Inspired by meeting John Kamikaze and getting invited to join his family of freaks, the Space
Cowboy, Shep Huntly, Tigerlil and myself decided we wanted to create our own sideshow.
The Kamikaze Freakshow was a hardcore experience for the crowds. John Kamikaze's art can be difficult to watch for even the most ardent sideshow enthusiast. So we wanted our sideshow to be a softer experience for the crowds. Personally I have always been drawn in the direction of laughter. A good laugh and gag can make the sideshow medicine go down easier. We wanted to create a show which could manage to convey just how fun and exciting we found the stunts and skills of the sideshows, and make the crowd feel that same excitement. In our talks we talked about wanting it to be a happy vibe show. Shep Huntly had, at the time a smiley face dyed into the hair on his head. He also played the Toothfairy song "You got to be Happy Now," at the start of each of his street shows. Eventually this idea of wanting to make a happy sideshow became our name, not just a description of what we wanted the show to be like.
This next episode in the Way of the Showman series shows glimpses from some of the early exploits of the Happy Sideshow, Australia's Premier Freakshow.
It shows a bunch of the madness arising when The Happy Sideshow opened for the extraordinary showbiz band Machine Gun Fellatio. It was some seriously good times. A deadly cocktail. Rock and Roll meets Shock and Roll.
In this episode Carnival Cinema has dug up an old gem. Flesh hooks, clog dancing, extreme tattooing, and myself without a mustache.
Hamish McCormick and myself traveled to Norway in 2004. One of the days there we spent with my friends at Solid Tattoo and Piercing. It all seemed so normal and straight forward at the time. Looking back at it now I realise I used to be really tough. It was quite a day!
A short movie starring Penn & Teller? How sweet. A simple magic trick saves the world, it might just be plausible.
The movie is from 1987. Features a cameo from James Randi.
Any magician worth his salt is a little bit on the sideline, not in the main stream. And you bring him in when you want to be entertained or you want to be healed or helped but you are not going to consort with him on a daily basis. He is a little bit to strange and too scary.
Bob Neale
"Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters and Ricky Jay" is a documentary about a Master Showman. A prestidigitator of world class. He is a gentleman, showman and scholar. A performance historian author of such inimitable tomes as Learned Pigs and Fireproof Woman and Cards as Weapons as well as Jay's Journal of Anomalies.
He does a few tricks, others talk about his skills and knowledge in
awed and glowing terms, including Steve Martin. Simply another
forgettable 'TV spot' style film. But the documentary travels this
familiar path until somewhere into the second half, when it suddenly
asks the question of what type of person might be a magician.
And bam, it tugs aside the curtain and gives you a peak behind the
facade, behind the showmanship. A momentary glimpse into precisely the
type of person that Ricky Jay is. And it ain't pretty.
It is closer to the end than half way and its dark and strange... Yet strangely compelling and beautifully intriguing.
This is an episode from Penn and Teller's mini series called Magic and Mystery tour. There are so many things that are great about this show that I just urge you to check it out.
The journey they take as magicians to meet fellow crafts men living in rather simple ways is very interesting. They set out to discover the Indian Rope trick but the show is much more than that. It's a respectful look at street magicians in India. To put the two intrepid suit wearing magicians in touch with the apparently lowly caste of gypsies to which the street magicians belong they have the author of the superb study of Indian Street Magic; the Net of Magic by Lee Siegel.
It is a beautiful and insightful look at the history and origin of Magic by two of my favorite magicians. Enjoy.
I first saw Ricky Jay on the Paul Daniels show. The routine he performed was a card throwing routine. He threw playing cards with great precision and force. I was amazed I had never seen anything like it. I later found out he has also written a book on the subject; Cards as Weapons.
I was first made aware of this remarkable show when a friend in Edinburgh sent me a DVD taped of a tape of a tape... This is a great combination of well crafted patter, remarkable skills, unusual feats and solid showmanship.
This is a sweet surreal or possibly impressionistic look at Coney Island. Great footage from behind the scenes and from before the crowds of the amusement parks and beaches arrive to the heated girls shows packed with people at night.
The Venice Film Festival Prize-winning documentary Coney Island, USA
(1952), narrated by New York wit & journalist Henry Morgan, without
totally trashing Coney Island is the first film to really get round to a
bigger dose or reality than might be expected of a tourist film.
