terrific there we are that's
for you thank you all right now what i'm going to do now is i'm going to make something a little
more advanced than this okay all right so you stand back okay i'll show you a little more
so
And there we have a flower.
Charlie the clown, that is fabulous.
Thank you very much.
All right then.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
Bonjour.
Welcome to the Buffonale Boutique.
This is...
Seriously, this is Ringling Brothers and Barnum Valley Clown College Wardrobe Department where
they keep everybody in stitches.
What?
What's the...
Guys, get him out of here.
We're just...
Get him out of here.
Come on.
Get him out.
Thank you.
We're going to give you some costume secrets from our designer dream team and the Clown
College Costume Collection.
To select the proper costume, you don't just grab anything, you try to choose things from
around the house, things that clowns really are.
Are you happy or sad, fast or slow, big or little?
You must bring out whatever you find funny or silly about yourself.
But there's nobody better to explain it to you than Richard Fick, the Clown College Costume
Designer.
Hey, Richard.
Richard.
Richard.
Richard.
Thank you.
Would you please explain to everybody how they can design a Clown College Costume and
maybe find something from around the house?
Sure.
Come along with me.
Here are three perfect clown-shaped examples.
Excuse me.
First, here is Jill.
Hiya, Jill.
Hi.
And Jill is a very feminine, august clown who is also very tall.
And tall and thin.
And so what we will do is exaggerate that tallness by stripes.
Okay, so vertical stripes when they're tall and thin.
She looks taller already.
Okay.
She does.
Thank you, Jill.
Bye.
Thanks, Jill.
Next is Rob Lee.
Hiya, Rob.
Now, Rob Lee is a very elegant white face.
And he does have some girth to him.
Okay.
So what we're going to do is maybe exaggerate that a little.
Maybe with polka dots.
I see.
So if they're a little rounder, you get polka dots.
Right.
Well, sometimes.
And because of his being an elegant white face, some of the softer fabrics can be used.
Oh, and I like the colors too.
The colors go along with his makeup.
Right.
We take all that into consideration.
That looks good.
That's going to look great.
Thank you.
Thanks, Rob.
Ted.
Now, Ted is a great little character tramp clown.
But we always maintain one tradition on the Ringling Show.
What's that?
Our clowns, even though they might be a tramp character, still look nice.
So we thought this nice...
Not dirty.
Not dirty.
Wool plaid would go well with him.
Those colors look fabulous for him.
How did you pick this particular fabric, though?
Well, just because of the makeup, again, picks up the red and the black.
Oh, I see.
Thank you, Ted.
Thanks, Ted.
OK, Ron.
Come on.
Ah, Richard!
Come here.
Ah!
Will you leave me alone?
I thought I'd show you a little bit how designers start their work.
We talk with each of the people we're going to be designing for.
OK.
And then we get information from them.
Like, what are their favorite fabrics, colors?
What are their ideas?
Do they want an extra added-on silhouette?
Like this guy here is a regular, normal guy, but he told me he wanted to have a punchy
little stomach and pat out the back of the pants.
So that's the silhouette.
You start out now, so you take all that into consideration.
You have to look at their body shapes and also you have to ask them what exactly they
are looking for.
Sure, because, see, they're the ones who are going to wear these costumes.
And after we get a silhouette, say, of the general scheme of things, we'll go ahead
and do an overlay of a jacket to go on top.
Oh, look at that.
So then you can make the sleeves longer or shorter.
You can add this over here.
I get it.
OK.
After that happens, we start going around and it's called swatching.
We go and we take little pieces of the fabric that they like and then, for instance, this
is the t-shirt fabric here.
Right.
This is where it's going to go.
So you put in a little bit of color in here in the design.
Right.
Sure.
OK.
And because the pants were originally just black and white, we wanted the red to tie
in here.
So the ladies who do all the sewing will sew red ribbon down here.
So the pants will actually look like the drawing.
Aha.
