Volume 1, No. 21. November 16, 2001
Clownish behavior
For Michael Getlan of Amusement Consultants,
this was old hat: a really tall, funny looking, red top hat. In his guise as
Max the Clown he set out for Give Kids The World Sunday evening with two new-to-clowning
accomplices in tow: Ben Jones of Recreation, Inc. in Rochester Hills, Michigan,
and Kelven Tan, deputy director of events at Sentosa Development Corporation
in Singapore. Jones had been a juggler in his younger days and had plenty of
experience clowning around—just never before an audience gathered expressly
to see a clown performance. For Tan, this was his first-ever experience as a
clown. "This was my first time feeling the nose," Tan said. "I never knew it
was so prosthetic."
The trio performed for about 40 kids and adults at the village where families
of children with terminal illnesses stay during trips to the Orlando attractions.
The seeds for the show were planted a year ago when Getlan and Pam Landwirth,
president of Give Kids the World, were comparing notes on their side careers
as clowns. She suggested he perform at her village during this year's IAAPA,
Getlan had a ready partner with Jones, and they pulled in Tan. They scheduled
the show for Sunday because, said Jones, "We decided to do it early before all
our friends showed up to see us."
Along with "bad magic, bad juggling, and singing a capella like you've never
heard before," as Getlan himself described their act, the show started with
he and Jones, as Bones the Clown, turning a business suit-wearing Tan into a
clown, with help from the audience. The outer transition from Tan to Ouch the
Clown (a stage name that came about when the last audience volunteer shoved
Tan's hat down too far and smashed his prosthetic nose onto his real nose) brought
out the inner personality of the IAAPA International Representative for the
Southeast Asia region. Tan, a true clown, worked the audience to gales of laughter
and hero worship at the end, among both the kids and Tan's colleagues. "He's
on a roll," Getlan said admiringly, watching Tan interact with children from
across the room. "Kelven is a natural. That's why I asked him."
Tan was not thinking so much a career change as he was caught up in an epiphanic
moment making the children at Give Kids the World laugh and shout "Ouch!" "It's
rewarding. I mean, wow! I got it right here," he said patting his chest. "If
there is an international language, clowning is it. Kids are kids, magic is
magic, clowns are clowns. This was great. Let's do it again."