September 6, 2019 • 20 mins
Throughout our history, clowning has been a powerful art form, capable of bringing joy and swaying politicians. Come wire walk with us as we look at famous female clowns, past and present.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, this is Annie, and welcome to stuff. I'll never
told your protection of I Heart Radio's house Stuff works.
Today we're talking about clown you know how to suck
of song in my head? Now everything we were going
(00:25):
to say, it's every time I read it us right here. Well,
then that's a very effective song. It is, and we're
specifically looking at female clowns. And this episode is inspired
in part by the release of it chapter two. I
just watched the first one like a week ago, did you, Yeah,
the mini series or the new one? The new one
(00:46):
mini series I watched as a child, and I'm traumatized
by that one. Yeah, but the new one I just
finally watched it or newer earlier. Yeah. That was the
worst theater experience I've ever had because somebody in front
of me was using it as an upportunity to try
out his set. He thought he was a comedian, and
so he was. He was making jokes very loudly, and
(01:08):
then when the movie ended, he got up in front
of everybody and said, you can follow me on Instagram
or see me at the see me at whatever show.
And we were all like, get out of here, right,
what I mean, it's if you've got your venue. They're
trapping their trapped, but they're gonna be angry and suppressed.
One got him kicked out. Somebody did report him, but
when the theater person came in, the guy was like,
(01:30):
come on, man, I'm just having fun. I'm just having fun.
And I guess that was enough. Shut up man. Yeah,
so I had to rewatch it. Yes, and I do
want to apologize in advance to any clowns that are listening.
Who hates that this is the association that a lot
of us have. Yes, I'm sure you're good people, but
I'm still scared of you. I don't have a fear
(01:51):
of clowns. Um. I don't think I've ever actually seen one.
I'm pretty sure in real life. In real life. Yeah, Um,
I did notoriously push a man dressed as the Joker
into a pool when I was four years old because
he got my face and he was laughing at me.
That and uh my brother he was having a Batman
(02:13):
themed party that I was not allowed at that I
snuck into. He was very very upset with me. There's
a video of it somewhere. I wanted of you pushing
the clown because I want I want to see those joker.
I need to see this joker. Yeah, I've been to
a circus or two in um no offense, like we said,
but we've already discussed my irrational fears did to my
(02:34):
young exposure to horror movies and the origin of it
of one of the first films, of course, is what
we were talking about, just the IT mini series and um,
you know, come on, it's Tim Curry hiding in the sewer,
threatening like no, not threatening, tearing off a kid's arm,
talking about fluting. I will say no, I rewatched it
(02:55):
recently and I thought it was quite humorous. But look
when you see it as a child, and then you
go back and you're well, because I don't think I
actually finished it because I couldn't because I was so
scared of it, and I should have. That's I think
that's when I learned my lesson to finish out all
the movies because you'll be less scared when you finish
it out typically, But yeah, this is one of those
I didn't. And then when I did finally see clips
(03:16):
at the ending, I was like, oh, yeah, that's dumb.
No spoilers hashtag grows spoilers. Yeah, but it don't, don't.
It's definitely an eighties well and the main character his
the mullet, not in mullet, and I hit the ponytail.
He's rocking. You know what. When I was looking back
on the clips, Jonathan Brandis was in it, Seth Greene.
(03:39):
Jonathan Brandis was a ninety nineties heart throb and I
loved him. And he was dating Tatiana Ali Fresh, Prince
of bel Air. That was very jealous. Wow, yeah, this
is a serious crush. I think, probably my first crush ever. Well, okay,
I'll have to go back and we watch it with
new eyes. Okay, Well, we're not just gonna talk about
(04:00):
it scary clowns today. Um. We wanted to start with
the definition, as we like to do from dictionary dot com,
a comic performer, as in a circus, theatrical production or
the like, who wears an outlandish costume and makeup and
entertains by pantomizing common situations or actions in exaggerated or
ridiculous fashion, by juggling or tumbling, et cetera. And what
(04:21):
we view as traditional clowning at circuses has long been
dominated by men, but that doesn't mean there aren't any
female clowns um or that there haven't been from Russian
critic Mikhail Bochton, Clowns are quote, life's maskers, right to
be other in this world, the right not to make
common calls with any single one of the existing categories
(04:43):
that life makes available. And so clowning has a long history.
