Clown Project

I chose Carol Burnett as the clown for my project. She has always been one of my favorite actors and I've always found her very hilarious. I see her as a Auguste Clown mostly but some of her characters are not at brainless as others. Carol Burnett has a wide variety of skills including dancing and singing, which she often uses in some of her skits.

She has a very vaudevillian style that is very apparent in many of her works. Her first breakout success was on Broadway in Once Upon A Mattress, which she received a Tony nomination for in 1959. After that she made her television debut and eventually starred in The Carol Burnett show for 11 years.

Carol would begin her show with ad-lib from a question from the audience. This showed she was quick and witty on her feet. The show was a great variety show that had numerous skits and showed many different comedic sides of Carol. She always demonstrated a great sense of comedic timing both vocally and silently that is really something to be in awe of. Her sketch  of the Silent Argument is example of the nonverbal comedic timing that she is so great at.

The best part of her sketches and her characters are that they are realistic and real characters in relatively real situations. That makes it even more hilarious. Her characters are large and physical and very interesting to the see. After watching more of her skits, I cant help but admire her even more.

By Jordan Silber

Picture from: http://nypost.com/2013/11/23/carol-burnett-takes-home-the-mark-twain-prize/
Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Burnett

To Be a Clown Response

I found it really surprising to see so many different types of clowns. Call me ignorant, but I was sure that the only clowns there were had big red noses and a lot of make-up. A lot of actors and actress I really love happen to be clowns such as; Carol Burnett, Buster Keaton, and Milton Burle (sp?). When I went back and reviewed some of Carol Burnett's work, I saw clown like characteristics such as getting into ridiculous situations and using the most complicated methods to complete a simple task. It truly made me fall even further in love with that AMAZING woman.

Clown Project

The Incomparable Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett is a very well known comedic American actress who is known as one of the greatest clowns of American television. Mrs. Burnett was born in 1933 in San Antonio, Texas to Jody and Louise Creighton Burnett. She had a rough family life as her parents were alcoholics and separated several times. Because of this, Mrs. Burnett lived mostly with her grandmother. In 1940 Mrs. Burnett and her grandmother moved to Los Angeles, California and stayed in a small apartment across the hall from her parents.

Carol Burnett graduated from Hollywood High School and was accepted to UCLA from English. Within her first year, Mrs. Burnett took an acting class where she fell in love with acting. She claims, “The first time I ever forgot I as homely, was the first time I heard an audience laugh.” She then switched her major to Theatre. In her junior year, she and her boyfriend at the time, Don Saroyan, were invited to perform at a party hosted by a faculty member. There, a wealthy man from San Diego, realized their potential and loaned them $1,000 to move to New York City on the condition that the loan be paid back in five years, the money would only be used to further their careers; and if successful, they need to help other young actors to become successful. The last condition was that his identity never be revealed. Mrs. Burnett fulfilled these conditions and to this day she will not reveal her benefactor.

Mrs. Burnett moved to New York in the summer of 1954. She moved into a boarding house known as “The Rehearsal Club” . Over the next few years she would make small appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show”, “Omnibus”, and the “Dinah Shore Show”. Eventually, in 1959, Mrs. Burnett fulfilled a life long dream and was cast as a lead in the original broadway production of “Once Upon a Mattress”. Her career gained speed after this and she started making regular performances on the “Garry Moore Show” in November of 1959 while she was still working on “Once Upon a Mattress”.

After a few more years, Mrs. Burnett began the show she is best known for; “The Carol Burnett Show”. The first episode aired on September 11, 1967 and ran through til March 29, 1978. This is when she really showed her Character Clown. “The Carol Burnett Show” was a variety show that was mostly skits that she, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and sometimes Dick Van Dyke, performed. Carol played many different characters, but her Charwomen is the most famous. A cartoon of her as the Charwoman was created for the opening credits. She also portrayed this character in many many skits.

The Charwomen has heavy feet and tends to drag them a lot. She wears a puffy red and orange patterned hat. She has on a red blouse with dots gold flowers all over it. She has on a yellow apron that covers her front. She has on a purple plaid skirt goes only to her knees so her calves are exposed. She wears heavy brown shoes with white socks. She will clean times with a handkerchief under her open vest. In the skit, “Charwoman Goes Backstage”, she enters the dressing room of what looks like burlesque dancers. She dusts the table, wipes some ashtrays and then tries on one of the performers hula skirts. She plays around for a while but hurts herself with the pineapple bra. Her movements are very precise and polished. She also plays with a balloon at one point. You see as she gets an idea and begins to dance with drums following her beat. But the skit really takes off when she puts on a boa and begins to sing selections from “Sweet Charity”. This Charwoman character is a big dreamer with exaggerated movement. Shes not a huge buffoon, but does put herself in weird situations. Shes always cleaning in the most exotic locations and then begins messing and playing with things that she should not touch.