So now why did you put the stripes on this guy?
Because Sam is another tall clown.
OK.
So again, somebody that's tall and thin, if you want to exaggerate their height, you
put the stripes on and that makes them look a little taller.
Correct.
OK.
So this is an elegant white face.
Oh, this is terrific.
We're putting the glitz in and he specified he wanted red and black with white and some
turquoise, you know, touches in here.
So there's not that many colors.
I mean, there's the black, white and turquoise and the red.
And that's it.
That's it.
OK.
So it's not really that difficult.
No.
And we're using like a silk here for the sleeves as it gives them a nice, soft, flowing look.
So he's more elegant.
So if he would, he's not taking a lot of falls there.
No, he's interested in a lot of magic.
I see.
So you can use more delicate fabrics for that.
Right.
OK.
And he's tall and thin.
So again, you're using vertical stripes.
The stripes.
Now here is another example of the heavy little August clown who is wonderful.
He's going to have even his wig is going to be specially made.
So it's more or less like curly from the three stooges.
OK.
That looks good.
And I shortened his coat and his vest so you can see his nice round stomach here.
If you can find out the comical things about somebody, you try and exaggerate those comical
aspects.
And we're even going to wire up the tails in this coat too.
Oh, OK.
And somebody at home, I mean, they don't have a designer and they don't have a stitcher.
So they're going to have to find somebody in town and they're going to have to do it
themselves and explain to whoever may be making this costume, if they're not making it themselves,
exactly what they want.
Well, are you ready to go now?
Sure.
Let's go for it.
Good.
This is my favorite part.
Wait a minute.
I'm coming.
I'm coming.
You know, a lot of people ask me, because they never were in a circus or never went
to clown college, how to make a clown costume.
Exactly.
Especially for the kids at home.
Right.
If they want to go to a masquerade party or just play clown for a day.
And it's really quite easy.
There are a lot of things around the house that you can just get and turn into a clown
costume with a few little alterations or additions.
But the important thing is, before you take anything, check and get permission.
Absolutely.
Okay.
For instance, here are a pair of baggy overalls that would probably look really good on a
smaller person.
Okay.
Somebody would probably have something like this at home where you can ask your folks
and see if you can use them.
Correct.
And you can get some bright color fabric and just make patches.
Okay.
You can put patches all around if you want, especially if you're like a hobo.
Right.
Okay.
Here's a good example, too.
We got this at a thrift store.
It was a plain black coat, tailcoat, and we sewed patches on it.
Okay.
Here's patches there, patches all around, and there's a pair of pants in here, too.
Right.
With ribbon up the side.
So this is a plain black pair of pants, and you put a ribbon all the way down the side,
and then you got more of a clown costume.
Sure.
And you can go into a lot of hat shops and find a hat like this or at a thrift shop, but
just by putting on some ribbon.
Okay.
So either if you have ribbon at home or you can go to a fabric shop and get a little piece
of ribbon and put it on.
Right.
Sure.
You know what we used to do?
Get a Styrofoam hat.
Mm-hmm.
I did this one time, and you can get those at a joke shop, and they're just white, and
then you can spray them.
Sure.
And we got one to spray for you.
Right there.
And then you add on a ribbon.
Okay.
They're asking about shoes, too.
Where can you buy clown shoes?
Well, clown shoes are fine for the professional clown, but if you just want to play clown,
you can get some oversized sneakers.
Ah.
Look at that.
They're about a 15.
Right.
And believe it or not, you can put them into a washing machine with dye, and you can get
...
Aha.
You like these better, right?
Or probably you can just spray paint them.
Spray paint them, too.
Sure.
Yeah?
Good.
Sometimes you can buy a hat and just by sewing buttons.
That's a clever idea.
That's nice.
This stuff's going like hotcakes here, Richard.
Right.
You're a hit.
Now, if you want to be really glitzy...
Okay.
For the white-faced clown?
For the white-faced clown, buy some trim on a little hat like you...
