When Bill Ballantine was out on the talk show circuit with his book Clown Allley, he got booked on "The Today Show." To do a show and tell on the show, Bill hand-colored this sketch from the book. After many years of asking him for an "original Ballantine," he finally let me buy this at a very small cost. |
Saturday, June 20, 2009
From Jack Ryan
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3 comments:
Bill was such a wonderful artist with a unique style--also a terrific writer; love his books-- we spent a lot of time together at clown college and i enjoyed the experience immensely--before he passed he sent me a box of materials on his career and a number of signed drawings; i am so grateful and i hope to find the time to turn all of this someday into an article for one of the circus mags;
I found Bill to be insightful and sensitive to a young clown wannabe who he knew was not going to be allowed to attend Clown College. He gave me the guidance to see beyond RBBB and to find a performing niche elsewhere.
Otto was one of my early favorites, I remember riding a city bus with him from the old L.A. Sports Arena to the train, rather than taking the show bus. When asked why, he whispered 'My quiet time.' ~frank
From Wikipedia - Otto Griebling
Born April 28, 1896, Koblenz, Germany; Died April 19, 1972 (aged 75). Cause of death - stroke
Otto was a German-born circus clown who performed for many years with the Cole Brothers and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circuses. He was one of four clowns given the title Master Clown by Irvin Feld.
After arriving in America, Griebling left home after reading an ad seeking apprentice bareback riders. He studied under and worked with Albert Joseph Henry Hodgini, Sr. in Baraboo, Wisconsin for several years, performing in Hodgini's act in the Sells Floto Circus and other circuses.
Griebling changed his performance area in 1930 after suffering a serious fall. He developed a silent tramp clown character, an act that he would perform as a clown. He would walk around the circus holding a slab of ice asking for Miss Jones. When he didn't find her, he would come around again, this time the ice slab was smaller, finally he would find Miss jones but as he handed the ice to her, it would melt away right in her hand! His signing on as a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1932. He was a clown with the Cole Brothers Circus from their first tour in 1935[5], eventually becoming Cole Brothers' head clown before he joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1951.
Griebling spent the rest of his circus career with Ringling, going on strike in 1956 with Emmett Kelly and later teaching to the first few classes of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. He appeared as Jimmy Durante's stunt double in the 1962 film Jumbo. In 1970 Otto had his larynx removed due to cancer, but it did not affect his silent act.
Marriage- Otto Griebling, Sr. was married twice. His first wife, Hanna, was a fellow circus performer; they had three children together and divorced in 1948. His second wife, Anna, relocated with him to Venice, Florida in 1961. She passed on in 2005. They had the following children:
Elsa Griebling Gable (?-1971)
Joan Griebling Simons
Otto Griebling, Jr.
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