The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 31, 2000, Page A6, Image 6
This Week In USC History
January 30, 1908 - The Gamecock published its first
edition.
I
C|o«n\ng
around
Passion for the job
keeps clowns happy
despite long hours,
living in a train car
by Mackenzie Craven
Assistant EtCetera Editor
The life of a clown isn’t as much of a
joke as some might believe.
Larry, 21, an eight-year professional clown
from Memphis, Tenn., has been with Ringling
Bros, and Bamum & Bailey circus since No
vember.
“We are normal people; we just have a life
of performing,” Larry said.
A typical clown day involves practicing,
eating, meeting people and performing.
The circus’s first show in Columbia this
year was Friday evening. Although it was a one
show day, Larry still had a morning agenda.
Larry woke at 6 a.m. in the mile-long train
where he and the 14 other Ringling Bros, clowns
live, and he reported to the Coliseum at 9 a.m.
An hour later, Larry and two fellow clowns
went to the Children’s Hospital of Palmetto
Health Alliance. For five hours, they enter
tained, performed and played Sega with the
children.
When Larry returned, he practiced his jug
gling routine. Then, two hours before the show,
he came out to participate in the touch tour
for the blind, sponsored by BellSouth and
WLTX. The children selected for the special
tour had visual impairments. The children were
escorted to different animals by the clowns.
Later, during the show, BellSouth gave the chil
dren special headsets to listen to news anchors
narrating the performance.
After the tour, the clowns performed as
part of the Three Ring Adventure. Some of the
tricks included juggling and using onlookers to
dress a man as a woman and make a human puz
zle.
Each clown has his own personality that’s
reflected in his dress and makeup.
Some clowns have a makeup artist help
them create a look to suit them. Clown make
up is meant to be an extension of the individ
ual. Its intention is to be seen from a distance.
“If I smile, you should see my smile. It
shouldn’t be forced; it shouldn’t be sitting on
my face,” Larry said.
Clown noses are just another part of the
job. Larry made his own nose with a clay mold.
“It’s made for me, by me,” Larry said.
Clowning wasn’t a career his mother, a
dean at the University of Memphis, and his
father, a real-estate agent, seriously considered
for their son.
“I first put on makeup when I was 2,” Lar
ry said. “I was able to get real designs out of
it for being a 2-year-old, a kind of a star for
mation on this side but a definite diamond
on the other.”
His parents thought it was a stage he would
grow out of, but by the time he was 14, Larry
was a full-time clown. He attended college for
two semesters at age 17 to please his mother,
but he didn’t enjoy it and spent a lot of his time
juggling.
Larry is one of the only performers in his
family. An uncle from about five generations
before was a midget who played the violin.
Lara, a fellow clown, attended clown col
lege, where she learned how to throw pies,
make her own clown nose, spit water, juggle
and handle the media. She went to clown
college right after high school. The clown she
became was an extension of who she already
was. She liked pink and had three older broth
ers. So, as a clown, she wore a pink dress and
put a pink bow in her short blond hair. Her
makeup made her young and cheery.
Like Larry, Lara doesn’t have a fake smile
drawn on her face. Two small dots are drawn
at the comers of her mouth so that if she smiles,
you see a smile, and if she frowns, you see a
frown. Lara has had the same look for 13 years.
Lara thinks that the only necessary pre
requisite for being a clown is loving the pro
fession. “If you don’t truly love it, you can’t
fake it,” she said.
A clown (above) puts on makeup before the cir
cus Friday at the Carolina Coliseum. Larry
(below) practices his act during the circus
preshow.
Ann Marie Miani EtCetera Eoitor
! »N*: L*-i?i" : t". A ’ 11 ’ " “
A performer lets a child try on her hat during the touch tour for children with vlsu
**’ Impairments. The children were taken around by clowns a couple of hours
' re the circus began to pet animals and meet the performers. A WLTX anchor
ed the circus for the children afterward.
Circus welcomes youngest
ringmaster to the show
Staff Reports
The Gamecock EtCetera
When the 129th edition of Ringling Bros,
and Bamum & Bailey opened at 7 p.m. on Christ
mas, a new voice earned through the circus in
Tampa, Fla., grabbing the audience of all ages. Un
der the spotlight, in a red, sparkling vest and black
top hat, 23-year-old, 6-foot-3 Johnathan Lee Iver
son began his professional entertainment career
in a fashion he had never dreamed it would
— as the Ringmaster for the Greatest Show
On Earth.
Iverson captured the audience as he de
livered the first song on opening night,
“Welcome to the World of the Circus,”
while lights flashed, music played, ac- Jx
robats spun, clowns clowned around I
and the animals and their trainers
paraueu aruunu uie rings.
Iverson was born
and raised in Manhattan JjJP
and began performing at ™
age 11 with the Boys
Choir of Harlem.
u was mere mat ne received ms iormai ■
voice training. |
After attending the Fiorello H. La Guardia 1
High School of Music and Art and Perform- ]
ing Arts in Manhattan, he won scholarships
to the Hartt School of Music, where he
continued voice training studies. !