Okay.
Oh.
The white-faced.
Well, I guess that's exhausting my supply of...
Well, let's see.
What else we got?
Well, we got a shirt here.
Now, this was bought right off the rack.
The tag is still on it.
Okay.
And it's a red and white striped shirt, so somebody could just buy it and get that if
you want.
How about if we wanted to even put some ribbon on there, and then maybe a pair of bright
suspenders?
With the things that are out around town nowadays, you could probably find some wild fabrics
and suspenders and all that kind of stuff.
Well, Richard, I think that's terrific.
So folks, that's the inside scoop to the outside of your costume.
Good luck.
Thanks, Richard.
We start our chapter on clown gags with the living legend, the great Lou Jacobs.
Lou's been entertaining audiences with the greatest show on earth for more than 60 years.
Here he's showing students at clown college bits with his dog, Peewee, a part of his classic
act for many years.
Lou is the only clown ever to have his picture on a United States poster stamp, and he has
created some of the most famous clown gags in circus history, including a circus tradition,
the renowned clown car.
Here you're seeing one of Lou's most famous routines, the rabbit hunter.
Peewee, dressed as a rabbit, plays dead after Hunter Lou tries to bag his dinner with his
pop gun, watch the payoff.
Oh man, that's really funny.
Half the fun of being a clown is creating your own gags.
We're going to show you a couple and then give you a few pointers to start you on your
way entertaining audiences at home, school or just a clown around with a couple of friends.
Now no one should expect to be able to do any gag perfectly right away.
The key to becoming good at doing clown gags is to work up the routine slowly, doing what
you can without hurting yourself or anybody else and then practice, practice, practice
and practice some more.
You'll get better and better before you know it and who knows maybe one day you just might
become the next Lou Jacobs.
And now for the famous old time whip cracker routine starring Jim Vogelgesang and Tammy
Parrish.
Ta-da!
Oh yoo-hoo!
I'm over here!
Oh okay folks, here we go, the best whip cracker routine you've ever seen.
This whip right here, I'm going to snap this piece of paper in two, okay here we go, and
one, two, and ta-da!
I love myself!
All right folks now, pick number two, okay I'm going to do it behind my back, looking
in a mirror, okay, mirror please, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine,
nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine.
Ta-da!
Boy am I fixed!
What?
A piece de resistance, okay, I'm gonna do it blindfolded.
Blindfolded?
Yes, yes ma'am.
I'll put the blindfold on, please.
Not you!
No!
Stop!
Put the blindfold on.
Put it on.
Come on!
Alright, here we go.
And one.
And two.
And...
Ta-da!
We're in a squid trap, we're in the...
Five!
Hey, Jim, Amy, come on back.
Come here.
Dick!
What?
They went that way.
Don't move, don't move.
You have to explain to the folks some of the key elements of that routine.
Okay, I think we can do that.
Okay.
First of all, the props.
Okay.
We used a buggy whip today.
But what you can do at home is use a length of rope.
This length or a little shorter.
It's about five foot tall.
Yes.
Or even a piece of string tied to a stick.
Okay.
And that way it's very easy.
You get the same effect.
Okay.
And you're not going to hurt somebody.
You have to control some prop like this.
Okay.
And a piece of fabric for the...
Yes.
A blindfold.
Just a regular piece of fabric.
Long enough to tie around your...
Three foot long.
Yes.
Long enough to tie around your head.
And Tammy had a few props.
Which were...
A common mirror.
And a piece of paper.
Three of them.
Typing paper or notebook paper like you use at school.
The secret of the paper tear is to cheat and have a small tear already in the paper.
So that when you put your hands at the top and pull, it rips apart easily.
And we never even hit the paper with the whip.
Okay.
We stayed far enough apart that even out of control, I wouldn't hit her with the whip.
It was...
We spaced that out.
I think that they can watch that a couple of times.
Practice it.
Look at the tape again.
Practice it some more.