It goes all the way back to ancient Greece, ancient Egypt,
and ancient China. In seventh century BC, the Dorian mimes
was a troop that included female clowns. The name came
from the performer's ability to mimic others. So they weren't
(05:04):
mimes like we we think of them today, but they were.
They could mimic people we may mimic really well, real
life things like lambing upstairs. It's true. It just didn't
mean they were silent, I guess. In ancient Rome, a
valued position was that of the funeral clown, a juster
that would dress as the recently deceased, typically a rich person,
if you could afford this and make fun of their habits.
(05:26):
I want one of those, Well you could, well, who
makes it? Well, we'll get a professional clown for you.
I don't, I don't know whatever I kind of want
this to happen. Yeah, and clowns in a Belanese theater
were viewed as servants of the gods. Famous and mythical
Indian gesture to Nali Rama's summon, the Hindu goddess Collie
stole from her and then joked about it. Now, Collie
is scary. She's often depicted with skulls on her necklace.
(05:48):
But she thought he was funny, so she allowed him
to live. Yeah, you should look up the pictures of
Colie in this story is pretty good. Yeah, just in general.
And though she's the goddess of like torment Or, she's
she's like multi We did an episode kind of about her.
She's kind of like both death and life and yeah,
but she's a frightening fiction. She'll get you. Yeah, that's
(06:12):
the point we're trying to make. Um. During medieval times,
clowns called glee men often worked in partnership with a
glee maiden. This glee maiden was multitalented, a dancer and acrobat,
a musician. Sometimes these glee maidens worked alone and sometimes
as assistants for men in burlesque. And this is when
we saw Mother Fowley, an elderly woman who led medieval
(06:35):
carnival celebrations, which were appropriately wild. She had a full
moon mask to represent the fickleness of woman, their power,
and how dangerous they could be. According to one historian,
she quote allows for the expression of aspects of the
feminine that are normally repressed. Then, if we look at
jesters from Dana Frauden's book King's Fool Quote. In medieval days,
(06:59):
buffoonery was one of the few professions open to women.
Royal courts and nobility often would have jesters on retainer,
and some of those were women. Jesters had more freedom
of speech than the average commoner, which gave them the
power to speak out against their rulers in a way
most could not, sometimes even impacting policy, like when Emperor
(07:19):
shahuang Ti commissioned for the building of the Great Wall
of China. He also ordered it to be painted, which
could have led to thousands more deaths, but his jester
was able to make fun of the proposal and the
emperor decided against it. So that's pretty powerful stuff. Yeah.
So Roman philosopher Seneca, his wife had a female full
own retainer. One of history's most famous female jesters was
(07:42):
working during the seventeenth century in France, her name was
matthe Reen. Mathe Reen ruled over the courts of kings
Henry the Third, Henry the Four's, and Louis. She dressed
as an Amazon warrior, armor shilled sword in robes. She
was also well known, and her name came to be
used for other satius. In particular type of burlesque writing
that was similar to her comedy was dubbed Mathra ren Nod.
(08:05):
While accompanying a woman of the court for an audience
with the king, the woman told Matheine something like I
don't like having a fool to my right, and without
missing a step, Matheine switched side and said, I don't
mind at all. I love it, love it. Matheen also
was very religious and dedicated her justicres want to God,
and allegedly she helped capture a potential assassin of Henry
the Fourth by blocking the door of his escape. Wow, yeah,
(08:28):
I read that, and I was like, what it sounds
like a cool lady. All these women are pretty badass.
In Europe during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, the it
entertainment at the theater was Comedia del arte and it
included female clowns. The performers were divided into three groups,
master's servants and the young lovers, and the masters and
(08:48):
servants were played by clowns. The servants, who usually drove
the plot, had three main characters, the smart male rogue,
his foolish male companion, and the female. Usually the female
served as the roman take interest for one of the men,
of course, but she was involved in other story elements too.