Throughout it retains an air of the macabre, weird dolls &
mannequins, shouting barkers, eerie angles of whirling rides like the
Virginia Wheel & the Cyclone, the screaming of frightened
funseekers, hairy arms tearing tickets, the promise of being
half-killed, humanity swarming like insects as Henry Morgan narrates
with venomous irony, "You & I in the sun, you & I alone." Shots are speeded up, blurry, distorted; the music rises in an
industrialist beat shifting into happy carny sounds shifting into
suspense notes.
Verging into horror documentary, the attitude of grotesquery never quite
warns you away from Coney Island, but is a lot more honest than any
earlier film, showing everything except the outright prostitution &
pickpocketing.
Of late I have been helping direct slapstick and this sweet film with Tommy Cooper and Eric Sykes' The Plank keeps popping up in the creative process. Its a slapstick Odd-yssey and a classic.
The Plank is a 1967
British slapstick comedy short film made by Associated London Films. It
follows the misadventures of two builders who require a floorboard. It
was written and directed by Eric Sykes, and produced by Jon Penington. The story was based on an episode of Eric Sykes BBC comedy series Sykes and A... from 1964, called 'Sykes and A Plank'.
Although not strictly a silent film it is unusual in having little
spoken dialogue, instead the film is punctuated by grunts, other vocal
noises and sound effects. {wiki}
The film is a series of "plank jokes" elaborating on the "man with a plank" slapstick routine seen in vaudeville and silent films,
and adding new ones. For instance, at one point the plank is tied to
the top of the car and projects backward into the open back of a large
van. A man enters the back of the van and sits down. The van drives
away, leaving him suspended in mid-air sitting on the end of the plank.
Q: What happens when you stab a clown in the eye?
A: He DIES. Just like everything else.
Here at the Illuminated Showman we do enjoy a bit of splatter clowning and that is exactly what we get with Clown Vs Mime. Funny short and to the blood dripping point.
Created by Brock England and Darren Scharf.
Clown vs Mime. The newest most amazing conflict in the history of amazing
conflicts: Tom and Jerry, vampires and werewolves, clorox and bacteria,
democrats and republicans. Like these epic foes of man's history, they
spend all their time creating new and gruesome ways to realize each
other's death. Will the Clown use a balloon animal noose to strangle the
Mime? Or will the Mime use his powers to conjure invisible C4 and blow
the Clown to Marakesh? Watch and see!
Shakes the Clown. A clown movie about the seedy side of children's party clowning portrayed in all its dark glory.
Not heard of it? fair enough it was a bit of a flop at the box office when it came out in 1991. But here at the Illuminated Showman we do love a drunken clown with a good heart.
The movie was written, directed and starring as lead clown Bobcat Goldthwait. Bobcat (born May 26, 1962,) is an American
comedian most widely known for his high pitch voice during his
comedy acts. Some of you might remember him as a new recruit in Police Academy 2 - Their First Assignement, this was his first big movie role. For those a little younger you might recognize his voice as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants.
This black comedy chronicles the fall of one of the world's most
unlovable clowns as he plies his trade and tries to survive in
Palukaville a town where everyone is more or less a Bozo. Shakes loves
women and more than that, he loves his booze. Like many of his painted
peers, ol' Shakes likes to hang out at The Twisted Balloon, the favorite
local pub where he hoists a few, beats up on mimes (the lowest caste in
Palukaville) and causes trouble with his girl friend Judy, a woman who
cannot say the
letter "L." Because the
slovenly Shakes can't seem to make it to birthday parties sober and on
time, he is fired from his booking agency, causing him to go on a big
drinking binge. Later, Shakes awakens and learns that Binky, a lousy
TV-clown, is framing him for beating up Shake's former boss with a
juggling pin. Now poor Shakes must clear his name. He must also rescue
"Juwee" who has been kidnapped by the nefarious Binky, and he must come
to grips with his alcohol problem (perhaps the film could be therefore
titled "Clown and Sober?"). Keep an eye peeled for cameos by Robin
Williams, as a mime instructor, and Florence Henderson as one of Shake's
illicit sexual conquests.
The Logo that separates the Carnies from the Riff Raff
My fellow creator and brother in arms Hamish McCormick have begun a fine project over on vimeo which should illicit attention to the readers of the Illuminated Showman. Hamish is the brains behind the independent film production house Carnival Cinema, of which yours truly is a co-founder.
