Daily globe., 1882-09-11
EDUcAT1NG CIRCUS CLOWNS.
The Process Detailed by a Profes.
siOnal Esthetic Jestav.
;E.Om the Chicago News

The Process Detailed by a PrOfes-
siOnal Esthetic Jestay.
;EOm the Chicago News,
I've heard it said that great actors
are born not made. It isn't that wav
with clowns. They make clowns. and /
| never knew one thatwas born that way. %
said little Billy Andrews. the esthetic
jester of Meyer & Shorb's United
States circus. Billy had been in re-
Elective mood, and the burden of his
thoughts was evidently the profession
OF which he Is distins suished member.
".How do they make 'em, Billy ?" the
writer asked.
"That depends upon what kind of a
clown he is. A Johnny Newcomer of
a clown, as we call some of the fresh fell
iers, just hops into the ring and gets
everything down fine in minuteoin
his mind But clown that is a clown
serves an apprenticeship. Generally. it
is just as it happens whether q boy is
developed into clown or not. To be-
come q circus performer one must begin
young. Now. to be a thorough clown,
man must be good general perform
er. He must understand and be able to
perform properly all the tricks that he
makes funny failures of before an audi
ence. If he didn't, sometimes when he
attempted to be funny he'd just leave
his situation vacant and himself to do q
statue act in hospital. That's the rea-
son that it's necessary for clown to be-
gin his training early in life."
"Itls customary, then. to take clown
apprentices in circuses %
mo, that is just as it happens, as I've
said. A boy is never taken as an ap-
prentice clown. Every show has sew
eral boys in training for performers.
Whenever it happens that one of these
boys displays any ability as a mimic.
they put him down for a clown, and
then a clown is made, whether he
wants to be or not
There Is popular suspicion that
the profession have some means of pre-
serving through ages the good old sto-
ries and the bearded jokes of the clowns;
how is that?"
"Now, maybe you imagine that is
great gag, but it isn't. The Jokes and
stories of the clowns are not kept on ice,
whatever smart newspaper people may
think. A good many Of the funny sto-
ries IN the papers are old enough to
wear whiskers, and many of them are
coined in the ring. What the methods
Of other clowns are don't know, but as
for myself, whenever see good story,
or observe trait Of human character
that suggests gag, I Immediately make
place for it in my memory, and when
I have to use it I give it all the origi-
nality can. And after all don't think
it is fair to demand that q clown shall
invent every good story that he tells"
"How do you clowns rank on the SAL
ary list of the profession ?"
"The clowns and riders receive the
largest salaries. I have known clowns
to be paid as much as $500 week, and
as little as $25 a week, for the season,
which always lasts twenty-six weeks, If
the Sheriff don't get the show in the
meantime. Performers Of any note have
little reason to fear loss OF their salary
in these times, however. The big shows
all have too much property to let the
bottom fall out. and about the only suf-
ferers are the Jim Crow performers
who have to go with six-by-nine shows
OF leave the business. The average sal
airy CT the clowns who are worthy the
name viii run from $75 to S1O0 per
week yet few of them save any money.
They are high-livers when in prosperity,
but, as a class, they do not drink to ex-
cess. The money goes, though
"And then what becomes of the clown
when he grows old?''
"Well, clown lives about as long as
anybody, and, as rule, he manages to
get enough together to get a little farm
TO retire to when he is too old for the
ring. Clowns have great fondness for
farms to die on. That's about what hap
pens when clown buys farm. About
as soon as you hear he has got it you
hear of his death. I am not quite ready
to buy farm yet, myself"