There were three servant characters only played by women, Columbine,
(09:09):
Francistina and smell real Dina. Lots of threes in this
three by three three rule of threes. Funnily enough, the
female version of Harlequin is Harlequina. So Harley Quinn not
so much. I don't know um. From Comedia Delarte came
English pantomime during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is
the time the quote father of modern clowning, Joseph Grimaldi,
(09:32):
started working first dawning white faced clown makeup, and he
worked with female clowns. The circus got its start three
years ago in Western Europe. While a few female clowns
were recorded these early days, it was mostly men working
at the circus. Of the few mentioned of female clowns.
Some were painted as publicity stunts as opposed to serious performers.
(09:54):
In fifty eight is a year a lot of historian's
point to the first modern female clown, Amelia Butler. And
we there are a lot more clown clown details history
facts for you, but first we're gonna paustre quickick for
words more sponsor and we're back, Thank you sponsor. So
(10:25):
from eighteen eighties six, the New Veil Sook in Paris
became the circus capital of the world. It was owned
by the co founder of the Mulan Rouge. Clown Nesses,
as female clowns were known, weren't all that rare, but
they were often Mulan Rouge dancers dressed as clowns, so
(10:45):
a little bit different. One of the most well known
of these dancers was chat Cow, which was the name
inspired by a wild dance similar to the can can.
The only way we know about her is because of
a series of paintings done by Andre de Toulouse Lautrec.
Aside from dancing, she was also a contortionist and an acrobat.
The Check applauded her bravery and working in a male
(11:07):
dominated industry and being open about being a lesbian. Well
there's miss Lulu born in eighty two and she married
a famous male clown and they worked together. She was
a contortionist and a wile walker. There's a wire walk
with me pun in there, but I don't know what
it is. Maybe it's give me that. Then there's Lulu Adams,
(11:27):
the daughter of famous British clown Joe Crafton, and her
grandmother was the first tightrope artist to perform at the
Brighton Hippodrome. So she kind of had a family family business.
Literally worked in some of her dad's routines and at
the age of seventeen, she convinced her dad to buy
her a set of bagpipes and that's what she became
known for. Her favorite song was Laugh Clown Laugh, I
(11:50):
was her favorite song play. She was multitalented, especially when
it came to playing instruments, and could speak five languages.
She was the first female clown to perform at many
of the most to just British circuses. She also worked
at America's Barnum and Bailey's, the Tom Arnold's Christmas Circuit
and at the Ringling Circus. Before his untimely death, her
and her husband worked as a clown duo. She once
(12:12):
told a reporter, I was born into the circus. Mother
was a writer and a high wire performer. Dad was
an acrobat, and all sorts of things. I shall go
on clowning till I die. That's the power of the circus.
You can never leave it. In the early United States
there are more records of female clowns than in Europe.
In the New York Times called a Vetta Matthews, misattributed
(12:35):
as a Miss Williams, the only lady clown on Earth.
The woman's rights movement was taking off in Europe and
the US at this time, and Barnum and Bailey had
a new woman's segment that featured Matthews. Some of their
advertisements read A Vetta the only lady clown from Adams.
There were plenty of women trupeze performers, bar performers, and
(12:55):
tight rope performers, and even strong women who could hold
half a dozen full on their shoulders. These fields seemed
to be pretty well occupied, so Miss Matthews got advanced
notions of emancipation and determined to invade a new field
and become clown. There never had been women clowns, so
this This is from a work, a piece on the
(13:16):
history of clowning um and she chafed at the strict
rules handed down to her about what she could and
couldn't do as a woman. Like Tumble, they were very
specific about certain physical things that women could perform. Pop
their mechanics referred to Loretta la Pearl as a fair
young woman with luminous eyes and as the only circus clown,
the only woman circus clown nineteen twenty seven, So there's
(13:37):
a lot of the only of these women clowns. Female
clowns at the time did usually wear outfits that were
at the intersection of sexy and ridiculous. Felix Adler and
Amelia Irwin or the King and Queen of clowning during
the mid twentieth century. In nineteen sixty eight, when the
Ringing Brothers opened their clown College, female clowns became more common.
(13:58):
Their first female clow own graduated in nineteen seventy, Peggy Williams.
Then they got Annie Fredalini. She was a film actress
before she got into clowning, and she worked with her
husband as well, director Pierre Ette. She went on to
start her own circus in nineteen seventy four in her
own circus school in France, and this led to the
birth of nouveau cirque in that country. When interviewed in
(14:21):
nineteen seventy seven, she said, circus people didn't believe that
a woman could take pratfalls, get slapped and kicked and
be ridiculous. But women have more sensitivity, the essential quality.
