Clowing Around Pays!

The Wall Street Journal takes notice when unusual occupations start turning into big bucks. And so it noticed -circus clowning! An article entitled, “The Power Clown” appeared on page D1 of the Friday, August 12 edition of the Journal. Written by Kelly Crow, the article discussed the new breed of “superstar clown,” the reasons star clowns are becoming more important parts of the circus structure, and some of the perks they are receiving. Since only paid subscribers can access the article, we can’t simply post a link. But we can pull out some interesting tidbits…

– The circus industry is estimated to be worth $1.8 Billion dollars. Ringling Brothers is said to control 80% of it. For most circuses, almost 20% of the overall budget goes to insurance.

– Big Apple Circus’ “Grandma” (Barry Lubin) gets 5% of the pre-tax gross on sales of Grandma souvenirs. The company also let him write its latest show, “Grandma Goes to Hollywood.” In addition, a substitute Grandma fills in for Lubin during 80% of the spring and summer shows. Taking the “syndication” approach favored by Bob Bell’s “Bozo,” Mr. Lubin suggests, “…if it were up to me, there’d be a thousand Grandmas all over the world.”

– Bello Nock, one of the two star clowns in Ringling Brothers, makes $600,000 per year, and has a staff
including a personal assistant and driver for his 78-foot custom RV. He also negotiated for more creative
control of his routines and to appear in about 40 minutes of each 2-hour show.

– David Larible, the other Ringling star clown, has copyrighted seven of his acts, and also gets royalties from dolls of his likeness.

– The article also points out that Francois Dupuis, who plays “Baby” in Cirque’s “Mystere” gets royalties – on
top of his salary – from licensing his character to the company.

The article points out the evolution circus has gone through since the turn of the last century. Much of the reliance on clown stars comes from economics; animals can be very expensive to keep and maintain, and engender protest from activists. And, by being able to focus their marketing efforts on one person,
they can compete with other live-action shows such as “Rugrats” and “Barney” that rely on characters youngsters instantly recognize.

They’ve also had to reduce the size and length of their shows. Ringling has found that youngsters with shorter attention spans prefer show lengths no more than two hours, and so has reduced the number of acts they employ accordingly (another budget saver!).

[Source: Wall Street Journal, Keith Johnson]