Clowns, What Ever Happened To Them?

Paladin1950

Paladin1950

Still love 50's & 60's music!
Location
Mohawk Valley, NY
Across the street there is a house that has a front porch totally cluttered with Halloween decorations. One is a 12 foot skeleton, and there is also 8 or 9 foot deranged monstrous looking clown.

Whatever happened to the nice, friendly, loveable clowns that I used to see on children's TV shows as a child? The clowns that I saw at Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus back in the 1970's at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan? 5 clowns trying to squeeze into a tiny car? They were never frightening to children. In fact, their main duty was to entertain families and make little children laugh. There was Bozo, and Clarabelle the clown on Howdy Doody.

Now thanks to Stephen King and that totally stupid 1988 movie, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, everybody seems to hate or are afraid of clowns. It reminds me of that terrible film where a serial killer was dressed up as Santa Claus. Some things should be off limits. Clowns and Santa Claus, leave them alone so children can enjoy them. I don't see smiling happy clowns anymore.
 

To my niece, there were no "nice, friendly lovable clowns". The sight of any clown sent her into hysterics. She's 42 now and still hates clowns.

It's interesting to see how different nationalities portray clowns. In Ecuador, clowns have white faces with red cheeks and chins and a black cross on their foreheads; very scary-looking critters. I was told they represent the European conquerors and the priests, who subjugated and mistreated the natives. The make-up represents their white European skin and their severe sunburns. The crosses are, of course, self-explanatory.
 

I think the fact that every second person seems to have some Irrational fear of clowns has put the kibosh on them... I've never been a fan.. but equally don't dislike them, but I would never go out of my way to watch them perform

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Clarabelle squirted me with seltzer at a local kid PlayLand. I was on the little roller coaster and Pow! Right in the Kisser! Bob and Princess Summer etc. were there too.
 
Clowns, What Ever Happened To Them?
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I don't know, maybe the thought that clowns aren't really "happy and cheerful", that all the makeup and antics was to cover up a darker mood.
Red Skelton and Robin Williams comes to mind, both played clowns at some time, immensely entertaining, but you could see the pain in their eyes, in their souls behind all the clown makeup and smiles.
 
Clowns are afraid to come out and be seen today, for the children see them scream and run away, clowns of the past would come to help children learn good manners, clowns would dance and sing, saying riming words and such things. Today the clowns' children see are evil and mean, they demand respect of the children, rather than being respectful to the children. All the good clowns are hiding for the day to come, when the bad clowns have gone, the good clowns have learned to adapt to these times, today they may be called therapist, doctor, helpers and such things.
 
In the USA the Circuses are all gone and with them went the clowns....very sad! As a kid, even in my small town, we had two traveling circuses that used to pass through town every summer. My kids all saw Ringling Brothers Circus, but they were too young to remember. My Grandkids have never seen a circus or a real clown, how sad that is...
 
hollydolly said:
I think the fact that every second person seems to have some Irrational fear of clowns has put the kibosh on them... I've never been a fan.. but equally don't dislike them, but I would never go out of my way to watch them perform

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Arguably the most famous British clown was known as: "Coco." Born Nicolai Poliakoff in 1900, to a Jewish family in Latvia which was then part of the Russian Empire. His family were so poor and that he worked at the local theatre to supplement the money his father earned as a cobbler.

In 1908, Nicolai “ran away and joined the circus,” as the saying goes. He travelled 300 miles by train to Vitebsk, in Belorussia (today Belarus), where he persuaded a circus owner to give him a job, telling him that he was an orphan with no one to look after him. The director bought his story and placed him under the charge of Vitaly Lazarenko, a clown and acrobat who would become a major circus star in the Soviet Union after the Communist revolution. Nicolai eventually persuaded his father to allow him to follow a circus career.

In 1915 Nicolai Polakovs was enlisted in the Imperial Army. During the ensuing Civil War, he was conscripted by the Red Army, escaped—only to be conscripted again by the White Army and escape again, disguised as a girl in a troupe of Mongolian travelling entertainers. Finally, when the political situation began to settle down, he returned to work in the circus. In 1919 Nicolai was performing in Riga, when he met Valentina Novikova (1901–1983), whom he married in June of that year.

In 1929, Nicolai performed at Circus Busch (Before World War II, Soviet performers were still allowed to work in Western Europe.) in Berlin (and took the time to do a cameo in Karl Grune’s film version of Carl Zuckmayer’s play, Katharina Knie). He served with the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps of the British Army in World War II. He appeared with the Bertram Mills Circus for many years. His clown persona had two distinctive visual features that endeared him to television audiences: his boots, described as being size 58, and his trick hair with hinges in the centre parting, which allowed it to lift when he was surprised. He is a member of the Clown Hall of Fame.

Poliakoff was appointed an honorary member of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. Then in 1963 he was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for this work by Queen Elizabeth, one of the few foreigners ever to receive this honour.

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I have to say that I only went to the circus as a child just the once. The clowns I hated, it might seem irrational, but I have never taken to them, not even Jewish refugees escaping communist oppression.
 
After I heard James Darin's song about becoming a clown, i never wanted to be one, and always thought of them as sad even when they were playing around.

 

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