Halloween Special 2023

It's Halloween! Welcome to our CarnEvil! Step right up and test your degree of coulrophobia - fear of clowns. Clowning is an ancient performing art dating back to the 24th century BC. Every culture whether it is a tribe of indigenous people, a medieval kingdom or a modern day circus has had some version of clowning. Clowns have played significant roles in society, bringing humor and laughter, but also bringing fear. It's that last piece that makes clowns the perfect subject for a Halloween episode. Join us as we explore the history and creeps of clowning! 

The beginning formulation of the clown took place, as best as historians can guess, sometime during the 24th century BC in Egypt. Throughout the centuries, people have taken on the role of the court jester, public jokester and entertaining mime. Clowns have been able to use their humor to hit at off-limits subjects like the monarchy, politics, religion and such. The clowns of yore have become the comedians of the comedy clubs today. But beneath all the fun lies sadness and terror. French literary critic Edmond de Congourt wrote of clowns in 1876, "The clown's art is now rather terrifying and full of anxiety and apprehension, their suicidal feats, their monstrous gesticulations and frenzied mimicry reminding one of the courtyard of a lunatic asylum.” It is no wonder that clowns have become a popular horror theme. So let's look at a brief history of clowns, working our way from early performers to the terrifying clowns of cinema that haunt our dreams today.

Pierrot

Pierrot (pee uh row) is a clown character of French origin. The standard look was a large white blouse with large buttons and wide white pantaloons. The face was mainly painted white and facial features were sad. His first appearances were in the 1600s, but it wouldn't be until the early 18th century that he would come into his own. Through the years, many societal movements have used him as a representation of their cause. David Bowie himself once said, "I'm Pierrot. I'm everyman." Jean-Gaspard Deburau (John gezpard Debayrew) was the most famous Pierrot. He took on the character in a small Paris theater in 1816 and performed him as a Bohemian-French mime. He performed as the clown until his death in 1846. Deburau would become our first killer clown. In 1836, a young boy taunted him on the streets and Deburau hit him with his cane and killed him. He was later acquitted.

Joseph Grimaldi

Joseph Grimaldi is the godfather of clowning as he is the one to have created the rendition of the clown we all know. Grimaldi was born in 1778 to Italian parents and spent his life entertaining people, starting at the age of two. He was one of the most popular actors at the Drury Lane Theater and Sadler's Wells. In 1806, Grimaldi created the classic clown we know today with painted on eyebrows, red lips and cheeks and he wore oversized and colorful clothes. He was declared the "King of Clowns" and perfected the pantomime clown. Grimaldi retired in 1823 due to declining health and quickly fell into debt and began drinking heavily before he passed in 1837.  

Tom Belling

Tom Belling was an American acrobat who developed what is known as the red clown or Auguste clown in 1870. Auguste clowns were more playful then earlier clowns with more expressive make-up. This is when the big red nose came into play. Each clown would choose their own look and in more modern times, their look is registered.

Dan Rice

During the mid-1800s, Dan Rice was the circus' most famous clown. Rice had joined the circus in the 1840s and his comedic performances earned him the title of "The Great American Humorist." He did not employ much physical comedy, which is what clowns later become known for, but his sexual allusions, jokes and ad-libs had audiences in stitches.  The costume he wore was a red and white striped suit with a top hat and then he had chin whiskers, but no clown make-up. He called himself "Uncle Sam" and yes, that is where the idea for Uncle Sam came from. Rice eventually died in obscurity in 1900, even though he had once been so famous and was also more than likely the model for Mark Twain's clown in the book "Huckleberry Finn." 

Grock

One of the most highly paid entertainers in Europe was once a Swiss clown named Grock. Grock was born as Charles Adrien Wettach in 1880. He ran away with a traveling circus and eventually after creating Grock, moved his act into music halls. His acts became a mixture of pantomime and musical blunders and he eventually performed throughout Europe and the United States. Grock wore the make-up of an Auguste clown and oversized clothes. He died in Italy in 1959 at the age of 79.

Emmett Kelly

Emmett Kelly was the Hobo Clown and known by the name Weary Willie. He played a sad clown with a big bulbous nose and face paint that gave him a mournful mouth surrounded by a five o'clock shadow. He wore tattered clothes and floppy shoes. He didn't start out as a clown and Weary Willie actually started as a cartoon character he drew. His work with the circus started as a trapeze artist and then in 1923, he brought Weary Willie to life as a clown act. One of his favorite things to do was to sweep the spotlight away and then get surprised when it appeared again. He worked for numerous circuses. He joined Ringling Bros. in 1942 and stayed with them until the late 1950s. He would star in a couple of films. He died in 1979 of a heart attack while taking out the garbage and I'm sure he could have found great comic use for that. Kelly was a hero. He helped to save people during the Hartford Circus Fire and was featured in a picture in Life magazine about the tragedy as he was running with a bucket of water. This was one of the few times people saw him cry.

