Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College (originally located in Venice, Florida, then relocated to Baraboo, Wisconsin and finally Sarasota, Florida) trained around 1,400 clowns in the "Ringling style" from its 1968 founding until its 1997 closure.
History
Clown College was the brainchild of Irvin Feld, the owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and longtime Ringling clown and front man Bill Ballantine. In 1968, Ringling had only a handful of clowns, most of them over fifty years of age. It was clear that these performers wouldn't be able to go on forever. But there was a dearth of suitable replacements at that time. So Feld decided to create a school to train a new generation in this ancient art form.
Feld also saw the potential public relations opportunity in having a place that could become the Mecca of clowning in the United States. In addition, he wanted to use the school as another way of keeping his show more attractive to audiences than his competition, and have a place where he could guarantee getting an endless supply of new talent.
Circus World was planned in September 1972 to have the clown college's campus on site.
In 1984, after Feld's death, Kenneth Feld, his son, took over production of Feld Entertainment and the Ringling shows. In 1993, the clown college was moved from the Venice Arena to Baraboo, Wisconsin. He continued to operate the school through the 1997 session, and then closed Clown College because the needs of the show had changed. The school was no longer profitable, nor necessary, as clowning had moved back into the mainstream of performing arts. Also, with nearly fifteen hundred graduates, many of whom were teaching others the lessons they had learned, and with a home videotape produced by Ringling and made at Clown College in 1986 titled "Be A Clown", which featured many of the techniques used in the school's training sessions, Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus officially discontinued their Clown College just shy of its 30th year.
Two notable national events took place involving Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. The first occurred on February 17, 1988, when CBS Television broadcast the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College: 20th Anniversary special. This hour long program was hosted by Dick Van Dyke and it featured a cadre of clown alumni, performing their favorite routines, as well as Van Dyke, in character as the school custodian "Burford", who was trying to pick up some of the "course material" on the sly.
The second was on August 4, 1992, when Ringling created "Smiles Across America", an event done locally in cities and towns across the country to raise awareness of various issues and to help make people happier. Clown College graduates performed such civic duties as visiting hospitals and parks and appeared for photo ops and did "meet & greet" with the media and the general public.
Van Dyke and long time Today Show weatherman Willard Scott, the first person to portray Ronald McDonald in a television advertisement, are both honorary graduates of the school.
After 25 years the college moved from Venice, Florida to Baraboo, Wisconsin, hometown of the Ringling Bros. After three years in Baraboo, the clown college operated at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota until 1998 before the program was suspended. The college continued to operate after closing the facility, albeit in a different form. It was run in different locales in and around Rosemont, Illinois until 2015. In 2017, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus folded. However a return is planned for the fall of 2023. It will be a new style of circus which will not involve any animal performances. Clowns will be an even bigger part of the new circus going forward.
Operation
Clown College was a unique institution for several reasons. First, the method to apply to the school was an extensive written personality profile that gave the directors an opportunity to have an understanding of the applicant's psychology, interests and previous experience. The circus also held in-person auditions at most stops along the route to drum up interest in the show and to get a range of people from all over the United States to apply.
Next, tuition was free (though students were responsible for their own room and board, as well as any other incidental expenses incurred), and a graduate from the school finished the term with a full "Agent Suit" or specific clown costume, including a wig and proper clown shoes and a complete make-up kit, as well as the training needed to be a good clown performer.