Lyndon Hood - wannabe duck-clown, Wellington
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
BoingBoing ("One look at the Jell-O clown and he will haunt your dreams forevermore") linked to this rather good Flickr set of photos by one Charles W Cushman. The official collection is online and apparently thoroughly indexed, and generally not of clowns. But why is there no Wikipedia entry?
Regarding this photo, a comment on Flickr:
The Gag with the fake leg is the clown is actually standing in and walking in the box but with the fake legs it makes it look like the duck is pulling him!I notice you can just make out a wheel that
His name is Paul Winchell
he was a genius at creating unique props! (all made to pack flat and play big!)
But for you might remember him as the voice of Gargamel in the smurfs.
Larry
current Ringling Clown
The "Clown With Duck" is Paul Wenzel, a clown on the Ringling show from the turn of the century until the advent of Clown College in 1968.I have no wish to pose as a clown hater. These guys look pretty awesome.
He retired at the age of 90.
"The Professor" as he was known to the other clowns, was a master of creating enormous and intricate clown props out of silk and wire that were lightweight and collapsed flat.
When he retired no one remembered to ask him how he did it, when he died the art was lost.
Fred Garbo's Inflatable Theater Company is the closest thing that we have to it now but Fred's props are... well, inflatable and not supported by wire.
[Something else on BoingBoing: Orestes Pursued by the Furries]
Labels: BoingBoing, circus, clowns, comedy, ducks, photography