It's not a question of gayety or humor. A clown
isn't a comedian. To be a good clown, you must
have lived. To be a clown means more than just
putting on a costume and making funny faces at the audience.
(14:42):
The clown must take the audience on a unique adventure
in a strange dimension, which I love. Then there's Nina Krasavina,
the star of the Moscow Circus, who also got in conning.
Thinks to her husband, she was the first clown in
the Moscow ring. Yeah. So. According to one list that
ranks clowns, there were only three women listed within the
(15:03):
top one hundred most famous clowns. Arrissa a. K A
Resolva or Arissa or Risolba Pippa she was at four,
Annette Fredlini at forty one, and Camilla Grisky at seventy.
Of course this is just one list, but with all
the people we mentioned above, I just I thought it
was interesting, um that it was just three that made
into that top one hundred list. Yeah. I mean, and
(15:26):
think about the uproar around podcast when it's like ten
and it only has three women one hundred and I
have three women. Um, yes, So clearly it has been
a lot of dudes in the clowning business, but there
have been women there and they have been doing great work.
And these are just a few examples that we were
(15:46):
able to find. So we do have a little bit
more in this episode for you, but first one more
quick break for word from our sponsor and we're back,
(16:08):
Thank you sponsor. So nowadays, I mean we've all heard
about the problem of the horror clown the problem I
guess for clowning and specific I mean, it didn't will
help that we have, you know, serial killers who liked
dressing up as clowns as well, so kind of attached
to that. Yeah, yeah, it's unfortunate and several wasted something.
(16:33):
Um and the circus the circus closing, um, so well,
I have I found this quote from Real Smiley clown
we have to face facts and realize that, at least
in America, clowning is dying as an art form due
to negative attention, which has harmed the image of clowns.
And in this blog post, one of the things the
(16:56):
author says is we need to bring in more women.
We need to make it more diverse and more appealing
to people. And if you're listening to this, because it's
pretty easy to make fun of clowns. It's kind of
the butt of a lot of jokes about going to
clowning school or being a terrible frightening I don't joke
(17:16):
about it because I'm I'm still a fraid afraid that
Penny Wise is going to come for you something something
in that realm you right, But I think we forget this.
History has shown that clowning can be very powerful and
it is I even read articles about the difference in
how do we define how do we separate clowning from
(17:37):
comedians who are very physical in their acts, and um,
that's not really for us to say, but it is
conversations that are happening right now. And um, I when
I was talking about this episode with our coworker Lauren,
who is my co host over on saber Um. She
(17:57):
has friends who work in clowning, and I totally forgot
about this whole aspect of it. But they work for
something called Humorology Atlanta, and they visit places like children's
hospitals and senior communities, and they bring so much joy
when they go visit those places. And the way Lauren
described it was very heartbreaking and beautiful at once. Um,
(18:17):
she's telling stories of people who can't speak and being
able to interact with a clown who is also not
speaking on that level and feeling such like joy and
validation and happiness, and that's powerful. She can juggle, right, Yeah, Um,
she can do it. She's got a lot of talents.
She's got a very particular set of juggling. Um. So
(18:41):
I just feel like I clowning can do so much good,
and it would the industry itself would benefit from being
more diverse, right, Yes, And hopefully Lauren is reaching out
to her friends, her female friends who work in clowning,
so hopefully we can revisit. Yeah, bring someone on to
talk about it. I'm sorry, I just had a moment.
(19:01):
If they dressed up, I may I may have to
go to the corner. I don't think they'll tell okay, okay,
I think you'll be okay, we need to get you
some No, I don't knowin therapy. I don't know. You're right,
you're right, You're right. That's how Samantha. But we would
love to hear from from you listeners. If you are,
(19:23):
if you happen to work in clowning or know someone
who does, or you have any stories you'd like to share,
please share them. You can email us at Stuff Media,
mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com. You can
find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on
Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks as always
to a superproducer, Andrew Howard. Thanks Andrews, and thanks to
you for listening Stuff I've Never Told You his production
(19:44):
of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit i heeart Radio, app, Apple podcast, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Zo
Hey, this is Annie, and welcome to stuff. I'll never
told your protection of I Heart Radio's house Stuff works.
