The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-08
From the New York World.

HY careful computation taKen De- N tween 40,0C0 and 50,0G0 boys in 0 Greater New York have at some time during the week sighed most dol orously and wished tn at Fate had made them a clown. With one or two ex- captions each one of these boys has given vent to the single expression, Gee, it must be fine to be a clown"
 Therefore. the clowns of the Bar mum & Bailey circus, who are doing stunts these days up at Madison Square Garden, rise to remark that the boys don't know exactly what they are talk ing about.
 It may surprise all those boys and some of the grown ups to know that if is even possible for a clown to have a grouch. but the fact remains that they frequently have.
 That they may at times be anything but the laughing, happy -go-lucky lot of genials you see scampering about in the tanbark rings was only one of the many things one might have learned in their dressing room yester- day afternoon. r fa
 More than anything else stood out the fact that clowns when they are not clowning are not funny a bit In fact, any clown caught cracking a clown joke in the dressing room is fined No matter what he's fined, suffice it to say no one ever thinks of breaking the rule The handsom- est men, too, take the greatest pride in making up as the strangest looking clowns.
 Of the forty odd clowns connected with the circus there is probably only one who wouldn't be anything else than clown if he could. He is Dick Ford, whose impersonations of police men and fake strong men get him more laughs than any one else con- nected with the show. While the cir GUS is here in New York Ford is the first man on the job in the morning and about the last away at night. One day he had vacation. No one knew where he was going to spend it, but an usher located him in the middle of the afternoon way up in the balcony watching the clowns. This is Ford's Twenty-seventh year in the circus busi- ness, and he says he is only getting warmed up to his work. Back in Eng land there is a Mrs. Ford and five little Fords who wait impatiently each fall for the return of the husband and father and who bid him fearful fare- well early each spring.
 There are a lot of younger men know who are clowning with the cir l,i a pie would think the circus fever would be the strongest. But it isn't. Fred Egener who drives little dog around with a rope big enough to hold an OK, would rather sing than draw his sal- ary, and that is putting it pretty strong for any clown. He was a bass drum mer in band when he first started in the show business. Without try ing he got a laugh every time he ap- peared. That gave him the idea and the next season saw him a clown. In winter time, though. he goes out through the west singing in a vaude- vile circuit. and they do say that if he wasn't quite so good clown he could make good living at that. He's married, too, and out at his home in Brazil, Ind, he has the finest collec- tion of chickens and dogs anywhere round.
 | Al Olifan who has made tremendous hit with his Stork and Triplets. is one of the better known of the younger genera tion of clowns. He is what is known technically as producing clown, that is
 he plans out various stunts and engages corps of assistants to aid him in car rying them out. He, too, is married and after each season his wife joins him for hunting and fishing trip up through 1 Canada.
 l Philip Darling, whose pantomime prize | fight is destined to make him famous as
 a clown, is a fine, harun-scarun sort ol fellow who ran away from home to be a
 clown, and he has never been sorry he did. Clowning is a business with him
 that takes up all his time. He aspires
 next year to be a producing clown, anc
 in his apartment one room Is used as ar
 office where he puts in two hours every | day working out new schemes.
 George Holland Is another of the produc. inr clowns with the circus. Holland is the official statistician with the show and if you want an estimate of the mum Der of steps 1t takes an elephant to make il complete circuit of the Garden he vii have 1t for you in a twinkling. The only time Holland will admit he ever made