FELIX ADLER, Clown

A few months ago I was contacted by a person who works behind the scenes for the tv show American Pickers. She was interested in using an image I'd posted on my ephemera site, Tattered and Lost Ephemera. I decided to repost the original post here even though I don't own an actual photo, just a magazine image.

I got an email yesterday that the show would be on tonight with the image I'd sent them. Sure enough, there it was along with a credit at the end of the show. Made me smile.
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The clowns I've featured in photos have been nameless, except for Felix Adler. The reason Adler is named in the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus Magazine and Daily Review is because he was the head clown at the circus.


Click on image to see it larger.

(SOURCE: Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus Magazine and Daily Review, 1940)

First Clown to Appear on Television

Felix Adler entertained millions in his role as head clown for Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. In the hierarchy of clowns, he ranked at the top as a whiteface clown.

He performed with such famous clowns as Lou Jacobs and Emmett Kelly.

All three circus greats lived and practiced their routines in Sarasota.

Adler's costume took up a lot of space because he buttressed his posterior with a couple of basketballs hitched in place with a custom sling similar to a brassiere. He wore traditional whiteface clown makeup adding a big rhinestone on the tip of his nose.

Often the clown topped his garb with a big jello mold for a hat. Remember, the early days of television and product sponsorship? Adler had ties to Jell-O!

Piglets played integral roles in Adler's clowning. He named each one Amelia after his wife and as the piglets became full fledged pigs, he traded them in for a new piglet whom he promptly named Amelia.

The first clown to appear on television, Adler earned his title "The White House Clown" by performing for three presidents (Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin D. Roosevelt). He and his wife were the first American husband and wife clown team. (SOURCE: Squidoo/Felix Adler)

Felix Adler died on February 1, 1960. The following is his obituary from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on February 2nd.




(SOURCE: Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

Notice the handwork of the staff artist on the photo of Adler. Apparently the image was less than satisfactory for reproduction so the artist did a bit of doodling. Sort of surprised that the newspaper from the town where the circus was headquartered did not have a decent photo of the most important clown.
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Available at Amazon:
Tattered and Lost: Cakes, Picnics, and Watermelon

KODAK Christmas Greeting Cards

Click on image to see it larger. (SOURCE: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas for 1963)

POCKETFUL of stuff

Were there any of us in 1972 who would have believed that 40 years later (whoa, I need to take a pause...it just hit me...40 years, it's been 40 YEARS! Damn I'm old!) people would be carrying phones that would allow them to speak to someone on the other side of the world while they were shopping...driving...and in one case with one friend, while in the bathroom? And that the phone would also be their camera, their map, their restaurant guide, and on and on and...?

Kodak had the right idea for size, but they just didn't foresee the future. Shouldn't Kodak have been the one to put cameras in phones? How did they lose their way?


(SOURCE: Life, August 18, 1972) Click on image to see it larger.

To see more Kodak ads click on "Kodak" in the labels below.

KODAK INSTAMATIC 814 advertisement

Occasionally when I find old camera ads I run them to remind those of us who are collectors of vintage snapshots how important these old cameras are to our collections.

Here is another vintage Kodak Instamatic 814 ad from the July 1969 Sunset magazine.



To see more vintage Kodak ads click on the Kodak link below in the labels.

KODAK INSTAMATIC 814 advertisement

This vintage Kodak Instamatic 814 ad is from the May 1970 Sunset magazine.



To see other vintage Kodak ads click on the "Kodak advertisement" label below. Another Instamatic ad can be seen here.