Agnes Arrives and Thoughts on those Creepy Clowns
And then came Agnes. I was getting older, so why not embrace it. Agnes was an old lady who could tell stories, play at being old and do mime.
In this issue: As an older woman, Agnes represented a new segment in society. It was fun to play with the ideas about older women. I can never get too old to play Agnes. Well, I suppose it’s possible, but by then I’ll sit in my rocking chair and reminisce. I was asked to comment on the wave of high school kids in clown masks that were terrifying children in school yards. Creepy! But not much to do with the work of authentic clowning. Would Mrs. Lipton’s close her doors? Never. Well, yes. As we moved out of the ‘Hippy’ era, good food was too expensive and the profit margin too small. Things changed and Mrs. Lipton moved on.
Growing Older: Agnes is Born
These clowns, sometimes I felt like they’re taking over my life. They take so much energy. Sometimes I feel like I plug myself into an electric socket. And then whammo—all my energy’s gone.
As I explained before, I am growing older. I know you are all growing older, too, but clowns don’t grow older. Pierrot used to wear a whiteface with red triangles on her cheeks and small red lips. I watched my wrinkles get deeper in the whiteface and my rest breaks get longer. I was beginning to get skin cancer. Marmalade used to twist balloon animals and paint faces for hours at a time. My shoulder seized up and I got tendonitis in my right arm. It was time for a change.
I couldn’t retire from clowning because it was my moment of freedom. Freedom from who I thought I should be, from who other people thought I should be. Freedom from what I should say or how I should look. Everybody has a different way to find a moment of freedom from what binds them. For some it’s a trip to the Bahamas, or a bottle of wine, or illicit drugs, or a good book or something obscene—for me I’ve tasted freedom by becoming a clown. And so, I created Agnes, my old lady clown. I felt I would grow into her, like my shoes that were too big when I was a child.
Agnes at the Fashion Show
One day I received a call for a clown. This woman was organizing a fundraiser for Breast Cancer. It was to be a high profile luncheon at the posh Fort Garry Hotel and she had an idea that a clown could liven things up. Well, I had never been part of a fashion show before, so I went shopping.
Agnes arrived at the Ballroom. It was a sunny, fall afternoon and the leaves were golden. There were already a few hundred ladies chatting and drinking wine around tables with fine white tablecloths and floral center pieces. Agnes put out her hand to the ladies and curtseyed. “How are you dear? Nice to meet you!” They looked at me askance and tried to ignore me as much as possible. Backstage, women were fitting themselves into dresses and strange undergarments and doing last minute touches on make-up and jewelry.
The catwalk was empty. Just as the ladies were finishing their lovely lunch. Agnes climbed on to the catwalk. She began to move like a famous model. The ladies looked up from their lunch and started to notice Agnes. The DJ played “I’m too Sexy for my Car.” Agnes moved to the music. Older women can have a certain appeal! By the time Agnes reached the end of the catwalk, a table of ladies stood up and cheered. Agnes responded by swinging her boa and making provocative moves. The crowd went wild. Agnes swished and her amazing skirt changed colour. As she turned gracefully, and retraced her steps up the catwalk everyone applauded!
When those models came out, and told their stories about breast cancer, they were almost as alluring as Agnes. Those posh ladies loosened up with a little leadership! In the face of cancer, the spirit of joy filled us all.
Popcorn Philosophy
When Agnes creates a fashion show on stage, she is offering a commentary on many levels: of image, gender, fashion, aging, and health through self-parody. Kolonel Klepto writes that “Clowns become through their bodies, they think with their hearts and feet, and they play with everything and everybody” (408, 2004).
Gender has potential for comedy. “Evita” is a man dressed as a woman in the style of the English Music Hall. “Robo” the clown is a woman dressed like a man who plays a fairly androgynous character and although I am a woman, I chose the male name Pierrot because it felt more dynamic than the female counterpart which would be “Pierrette”. Clowns written about historically are predominantly male, but there were also female clowns, often not as well-known as their male counterparts, like Annie Fratellini, Liesl Karlstadt, and the “clown woman” in Daughters of Copperwoman (Cameron 1981).1 Female clowns who inspired me through television include Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and Phyllis Diller. Now Drag clowns are becoming popular. I am curious to learn about this.
Wolseley Tales: Remembering Mrs. Lipton’s
Why remember Mrs. Lipton’s? It was a leader in Winnipeg in providing healthy, tasty food opportunities and because it created the experience of community. Karen Johannsson’s bright, wacky, sense of humour and amazing artistry created a place of comfort and warmth for many. When Mrs. Lipton’s first opened, she featured, “Greasy Spoon Specials”. The restaurant was never pretentious. It was straight forward and inexpensive. Karen painted the pictures on the walls and created many of the recipes. Shankar, her partner, built the tables and designed the ongoing renovations. The atmosphere was warm and jolly. It was a place where life’s troubles would never be taken too seriously. She opened in 1977 – coming out of the “Hippy” era – part of a change in approach to lifestyle and food. Mrs. Lipton’s was cutting edge.
