By Sue Mason
STAFF WRITER
In 2006, Grace Judd gave up her funny clothes and red nose. At the time, she described clowning as her first journey and retirement was her second journey. Little did she know the first would become a part of the second.
A resident at American House on Hunter in Westland, Judd's journey today includes exercising five days a week, walks when the weather's nice, dancing and even slipping on her red nose to join her friends for some clowning.
"It's a journey and life is what you make of it," said Judd. "You can sit and let life go by or you can have fun and make others happy."
At age 94, Judd is showing no sign of slowing down, especially when the music plays.
"When the music starts, my feet start," said Judd. "And I don't need a partner. I tell them to hold my cane, I need to dance."
When a fellow resident asked her to teach her the steps, she tells them she never knows what her feet will do.
Judd's love of dance goes back to parochial school where the sisters would put on a "big revue" to raise money. She was always one of the dancers. She's thankful for that opportunity. Because of them she learned the Charleston, the Irish Jig and the Highland Fling.
"Oh, I love to dance," she said.
Judd admits the transition to assisted living wasn't an easy one. She worried about the other residents liking her and was re-assured by the director who told her that she had "made a big impression" at the facility. It was what she needed to hear. Now, she jokes that they think she's the "cat's pajamas."
She's a night person and doesn't apologize if she sleeps in. After all, it was her mother who told her the best medicine is sleep.
"I've never forgotten that," she said.
And she' not forgotten her clowning. She keeps in touch with her Clowns Around Redford friends, they are her "extended family." Known for 20 years as Dilly the Clown, she still gets together with them on occasion. Last month, she was at Vicky's Homemade Ice Cream in Redford to help make a 50-foot banana split in celebration of National Clowns Week.
"They can't get rid of me, they're stuck with me," Judd said with a laugh.
Even her children have been supportive of her clowning. One daughter thought she was a great clown - again "the cat's pajamas." And they've even learned to call her Dilly. She doesn't answer to mom.
"I say I have a wonderful family and they end up saying they have a pretty wonderful mother," she said. "I must have done something right."
As for clowning, "it's sort of inside me," Judd said.
"Even though I'm retired, sometimes someone says something to me and I come back with a clown answer," she added. "I never know what's going to come out of here (her mouth)."
smason@hometownlife.com | (734) 953-2112.
Cris Romero can easily be picked out of a crowd.
The 74-year-old wears decorated hats for all occasions and said she has too many to count.
Born in Thermal, Romero has lived in the Coachella Valley her entire life and said she tries to stay busy volunteering with local organizations throughout the Coachella Valley.
“I have more fun than a barrel of monkeys,” she said last week while wearing a green pig-tailed wig and jungle hat with hanging monkeys. “I have hats for each season and then regular, everyday ones. Hats create the right atmosphere for my balloons.”
Romero attended clown school in Riverside five years ago because she thought it sounded like fun. And it was, although twisting the colorful balloon creations was difficult at first, she said.
She now makes multiple designs, including the popular sword and poodle. At clown school, the first item she tried to learn to do was a beetle.
“I was not so good back then,” Romero said. “I gave up on the beetle because that idea was too hard — turtles, too. If kids ever ask for a turtle I say they're extinct.”
Romero shares her balloon talents with children at local libraries, the La Quinta Boys & Girls Club, Indio's fourth of July event, and at schools and Palm Desert's golf cart parade. She joked how her six brothers and three sisters “went into normal careers like a mechanic,” instead of clowning.
She retired from the J.C. Penney corporation's Indio store after 40 years.
She had worked in nearly every department, and laughs now about beginning as a cashier right out of high school when there were no cash registers.
Romero was later assigned to the alterations department after someone quit unexpectedly. She said she had no idea what to do and pant legs would sometimes turn out different lengths.
The 40 years she spent in retail “just flew by,” she said. She remained single and devoted her life to her career and to local children.
Romero is a member of the Coachella, Indio, La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert and Cathedral City chambers of commerce. She also volunteers with the La Quinta Chamber of Commerce and La Quinta Senior Center, and has been a Cub Scout leader for 20 years.
“She's dedicated to children and this valley as a whole,” said Wendy Winder of La Quinta, the La Quinta Chamber's Ambassador program coordinator. “She always makes her herself available to help.”
By Chad Hunter
BDN Staff Writer
chunter@bransondailynews.com
A magic kit at age 6 was the catalyst for Ron Retherford’s career in smiles.
Now 48, “Ronzo” makes his living as a balloon-curling clown in Branson.
“I’m going to do this forever,” Retherford said. “To be a clown, you almost have to be born that way. You almost have to be a little off center. I guess it’s in your genes — well, I have overalls on. But, there’s just something about it.”