Lou Jacobs

Lou Jacobs was probably the most famous clown to work with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey and is the one our listeners are probably most familiar with as he was used in lots of marketing and appeared on a 1966 U.S. postage stamp. Jacobs was a German immigrant. He played the part of a clown for 62 years and 60 of them were spent with the Ringling circus. His parents had a song and dance act and he got into gymnastics as a child, which lead him into barrel-jumping and contortionism. Jacobs came to America in 1923 and he found work as an acrobat. He started working for The Greatest Show On Earth in 1925 and it was there that he moved into clowning. He modeled his clown make-up on Europe's greatest circus stars, the Fratellinis - three brothers who worked mostly in France from the 1900s to the 1920s. Rather than white-face, they used a flesh-colored base. Jacobs had many gags including not only his 2'x3' small car, but also a self-propelled bathtub and a couple of little dogs. He wore a costume that was a pink and lavender checked suit with 12 inch collars and his shoes were really big. He married Ringling showgirl Jean Rockwell and they had two daughters, Lou Ann and Dolly. Jacobs retired in 1985 when he was 82 years old, although he continued to teach at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. In 1987, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He died of heart failure on September 13, 1992, in Sarasota, Florida at the age of eighty-nine.

Bozo the Clown

Alan W. Livingston created Bozo the Clown in 1946 as part of storytelling record album for children. Bozo soon was so popular that he became the mascot for Capitol Records. He got his first TV show in 1949 and was portrayed by Pinto Colvig. Bozo wore a blue and red costume, oversized red hair that stuck out on the sides of his bald head and whiteface clown make-up with the standard large eyebrows and red lips and the big red nose. The hair was actually yak hair that was heavily lacquered. Rather than being a syndicated show, Bozo was a franchise, so different markets had their own portrayal of Bozo. Williard Scott was Washington D.C.'s Bozo for 3 years. Other TV clowns were inspired by Bozo like the one Diane grew up with in Denver, Colorado, Blinky the Clown. Blinky was portrayed by Russell Scott who has the distinction of holding the record as longest-running television clown in history, performing as Blinky for 41 years. Blinky was more of a tramp clown. He lived a long life and died at the age of 91 in 2012. Ronald McDonald was also inspired by Bozo and he made his first appearance in 1963.

Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses

Captain Spaulding was portrayed by the incomparable Sid Haig. This character was the owner of a gas station and roadside haunted attraction. The role was reprised in Zombie's sequels “The Devil’s Rejects” and "3 From Hell." Spaulding wears smeared grease paint on his face with white face paint, red cheeks, blue eyeshadow and black lips. He also had a beard and moustache.

The Joker

The Joker is a supervillain in the DC Comic universe with his main foe being Batman. He made his first appearance in 1940 and was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. The most common backstory for the Joker is that he fell into a tank of chemical waste and this bleached his skin white and turned his hair green and his lips bright red. Thus his appearance is that of a clown and this drove him insane, leaving him with a sadistic sense of humor and he becomes a psychopathic killer. The design of the Joker was inspired by Conrad Veidt's character Gwynplaine in the 1928 movie The Man Who Laughs. The character jumped from the comic book pages to television and the movies with Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix both giving iconic portrayals of the character, performances that earned each Oscars.

Pennywise

Pennywise is the villain in Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It. Pennywise is a shapeshifter with his main presentation being a clown, which is the way he lures children into his traps. It's unclear what Pennywise really is, but whatever he is, its something ancient and evil. He wears white face paint with a red nose and red lips. Tim Curry portrayed him in a colorful outfit with bright red hair around a skullcap in the television adaptation of the novel. The 2017 and 2019 films featured Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard playing Pennywise and he wore a white outfit with very distinct face paint, which was mostly white broken by red lips with the corners of the mouth continuing up the face all the way to the forehead, bisecting the eyes. His eyes are a creepy translucent yellow. Pennywise has been deemed one of the scariest clowns in film and pop culture and The Atlantic wrote of him, "The scariest thing about Pennywise, though, is how he preys on children's deepest fears, manifesting the monsters they're most petrified by."

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

This is a cult classic and a fun movie. Diane happened upon it one day while switching through channels and the costumes immediately caught her attention. They were as outlandish as the movie title. And these clowns weren't humans dressed up in clown costumes, these were aliens! They crashed to Earth during Halley's comet and ravage a nearby town, killing people and drinking their blood for sustenance. The movie was written, produced and directed by the Chiodo brothers and came out in 1988. The macabre humor and circus-theming make this a definite must-see and the clowns look creepy as hell. It was wildly successful, costing $1.8 million to make and earning $43 million at the box office.

Poltergeist Clown

For Diane, the clown in the 1986 Poltergeist movie was the scariest. This clown doll went from just being your typical child's toy to a sinister strangling machine with arms and legs that grew in length and the pleasant countenance morphed into a maniacal grin and scowl. The doll from the movie just sold in June of 2023 for $650,000! 

Billy - Saw Movie Clown

Billy is technically a mechanical ventriloquist puppet, but he has all the markings of a clown with the white face paint, red lips, red spirals painted on his cheeks and a skull cap with messy hair. Billy was used by John Kramer, the Jigsaw Killer, to inform the victims of his deadly games about the rules and instructions they had to follow in order to survive.