And I think that that's really a nice routine that they can practice and do.
Yes.
It's very simple.
And you just use your face a lot.
And get all the little comedy bits you can out of one simple prop.
Around the neck.
On somebody else.
Around the eyes.
And facing the wrong light.
One simple prop.
And you think and try and come up with as many different possibilities as you can.
That's the fun part of the climbing.
So watch the routine.
Practice it a couple of times.
And have a whole lot of fun with it.
Tammy and Jim, thank you both very much.
Thank you.
See you at the big show.
We're on our way now.
See you.
Thank you.
And Jeffrey Steele, now perform for you, Dead and Alive.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's does it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
initiates the action, the other one follows it.
So I lift my hat and the other person shakes hands.
I go to shake hands and the other one goes to lift his hat.
You slowly build up the pace until one character
steps out of the scene.
Next thing we'd like to point out is when the character
who's playing dead gets lifted up,
you must stay stiff as a board.
Once you're up, we have three falls.
And in order to accomplish that without getting hurt,
the partner who is alive squeezes your shoulder
and you both count to three.
On three is when you fall back,
that way ensuring that you're not gonna get hurt.
Steve Smith, thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Jeffrey Steele, thank you.
Get out of here, guys.
Whoa!
Hi, it's me again.
Bet I look different without my clown makeup on, don't I?
You see, my real name is Ron Severini.
And I used to be a clown with The Greatest Show on Earth
and I used to be the director of The Clown College.
But now, I am your personal guide
on this journey to joviality.
And since you're still with us,
I guess maybe you really are serious about clowning around.
So, we're gonna show you one of the most important aspects
of clowning makeup.
Makeup!
Ah!
Ah!
Ah!
Ruthie!
Oh, I didn't know it was you, Ron!
Ruth!
Oh, I'm so sorry!
Ruth!
Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
one of the bestest clown makeup artists there ever was,
Ruthie Chattick.
Well, while we got you here,
put your video book on pause,
go get a mirror, and we're gonna show you something.
Ruthie, not you!
She never listens to me.
I want you to go get yourself a mirror.
Ron, I got a mirror here!
Maybe just a little bit smaller mirror, Ruthie.
A little smaller, okay?
Thanks.
We're gonna show you something very, very special,
because we have the best clowns in the world
are gonna show you how they put on their clown makeup,
and then you're gonna get a chance to really learn
how you put your makeup on, okay?
Now you're gonna have some fun,
because you're gonna get a chance
to make some funny faces at yourself in the mirror.
Okay, everybody take a look in the mirror.
You wanna smile real big, frown, get angry.
Surprise!
Goofy!
Okay, now the reason we're doing this
is to find out how our face naturally moves.
So the lines of your face are what you wanna exaggerate
when you do a clown makeup.
Right, now, watch these clown college students,
and you'll see exactly what we mean.
["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"]
Hey, folks, this is Steve Smith,
the director of Ringling Brothers
in Barnum and Bailey Clown College.
Steve, to put the clown on the outside,
how do you find the clown on the inside?
Good question, and a tough one,
but I think it comes down to three things.
First of all, we have to have a heart the size of Alaska,
and share it with everybody you meet,
because as clowns, everything we give away
comes back 10 times.
Second, we have to have fun,
but we must always remember to take our silliness seriously.
And the third thing, and most important, magic.
Not the kind of magic that you learn from a book
or you buy from a store, it's the magic of believing.
We must believe what we're doing,
because clowning really is like snow on Christmas,
and all-day suckers, and never, never land.
Now, there are three different types of clown makeups.
First, the white face, the Auguste, and the character.
And to demonstrate these for you,
we have the one and only eight-year veteran
of Ringling Brothers in Barnum and Bailey Circus,
Tammy Parrish, and Master Clown,
the one and only Mr. Frosty Little.
Hey, Frost.
Hi, John.
Will you please show these people exactly,
step-by-step, how you put on your clown white face makeup?