The project is called the Carnival Chronicles and appears in weekly installments. Short sharp clips that encapsulates the (mainly) Australian Showmen and Contemporary Carnival scene.
I would strongly recommend you all to check out his fine cutting and shooting craftmanship, and while you're at it follow him on vimeo. If you are not already a member, it literally takes 1min to do. It will set you up for carnival delights entering your digital device of your choosing for the future.
Here is one of my favorites; a short film called Carnival Casino I hope you enjoy it.
From their Live at the Hollywood Bowl we get an informative physical comedy lecture. The format of the comedy lecture has been feature earlier on this blog, it is a show/act structure that we very much enjoy.
Featuring lessons on planks, cream pies, banana peel and prat falls - all the good stuff.
Grock (January 10, 1880 – July 14, 1959), born Charles (Karl) Adrien Wettach,was a Swiss clown, composer and musician. Called "the king of clowns" and "the greatest of Europe's clowns", Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world.
Grock described his secret of clowning as follows: "The genius of
clowning is transforming the little, everyday annoyances, not only
overcoming, but actually transforming them into something strange and
terrific… it is the power to extract mirth for millions out of nothing
and less than nothing." (Wiki)
In 1903, Wettach took the stage name "Grock," under which he became one
of the most famous clowns in Europe. "My birth name doesn't mean
anything. I am Grock. The first is the name of the dark years," he said.
As a clown, his life became a quest for perfecting the synthesis of the
man, with his hidden human face, and the clown, the mask occluding the
man beneath the greasepaint. This synthesis was "Grock," a figure
intended to entertain while remaining forever mysterious, a beloved
figure who never could be fully understood by the audience, hidden as he
was by his mask, hidden as the man Karl was by the mask Grock. (imdb)
During the turbulent years of fascist Italy and World War II, Grock
never let his mask slip, never overtly dabbled in politics. Though he
attracted the admiration of leading Italian fascists, the King of Italy,
European royalty and even Hitler, all of whom claimed to be a friend of
his, he never publicly confirmed those bonds. The man behind the mask
of Grock never declared any allegiance to anyone or anything but his
art. (imdb)
The clip below is a full clown show, an evening with Grock. The film is a French production from 1931. It starts slow with quite a bit of French talking. If you don't understand French skip ahead it is worth sitting through.
At around 27 minutes he does a routine with a violin borrowed from one of the musicians in the orchestra pit. The superb physical comedy, pushing his legs and changing his postures with the violin bow, with its fantastic prat fall finale is gorgeous.
"Wave
upon wave of applause filled a circus tent in Hamburg last week as a
preposterous, shambling clown, his baggy pants secured by a huge safety
pin, his crudely gloved hands the essence of misplaced elegance,
finished his turn. Friends and fans had come from as far away as Italy
and England to see his act. They stood on their chairs, stomping and
cheering. Long after the clown himself had shuffled off, wiping a tear
from his dead-white face with a floppy sleeve, the cheers ran on, until
at last a loudspeaker blared: "Please, ladies and gentlemen, do not
applaud any longer. Grock is not coming back. Grock is never coming
back."
The
audience of 3,000 found it hard to believe that The Great Grock would
ever give up the limelight and the sawdust, but the fact was that at 74,
Europe's greatest clown was tired."
Rowan Atkinson's great TV program Laughing Matters about physical comedy. As funny as it is instructive.
For some reason I can't embed the full show. The only thing I can embed is this clip above which is kind of part two of the below. But follow this link and you'll find a link to a playlist of almost the full show here.
Here are links to the individual parts: part one of five, two of five, three of five, Five of five
Part four seems to have slipped the cracks. I have chosen to post this even in the state it is, because its really worth a look. If you know of a better link I would love to know it.
"Announcer:
Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, we're going to present
for your approval a novelty picture with an all midget cast, the first
of it's kind to ever be produced. I'm told that it has everything, that
is everything that a western should have."
As the Announcer talks to the viewers he is joined on stage by the movies two protagonists the cowboy in white hat (the good one) and the one in the black (the bad) the two of them gets into a fight about whichone of them is the toughest and with the Announcer as the mediator it is decided they should watch the movie to see who would win in a fight since (spoiler alert) there is a fight between the hero and the villain in the end of this movie.
This is the kind of novelty cinema gold you are about to see - if you dear to venture into Tiny Town.
The worlds only western with an all midget and dwarf cast. Small cowboys singing and riding ponies.
