I came across this picture of me as PATCHES the clown last weekend when I was home- it always makes me laugh. For a few years when I was younger I was in a Clown Club through 4H- besides learning about clowning (like how to make Balloon Animals and other important stuff like that) we also worked store openings and birthday parties. Good times back in the day. This picture makes me look really tall but I was like the shortest kid in the class, probably like 4 feet. I wasn’t going to mention it until I came across this BLUE RIBBON that I won for Best Clown (1983!)- check it out-
Now you might be wondering- why isn’t Patches smiling? I was a hobo clown and hobo’s (or tramps as some people also call them) are not happy clowns. Interesting choice for a young kid. I remember everyone around me was a Smiling clown, so I must have just wanted to be a rebel. I was happy enough on my own I suppose, and of course we know not all clowns are the happy-go-lucky kind. Anyway- all this came out in an interesting conversation on Friday when we received The Man Behind the Nose, a new book about Bozo the clown-
A woman who had just been in the shop the day before picked it up immediately- she was going to a birthday party that night for someone who used to be a clown and thought it would be a perfect gift. We wrapped it up with a red clown nose too!
Here’s a little more about the book from the publisher: The Man Behind the Nose is the autobiography of the man who was Bozo. For 50 years Larry Harmon was the face—and the nose—of Bozo the Clown, the most well-known, beloved clown of them all, the precursor for every successful modern-day harlequin to come, from Ronald McDonald to Krusty. A warm, surprising, and endlessly entertaining life story filled to the brim with “Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and Other Stupendous Tales,” The Man Behind the Nose is a rollicking ride through the world of a true American icon in greasepaint. Check it out- The Man Behind the Nose- $25.99, Clown Noses- $1.50 each.
0 Responses to “Blue Ribbons & Clown Noses”