Today we're talking about clown you know how to suck
of song in my head? Now everything we were going
(00:25):
to say, it's every time I read it us right here. Well,
then that's a very effective song. It is, and we're
specifically looking at female clowns. And this episode is inspired
in part by the release of it chapter two. I
just watched the first one like a week ago, did you, Yeah,
the mini series or the new one? The new one
(00:46):
mini series I watched as a child, and I'm traumatized
by that one. Yeah, but the new one I just
finally watched it or newer earlier. Yeah. That was the
worst theater experience I've ever had because somebody in front
of me was using it as an upportunity to try
out his set. He thought he was a comedian, and
so he was. He was making jokes very loudly, and
(01:08):
then when the movie ended, he got up in front
of everybody and said, you can follow me on Instagram
or see me at the see me at whatever show.
And we were all like, get out of here, right,
what I mean, it's if you've got your venue. They're
trapping their trapped, but they're gonna be angry and suppressed.
One got him kicked out. Somebody did report him, but
when the theater person came in, the guy was like,
(01:30):
come on, man, I'm just having fun. I'm just having fun.
And I guess that was enough. Shut up man. Yeah,
so I had to rewatch it. Yes, and I do
want to apologize in advance to any clowns that are listening.
Who hates that this is the association that a lot
of us have. Yes, I'm sure you're good people, but
I'm still scared of you. I don't have a fear
(01:51):
of clowns. Um. I don't think I've ever actually seen one.
I'm pretty sure in real life. In real life. Yeah, Um,
I did notoriously push a man dressed as the Joker
into a pool when I was four years old because
he got my face and he was laughing at me.
That and uh my brother he was having a Batman
(02:13):
themed party that I was not allowed at that I
snuck into. He was very very upset with me. There's
a video of it somewhere. I wanted of you pushing
the clown because I want I want to see those joker.
I need to see this joker. Yeah, I've been to
a circus or two in um no offense, like we said,
but we've already discussed my irrational fears did to my
(02:34):
young exposure to horror movies and the origin of it
of one of the first films, of course, is what
we were talking about, just the IT mini series and um,
you know, come on, it's Tim Curry hiding in the sewer,
threatening like no, not threatening, tearing off a kid's arm,
talking about fluting. I will say no, I rewatched it
(02:55):
recently and I thought it was quite humorous. But look
when you see it as a child, and then you
go back and you're well, because I don't think I
actually finished it because I couldn't because I was so
scared of it, and I should have. That's I think
that's when I learned my lesson to finish out all
the movies because you'll be less scared when you finish
it out typically, But yeah, this is one of those
I didn't. And then when I did finally see clips
(03:16):
at the ending, I was like, oh, yeah, that's dumb.
No spoilers hashtag grows spoilers. Yeah, but it don't, don't.
It's definitely an eighties well and the main character his
the mullet, not in mullet, and I hit the ponytail.
He's rocking. You know what. When I was looking back
on the clips, Jonathan Brandis was in it, Seth Greene.
(03:39):
Jonathan Brandis was a ninety nineties heart throb and I
loved him. And he was dating Tatiana Ali Fresh, Prince
of bel Air. That was very jealous. Wow, yeah, this
is a serious crush. I think, probably my first crush ever. Well, okay,
I'll have to go back and we watch it with
new eyes. Okay, Well, we're not just gonna talk about
(04:00):
it scary clowns today. Um. We wanted to start with
the definition, as we like to do from dictionary dot com,
a comic performer, as in a circus, theatrical production or
the like, who wears an outlandish costume and makeup and
entertains by pantomizing common situations or actions in exaggerated or
ridiculous fashion, by juggling or tumbling, et cetera. And what
(04:21):
we view as traditional clowning at circuses has long been
dominated by men, but that doesn't mean there aren't any
female clowns um or that there haven't been from Russian
critic Mikhail Bochton, Clowns are quote, life's maskers, right to
be other in this world, the right not to make
common calls with any single one of the existing categories
(04:43):
that life makes available. And so clowning has a long history.