Sure.
We take a little paper towel,
wipe your skin, all dry, very good.
All dry, very dry.
Don't put anything on your face after that.
Then we take some clown white,
and we start applying it like this.
I always start up on the forehead,
because once you get in the habit of this,
I don't know, you just start at the same place every time,
put it all over your ears, and you rub it in very good.
Frosty, what kind of makeup do you use?
Well, this is a, it's a white,
but it's a zinc oxide base with olive oil.
And it's very good.
It doesn't hurt your skin.
In fact, it's an ointment,
which a lot of kids put in their noses
when they go scrubbing in the sun,
to keep getting sunburned.
So it's good for your skin.
I think we should explain to the kids
that you should not put on something on your face
that you're not supposed to.
No shoe polish, no anything like that.
The only thing you use to color your face is makeup.
Right.
Either regular makeup like your mom,
or your friends might use,
or special clown makeup that you can get
at theatrical makeup stores.
Right, and I think you should get your folks' permission
to start doing this, before you actually start doing this.
Yes.
Always buy your makeup at reputable clown supply stores.
Right.
Makeup supply stores.
Once you get it on, you want to pat it out.
Just take your hand, you kind of slap yourself lightly.
So to both of you.
It's nice and even all over your face.
I wear a skull cap,
and so it'll come down over the shade right here.
How do you know how thick to put the white on?
Because really, some people I've seen,
they put it on too thin,
and some people really take it on.
So what determines?
If you can see your skin through, it's too thin.
And if it's, you know,
if you have to put it on with a trowel, it's too thick.
So, just so your skin doesn't show through.
And then you pat it down, very good.
It just takes all the finger blemishes out,
all the marks.
And once you take your hand away after you've patted it,
and you get involved in something else,
you cannot touch your hand back to your face,
unless you put some makeup on your hand,
and then come back to your face.
If you didn't do that, you would hit your face and pull.
You'd have four imprints there like that.
So this is just a good, helpful hint.
Okay, I'm wiping out where I'm going to put the red.
And the reason I do this, or we do it,
is that the true color, the true color of the red,
if you put it right on your flesh, will come out like this.
If I don't, if you put it over the white,
it'll come out pink.
And the four basic colors are red, black, white, and blue.
This is the four basic circus colors.
So down on the bottom, you took off the white,
and then up on the top for your cheeks,
you're gonna add the color right onto your cheeks.
Right, I'll put them right onto my cheeks.
And I cheated, I used this little film canister
so they get a nice circle on my cheeks.
You know, a good way to figure out what size of mouth
you want is, when you don't have any makeup on at all,
just take one of these grease pencils
and draw a little mouth on like you would a cartoon
and see how it moves.
And that's really how I came up with mine.
I don't like too big a mouth.
I like a smaller mouth like this.
And it's just to, it's your...
Well, you want a mouth that relates to...
Yes, relates to the...
I've seen some people, I mean, they have a mouth
that's the size of Rhode Island, you know?
Yeah, then you can't frown or anything when you have...
Yeah, you want a mouth that works.
Not one that looks like you just slept.
Professional clowns only put makeup on the lower lip only.
The lower lip only.
So not on, you mean the color?
Yes, the mouth and the color on the lower lip only.
And basically all the details are small and very nice.
But the reason is that jack-o-lanterns, this is a blue,
a blue which I put on while it was wet
to tone the color down.
And because if I put it on straight out of there,
the color would be too bright and scary.
The blue is too scary, so I toned it down.
But getting back to the mouth and the lower lip only,
a lot of amateur clowns put a great big mouth
like a jack-o-lantern and they have all these scary colors.
And to kids, a lot of the small children,
jack-o-lanterns are scary.
So if a clown had that kind of a face, he would go, hi.
And sneak right up on them.
Yes, and they're terrified for the rest of their life,
a clown, so we only have...
Simpler is usually better.
Yes.
