Clown facts for kids
Clowns are funny performers who make people laugh. You can see them almost anywhere, doing all sorts of things! They often perform in circuses, rodeos, at children's parties, or even on the street.
Clowns often wear special makeup and costumes. They might have big shoes, oversized clothes, or a funny nose. Their humor is usually visual, meaning they use their bodies and actions to be funny, like in physical comedy or slapstick. It's interesting that many clowns avoid blue face paint, as some think it brings bad luck!
Contents
Where the Word "Clown" Comes From
The word "clown" comes from old words that meant "clot" or "clod." These words also came to mean a "clumsy person."
The word "clown" can be used in different ways. It can be a noun (like "a clown"), a verb (like "to clown around"), or even an adjective (like "clown shoes"). When professional clowns talk about a "clown," they often mean the funny character they play, not just the person performing.
History and Ancient Origins of Clowning
The earliest recorded clowns lived in the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt around 2400 BC. In many early cultures, comic performers had special duties during sacred events. Some performers even combined the job of a priest with that of a ritual jester. In these societies, funny characters helped communities look at rules in a whole new way.
Anthropologists use the term clown societies to describe groups where funny performers hold an honored rank. A comic performer with sacred tribal duties is called a ritual clown. For instance, the Pueblo clown belongs to the traditions of the Kachina culture in North America. Another famous figure is the Heyoka, found in Lakota and Dakota cultures. The Heyoka is known as a backwards clown who does ordinary things in reverse to teach lessons. Members of Canadian First Nations also have traditional comic performers who share ancient tribal stories.
The Canadian clowning technique created by Richard Pochinko connects old traditions together. In this method, clowns mold masks out of clay while keeping their eyes shut. They create a special mask for each direction on a sacred medicine wheel. This process helps the performer find their own comic style.
Early Comic Roots in Theatre
The modern clown character developed from funny stage actors of the past. In ancient Greek and Roman theatre, plays featured silly peasant characters called rustic fools. Later, Italian traveling performers created a form of theatre called commedia dell'arte. This style introduced silly servant figures known as zanni.
The English word clown first appeared around 1560 to describe an awkward country fellow. Soon, playwrights in English Renaissance theatre put funny characters on stage. Great writers like William Shakespeare created famous fool characters in plays like The Winter's Tale and Othello.
In seventeenth-century England, comic stage plays called the harlequinade became popular. In these plays, a comic troublemaker named Clown appeared alongside a clever acrobat named Arlecchino. Originally, Clown wore simple servant clothes, but his role soon grew much larger.
The actor Joseph Grimaldi transformed this role in the early 1800s. Performing at London stages like Sadler's Wells Theatre, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the Royal Opera House, Grimaldi made Clown the star of British pantomime shows. He painted his face totally white and added bright red spots to his cheeks. Grimaldi was brilliant at slapstick, leaps, and funny songs. His performances were so famous that people gave all clowns the nickname "Joey."
Clowns Enter the Circus Ring
The modern circus clown emerged during the late eighteenth century. A showman named Philip Astley opened a famous riding school in London in 1768. Astley added silly performers to make audiences laugh between horse riding tricks. In the United States, actor George L. Fox popularized Grimaldi's physical style during the 1860s.
Around 1870, a performer named Tom Belling created a new character type called the Auguste, or red clown, at Circus Renz in Vienna. The Auguste wore mismatched clothes and acted clumsy, serving as a funny contrast to the neat whiteface clown. Another popular performer named Nicolai Poliakoff played a famous Auguste named Coco during the 1920s and 1930s.
In North America, circuses created tramp and hobo characters during the early twentieth century. These funny tramps wore patched clothes and sad expressions. Famous performers included Marceline Orbes at the New York Hippodrome, Emmett Kelly with his character Weary Willie, and Otto Griebling. Film star Charlie Chaplin played a world-famous version of this character in The Tramp. Actor Red Skelton also played a beloved sad clown named Dodo in the movie The Clown.
On television, Bozo the Clown became a household name across the United States. His hit program The Bozo Show aired for decades. In the 1960s, the restaurant chain McDonald's created its own famous mascot, Ronald McDonald. Performer Willard Scott was one of the first people to portray this cheerful mascot on television.
Clowns also began visiting hospitals to cheer up sick children. This kind of care became known as Clown Care. Performers joined large groups such as Clowns of America International and the World Clown Association to share comedy skills.
