CLOWNING FOR THE YOUNG AND OLD

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Otto Griebling was another great tramp clown.  Otto had been a bareback rider for two years when he came to the United States from Germany.  He set sail for the United States, but was on the wrong ship and ended in Japan.  He had to work his way back to Germany and start his trip all over.  He finally reached the United States in 1911.

 

In 1930 Otto fell from a horse and broke his wrist, leg and ankle.  Lying in the hospital, he decided to become a clown.  He began by reading all the books he could find about clowning.   From his bed, he learned to juggle and to throw a derby so it came circling back to him.  He practiced funny faces in the mirror.  From that time on, he played the clown.

Patrick Burden, of Independence, Kansas may have been the youngest clown ever.  Patrick began clowning when he was only ten months old.  He had already mastered the two main faces of all clowns, a happy smile and a sad frown.  When he was two he wore his first costume and smeared on clown makeup using his mothers lipstick.

 

When he was three Patrick’s pictured appeared in the newspaper.  With just a squint and a wink the baby face clown made everybody laugh.

In 1975 at the National Clown Convention, in Denver, Colorado, Patrick won first prize for his makeup, as a whiteface clown.  Patrick was 9 years old.

Patrick Burden lived in Topeka.  It was also the home of Eddie Patrick Boaz. Eddie Boaz was known as Bozo the Clown in stores and on radio and TV.  Everywhere Bozo went, little Patrick showed up and copied the famous clown.  Since Patrick was very serious about fun making, the older Bozo began teaching him the tricks of the clown trade.