In character from head to toe, Retherford joined more than 100 other colorful clowns, magicians, mimes and puppeteers over the weekend for a yearly “Clown Jam” gathering in Branson.
The professional event featured contests, vendors and even classes on how to keep — or lose — a straight face.
“Facial expressions are critical,” said class instructor Mark Burgess, a 17-year clowning veteran with his wife, Nettie, who now run Clown ‘N’ Ministry.
And for the thousands of clowns across the country, workshops like Clown Jam keep the performers at the top of their game.
“It’s a wonderful art, and it truly is an art,” said Tom King, president of Clowns of America International. “Clowns today are much better made up and skilled than they were years ago when it comes to small, hometown clowning. But we really lack in the big performance clowning like in the circuses and on stage because everything has turned to smaller venues.”
King points to Branson’s own “clown about town” as a colorful example of modern-day pranksters.
“(Retherford) has put a lot of thought into how he’s put his costume together,” King said. “It’s not just something he went out and bought at a yard sale; he’s got it all tied together, he looks clean, he looks sharp. I know when I’m dressed head to toe, I probably have over $1,000 invested in my outfit.”
Clowning 101
A face painter for 12 years, Vivian “Sugar” McArthur, of Branson, said a love of children is a prerequisite for the job.
“I like the money, but it’s the smile on the kids’ faces,” McArthur said. “When I finish the painting, and they become a princess or a butterfly or a dragon or a cat, when they look into that mirror, that look is my paycheck.”
The former theater major said she “retired from the real world” four years ago.
“It takes a lot of work to be a really good clown,” she said. “You need that innate ability to see things funny through a child’s eyes. You have to just enjoy and love it.”
McArthur’s friend and fellow clown Rose Mangels, who lives at Lake of the Ozarks, said it’s all about feeling young.
“We like to be kids, too. It’s our second chance.”
A ‘yo-yo’ industry
King, a 20-year veteran in the industry, said interest in clowning “yo-yos,” but never dies.
“We’re bigger now than we were in the ‘80s, but probably a bit smaller than we were in the late ‘90s,” he said, adding that his organization alone boasts nearly 6,000 full-time clowns nationwide. “The clown who’s doing it just once in a while for a birthday party or the church, they’re also very important to the art. I don’t think there’s an insignificant clown. I’ve never seen one myself.”
Anyone brave enough to put on the makeup, King said, can make a difference.
“Most clowns clown from the heart,” King said. “It’s not like I was looking for a job and all of a sudden I decided I was going to do that. Most of us stumbled into to it along the line and found we really, really cared. We just want to see people have a little joy in their life and have a smile; make people forget there are problems out there.”
The next generation
A new crop of aspiring clowns is working itself through the ranks.
Two dozen children — including Retherford’s 12-year-old daughter — took part in Clown Jam.
“Samantha’s been doing balloons since she was 3,” Retherford said. “Soon as she can drive, she’s got a way to make extra money and have fun.”
The Reeds Spring student already has a style and persona — “Lollygag.”
“I’ve helped my dad,” she said, adding that one day she looks forward to clowning on her own. “I’m going to wait until I’m like 16, 17 or 18, when I get my driver’s license.”
Novice clown Joshua Hocker, of Little Rock, Ark., was fitted for his first red nose by a vendor on Friday.
“Technically, I’m more of a mime than I am a clown, but I do some clown things,” the 16-year-old said. “It’s more of a hobby to make people laugh.”
A clown ‘til the end
With decades of successful clowning behind him, Retherford — a fixture at Branson Landing — anticipates many more.
“You don’t retire from this,” he said. “I can see myself doing this at like 70-80 years old. I just may slow down a little bit.”
For now, Retherford is juggling a busy schedule, even farming out work when he gets overwhelmed. In addition to his job as a street performer downtown, the Springfield native — self-described as “an uber geek nerd” who loves science fiction — is president of the local clown organization.
“I’ll be down at the landing some times 10 and 12 hours a day doing balloons. Sometimes I’ll have three or four birthday parties in a day’s time,” he said. “I like doing what I’m doing. It’s better than flipping burgers at McDonald’s or something, you know. But I don’t mean to cut down McDonald’s; I don’t want to have that other clown come down on me.”
Violet the Clown wears a curly violet wig and huge violet shoes, and just in case this isn't sufficient for name-recognition, the word “Violet” appears directly over her giant heart.
Heidi Sheputa, a Stoughton resident and mother of five, has been a full-time professional clown for more than 15 years. This year Violet's family rescheduled her birthday party so she could donate her face-painting and balloon-artistry to Birthday Wishes, a Newton organization that provides birthday parties for homeless children.