It goes all the way back to ancient Greece, ancient Egypt,
and ancient China. In seventh century BC, the Dorian mimes
was a troop that included female clowns. The name came
from the performer's ability to mimic others. So they weren't
(05:04):
mimes like we we think of them today, but they were.
They could mimic people we may mimic really well, real
life things like lambing upstairs. It's true. It just didn't
mean they were silent, I guess. In ancient Rome, a
valued position was that of the funeral clown, a juster
that would dress as the recently deceased, typically a rich person,
if you could afford this and make fun of their habits.
(05:26):
I want one of those, Well you could, well, who
makes it? Well, we'll get a professional clown for you.
I don't, I don't know whatever I kind of want
this to happen. Yeah, and clowns in a Belanese theater
were viewed as servants of the gods. Famous and mythical
Indian gesture to Nali Rama's summon, the Hindu goddess Collie
stole from her and then joked about it. Now, Collie
is scary. She's often depicted with skulls on her necklace.
(05:48):
But she thought he was funny, so she allowed him
to live. Yeah, you should look up the pictures of
Colie in this story is pretty good. Yeah, just in general.
And though she's the goddess of like torment Or, she's
she's like multi We did an episode kind of about her.
She's kind of like both death and life and yeah,
but she's a frightening fiction. She'll get you. Yeah, that's
(06:12):
the point we're trying to make. Um. During medieval times,
clowns called glee men often worked in partnership with a
glee maiden. This glee maiden was multitalented, a dancer and acrobat,
a musician. Sometimes these glee maidens worked alone and sometimes
as assistants for men in burlesque. And this is when
we saw Mother Fowley, an elderly woman who led medieval
(06:35):
carnival celebrations, which were appropriately wild. She had a full
moon mask to represent the fickleness of woman, their power,
and how dangerous they could be. According to one historian,
she quote allows for the expression of aspects of the
feminine that are normally repressed. Then, if we look at
jesters from Dana Frauden's book King's Fool Quote. In medieval days,
(06:59):
buffoonery was one of the few professions open to women.
Royal courts and nobility often would have jesters on retainer,
and some of those were women. Jesters had more freedom
of speech than the average commoner, which gave them the
power to speak out against their rulers in a way
most could not, sometimes even impacting policy, like when Emperor
(07:19):
shahuang Ti commissioned for the building of the Great Wall
of China. He also ordered it to be painted, which
could have led to thousands more deaths, but his jester
was able to make fun of the proposal and the
emperor decided against it. So that's pretty powerful stuff. Yeah.
So Roman philosopher Seneca, his wife had a female full
own retainer. One of history's most famous female jesters was
(07:42):
working during the seventeenth century in France, her name was
matthe Reen. Mathe Reen ruled over the courts of kings
Henry the Third, Henry the Four's, and Louis. She dressed
as an Amazon warrior, armor shilled sword in robes. She
was also well known, and her name came to be
used for other satius. In particular type of burlesque writing
that was similar to her comedy was dubbed Mathra ren Nod.
(08:05):
While accompanying a woman of the court for an audience
with the king, the woman told Matheine something like I
don't like having a fool to my right, and without
missing a step, Matheine switched side and said, I don't
mind at all. I love it, love it. Matheen also
was very religious and dedicated her justicres want to God,
and allegedly she helped capture a potential assassin of Henry
the Fourth by blocking the door of his escape. Wow, yeah,
(08:28):
I read that, and I was like, what it sounds
like a cool lady. All these women are pretty badass.
In Europe during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, the it
entertainment at the theater was Comedia del arte and it
included female clowns. The performers were divided into three groups,
master's servants and the young lovers, and the masters and
(08:48):
servants were played by clowns. The servants, who usually drove
the plot, had three main characters, the smart male rogue,
his foolish male companion, and the female. Usually the female
served as the roman take interest for one of the men,
of course, but she was involved in other story elements too.
There were three servant characters only played by women, Columbine,
(09:09):
Francistina and smell real Dina. Lots of threes in this
three by three three rule of threes. Funnily enough, the
female version of Harlequin is Harlequina. So Harley Quinn not
so much. I don't know um. From Comedia Delarte came
English pantomime during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is
the time the quote father of modern clowning, Joseph Grimaldi,
(09:32):
started working first dawning white faced clown makeup, and he
worked with female clowns. The circus got its start three
years ago in Western Europe. While a few female clowns
were recorded these early days, it was mostly men working
at the circus. Of the few mentioned of female clowns.
