Circus Clowns At Barnum Museum

BRIDGEPORT — A Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® circus clown exhibit – a retrospective of the talented Greatest Show on Earth® clowns – will be at The Barnum Museum through October 31, the first time the display has been in Connecticut.

The exhibit will highlight Ringling Bros. clowns, who specialize the mime and pantomime, slaps and falls, comedy acrobatics, juggling and equilibristic specialties, stilt walking, gags, and buffoonery bits.

The colorful exhibit, which was most recently in Dallas, will be hosted in Connecticut by the only institution of its kind dedicated to the life and times of the famous showman P.T. Barnum.

Each clown at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® has a unique personal character, costume and makeup design.

All come from three basic types: “Whiteface,” the more serious type of clown; “Auguste,” who carries out pranks and silly movements; and “Character” clown, more widely known as a “hobo” or “tramp” clown. Showcased in the circus exhibit are various clown costumes and life casts of the three types of clowns.

Since 1989, Texas native Ruth Chaddock has been recording and celebrating Ringling Bros. clowning year after year by crafting and replicating, in a rainbow of paint, the fully made-up face of each member of the world-famous clown alley.

Visitors to the exhibit will have an opportunity to see the result of her work: a one-of-a-kind archive, the three-dimensional history of Ringling Bros. Clowning.

The life casts have been shown at around the world including Magidson & Associates and the American Café at Rockefeller Center, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Capital Children’s Museum, Washington, D.C.; and Musee de la Civilisation.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and Sunday from noon to 4:30 pm. The exhibit is included with regular museum admission; call for details.

For more information about the circus clown exhibit, call 203-331-1104. The Barnum Museum is at 820 Main Street in Bridgeport.