Main Types of Clowns
Clowns use different costumes, makeup designs, and comic behaviors. Most performers fit into a few classic styles:
- Whiteface: A neat, graceful clown with a face painted entirely white.
- Auguste: A clumsy, loud, and energetic clown with bright makeup.
- Pierrot: A quiet, artistic clown dressed in loose white clothes.
- Harlequin: A quick-witted, nimble comic character who wears diamond-patterned clothing.
- Mime artist: A quiet performer who acts out funny scenes without speaking.
- Rodeo clown: A brave performer who protects riders and entertains the crowd at rodeos.
- Character Clown: A performer dressed as an everyday worker, such as a baker, detective, or tramp.
Clown Acts and Performance Skills
Clowns are highly skilled performers who practice for years. Many study at specialized schools, such as the famous École Philippe Gaulier near Paris, France. A circus clown might practice juggling, ride a unicycle, walk on a tightrope, or perform comedy as an Master of Ceremonies.
Clown routines use special performance terms:
- Business: The funny physical movements, gestures, and walks that show a clown's personality.
- Gag: A quick joke or funny trick. When a gag is repeated several times during a show, it becomes a running gag.
- Bit: A short comedic scene or sketch built from several funny gags.
- Entrée: A complete clown act lasting between five and ten minutes. It contains a full story and ends with a big funny finale called a blow-off.
- Side dish: A short feature act, usually lasting one to three minutes.
- Clown Stop: A brief appearance in the circus ring. When circus ring workers need time to move safety nets or animal cages, clowns step out into the ring. They might tease a tightrope walker by trying to balance on two tiny chairs, making the waiting crowd burst into laughter.
Clowns also use classic prop tricks. Famous comedy props include flowers that squirt water, the famous Clown car trick where dozens of performers squeeze out of a tiny vehicle, loud spinning noisemakers, a floppy rubber chicken, and silly tiny bicycles. Through all these jokes, clowns turn ordinary everyday tasks into extraordinary fun.
Famous Clown Sayings
- "Clowns are the pegs on which circuses hang." — P. T. Barnum
- "A clown is like aspirin, only he works twice as fast." — Groucho Marx
- "It is Meat and Drink for me to see a Clown." — William Shakespeare
Clowns in Popular Culture
Clowns appear in many types of entertainment. For example, Pagliacci is an opera (a play with singing) about clowns. The song "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder was inspired by this theme. Red Skelton was a popular entertainer who performed clown acts on television.
Many clowns became famous outside of the circus. These include Emmett Kelly, Coco the Clown, and George Carl. George Carl was an American clown who became very successful in Europe. He even performed for the Queen in London and received a special "Golden Clown" award from Princess Grace of Monaco!
Ronald McDonald is a famous clown character. He is the mascot for McDonald's restaurants.
Images for kids
-
Joseph Grimaldi as "Joey" the Clown, c. 1810
-
Les Rossyann, white clown and clumsy Auguste from France
-
G.L. Fox, the original Humpty Dumpty, c. 1860s
-
Joseph Grimaldi as Clown, showing his own make-up design (1820)
-
Actor in a clown costume (c. 1870)
-
The Italian Pagliaccio of c. 1600 (Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (Comedie Italienne), 1860)
-
The French Paillasse character (1885 engraving)
-
Chuchín (José de Jesus Medrano), a famous Mexican circus clown from the late 1960s to 1984
-
A circus clown in an Arm & Hammer Brand Soda advertisement poster (c. 1900)
-
Smilie The Clown
-
Swedish actor Gösta Ekman senior (1890-1938) as a whiteface clown in the play Han som får örfilarna (He Who Gets Slapped) by Leonid Andreyev (1926)
-
Typical aspects of an Auguste; white muzzle and eyes (Swedish actor Lasse Beischer in a performance of 1 2 3 Schtunk, 2008 photograph)
-
10-year-old Swedish actress Inger Nilsson during her visit to Helsinki, Finland in February 1970; she is here seen with the Finnish clown Onni Gideon in Helsinki Ice Hall
-
1968 postcard, main cast of Bozo's Circus (WGN-TV); left to right, Ringmaster Ned (Ned Locke), Mr. Bob (bandleader Bob Trendler), Bozo the Clown (Bob Bell), Oliver O. Oliver (Ray Rayner), Sandy the Clown (Don Sandburg)
-
Clown of Düsseldorf
-
a person attached or owing service to a household to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble
-
Joker Clown
-
Carnival Joker
.jpg)
.png)
See also
In Spanish: Payaso para niños