Some were painted as publicity stunts as opposed to serious performers.
(09:54):
In fifty eight is a year a lot of historian's
point to the first modern female clown, Amelia Butler. And
we there are a lot more clown clown details history
facts for you, but first we're gonna paustre quickick for
words more sponsor and we're back, Thank you sponsor. So
(10:25):
from eighteen eighties six, the New Veil Sook in Paris
became the circus capital of the world. It was owned
by the co founder of the Mulan Rouge. Clown Nesses,
as female clowns were known, weren't all that rare, but
they were often Mulan Rouge dancers dressed as clowns, so
(10:45):
a little bit different. One of the most well known
of these dancers was chat Cow, which was the name
inspired by a wild dance similar to the can can.
The only way we know about her is because of
a series of paintings done by Andre de Toulouse Lautrec.
Aside from dancing, she was also a contortionist and an acrobat.
The Check applauded her bravery and working in a male
(11:07):
dominated industry and being open about being a lesbian. Well
there's miss Lulu born in eighty two and she married
a famous male clown and they worked together. She was
a contortionist and a wile walker. There's a wire walk
with me pun in there, but I don't know what
it is. Maybe it's give me that. Then there's Lulu Adams,
(11:27):
the daughter of famous British clown Joe Crafton, and her
grandmother was the first tightrope artist to perform at the
Brighton Hippodrome. So she kind of had a family family business.
Literally worked in some of her dad's routines and at
the age of seventeen, she convinced her dad to buy
her a set of bagpipes and that's what she became
known for. Her favorite song was Laugh Clown Laugh, I
(11:50):
was her favorite song play. She was multitalented, especially when
it came to playing instruments, and could speak five languages.
She was the first female clown to perform at many
of the most to just British circuses. She also worked
at America's Barnum and Bailey's, the Tom Arnold's Christmas Circuit
and at the Ringling Circus. Before his untimely death, her
and her husband worked as a clown duo. She once
(12:12):
told a reporter, I was born into the circus. Mother
was a writer and a high wire performer. Dad was
an acrobat, and all sorts of things. I shall go
on clowning till I die. That's the power of the circus.
You can never leave it. In the early United States
there are more records of female clowns than in Europe.
In the New York Times called a Vetta Matthews, misattributed
(12:35):
as a Miss Williams, the only lady clown on Earth.
The woman's rights movement was taking off in Europe and
the US at this time, and Barnum and Bailey had
a new woman's segment that featured Matthews. Some of their
advertisements read A Vetta the only lady clown from Adams.
There were plenty of women trupeze performers, bar performers, and
(12:55):
tight rope performers, and even strong women who could hold
half a dozen full on their shoulders. These fields seemed
to be pretty well occupied, so Miss Matthews got advanced
notions of emancipation and determined to invade a new field
and become clown. There never had been women clowns, so
this This is from a work, a piece on the
(13:16):
history of clowning um and she chafed at the strict
rules handed down to her about what she could and
couldn't do as a woman. Like Tumble, they were very
specific about certain physical things that women could perform. Pop
their mechanics referred to Loretta la Pearl as a fair
young woman with luminous eyes and as the only circus clown,
the only woman circus clown nineteen twenty seven, So there's
(13:37):
a lot of the only of these women clowns. Female
clowns at the time did usually wear outfits that were
at the intersection of sexy and ridiculous. Felix Adler and
Amelia Irwin or the King and Queen of clowning during
the mid twentieth century. In nineteen sixty eight, when the
Ringing Brothers opened their clown College, female clowns became more common.
(13:58):
Their first female clow own graduated in nineteen seventy, Peggy Williams.
Then they got Annie Fredalini. She was a film actress
before she got into clowning, and she worked with her
husband as well, director Pierre Ette. She went on to
start her own circus in nineteen seventy four in her
own circus school in France, and this led to the
birth of nouveau cirque in that country. When interviewed in
(14:21):
nineteen seventy seven, she said, circus people didn't believe that
a woman could take pratfalls, get slapped and kicked and
be ridiculous. But women have more sensitivity, the essential quality.