Twisty the Clown from American Horror Story: Freak Show

Twisty started off as a Pierrot clown who took great joy in entertaining children and then something just snapped for him and he became delusional, committing atrocities without much awareness for what he was doing. The backstory for him had his mother dropping him on his head which couldn't have helped matters. Twisty's appearance is quite hideous because he tried to commit suicide with a gun and ended up disfiguring his face. Now he wears a partial mask that seems to have become part of his face and features a broad grin. There are also scars all over his face and he wears a skull cap that seems to have come from one of his victims. He wears a dirty clown suit and carries a sack that holds his juggling pins.

Art the Clown from Terrifier Franchise

It's fitting to have Art on this list for Halloween not only because he is a terrifying clown, but because his feature film debut was in the 2013 movie All Hallows' Eve. The clown first appeared in a couple of short films before launching into four Terrifier films and was created by writer/director Damien Leone. Art wears white face with arched and thin eyebrows and overdrawn black lips. He is bald and his costume is black and white. Art is always covered in blood as he is a mass murderer who likes to use weapons like a hacksaw, cleaver and cat o'nine tails. This clown is a thoroughly unpleasant one.

Pogo/John Wayne Gacy 

The fictional clowns are bad enough, so imagine having a real clown that is a serial killer. Most of you listeners are probably pretty familiar with Pogo the Clown who was a character created by serial killer John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne Gacy was born in 1942 and was thought of by many people to be a friendly man. He seemed to love children and would frequently dress-up as a clown he named Pogo and host parties for his entire neighborhood. Pogo wore white face paint and had overly large red lips and blue paint around his eyes. He wore a standard clown costume that was red on one half and red and white striped on the other. He also wore a pointed hat with several large puff balls on it. The first chinks in Gacy's reputation came in 1964 when he was found guilty of sodomizing two young boys and spent 18 months in prison. His wife divorced him and he relocated to Chicago where he founded a construction business. This became a way for him to recruit young men to come help him. Gacy remarried, but it was more than likely a cover for his predilection for young men. In July of 1975, one of the young men who worked for him disappeared and his parents asked the police to investigate Gacy. The pleas were not heeded. Gacy and his second wife divorced and this set him on a reckless course of murder. He would invite young men to his house and then pretend that he was going to show them a magic trick using handcuffs. The trick was that he was going to lock the boy to the bed and rape and sodomize him before strangling him. The bodies were then buried in the crawlspace of Gacy's home. One young man escaped from Gacy in 1977 and went to the police, but they didn't follow up on the report. The police did finally investigate Gacy after a 15-year-old boy who had gone to Gacy's home looking to get hired, disappeared. The investigation found a class ring and clothes that wouldn't fit Gacy. A witness came forward and said that Gacy had admitted that he had killed 30 boys. The police found 29 bodies at Gacy's house, but it is believed that he killed at least 33 people. Gacy was arrested and tried to plead insanity, but he was found guilty and sentenced to die, which occurred on May 10, 1994, via lethal injection.

2016 Mass Clown Sightings

Many of you may remember that in 2016 there was a spate of clown sightings in various places around the world. Sightings began as early as 2013 in Northhampton, England with the sighting of a creepy clown in the months of September and October. It was eventually found that three filmmakers named Alex Powell, Elliot Simpson, and Luke Ubanski were behind the clown and they had used it to drive traffic to their Facebook page. But something had been started. A YouTuber started dressing as an evil clown in 2014 and pranking people and then he posted the videos, which got millions of views. That same year, the Wasco Clown started showing up in Wasco, California. In 2015, a clown was videoed at night in the Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. 

A proliferation of videos started making the rounds, which increased in 2016. These clown sightings were in lots of different locations. Some were in forests, while others were in city areas. A mass hysteria started to develop as sightings were reported in many cities in the United States, in nine Canadian provinces and 18 other countries like Britain and Australia. Reports out of Green Bay, Wisconsin turned out to be a marketing ploy for a horror movie. While this kind of sighting could be fun, stories coming out of South Carolina were scary. These seemed to be clowns trying to lure children into the woods by offering money. A clown in Winston-Salem, North Carolina offered candy to children and ran when police showed up. A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Pennsylvania by what was at first reported as someone wearing a clown mask, but later it was found that the victim was wearing the mask. Over time, twelve arrests were made and even McDonald's decided to pull back Ronald McDonald for awhile. That Halloween in 2016 had some Floridians packing heat while trick-or-treating. Several countries started pulling clown costumes from store shelves and Target stores pulled clown masks from its website and stores. 

News outlets started warning people in October of 2016 of alleged attacks by clowns on Halloween that year. The reports said that these were going to be Purge like attacks. There was only one attack that actually materialized on Halloween in Florida when a family was attacked by a group of approximately 20 people in clown masks. Nobody was arrested. The 2016 incidents came to be known as the Great Clown Panic of 2016 and were chalked up to mass hysteria.

Clowns are meant to be fun, but there is always that piece of them that exudes mischief. That side of mischief causes some to think of clowns as impish. Add in real-life stories of homicidal clowns and then a dash of the fictional malevolent clown and you have a recipe for clown fear. Are clowns really something to fear? That is for you to decide!