Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-16
FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS
Greatest Clown in the World
Unfolds Some Secrets.
20 YEARS EXPERIENCE
A CHRISTMAS PARTY BEHIND
THE SCENES.
A Christmas Tree and a Real Santa
Claus for Stage Chill
Written .or 'fhe Star.


OF Marcelne, the acrobat pantominist now
In this country, whose antics have brought
10Y not only to a large proportion of the
civilized children In the world but to equal
i as many grown-ups, including most of
the crowned heads of Europe.
The children. however, can be numbered
by the hundreds of thousands who worship
him as part of themselves. and it is to the
children that he reveals the wonders of his
art When went, few days since. to ask
him the secret of his power to entertain
them his reply was:
1T is the children themselves I can al
ways perform twice well when the the
ater Is crowded with children. All sorts OF
funny tricks come to me which have never
thought of before, and when 1 hear their
little voices laughing out from in front of
the footlights my feet become like feathers
and tumble in every direction"
His entire spirit is of bubbling mirth
and herein unquestionably is the first prin-
cIple of giving children good time, though
1t is so inherent in Marceline that he
scarcely realizes how powerful factor 1t Is
In his success. He simply overfows with
good nature, and his advice is:
BE so filled with the thought of fun and
rollickfng, jolly good time that the chill
dren cannot fail to catch the feeling of
merriment and become part of 1t at once.
They are keenly susceptible to a grown
persons mood, and if one note of any
thing but gayety enters your mind and ac
tions they will lose interest Immediately
Saw the Funny Side.
When he is the stage he never gets
the audiences attention without impress
ing them by the expression of his face and
the quick, almost jumping-jack way in
which he makes every move, with his joy
BUSINESS and frolicking playfulness. And
yet when 1 met Marceline off the stage he
l,,t a. who
was keenly alive to everything and every
body and saw humorous side to whatever
was going on around him.
Children love quick action" was Mar
celInes next suggestion. Everything has
to move with a vim to keep them enter
tanned If they are playing games, the
moment one game is finished there must be
another game or trick ready and 1t Is
great mistake to let them play any game
for more than three rounds, matter how
much they may be enjoying 1t. When they
particularly like stunt follow it up with
one very similar, but their alert brains are
always ready for It, and If the applause or
laughter was strong in the first one 1t IL
doubly increased for the second.
There Is nothing children like better
than a sleight-of-hand performer, and my
movements are as quick as a man VINO
tuggles with his hands: For instance,
when I tumble off the elephants head to
the stage l up and on my feet before
the audience has scarcely had time to real
lie that have fallen. And as l make
the back OF the stage. IL l find space
enough. accidentally trip, and In a twin
king am on my nose and up again.
Want Action.
TT is Just the same when children are
among themselves. They may have one
kind of fun that they like better than any
other but they go at It with all their
might. and before you know 1t they are OH
doing something else with equally as much
enthusiasm. They want activity, and they
want It in as many different ways as they
can have It."
Recalling his famous little whistle and
unique way he has of jumping up and down.
with lightning rapidity, / asked him what
the object was of these simple practices
which are SO distinctly his own. He told
me that children are born imitators and
they are perfectly happy If they are able to
do some trick which they have seen clown
or any other performer do.
Every child in London knows that whis-
tie and has tried to initiate IT. There's
nothing wonderful about the whistle, either.
bat the fact that they might be able to do 1t
themselves makes II fascinating to them"
good way to start children's love of imf-
Eating is to have a barnyarG game In which
some grown person gives the call of the diff
ferent animals and has the children guess
what it is. Then a round of the room Is
made when each of the little folks is called
on to give the sound. The song notes of the
various birds are also sounds which they
delight in mimicking If the leader of the
zion between the different noises
Always Laughable.
"One of the most successful stunts do is
a somersault over the backs of eight men.
But II isn't the somersault so much that
catches the fancy of the children. 1t is my
imitation of the different men as they walk
onto the stage There are all sorts of char
scters. a pronounced type of a jew an
1rishman, Dutchman, etc, and In all sorts
of sizes AS each one takes his place In line
with stopped back come after him with
the same peculiar manNer of gestures which
he used and peals of laughter from the
children are the result.
.sThis means OF entertaining can be
ployed at parties by an older person show
ing the children unusual ways which some
of them have OF doing things. or by simple
representations of funny people they all
may know. Anything of this sort meyer
fails to give them no end of amusement.
1t occurred to when he was giving me
an Illustration OF how easily this could De
done that this faculty of Initiating might
not be so simple TO every person as 1t is
unquestionably TO Marceline. The idea,
however is an excellent one, and an elab-
grafton of 1t Is to have the children take
turns In going out of the room and return
ing dressed as nearly as possible in shawls,
lambreQuins, hats etc, that may be near at
hand like the various characters In Mother
Goose the funny men In the comic supple
fnents or the heroes In their fayorite books
The little folks who remain in the room
should then be. made to guess whom they
represent.
"A laughabIe makeup, too" continued
The great clown, has a big attraction for
Youngsters, as you know yourself from the
fypfcal clowns in the tent circus. My get
up with baggy dress suit, the red stock
tngs the farlng red neektie and the red
wig hasn't much In common with the usual
meal-bag clown. but II has made me
funny figure for. twenty years And when
children's fathers bring them 10 the stage
Soor to see me- IL my makeup is of they
always look at me with utter indifference
and say: why. that isn't Marceline, papa.
.Marcei.ne has big red nose and red
hair"
And they might add ridicuiously funny
monkey face when has the grease paint
smeared on his forehead and mouth and