White House Circus

On October 31, 1969, Tricia Nixon hosted a Halloween party for 250 children at the White House. The entertainment included a tarot card reader, a go-go girl puppet that was manipulated by the Smithsonian Puppeteers, magicians performing tricks, actor Jonathan Frid, who came dressed up as his character vampire Barnabas Collins on the daytime soap opera Dark Shadows, and several clowns, including one who twisted balloons into animal shapes for the children to take home.

A year and a half later, President Richard Nixon signed Public Law 91-443 on August 2, 1971, proclaiming that week National Clown Week. The measure had resulted from the urging of Frank Kelly, the International Clown Week Chairman of the Clown Club of America. Kelly had worked with Senator John McClellan of Arkansas, who was chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Observances and Holidays, to achieve the successful passage of the law.

1/5 – Tricia greeting a guest

2/5 – Clown balloon artist

3/5 – Kids with balloons

4/5 – Clowns and halloween costumes

5/5 – White House at Halloween

 

Combating the Depression

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program. Created in 1935, the WAP was intended to provide work for people left unemployed by the Great Depression. One of its programs was the Works Progress Administration Federal Theatre Project (FTP), which also began in 1935. Based in New York City, it aimed to keep entertainers, including writers, actors, dancers, costume designers, and, yes, clowns, working during the depression.

Under the direction of playwright Hallie Flanagan, the program employed about 10,000 entertainers and organized about a thousand theater productions in forty states over a four-year period. However, the project was abruptly ended when the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Subcommittee on Appropriations investigated it because of suspicions that some of its members had communistic leanings. Acting on these suspicions, Congress terminated the Federal Theatre Project in 1939.

1/10 - Frank Walter, Federal Theatre Circus Clown - NAI: 24200252

2/10 – Rocco, Federal Theatre Circus Clown - NAI: 24200253

3/10 – Charlie Fortuna, Federal Theatre Circus Clown - NAI: 24200249

4/10 – The famous clown “La-la”

5/10 – Jack Riano as Popeye

6/10 - Frank Walter, member of clown alley

7/10 – Truck of clowns during a free circus parade

8/10 – Lem A. Ward putting on circus makeup

9/10 – Drawing of clown costume “Pinocchio” - NAI: 26144135

10/10 – Drawing of clown costume “Pinocchio” - NAI: 26144134

 

No Funny Business

The National Archives is the repository of many images from the Paris Bureau of the New York Times. Among the most intriguing are these photographs of clowns taken in the City of Light. These photos include some of Europe’s most famous clown performers, including Grock, the Cairolis Brothers, and the Fratellini clowns.

Another celebration that includes these clown masks is the Carnival in Mittenwald, Bavaria. Carnival season lasts from Epiphany on January 6 to Shrove Thursday, which is a rotating day every year. Mittenwald celebrations begin on Shrove Thursday, also known as Unsinninge Donnerstag or “Nonsense Thursday,” and involve celebrations of making noise to welcome in spring – a 500-year-old tradition. The figures in masks are called Maschkera, and each wears a mask that is locally carved to ward away the evil winter spirits.

1/5 – The women sit in the room unmasked, gazing enviously at the men who greet them through the window on their round of the town…

2/5 – Friends photographed arm in arm at carnival time in Mittenwald, Bavaria

3/5 – The famous clown “Grock” back in Berlin. The lady who is decorating his dressing room with photographs is Mrs. Grock

4/5 – French clowns, the Cairolis Brothers, in their box at the Palladium theatre in London

5/5 – Famous Fratellini clowns bring Christmas joy to Berlin old aged home

 

An International Happy Meal

One of the most famous clowns in the world, Ronald McDonald, spent most of his time selling hamburgers under the Golden Arches, but he also liked to support the military. Ronald could often be spotted talking to the children of U.S. troops down on the docks when the Navy was launching a new ship—his bright red hair, striped shirt, and yellow overalls made him stand out in any crowd!

In 1989, three Soviet warships came to Norfolk, Virginia, for a good-will visit to the United States. Eleven hundred Soviet soldiers spent five days mingling with American soldiers and their families at the base, but they also went on other adventures like eating at a pizza parlor, visiting shopping malls and grocery stores, going to Busch Gardens, and, of course, eating at McDonald’s. For entertainment on the base, they were greeted by none other than Ronald McDonald himself. In exchange, families were invited onto the Soviet ships while the soldiers entertained them with musical performances and dancing.

Luckily for the Soviet soldiers heading back to their home country, the first McDonald’s opened there just a year later in 1990.

1/4 - A Soviet Sailor poses with a Ronald MacDonald clown while making the first-ever Soviet naval visit to a US military port - NAI: 6445901

2/4 - Norfolk, Va….Ronald MacDonald clowns around with Soviet sailors at lunch - NAI: 6445906

3/4 - A Ronald McDonald clown entertains children of families waiting for the amphibious assault ship USS WASP (LHD 1) - NAI: 6445837

4/4 - A clown entertains children of families waiting for the amphibious assault ship USS WASP (LHD 1) - NAI: 6442805

 

Send in the Clowns

On August 14, 1986, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan hosted a barbeque for members of Congress and their families at the White House. In addition to food and music, plenty of clowns were on hand to keep the attendees amused. Nancy Reagan even got into the act in the Diplomatic Reception Room.