By Glenda Winders
"My cousins are real clowns," I told a friend.
"So why did you invite them to visit?" he responded.
"Because I like them a lot."
"But you said they're real clowns."
This "who's on first" dialogue finally ended when I pulled out a picture of my cousin, "Sparkle Star," and her husband, "E.Z. Topps," both professional clowns. I had just moved to Wisconsin, so I invited them to come and help me explore my new state. They said they'd like to visit the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, and that's how our adventure began.
Summer visitors get to see a circus performance outside in the Hippodrome, and year-round they can see an excellent movie provided to give them the necessary background to understand what they will be seeing. From it — and from the encyclopedic knowledge of circuses that E.Z. shared throughout the day — I learned that the American circus began in the late 1700s in Philadelphia when John B. Ricketts assembled a few acts and staged them in a temporary wooden structure called The Circus. Their circular performance area — devised to accommodate the natural gait of horses — was called a ring.
As time went on, circuses came to be performed in tents so they could be moved from town to town by trains and trucks. The tents grew ever larger to accommodate bigger crowds and aerial performances, and this led to additional rings and simultaneous acts being introduced so that spectators could see the floor-level entertainment more closely.
Exotic animals also became a part of the show since this was before the time of most major cities having their own zoos. Parades meant to advertise the show drew big crowds, and the circus also provided jobs for locals who could set up and take down the equipment. The Ringling family entered the picture in 1875, eventually establishing their winter quarters in Baraboo for the purpose of repairing equipment, building props, sewing new costumes and advertising for the following season.
Today visitors can tour the buildings between Water Street and the Baraboo River that once housed such animals as camels, antelopes and zebras. In addition to memories of the buildings' original uses — a sunken tank for hippos and tether rings for elephants — they now house a model circus; exhibits of posters, equipment and clown paraphernalia; and a working restoration shop. One exhibit uses life-size mannequins to portray such sideshow stars as the bearded lady, tattooed man and Siamese twins.
The 200 lavish, gaudy wagons on display range from functional baggage transports and barred animal cages to gilded spectacular showpieces, some of which were borrowed for use in the movie "Water for Elephants." In the same barn where they are housed are calliopes that for a few coins will strike up lively circus music.
Naturally my cousins liked the clown exhibit best, and I was a willing pupil as E.Z. supplemented the displays with more information. I learned that clowns subscribe to a strict code of ethics that means they don't smoke, drink or swear in the presence of children. Nor do they copy one another's jokes or makeup that includes elegant whiteface, hobo and character personas, and the auguste clown who usually wears oversized clothes and has a red nose and white eyes and mouth.
Early clowns told jokes and sang songs, but their acts changed to pantomime and slapstick when venues grew larger and they could no longer be heard. Today's clowns create their performances around a basic set of elements such as exaggeration, illusion, timing and double meanings. Their gags include run-ins with authority figures and take place in such familiar venues as barber shops, dentists' offices and military settings. Their props are oversized so that audiences can see them. Sparkle, who is also a real-life nurse, uses a full-size suitcase as a doctor's bag in one of her skits. Another prop on display was an actual slapstick, a contraption used by clowns to create a smacking noise.
Our logical next stop was the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center. Tucked away in a downtown shopping area behind a dress shop and with a costume store downstairs, it is well worth the search to find it. The museum was founded in Delaware in 1986 and moved in 2010 to Baraboo, where its executive director is Greg DeSanto.
"I've been a clown my whole life," DeSanto said when I asked how long he'd been in the business, "but they've been paying me for 29 years."
As it turned out, Sparkle and E.Z. had worked some of the same venues as DeSanto and knew some of the same people. While the three of them chatted, I explored the clowning treasures on display — costumes of such famous characters as the original Ronald McDonald, paintings by Red Skelton, Emmett Kelly dolls, a clown car popularized by Lou Jacobs and much more.
To soak up even more of the Ringling influence in this small town, we next visited the Al. Ringling Theatre, which is near the clown museum on Fourth Avenue. Commissioned in 1915 by Al Ringling and built at a cost of $100,000, "America's Prettiest Playhouse" is the oldest palatial theater in North America. It was built to resemble the great opera hall at the Palace of Versailles in Paris and to accommodate both films and live performances. Lionel Barrymore and Mary Pickford entertained on its stage, and the Midwest premiere of "The Greatest Show on Earth," a movie based on Ringling circuses, was held here in 1951. In 1928 a Barton organ, made in Oshkosh, was installed to provide musical accompaniment for silent movies and vaudeville performances, and after a restoration in the 1970s, it is still in use today.
On the way back to my house, E.Z. regaled me with circus expressions that still remain in use. The idea of candidates throwing their hats into the ring to announce they are running for office, for example, began when Woodrow Wilson did just that in 1916. "Hold your horses" was a command given when horses spooked elephants during circus parades, and "jumping on the bandwagon" came into being when Dan Rice, the clown who created the character of Uncle Sam, rode on the bandwagon in parades to publicize his political appearances.
WHEN YOU GO
For general information about visiting Baraboo: www.downtownbaraboo.com
Circus World: www.circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org
Clown Hall of Fame: www.theclownmuseum.com
The Al. Ringling Theatre: www.alringling.com
Glenda Winders is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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