Clowns.
And more clowns.They're a major part of the Four Basic Fun Groups in the circus:
1. Clowns and buffoons.
2. Trained animals.
3. Aerialists/gymnasts.
4. Other (ringmaster, musicians, spangled showgirls, roustabouts, concessionaires, etc.)
Probably no other circus in the country takes its clowns more seriously than Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.
Clowns, for this massive entourage, are no laughing matter. Ringling even operates one of the world's finest and oldest institutes of higher learning dedicated specifically to the art - Clown College in Venice, Fla. It's considered, in some circles, to be the Harvard of Hilarity, the BYU of Buffoonery.
The newest RB/B&B show to hit the road is spotlighting - for the first time in its 121-year history - the magical mirth of one clown. (The show opens a six-day, 11-performance engagement on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salt Palace Arena.)In years past, the spectacle of such superstars as Gunther Gebel-Williams or unique attention-grabbers as the world's only unicorn have been featured as the circus's headliners.
But, for 1991, the country's biggest circus is going back to its roots - focusing on the clowns.
And not just any clown but a particularly gifted performer who was discovered in Europe.
His name is David Larible (pronounced lair-EE-blay).
Larible, a native of Verona, Italy, draws on the classic miming influences of Charlie Chaplin and Marcel Marceau for his routines.
We first saw him perform in August at the Oakland Coliseum across the bay from San Francisco.
Larible is different from most circus clowns you've ever seen. He doesn't run amok with wild pratfalls and super-charged, action-packed comedy. He doesn't paint his face with neon-bright colors or come dashing out attired in a bizarre, larger-than-life costume.
Instead, he's a very low key, back-to-basics mime, where the simple nuance of every little movement is gently choreographed to elicit a smile, not a guffaw.
Also for 1991, the Red Unit of the Ringling Bros. circus shows some marked changes from previous editions. It is, indeed, a "kinder, gentler" circus, with a huge ensemble of Chinese acrobats and a fantastic Russian juggler among the talent assembled from throughout the world.
There's also a big change in the music. It's more youth-oriented with a disco beat replacing much of the traditional "circus" sound.
- "LARIBLE IS ONE OF THOSE once-in-a-lifetime finds," circus president/producer Kenneth Feld told the St. Petersburg Times shortly after the Red Unit's new production premiered in January. "(He's) a remarkably versatile performer who does it all. He's a mime, a juggler, a comedian, a musician and an acrobat, and besides that he is loaded with charisma. He has that special magnetism that signals star appeal."
He's also a seventh-generation circus performer, is fluent in five languages and is skilled at horsemanship.
But while sons are prone to follow in their fathers' footsteps in the circus, David made a slight switch in this ancestral tradition.
David's father was a famous European aerialist - sufficiently well-known that in 1959 he was invited to the United States to perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
When he was a youngster, David, who was born in Verona, enjoyed following his dad around the circus tents. But he was much more fascinated by the colorful makeup and costumes in the clowns' dressing rooms than he was by the feats of aerial daring above the arena floor.
When he saw how clowns made audiences laugh, he told his father, "That's what I want to do."
His parents encouraged him to be not just a clown but the best clown. He studied music. He studied ballet. He learned acrobatics. He picked up the best advice and techniques he could from others in the European circuses.
So instead of the son following in the elder Larible's footsteps, it's the daughter - David's younger sister, Vivien. Vivien is an aerialist, and David keeps his feet firmly planted in the sawdust (but both brother and sister perform together during one segment of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus).
During an interview following a matinee performance in Oakland, Larible told us how he progressed from learning the ropes in Europe to starring in The Greatest Show on Earth.
From his late teens into his mid-20s, Larible worked at perfecting his routines, filling in for other clowns when there was a vacancy. When he was 26 he began performing full time, and two years later, in 1988, he was invited to compete in the prestigious Monte Carlo International Circus Festival - the Academy Awards of circusdom.
When Larible won the Silver Clown Award, he became one of the most famous (and busiest) circus performers on the continent.
Kenneth Feld also happened to be one of the jurors for the festival and immediately made Larible an offer to join the Ringling ranks.
"But I wasn't ready to perform in the big arenas," Larible told us.
So he initially turned down Feld's offer and continued to hone his routines. Last year Larible was in Mexico City to perform in a circus. He didn't realize until after he arrived that the venue was not an intimate one-ring circus or a theater but a giant arena - just like those the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is booked into all over the United States.
Tim Holst, the former Utahn who is now vice president over talent and production - essentially a globe-trotting talent scout for the circus, flew from Sarasota, Fla., to Mexico City that same week just to see how well Larible's routines worked in a giant arena. The following week, Feld flew down for a second opinion - and one week after that, a deal was negotiated.
It's one thing to aspire to become a famous clown in Europe, but the big dream for many circus performers on the continent is to come to the United States and work in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
"That's got to be the top of your career," said Larible. "It really is the most famous circus in the world."
Traveling with him besides his parents and sister are his wife and their 2-year-old daughter.
- OTHER MAJOR ACTS with the 1991 edition of the circus include Mark Oliver Gebel, continuing the Gunther Gebel-Williams legacy of elephant training; incomparable Russian juggler Gregory Popovich, the 31-member Heilongjiang Acrobatic Troupe from China, the trapeze artistry of the Vargas and the Espanas, Marco Peters and his trained lions and tigers, then Marco and his brother, Philip - joined by one of the tigers - taking a spin on "the wheel of death."