My favorite skit with the Charwoman was when she was a the circus. She messes with some of the items on stage but is interrupted by a sad eyed tramp clown. They interact as he tries to show her some tricks but inadvertently makes her sneeze of trip. He gives her a handful of light that he sweeps up and then it ends with a song about looking at the silver lining. This one was particularly special because two clowns interact and perform outrageous stunts.

The Charwoman her most memorable character but she did play many while airing the show. She played a wife who was having a non-verbal argument with her husband. She uses her eyes and face to portray what she wants to say. It is very clear throughout the entire skit what she is thinking and how she is feeling. There is also Stella Toddler who is a clumsy older woman who falls in such things as a red carpet and is then lifter out of it showing her underwear.

Carol Burnett is a very wonderfully talented and has given the world great entertainment. I grew up with watching Carol Burnett and she is one of my heroes. She worked hard to get where she is today and is considered one of the most respectable women in comedy.

Works Cited

• Adir, Karin. Clowns of American Television. Text. 2002
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x0Et9calE8. Charwoman at the Circus
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoCIeBkkW0k. Charwoman Goes Backstage
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drFVukcUaD0. Carol Burnett – Harvey Korman – The Non-Verbal Argument
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuzWH9rJjDw. Stella at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Neil Patrick Harris!

Clown Research

            My person, is Neil Patrick Harris and his work in How I Met Your Mother. Personally I think that if he was to be considered a clown then it would be the Auguste clown because they have the most slapstick comedy and, in my opinion are the funniest. If you have ever seen How I Met Your Mother and watched was Neil Patrick Harris, as Barney Stinson does, then it has to be some of the funniest things that you have ever seen. My best example would be when he enacts The Scuba Diver.

            Now in the show he does this perfectly to where you never see it coming but instead of quoting the show ill quote the book. (Yes I have the Play Book and the Bro Code, both by Barney Stinson). Quoted from Page 136 of The Play Book:

            Success Rate   1%

            Attracts            Chicks who think they can change dude, so pretty much all of them

            Requirements   oxygen tank, mask, flippers, wet suit, regular suit(for under wet                                           one)

            Prep Time     A few years

            Bummers         Wet Suit can cause skin rash

                        The Play

            1. Tell a meddlesome female friend about The Playbook

            2. Run a play on one of her coworkers, making her so angry she steals The Playbook.

            3. Put on the scuba suit and tell your friend you're going to do one more scam called "The Scuba Driver" on the hot girl standing by the bar

            4. Your friend, lets call her Lily, goes and talks to the girl and tells her everything about The Playbook.

            5. Lily and target will demand how The Scuba Diver works. Take off your mask and give them some spiel about your deep-seated insecurities, which don't really exist because lets face it, you're awesome.

            6. Now Lily will feel bad and talk you up to the target until she agrees to go get coffee with you.

            7. And it. Is. On.

                                    Warning!

            Be sure to rip these pages out before performing The Scuba Diver!

Now lets be honest if this isn't some of the funniest, cleverest thing I don’t know what is.

Because we think that he doesn't really know what he is doing when in reality he is in control of the whole situation which is just the best kind of clown out there!

non modern clown

I have never had a favorite traditional clown type, however the greatest clown I know of would be W.C. Fields. My father admired him and W.C. Fields was a fabulous cranky old man in many Hollywood movies later on in his life that he himself wrote and stared in. His movie characters would often mumble under their breathe and move almost penguin like while pointing out sarcastic comments and traits about other people. Watching Rowan Atkinson drum routine reminded me of a W.C. Fields clown act where he is playing pool. If you watch this 5 minute clip, (particularly minute 1:55 until the end) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEIUW5Rslrc,you might see, like I did, a very Rowan Atkinson type performance, just shorter.

In looking up W.C. Fields I was kind of embarrassed to find out that in his younger years he was a fabulous performer and juggler. I was blown away by Fields amazing juggling cigar box routine and that scene can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytgPGr6JhLo as well as that Fields had his own performer’s name, The Great Magonagle. When watching the juggling scene you can see a body that is in control but Fields personality acts like it is not. His feet work with the cane demonstrate that he was an extremely gifted athlete. Watch how he works the cigar boxes (that have opening lids) and you can see how just how quick his hands are moving to keep everything level. Fields learned how to juggle as a young boy living on his own and through practice and personality went to the top of Hollywood’s famous and elite. If I had to label Fields as a particular style of clown I would say he was an Aguste type clown for always causing trouble and mayhem. W.C.Fields may not be considered a modern day clown however I feel if you watch even a small sample of his routines you will see for yourself many modern day clowns used Fields as their own inspiration (and stole his bit) to find their own inner clown.