If you're a kid, you just look in the mirror like we did
and do your little exercises.
Then try to pick a nice small mouth
that you'd like to see on a cartoon.
The next step is powdering.
And we powder our makeup because right now
it's real sticky and it comes off on our clothes.
But if we get some baby powder and a sports sock,
just put the powder inside the sock, tie a little knot.
This'll set our makeup so we can wear it
for 12 hours a day.
And you're gonna sock yourself in the face.
Tilt back, shut your eyes, hold your breath.
Okay.
Go for it.
So you're not even hitting yourself.
Not at first.
All the powder just flying on and then sticking on
to the sticky part of the makeup.
But what you really wanna do,
you wanna just dust off where you're gonna put
the next color, which would be the black.
And you don't wanna dust off very hard.
Because you want this powder to soak in for a little while.
You get all the way down to the pores.
If it doesn't, then the white'll fall off.
I mean, it would fall off a big chunk.
Line on all the way down here.
When you do a line, start in and go for broke.
See, for some people, I think they don't know
how much to put on the brush.
Well, they just run it back and forth and get it.
If you wipe it off every time.
Now see, Tammy uses a...
Yeah, what does she just use?
I use a grease pencil.
I prefer to use a pencil whenever I can.
And this is just a soft crayon grease pencil.
Actually, this is a lady's eyebrow pencil.
And if it's not quite soft enough,
I just heat it up with a little lighter
and apply a thin line.
And the red you put on after you took off the white.
Yes.
But the blue here, you put on over the white.
Yes, that's to tone it down.
And then you powdered everything.
Then you brushed off the powder.
Yes.
And then you put on the black.
Yes, now a lot of people will powder after every color.
After the white, after the red, after the black.
So it's okay to eat and drink and make up, right?
Oh, yes.
You know, that's a good question
because a lot of the...
There's about 35,000 amateur clowns in the United States
and I've talked to some of them that say,
hey, I'm starving to death.
Well, you know, I'd like to eat.
And I say, why can't you eat?
And they say, well, we read that in a book someplace.
And I said, who wrote the book?
They don't know.
Well, the book was written by some guy
maybe 20 years ago that...
Didn't powder or something.
Yeah, he said, don't powder, don't eat,
don't smile and show your teeth.
And none of that stuff.
Sure, you can eat.
You gotta eat and drink.
We go to Fashionable Balls or the Waldorf Astoria
and we eat and you can smile and show your teeth.
You know, you are human beings.
And if you're too regimentated kids,
they don't like that.
Well, I like to use some little sequins
to enhance my makeup.
And I use some comic lashes.
So I've got a little bottle of eyelash adhesive
and I put just a little dot right
where I want each stone to be.
And it's gonna be right at the base of each point.
And then just apply a little pressure.
And they stick just like that?
Yeah.
I mean, that quick?
Mm-hmm.
That's great.
Look at that pretty makeup.
Look at that.
That's a great color.
Pick up a lot of light.
Next come the eyelashes.
That's what's so special about being a clown
because there's really no rules.
You can just be anything you want to be.
At the stones, they have at a lot of fabric stores.
Fabric stores, hobby shops, I understand.
They're usually sold with little silver backs
to go on a piece of fabric,
but I just use them without,
and they've got a little flat side, so.
And do you get the eyelashes
like the theatrical makeup stores?
I have makeup stores.
Yeah.
Now, what are you doing, Frosty?
What is that?
Okay, this is what they call the classic look.
And when I was a little boy,
I saw the first clown, he had a skull cap.
They all had skull caps.
And I said, I'm gonna wear a skull cap someday.
So I wear a skull.
This is called the classic look, the skull cap.
I wear a different nose than Frosty does.
Frosty paints his nose on.
I use a little round rubber nose.
And at clown college, we all learned how to make noses.
Brithy made her very own nose.
I keep mine on with a little piece of very thin elastic.
You can't even see the elastic from just about here,
I can't see it.
It usually blends right in with my makeup.