The last day the restaurant was open felt like a funeral day. People sent flowers if they couldn’t be there. People walked around and talked in whispers. They would come up to Karen and whisper, “Thank you very much,” after they had finished their last peanut butter milkshake or piece of chocolate cheesecake.
Who is the real Mrs. Lipton? Maybe she’s a spirit in this old building. As Karen works beside her pot of wax in her Batik studio, there are still see traces of the old restaurant. The centre post that is off centre, the raised radiators, the grill fan that now looks over wax and dyes. Art is everywhere. The spirit of creativity lives in this building, creativity that Karen nurtures and shares.
What is it about time passed that makes it so sweet, like that spicy smell of baking pumpkin muffins? Mrs. B’s Christmas cactus is past blooming for the time being. Karen’s work is always changing and growing
Odds & Ends: CBC News archive
Terror has no place in clowning, Agnes the clown says
CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2016 11:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 22, 2016
The creepy clown craze has some people on edge leading up to Halloween, and not in the traditionally scary-yet-innocent way most are accustomed to at this time of year.
Two teens were given a slap on the wrist in mid-October after the pair dressed up as clowns and terrorized people in Winnipeg.
Initial reports to police described two clowns chasing three other teenagers through the streets in the Valley Gardens neighbourhood.
That is just one of several similarly-strange reports in Canada and the U.S. in recent weeks and months.
Regardless to whether the stunts are meant as silly pranks, the humour is lost on many — including Sue Proctor.
Proctor has performed as a mime, clown and storyteller for more than 30 years. She recently earned a master's degree at Concordia University, where she studied the role of the clown for individual and social transformation.
Proctor spoke with CBC Up to Speed radio host Ismaila Alfa recently and explained that terror has no place in the clown world:
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What makes a good clown?
It's about being able to laugh at yourself. I think a clown sees from the heart and often brings out emotions and contradictions in human behaviour.
Healing has been a big part of the clown, because the clown creates disorder and then a new order can be built. Usually the chaos is not violent, but is simply a reordering of things, a re-looking at things.
What went into developing your clown personality?
I started clowning about 30 years ago.
I took Commedia dell'arte (theatre characterized by masks) in university and started to develop a Pierrot character, or a silent clown — a very sad clown character. Then, I just gradually developed that. As I interacted with audiences, with kids, Pierrot grew and grew.
I specialized in mime, so my character was a silent character.
That character had a white face with small marks on the eyes, lips and face.
Gradually over the years, I think because of videos and different cultural changes, children started to become more afraid of clowns.
I don't use white-face anymore because it frightens kids, because they don't know who is behind it. So a lot of times now, people just wear red noses.
The clown I do now is Agnes and she's an old lady with a red nose and glasses. Her skirt sticks way out. She has jewelled high heels. And she can tell stories, which is a lot less athletic than being a mime.
Is there room in the clown community for scary clowns?
No. Clowns can touch on emotions like sorrow and despair, and if a clown comes toward a child and they are scared, what I've always said to clowns is to turn and run away and act afraid of the child. In no way are real clowns out there to do harm.
So then what do you make of these stories of creepy clowns?
I get feeling a bit apprehensive and it's very curious that it's happening all at once.
But then some days, like one day recently, I was clowning at the library doing some storytelling, and people loved it. People love clowns.
The public can tell the difference between someone putting on a mask and acting frightening, and a clown that's doing this as a profession and wants to make people feel better and laugh.
Some really funny things happen when you're performing as a clown. Once as I was crossing Portage Avenue, I had a bag full of balloons, I was dressed up and hadn't really learned how to make balloon animals, but I had landed a job doing balloon animals.
I had all my balloons blown up and inside big green garbage bags. As I was trying to cross Portage, my balloons started blowing out of my bags.
So here I was: a clown running around on Portage at the stop light trying to collect my balloons, and all the people in cars were looking at me sideways.
So those putting on masks trying to scare strangers, they're not clowns, they're just people wearing masks. They have no relation to clowning.
References
Cameron, Anne. Daughters of Copperwoman (Vancouver, BC: Press Gang Publishers 1981), 108–114.
Klepto, Kolonel. “Making War With Love: the CIRCA”. City Vol. 8, No. 3, 1998.
Proctor, Sue. The Archetypal Role of the Clown as a Catalyst for Individual and Societal Transformation. https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/977096/
CBC News. Terror has no place in clowning, Agnes the clown says. Oct 22, 2016. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/creepy-clowns-1.3817699
[1] Annie Fratellini was a “French performer who was the first female circus clown in France, was a founder of the country’s first circus school, and went on to a successful stage and motion picture career (b. Nov. 14, 1932–d. July 1, 1997).” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. Liesl Karlstadt “was born as Elisabeth Wellano in Munich. She had an immense success with star comedian Karl Valentin (1882–1948), and they went down in history as an inseparable duo…. The two had great successes and although many of their famous comedies came from the creativity of Liesl Karlstadt, she rarely was noticed by the public.” Thomas Staedeli, Cyranos.ch. Web. 16 Dec. 2012.