Let's first state exactly what a clown is. A clown is essentially an actor who performs for people. There are basically five different types of clowns.
You have clowns that have the traditional Whiteface and red nose. You have what they call a hobo or a tramp type of clown, the Auguste (a Joker or Fool type), a mime clown which displays its emotions without using words, and lastly you have the character clown.
Before they were known as clowns, clowns are actually known as jesters. Clowns have always had a mystical allure. For the most part many clowns got started by doing comedy.
They would dress up in outrageous costumes and pretty much act like a silly buffoon.
It has been penned that the earliest known ancestors of clowns became big in ancient Greece where derivatives began popping up as bald headed padded buffoons.
Some world-famous clowns include Bozo the clown who was a very popular children's entertainer. Also had his very own TV show where he would say "good morning" at the beginning of every show. The show began its production on or around 1978. Strangely enough, actor David Arquette bought the rights to Bozo the Clown because he wanted to bring back the sweetness of clowns.
We would agree that he actually did do that. Unfortunately there was a pretty big clowns scare around 2015. Where clowns at the stigma of being killers. But that's not where the history of scary clowns began. Coulrophobia (the word for fear of clowns) began way back in the 1960s.
So that is the main reason that David Arquette bought the rights to Bozo the Clown, again so he can make clowns not scary.
David introduced the first female African-American Bozo the Clown. She was named Jozo the Clown. Jozo was a success and she spread happiness and joy to children all over the world.
Another infamous clown is Ronald McDonald. Ronald became the singular face of the McDonald's chain. McDonald's. Some argue that they did not really like Ronald's character and that he was in a sense creepy. But polls showed that he was very popular as far as consumer awareness goes which made him an instant hit.
Krusty the Clown from the hit show "The Simpsons" was well known for his ill-suited sense of humor. Fun fact: the voice of Krusty the Clown was mainly dubbed by Dan Castellaneta. Dan was also the voice of Homer. The Japanese voice of Krusty was played by Bin Shimada.
By far the scariest clown in history was the infamous John Wayne Gacy. John was absolutely feared because he raped and murdered over 30 young men. Most of them were killed by asphyxiation. It has been said that Gacy got his start as a clown around 1975 along with a group named the Jolly Jokers.
Other famous clowns include the Firefighter Clown, Happy Slappy, and Pennywise the famous clan from Stephen King's novel "It".
The art of Clowning Was simply actors, jugglers, and minstrels.
Professional Comedic Clowns began sometime during the Renaissance in the 13th, 14th or 15th century.
In this day and age there are many different types of clown entertainers available for children’s parties and events.
Most traditional clowns have the Whiteface and the red nose with big floppy shoes.
Many clown entertainers try to tone it down so as to not look as a scary clown for the children.
The art of clowning has become the profession for many party entertainers. From retired women to young men entrepreneurs, Clowns have many different faces and provided many jobs for entertainers.
Unfortunately due to the 2016 United States clown sightings where there were reports of people dressed up as evil clowns near schools, the popularity of the clown entertainment business fizzled out pretty heavily.
Fear was driven into the lives of local parents and not many people were hiring clown entertainers during this period.
But thank goodness that the art of clowning still remains strong to this day.
Seaside Heights New Jersey still hosts an annual clown festival every summer. The festival boasts a professional clown contest as well as an amateur clown contest. It is a great event where children can enjoy seeing many different types of clowns while enjoying children’s face painting and balloon sculpting.
One can only hope that the art of clowning will Continue to get stronger as time goes on. It’s crazy to think that it almost became a lost art.
We hope you enjoyed reading this brief history of clowns.