And then I make my skull caps out of a t-shirt net,
just white t-shirt net, to keep all my hair up.
And out of the way.
Oh, man, let me see, oh, so cute.
And then I have a orange yak hair wig.
There's lots of things you can do for fun clown wigs.
You can make one out of yarn.
I prefer.
Use a mop or something like that.
A mop, there's all kinds of fun things.
A lot of people sew feathers onto skull caps
to make pretty clown wigs.
Oh, that was great.
Or I could wear a big hair bow, little barrettes.
So, Frosty, you don't wear a wig.
No.
And now what are you gonna do?
Put the hat on.
The famous cone hat.
Oh.
Oh, no, I'm just kidding.
Did you make your own hat, Frosty,
did you make this yourself?
We used to, we used to make our own hats.
And we used to take felt hats,
and we used to like ordinary women's felt hats,
and we used to soak them in hot water.
Okay.
And soak them for 10 or 15 minutes,
and then stretch them over a broomstick.
Stretch them as hard as we could, turn the ends up,
let them dry on newspaper,
and then cut them off to the desired length.
But now they've got such good felt that you can make them.
The second category of clown makeup is the Auguste Clown,
and we have Jim Mogul sing.
Yay!
Yay!
Go ahead, Jim, show us how you do it.
Right, the Auguste makeup, yes.
Yeah.
See, again, he starts with the white.
With the lightest color.
With the lighter colors.
Right.
We'll find out if he uses a brush or not.
Right.
Everybody finger paints in the circus,
I've decided.
It's a lot of fun.
So are you going to pat that white down?
Yes, but first of all, I need to clean it up a little bit.
I always find when I'm watching somebody do this,
my face gets a little bit gray.
Yeah, I know.
Go like this.
It's like shaving in the morning, yeah, you have to.
Just gag, just gag.
Usually you don't do this in your living room, too.
Yeah.
I'd highly recommend going outside or to another area
where you're not going to get the powder all over the place.
And you've got to watch it, because it
can get very slippery.
So you're also using a shaving brush to take it off?
Yes.
Yes.
Now, I don't know if Jim powders after every color or not.
So far, he's powdered after the first color.
After three out of four of them, I do.
Now we'll put on a base coat.
You want to make sure that the flesh and the white connect
every place.
You can't leave holes there.
You're going to want your own flesh to show through, right?
Correct.
Make sure it's smoothed out and not blotchy.
Now, are you going to blend any colors in with that?
Yes.
The next color is the red.
It's a little bit of a red, but it's
the color is the red, it's a darker color.
We went from the white to the flesh to the red coming up.
And I don't powder after this one,
because there are places I have to blend the red in.
Now, to highlight the cheeks, there's nothing there now.
It's just sort of no man's land.
So where I would smile, the cheeks pop out a little bit.
So we'll put some color there.
It really doesn't need to powder the whole face,
just the red where he just put on.
But you're sweating.
Well, I had the flesh, which was not powdered.
But I don't powder the white, because it had already been
colored, and brush off the excess powder again.
You've seen that before.
Make sure you powder good, because if you don't,
if you miss a spot and you start brushing it off,
then you start brushing wet colors across your face.
Look out below them.
Powdering is so important to a real, clean, good-looking
clown makeup.
Now, this is the basic design, but it's incomplete.
You need to outline it with black.
So he also uses a black eyebrow pencil.
I want a thin, neat line around this mouth.
He's like me.
Again, he studies one hand with the other hand.
If you can just keep it simple, you'll be in great shape.
I think that's a good key to clowning in general,
is keeping it simple.
This is the hardest part for me to get the makeup on correctly.
Right in close to your eyes.
On the left eye.
You can do it, Jim.
Drum roll.
Close my eyes and go to it.
This is a surgical appliance adhesive.
It works best for me.
It affects some people's skin, but mine
it works a lot better than latex or the spirit gum.
