News on Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College
Thirty to 50 students were accepted each year the clown college was open. By 1974, the college was receiving about 5,000 applicants per term.
Curriculum
Typical classes included make-up, costuming, skills like juggling, acrobatics, walking on stilts, and unicycle riding, and the study of slapstick geniuses like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.Clown college was free to those admitted and offered an eight- to 13-week program with students studying about nine hours per day.
Reason For Closing
While in 1968 Feld may have been concerned about a dwindling clown population, by 1997 more than 1,500 clowns had graduated from the school and competition for employment was fierce.
Students
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College operated from 1968 to 1997. Its purpose was to educate and train new clowns to perform in the circus on an ongoing basis. Originally located in Venice, Florida, the college moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin in the 1990s, and finally to Sarasota, Florida until it closed.