Plot:
An evil gun slinging midget comes to terrorize the good little people of
Tiny Town. The townspeople organize to defeat him, and zany antics ensue.
A snippet of a review...
"To make sure that the audience notices the cast's stature, several
tricks were used. Something anyone will notice is that the characters
ride Shetland ponies. The choice was probably functional as well as
"artistic," because I doubt that Buck could vault atop a normal-sized
horse without a trampoline (trampolines were not common in the Old
West). Another amusing point is that tough cowboys entering the saloon
are forced to reach up and swing the doors open. The diminutive cast
members could easily walk under the doors, but swinging them open and
swaggering inside is mandatory in a western. Of course, the thirsty
saloon patron is then forced to step up onto a bench just to see over
the bar...
In fact, what is up with all of the buildings? They are hardly the
correct size and dimensions for the populace. Was the town built by
giants and then subsequently abandoned, to be eventually repopulated by
the townsfolk we see now? What happened to all of the tall people? Why
were midgets the only survivors? Perhaps Earth was attacked by piranha
birds that flew five feet above the ground, decapitating anything in
their way!
Yes, I know that they used an existing western town movie set. Don't
you have any inherent suspension of disbelief? The world of "The Terror
of Tiny Town" is one entirely populated by midgets. You explain why
everything is built for people who are six feet tall."
For a video review by Diamanda Hagan check this link out. It starts a little strange, and continues in the same way, it has some nifty cut up of the movie with snappy clips from all over the cinematic world of exploitation film.
AND NOW for the days feature presentation.
Enjoy this sweet novelty movie for as long as you can endure.
Plot:
A crippled circus acrobat is torn emotionally between two ambitious
young trapeze artists, one a talented young American and a less-gifted
but beautiful Italian.
Filmed at the beautiful Cirque d'hiver, permanent circus building in Paris.
Apparantly this is the worlds best tricks. Either way it is a sweet compilation.
And here is some insane Parkour by David Belle.
Here we go skipping.
And a purveyor of the almost forgotten art of hoop rolling. I read about this is Charlie Holland's book Strange Feats and Clever Turns but haven't seen a full act until now.
a CAnibal Clown short film by the ever great Carnival Cinema
Featuring Derek Ives, Claire Bartholomew, and Nikki Wilkes.
A wall of Death with Cars in India. They really got it all, and more full on over there.
Johnny and the Clits. A great mime piece. I saw this guy live in 1996 and it was truly awesome.
Magic?
A 1976 collaboration between the Russian Ice Ballet and the Moscow circus. Soviet Children's TV. When I grew up in Norway the showed this every Christmas. Starring amongst others Oleg Popov.
Oleg Popov the Russian Clown Legend.
And finally: Three generation of Chaplin
James Thiérée.
Some Cracking Carnival Clips for you all to ponder upon.
First up we have two clips from the dawn of Cinema filmed by Thomas Edison. This first performing beauty calls her self Princess Raja, it is unclear where she is princess, but i believe Rajah is the title for a prince or a king in India. The clip is from 1904 and she performes a strange dance ending in biting a chair...
Here is a little snippet of Sharpshooter legend Annie Oakley.
Annie Oakley’s heart target from a private collection in Los Angeles, California Image courtesy of Annie Leibovitz via The New York Times.
Fantastic funambulists! The Feller Boys & Dodo live from the Hippodrome, London aroud 1965.
Absolutely unbelievable skill. This is why we must always respect the Old School. They did it first, and often better than we can imagine.
Toss the Girl by the Saddri Dancers 1969
The Yong Brothers, Hand-to-Hand Balancing, in Thames Television's "Billy Smart's Christmas Circus" (1978)
A great clip from Seven fingers’ show PSY.
Les 7 Doigts de la Main - PSY from Ben Philippi on Vimeo.
Antonio Martinez created this video to serve as a desired childhood memory of the circus, but through the mind of an adult.
Over 800 modern dryplate tintypes, (a photograph taken as a positive on a thin tin plate,) were made from b&w film to produce this experimental stop-motion video of a circus.
The project began in 2005 and was fully completed in early 2010 with the
help of sound designer, Ramah (Malebranche) Jihan, and assistant, Sarah
(Lathrop) Midkiff. The video has been successfully exhibited in over 23
video art and film festivals.
Inspired by meeting John Kamikaze and getting invited to join his family of freaks, the Space 