“Can I show you one more thing?” Violet asked each child after presenting him or her with a balloon animal. “You can balance it on your nose.”
Violet says she isn't one of those loud, horn-tooting clowns.
Continue reading "When it comes to clowns, Heidi Sheputa from Stoughton is no shrinking Violet" »
So, the winter holidays are barely here and you're already bracing yourself for an onslaught of "Christmas Carols" and other assorted holiday fare at your friendly neighborhood theaters?
Perhaps a dose of Clownzilla is the antidote.
Laughter is important, she tells them, but "make sure you wear your Depends."
When professional clown Linda Thaxter performs, she wears flamboyantly odd hats, plays with a rubber chicken and jokes about bodily functions. Her audiences of octogenarians love it.
If you ever get in a tight spot and need a balloon animal - fast! - Russ Wood is your man.
"I could make a dog in under five seconds if I needed to," he said.
It's the one day of the year you don't need to take John Landis seriously.
On Thanksgiving, Landis and other corporate types, community leaders and bigwigs trade in briefcases for baggy pants, foam noses and, well, really big wigs to march in America's Thanksgiving Parade, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at Woodward Avenue and Mack in Detroit.
Continue reading "Clown Corps grows into an extended family" »
Bruce Anspaugh has been a cow, a skydiver, a clown, a crusty farmer and a pretty good dancer.
Now, he’ll add former principal to his cast of characters.
Continue reading "Principal helped students laugh and learn" »
STAMFORD - Dove Burns smiled and frowned into a hand-held mirror, trying to visualize her future clown face.
"You are not becoming something else," Adam Auslander, a professional clown and performer, told his student at last night's clown training session held at UBS.
| Hilary Chaplain demonstrates laughter techniques as two clown trainees watch. Click image to see slide show. (Paul Desmarais/Staff photos) |
Continue reading "Volunteer clowns prepare for Sunday balloon parade" »
BOREDOM naturally sets in while queuing up, in this case, at a blood donation drive at the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort but Shahrizad Wahi Kamal, a clown, made sure that it would not happen.
Smiles were aplenty as Shahrizad, a 27-year-old deaf and mute, armed with a toy mi-crophone, took on the role of a TV reporter, ‘interviewing’ the blood donors.
On Nov. 3, the Time’s Up! Bicycle Clown Brigade celebrated New York City’s first Copenhagen-style bike lane, on Ninth Ave. between 16th and 23rd Sts., with a Bike Lane Liberation Ride.
In the new, seven-block bike lane, cyclists are physically separated from motor vehicle traffic by a lane of parked cars.
“We applaud the new Department of Transportation commissioner’s commitment to improved bicycle infrastructure. Now it is up to the N.Y.P.D. to enforce the law and keep the bike lanes clear of motor vehicles,” said Judy Ross, a Time’s Up! spokesperson.
The cyclists toasted the lane with apple cider in champagne glasses while eating homemade vegan peanut-butter cupcakes with soy chocolate icing. They held a sign reading, “We the Bike Clowns proclaim the Ninth Avenue lane car-free! Long may it grow and flourish a whole bunch more.”
Santa Paula community teens got to “Laugh Out Loud” with RozZi the Clown as they celebrated Teen Read Week 2007 at Blanchard Community Library in October. “This is a special event for teenagers,” Ilene Gavenman, Young Adult and Children’s Librarian, said as she introduced RozZi to the teens. “‘Laugh Out Loud’ at your library is a reminder that even though you’re older now, it’s really good to read for fun. How fun it is to bring joy and laughter to other people! We have a lot to learn; it’s going to be fun.”
CHILDREN'S entertainer Sally Beadle wants to bring a smile to young faces this week by dressing as a clown for the BBC's annual Children in Need appeal.
Get some colorful floppy shoes for a bargain price. Get a mirror that laughs at you when you gaze into it, for free.
Welcome to the clown sale, conducted by Clown Alley No. 179 members Monday morning at La Hacienda Recreation Center. Most resident clowns who participated were glad to unload at least a portion of their smile-inducing props.“My car hasn’t been in the garage,” Jan “Sassy” Robbins said, “in two years.”
Continue reading "Clowns offer and pick up goodies at sale" »
The New York theatre scene can't seem to get enough of a Frankenstein fix this season. With Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein on Broadway and the gothic musical Frankenstein playing Off-Broadway, PS 122 will present the New York premiere of 500 Clown's twisted take on the Mary Shelley classic Dec. 12-19.
Life of a Clown in Singapore blog
