The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-24
GOOD-BY THE CLOWNS!
ANOTHER IDOL OF CHnDHooD's
HAPPY DAYS PASSING AWAY.

A Chat With q Famous Clown on His
Business-Au Clowns Must Be tx
pert Tumblers, and They Have to
Work Hard, Too, for Not Very Big
Pay-Easy Enough to Make Two
Somersaults in the Air but Three
Means Almost Certain Death-The
Performer Lands on His Head and
Breaks His Neck-No Apprentices in
the Circus Business, These Days.
NEW York, June 22.-''What will the
future circus be likeIn the writer recently
asked P. 7. Barnum, the great Snowman.
He did not answer at once, and this led the
writer to reflect that the circus had reached
the zenith of its glory, and would soon de-
cline.
Nonsense" said Mr.. Barnum. "The
circus is only in embryo. It will be many
years before it exhausts its possibilities. 1t
is only in its infancy now"
No one will dispute the statement Of so
eminent an authority. but there is one feat
ure of the circus and childhood's happy
days that is passing away. That is the
clown. He has been crowded to the wall.
=
of every circus. He cracked his jokes, and
he was the delight of all the children. Now
the clown is barely tolerated. He appe ,rs
between the big acts and tumbles, and goes
through a brief pantomime performance,
but he has been shorn of his oldtime
honor.
''Why has the clown been pushed asider
] asked William Corral, a noted clown,
whose smiling face aud grotesque humor,
were known in every village and hamlet
ten years ago He is still in the circus bust
ness, but he is not the king that he was in
the old days.
1.-THE old order passeth away and the new
pantomime clown cometh into existence,
he replied sorrowfully. He looked like an
Apollo, his limbs we'll rounded and mus
cled and not an ounce of superfiuous flesh
upon him. He had returned from the ring
Tor rather rings, for in the circus where he
tumbled and made fu there we're five, aud
each filled with clownsl to his dressing room
sat down on his property trunk with him
and heard him tel a serious story, with
scarcely suspicion of humor in his blue
eyes. He said that he was 40 years old and
had been in the sawdust arena, as gymnast
acrobat and clown for over twenty
years ave rarely ever quit the business
and die in harness" he added solemnly."
''How are clowns mades
"You have asked me the right question,
for a majority of clowns are made and not
born like poets. | never knew | had any
humor in me when I began my profession
as an acrobat and gymnast years ago, and
had no ambition beyond being a frs Glass
performer. For time | had circus rela-
tive, and we were known on the show bills
as the Miaco brothers We were great gym
nasts and achieved quite a success. Like
all first-class shows the one l began with,
of course, gave me more work to do
than one act, and so | went on in the grand
leaping and did tumbling work on the car
pet. In those days there was but one ring,
and clowns told jokes, got off conundrums,
sang songs and did as much impromtu gag
ging as possible. / discovered that l had
some latent humor il me and suddenly ap-
peared as a clown. 1t was a natural evolu-
luton. First / worked my way up as a
gymnast and all around acrobat, and then
finding | had sufficient talent | became a
clown. A clown is always first-class
acrobat, and l believe, If you will inquire,
that yod will find that no one ever becomes
a clown until he has served his apprentice
ship as performer The days of the talking
clown are over. They cannot be heard in
the vast amphitheaters that hold audi
ences of 5000 and 10000 people. Dan Rice,
with his local Jokes in each city where he
appeared, and other famous clowns that
used to receive large salaries, have become
glories of the past, and their one-ring
throne has been encircled by four more,
with almost a regular troupe of
clowns for each ring. l remember when
used to study hard in order tc have at my
fingers, ends humorous sayings and funny
jokes, my chief delight was to get off some
thing improtu aud, naturally, was on the
quivive all the time The clowns in those
days had not only to be wonderful acrobats,
but giants in intellect as well. Still they
were made, not born, because it is necessary
to be q good acrobat and general performer
before becoming a clown.
81 should have said that l was a contor-
ZIONIST and can do most anything except
bareback riding. We can now appeal to
the eyes of the vast audiences
we have TO appear before in pantominic
horse-play that requires no effort of the in
tellect from clown or observer. Tue clown
that cuts up the most grotesque antics,
fip-hops and the like produces most fun. In
order to succeed we have to literally knock
each other down and drag out. No clown
In independent, but works in groups of
from two to four. Three usually work to-
gether and the way we pound each other
and tumble about would injure any one but
trained acrobaIs. We yell, whistle and
make short quick noises to draw attentio
to the tricks we are about to do. Whatever
SeeLnS To 1uIb, SOCu SldDS ana bangs.
kicks and backward falls, is the repertory
that carries through a talented clio 8n of to-
day. In other words, everything depends
upon his physical cleverness and very little
upon his voice or mental qualities. There
are no Grimaldi clowns in big circus, be-
cause it is impossible to grimace so the en-
tire audience can witness it. The panto-
mimic clown simply makes up a ludicrous
face and goes out and plays with it until
the performance ends. Often / have heard
an outsider say, what an easy life a clown
leads, doing nothing but having q lot of
fun while the real work is being done by
the performers 1t is big mistake. We
go on as soon as the circus begins and con-
tinually keep up our plav until the close. A
star horseback rider will probably appear
twice during the evening and not be half an
hour all told in the ring, while as a clown
have to rem in during the entire per-
formance. When the leapIng occurs every
clown has to jump and cut an
tics in the air. l say cut an
tics IN the air. but it is impossi-
BILE. mean leap in a spread-eagle fashion
and fall spraddled. 1t looks easy TO do, but
1t Is not. When the elephants are brought
In and we jump over three or four it is very
dangerous, for the least slip in leaving the
springboard would precipate the unfortu-
nate upon the backs of the big beasts, and
If he landed on his head it would in nine
cases out OF ten kill him.
what is the secret of making high leaps
and turning two somersaultsg'
ut is skill and activity combined. Let
me describe the way make two somer-
To- a.