It's not a question of gayety or humor. A clown
isn't a comedian. To be a good clown, you must
have lived. To be a clown means more than just
putting on a costume and making funny faces at the audience.
(14:42):
The clown must take the audience on a unique adventure
in a strange dimension, which I love. Then there's Nina Krasavina,
the star of the Moscow Circus, who also got in conning.
Thinks to her husband, she was the first clown in
the Moscow ring. Yeah. So. According to one list that
ranks clowns, there were only three women listed within the
(15:03):
top one hundred most famous clowns. Arrissa a. K A
Resolva or Arissa or Risolba Pippa she was at four,
Annette Fredlini at forty one, and Camilla Grisky at seventy.
Of course this is just one list, but with all
the people we mentioned above, I just I thought it
was interesting, um that it was just three that made
into that top one hundred list. Yeah. I mean, and
(15:26):
think about the uproar around podcast when it's like ten
and it only has three women one hundred and I
have three women. Um, yes, So clearly it has been
a lot of dudes in the clowning business, but there
have been women there and they have been doing great work.
And these are just a few examples that we were
(15:46):
able to find. So we do have a little bit
more in this episode for you, but first one more
quick break for word from our sponsor and we're back,
(16:08):
Thank you sponsor. So nowadays, I mean we've all heard
about the problem of the horror clown the problem I
guess for clowning and specific I mean, it didn't will
help that we have, you know, serial killers who liked
dressing up as clowns as well, so kind of attached
to that. Yeah, yeah, it's unfortunate and several wasted something.
(16:33):
Um and the circus the circus closing, um, so well,
I have I found this quote from Real Smiley clown
we have to face facts and realize that, at least
in America, clowning is dying as an art form due
to negative attention, which has harmed the image of clowns.
And in this blog post, one of the things the
(16:56):
author says is we need to bring in more women.
We need to make it more diverse and more appealing
to people. And if you're listening to this, because it's
pretty easy to make fun of clowns. It's kind of
the butt of a lot of jokes about going to
clowning school or being a terrible frightening I don't joke
(17:16):
about it because I'm I'm still a fraid afraid that
Penny Wise is going to come for you something something
in that realm you right, But I think we forget this.
History has shown that clowning can be very powerful and
it is I even read articles about the difference in
how do we define how do we separate clowning from
(17:37):
comedians who are very physical in their acts, and um,
that's not really for us to say, but it is
conversations that are happening right now. And um, I when
I was talking about this episode with our coworker Lauren,
who is my co host over on saber Um. She
(17:57):
has friends who work in clowning, and I totally forgot
about this whole aspect of it. But they work for
something called Humorology Atlanta, and they visit places like children's
hospitals and senior communities, and they bring so much joy
when they go visit those places. And the way Lauren
described it was very heartbreaking and beautiful at once. Um,
(18:17):
she's telling stories of people who can't speak and being
able to interact with a clown who is also not
speaking on that level and feeling such like joy and
validation and happiness, and that's powerful. She can juggle, right, Yeah, Um,
she can do it. She's got a lot of talents.
She's got a very particular set of juggling. Um. So
(18:41):
I just feel like I clowning can do so much good,
and it would the industry itself would benefit from being
more diverse, right, Yes, And hopefully Lauren is reaching out
to her friends, her female friends who work in clowning,
so hopefully we can revisit. Yeah, bring someone on to
talk about it. I'm sorry, I just had a moment.
(19:01):
If they dressed up, I may I may have to
go to the corner. I don't think they'll tell okay, okay,
I think you'll be okay, we need to get you
some No, I don't knowin therapy. I don't know. You're right,
you're right, You're right. That's how Samantha. But we would
love to hear from from you listeners. If you are,
(19:23):
if you happen to work in clowning or know someone
who does, or you have any stories you'd like to share,
please share them. You can email us at Stuff Media,
mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com. You can
find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on
Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks as always
to a superproducer, Andrew Howard. Thanks Andrews, and thanks to
you for listening Stuff I've Never Told You his production
(19:44):
of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit i heeart Radio, app, Apple podcast, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Zo
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