There's Just no Clowning Around

Clown Dolls

Laugh, Clown, Laugh!

Even though you're only make believing
Laugh, clown, laugh!
Even though something inside is grieving
Laugh, clown, laugh!
Don't let your heart grow too mellow
Just be a real punchinello, fellow

You're supposed to brighten up a place
And laugh, clown, laugh!
Paint a lot of smiles around your face
And laugh, clown, don't frown
Dressed in your best colored humor
Be a pallietto and laugh, clown, laugh!
---

"Laugh, Clown, Laugh" as written by Ted Fiorito, Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young
Lyrics Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powerd by LyricFind

Songwriters
FIORITO, TED / LEWIS, SAM M. / YOUNG, JOE

Published by

Sung by  Abbey Lincoln - Laugh, Clown, Laugh Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

It just isn't easy to be a clown any more.  Sure, there were a few kids scared of them growing up.  In fact, my bratty baby cousin was even afraid of Santa Claus.  We had an awful time at Santa's Village with her.  A few kids were even upset by the Easter Bunny and Leprechauns.  My generation was afraid Manson coming to get them, though, than of fictional monsters.  We laughed at Krusty the Clown from The Simpson's; we didn't have nightmares.

Some of my earliest dolls were clowns.  There is a vinyl headed example with rooted hair that was among my first dolls.  My very first doll, a squeaky bunny with a baby face is sort of a clown.  I used to carry around my all plush, red haired clown that Mom got with King Korn stamps.  He sill sits in one of my bedrooms. I deliberately looked for clowns to add to my doll collection, now the museum in waiting.  I have the vintage Barbie yellow and black Harlequin outfits, complete with mask for Ken, and all sorts of figurines of Emmett Kelley,  Pierrot, Polichinelle, Commedia dell Arte figures [important to a study of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew], Mexican clowns of papier mache and clay, Mudhead Kachina's, striped Zuni clowns, Bozos, and much more. I treasure my battered little Shoenhut clown, and my vintage Emmet Kelley.  I love our Murano glass clowns, and lest we forget, part of The Golliwog's heritage is attributed to Chocolat, a clown that inspired Debussy and Toulouse Lautrec.

Chocolat, Public Domain Image

Clara Bell was a much loved clown from early TV, and who can forget the Death of Chuckles the Clown on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where she burst into laughter at his funeral. [An elephant allegedly stepped on poor chuckles; he thought Chuckles was a peanut].

Every culture has its clowns, jesters, and clown literature.  Henry VIII was exceedingly fond of his gesture, and clowns appear everywhere in Shakespeare.  Don't forget the grave digging clowns in Hamlet, or the famous line in King Lear,  with double entendre, "My Poor Fool's Hanged."

They have a place in opera, film, vaudeville, circus, carnival, and now, horror pop culture.  There is a decrepit clown in Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas, and every good haunted house has one.

I always thought clowns were fun, and that they were silly but often happy citizens of the circus and carnival. I love Harlequin, and I even thrilled to the Joker, by Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, or Heath Ledger.  I have auction figures of all of them!

John Wayne Gacy was the first in my recollection to ruin clowns for us.  Now, we have the clown attacks all over the place adding to it.  They seemed to have died down; were they a horror movie promotion? Certainly the Roaming Antique Doll for Spirit of Halloween Stores this year represents a clown.  Killer clowns have become cliche, if not boring.

All that make up is fascinating; all stage make up is.  I have a portrait of a clown making himself up to perform that my husband took.  The clown was from Ringling Brothers.  I was on the Bozo television show twice for Brownies, and I can say that I was just thrilled.  I love my Bozo talking doll, and am currently painting a portrait of him as well, see below. He is at my school office.  There is one girl who just won't come in when she sees him.  I should say that I have two friends who are retired professional clowns, Penny Plum and Pellie.  They gave costume parties, and at one, I can't recognize some of the guests to this day because they were in make up.  Yet, they made a lot of people happy with their act, and they were professional, graduates of clown college one and all.   Locally, we had our own Show Time Pal promoting junior theater.  Of course, there is Ronald McDonald, who has had to take a hiatus because of the Clown crimes.  That's hardly fair.  Did they rename his houses, too?  

Courtesy, Theriault's

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Courtesy, Theriault's

Courtesy, Theriault's

Clown dolls are great; I love antique bisque dolls dressed as clowns and

jesters, and I will always include them,Mardi Gras masks, and circus figures in my

collection of dolls.

The Nebraska Klown Museum is on my bucket list, and I recommend the million piece 

miniature circus at The House on the Rock, and The Circus Museum, Baraboo, WI.

So, send in the clowns.  I'm not afraid. Wicked people masquerade in innocence all the time. 

Look at The Bad Seed, and Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes. Clowns, like the

group Clownin Grannies that teaches scripture and goodness are still around, clowns are still there to make us laugh, and to forget our troubles, not to cause them.

Anyone with unwanted clown dolls, send them to Dr. E's Doll Museum.