He landed a role in The Fireside Christ- J
mas Show, directed by Phil McKinley,
McKinley invited Iverson to audi
non lor me roie 01 ringiuimei.
“1 was planning to earn some extra cash to trav
el with -1 never anticipated that 1 would be in
vited to an audition for this incredible role,” Iver
son said. “But 1 knew that this was a once-in-a
lifetime opportunity, and I went for it.”
He was up against several other candidates for
the role, but producer Kenneth Feld and
McKinley believed that Iver
Ison was undoubtedly the one
for the role.
“He had the look of a su
perstar and the gift of an amaz
ing voice,” Feld said. “There
was no doubt that he was our
man
^g|piP When Iverson took his place
f;.on the ringmaster’s platform on the
rehearsal arena and sang one of the
circus songs, which were specifically writ
k ten for his voice, the 222-member cast ap
4 plauded him and he became part of the
family.
Although Iverson never
l imagined himself in this role, he takes
I the job seriously. Holding the circus’s
I most coveted job, he’s responsible for
■ leading the audience through the ex
*perience.
“Not only is he the youngest,
but he is also the strongest vocalist
we’ve ever had as a ringmaster,” McKin
ley said. “He’s doing a phenomenal job,
and the audience and performers love him.
No other ringmaster has had a singing voice
like him.”
But Iverson is modest about being the
renter of attention. “I feel like I have the
easy job -1 get to present all these amazing acts,
he said. “ But I’m not the guy who is standing
Circus not
the same
through
adult eyes
When the news release about Rin
gling Bros, came to the newsroom about
a month ago, my co-editor and I decid
ed that we should go to the circus for the
first time in our adult lives.
I’m not sure about anyone else out
there, but I haven’t been to the circus
since I was a child. And from what I can
remember, I al
ways had a great
time watching the
three rings of ex
citing, death-defy
ing fun. So when
the opportunity
arose to go to the
circus, 1 was very
excited to travel
back to a part of
my childhood that
was full of happy,
fun memories.
So as I’m sit
ting in the Caroli
na Coliseum on
Friday night wait
ing for “The Great
est Show on Earth”
to start, I began to
wonoer wnen me last ume was mai i nao
been to the circus. I used to go every year
with my parents or on class trips. But 1
think the last time 1 went was when my
aunt took my cousins and me to see Rin
gling Bros, at the New Haven Coliseum.
I was about 10 years old.
As I sat in the Coliseum at age 19,1
realized that the magic of the circus is
still there, but it was different somehow.
I couldn’t quite put my Gnger on it, but
it was different. It’s all the same as I re
member - the three rings, the trapeze
acts, the high wire, the clowns, the ani
mals - but instead of seeing through the
eves of a child. I was watching it through
the eyes of an adult.
However, when the ringmaster came
out and said, “Ladies, gentlemen and
children of all ages,” I was momentarily
transported back to my childhood. It was
as if I were 10 yean old again, sitting in
the New Haven Coliseum with my aunt
and cousins instead of at the Carolina
Coliseum with my fellow Gamecock
staff memben, watching the elephants,
llamas, dancers and clowns all come out
from backstage. In fact, I think that I was
as wide-eyed as some of the children
there.
After the opening act, reality start
ed to set back in. I was not back in
Connecticut, I was not with my aunt and
cousins, and I was not 10 years old.
When the acts began, I sat watch
ing as dogs jumped through hoops, a cat
walked on a high wire, men and
women stood on horses, and trapeze acts
flew gracefully (and sometimes not so
gracefully) through the air. I watched
as a man taunted tigers and people rode
on elephants as if they were horses.
As a child, you see the performers
doing what they’re trained to do and you
are amazed. However, when you watch
the circus through the eyes of an adult,
it’s still amazing, but you also realize just
how dangerous the stunts can be.
I can remember when my mother
would hold her breath during the trapez
and high-wire acts. I always wondered
why she did that, and now I know. Even
though these people are trained and do
it almost every day, they are still risk
ing serious injury to themselves.
During one of the trapeze acts, the
performer, Mark David, was flipping and
twirling around, and then he did a flip
and caught himself (on purpose) by his
heel. When he did that, I felt my heart
jump up to mv throat.
I guess going to the circus is just like
everything else: It changes as you grow
up. You go as a child and everything is
amazing, fun and new. If you go as, say,
a college-aged person, it’s still fun but
different. Now, when you go as an adult,
with your own children, you go for them
so they can experience the same joys you
did as a child.
Now if I had to do it over again, woiu~
I go see the circus Friday night instead
of going to Frve Points and partying? I
would go in a heartbeat. Even though I
experienced the circus differently from
what I remembered, I still had a great
time.
Ann Marie Mani
is a journalism
sophomore
and etcetera edi
tor. She can be
reached by
e-mail at
gckfeatures©
yahoo.com.