And I'm putting a rubber nose on,
but I also put some red on the bottom of my nose,
so that if my nose comes off, there's still something there
to represent a nose, instead of just a hole
in the middle of my face.
Now why do you choose to use the latex as opposed to an elastic?
I thought it gave it a more complete look.
The string won't break, because there isn't any string.
It's more natural, not something that's put onto your face.
It's a part of your face.
It doesn't take long for that to stay on.
And voila.
We wear a wig cap, something to keep your own natural hair
tucked out of the way and give a good fit to the wig.
You want all your natural hair out of the way,
because if somebody sees it peeking out
from underneath the wig, they say, hey, you're not a real clown.
Well, yes we are.
We're as real as they come as a hairpin.
And the finishing touch is a top hat.
And two, you can see, it even exaggerates
the length of his face with his hat, too,
just to make it even longer.
I think that's great.
Correct.
We're a clown.
You're a terrific clown.
And the third category of clown makeup is the character.
And to demonstrate that for you is Scott Linker.
Scott, please show everybody exactly how
you put your clown makeup on.
I'll start with a little spirit gum, because I use nose putty.
This is a good year for spirit.
You put your nose on first?
Yes.
Really?
Yes.
I never saw any clown put their nose on first.
With nose putty, it's really important,
because you later use the makeup to actually blend the nose in.
Here's what I'll show you.
Scott, why would anything look good on you?
Here's what I'll show you Scott, why would anybody
want to shape their nose every day
instead of just getting a rubber nose and putting it on?
This is a lot more trouble, you're right about that.
For most clowns, it's really not necessary.
For a character clown, and not every character clown,
of course, because everyone is different,
it blends in so well with the features.
And with a character clown makeup, what you seek to do
is exaggerate reality.
So I take a big nose and make it bigger.
And you could put the makeup on, obviously,
right on the top of the putty.
I never realized how much red you put on your face.
Because this is more of a precision line,
it is an extension above my eyebrow,
not actually using some of the lines in my face.
I need to give myself a little help.
So that's when I use a pencil and later on a brush.
Nobody's beard just stops in a line.
It sort of fans out.
That's what I'm doing here.
It's just an exaggeration.
So can I see the one side and the other side to see?
In there, what you did.
OK.
So it really gives an effect of having a beard.
And the thing about using a brush like this
is you want the texture.
If I use it too light, I won't have quite what I want.
If I use it too much, it'll take it away.
And where do you get the stubborn brush?
Makeup store again?
Yeah, makeup stores all have them.
And once someone gave me some air conditioning filters,
and I used that.
Did it work?
Yeah.
Sure did.
My face was cool all day, too.
So that's interesting, because now first you
started with a black eyebrow pencil
and you just put on the lines.
And now you're taking the brush and putting it on the black.
The only reason I did that was I found it easier for myself.
So anything you can do to make it easier to put on,
you do for yourself.
From a police circus down the street.
That's right.
OK, you're still adding more even after you powdered now.
Yes, I'm going to add a little line under the eyes, which
will bring out my eyes.
I notice a lot of clowns.
Which are very deep-set as well.
And this is a line that's used by a lot of clowns,
and certainly a lot of the old movie silent clowns.
They work very much with their eyes.
OK.
That's a great color.
That's good.
Excellent color for you.
You done?
You done?
Once he's a clown, they could be done talking.
Really, really?
You look terrific.
Was that you?
Yeah.
Hey, how'd you like the book?
Fantastic.
Good.
I'm glad you liked it.
Now, it's getting late.
Why don't you scoot on home, practice and practice,
and maybe someday you can be a clown with Ringling Brothers
and Barnum Bailey Clown College.
Now scoot.
Get out of here.
Hey, are you OK?
Just clowning around.
Oh, you stick.
You really want to be a clown, don't you?
For an enrollment application to Ringling Brothers and Barnum
and Bailey Clown College, Wright, Director of Admissions,
3201 New Mexico Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC,
20016.
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