Ira Seidenstein as White Clown in   Cirque du Soleil's   Corteo   December 2007.

I can give you a long list of clowns who I love seeing. I don't believe there is such a thing as 'the' greatest clown. I would say though that perhaps amongst the greatest we must recognize the true masters such as Chaplin, Keaton, Lucille Ball, Marcel Marceau. When we view their work even today we can see not only modern messages but also timeless messages about humanity.

My teacher Carlo called me “authentic”. Before I met Carlo, I apprenticed the circus clown Danny Chapman. When I met Danny, he was 63 and had been in the circus since he was 7 years old. He founded the Ringling Clown College and was Boss Clown for several years of one of the Ringling Units while Lou Jacobs as Boss Clown on the other unit.

If you want to develop further as a clown or want to learn about clown or want to train to become a clown, it is good to educate yourself about the history. There is a tendency for clown teachers not to acknowledge the true masters of clown such as Chaplin, Keaton, Lucille Ball, Popov, Dimitri, Marceau, and a wealth of others.

I would encourage you to go to the original sources such as the film or archival footage of Chaplin, Keaton, Lucille Ball etc.  I particularly mention Lucille Ball because there is a common misnomer that there ‘are no women clowns’ or that women clowns only came about in the last 2 decades. Lucille Ball is a great example for numerous reasons, for female or male clowns. She and her husband Desi Arnez were highly successful television producers. Lucy was famously teamed also with Vivian Vance and Fred Murtz.

Other great female clowns include Carol Burnett who also developed a great quartet for her television show, Lotte Goslar, Leisl Karlstadt. Other performers to investigate include Moms Mabley, Vesta Tilley, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, Josephine Baker, Phyillis Diller, Joan Rivers, Minnie Pearl, etc. There are numerous contemporary female clowns, comediennes, and comic actresses.

By far, the ‘best’ book on clown is still “Clowns” by John Towsen. That is out of print. There are wonderful autobiographies including the recent one by Steve Martin that give a tremendous insight into the real world of ‘clowning’.

There are numerous contemporary ‘clowns’ available on film/dvd including Sasha Baron Cohen, Little Britain, Monty Python, Woody Allen, Roberto Benigni, Seinfeld, Sex In The City etc.

There are the clowns of past generations such as Dick Van Dyke, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Red Buttons, Jacques Tati, Toto, Cantinflas, Danny Kaye, W.C. Fields, Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, Max Wall, Norman Wisdom, The Two Ronnies, Morecombe & Wise, Spike Milligan, The Crazy Gang, Ma and Pa Kettle, The Dead End Kids,  Our Gang, etc.

For contemporary clowning, training the body and training skills such as music, dance, martial arts, circus etc can all assist in ones development, but seeing the best whether they are from another generation or another medium will assist in your own real development. Be authentic and commence the study yourself.

There were many great classic clowns, often circus clowns or burlesque clowns such as Bert Lahr and Phil Silvers. Some of the great circus clowns included Grock, Charlie Rivel, Charlie Carroli, Otto Griebling, Emmett Kelly, Lou Jacobs. More contemporary clowns include a VAST range of styles, to mention a few, Slava Polunin, Yuri Medvedov, Jango Edwards, Geoff Hoyle, Bill Irwin, Larry Pisoni (retired?), Nola Rae, Sue Ingleton (now acting), Joan Mankin, Avner Eisenberg, Manne Klintberg. There are many others who are very professional but who may have very different artistic energy than the ones I have chosen to mention.

Again the area of clown is vast, so you must follow through on the research yourself. Certainly above there are more than fifty names that as a spectrum will provide you with a broad understanding.

Photo: Zophtie (Jane Barber) Chaplin's Ghost (Ira) 2006 "Chaplin's Eye"