Scott

 

 

Imdb.com W.C. Fields Biography http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001211/bio#spouse

 

Have you seen my red nose?

In the chapter entitled Movement Training: Dell’Arte International, I think the authors smugness and overvalued opinion gets in the way of the message. “The Dell’Arte International Theatre was founded in 1975 to bring the physical training tradition to the United States and to …blah blah blah.” As if Chaplin, Keaton, W.C.Fields, Red Skelton, Laurel and Hardy plus hundreds of other carnival and rodeo clowns hadn’t already established a clowning tradition in America. These American traditions naturally would have been based off former countries clown traditions but I digress. I enjoyed the chapter actor reminder, that regardless of how well you think you are acting and feeling in the moment ultimately you are being watched and judged off what your body is doing. As I was reminded in the class reviews.

I was glad to be exposed to the three second wait exercise. Standing on a stage in front of an audience, after announcing what movements you are about to make, for three seconds I image would seem like 3 hours for the actor. However I could see how those three seconds would  give the actor a chance to let their inner clown come out organically instead of forcing it out by saying “ ok self, put your clown face on”. I think the waiting would also connect the actor to the audience and the audience to the actor.

Project and Readings

Paul Hunt 

           Motion is everywhere.  It is often most controlled on any sort of stage.  The more dangerous the motion in context with the stage, the tighter one’s control has to be.  Paul Hunt is a prime example of this.

            Hunt has been part of gymnastics for a very long time and has competed – and won – in many competitions.  He now coaches others in gymnastics in Utah.  His clowning is in a gymnast’s routine.

            It is amazing to watch him work either on the equipment or the floor.  The tricks he does as a clown are well controlled and never an actual slip of balance or loss of momentum.  The first time I had seen his act upon the balance beam in a YouTube video, I was flabbergasted at the precision it took for him to keep himself on the beam and keep himself within control, even in moments where he was falling.  Having been a part of ballet and gymnastics myself, I instinctually want to join him on the beam and “horse around” in a very controlled manner.

            Each move has to be precise. A miscalculation means an actual face plant with the mat.  A true slip of one’s grip means a nasty collision with the bar.  Not once can you be out of control or you lose control.  And yet, with this control, Hunt moves as if he’s not restricted by these limits.  He most likely isn’t.  The body learns how to stay balances if trained properly.  The motions become second nature if done enough times.  A well choreographed dance can seem like utter chaos to an audience when it truly isn’t.  Hunt shows that well.

            He has a floor routine that he does where he has quite a few leaps and a lot of movement about.  Quite a bit of it looks like motions thought of on the spot or half practiced.  The leap he breaks at the top of the act looks like it hurts when Hunt would have learned how to do it properly so as not to truly harm himself.  The video I watched was too fast for me to catch just how he was breaking the roll.  I’m sure it was with meat and not with bone for all his breaks.  With the seemingly incongruent motions, the entire piece – or, at least the sets of motions themselves – would have been practiced and practiced, choreographed well in advance as to give him time to perfect it so that the audience, regardless if they have been trained or not to watch for the way clowns work, can still appreciate the humor behind each motion that he does.

Personal Space

            I never realized there were so many spheres that we live in.  Makes sense, once you think about it.  Auditory, Visual, Vocal, Travelling, these I hadn’t realized existed but they make sense.  It’s a sphere of influence in a way and we’re larger than just the physical space we fill up by existing.  And along side these, there are a wide variety of motions through them, different points of being. It’s wicked.

Posture and Alignment

            Who knew there was so much to how one stands?  This is kind of ridiculous, to be honest.  It explains quite a bit, though.  Having improper posture or alignment causes kinks in the system.  It’s cool to see, though, that the section isn’t talking about just the base skeleton.  It goes into how use the buoyancy or radiance to readjust one’s form. 

Body Energizers

            This chapter really talked about buoyancy. About half way through – though it was all rather fascinating – I was beginning to wonder when we’d reach the others.  Then we got to the others.  I like the example of the cat getting ready to pounce.  It was a good analogy to use seeing as I own a cat and know how that looks, how that is.  Potency was weird.  It didn’t really resonate with me till it was listing what was learned from the experiments.  Then I was able to really see what the goal was.  The last part seemed to be just a blend of what we’ve already done.

Be a Clown

            I never realized there were so many types of clowns.  It’s cool to read all the different types and be able to put them with acts that I’ve seen. It makes it more realistic and makes me eager to try it out.