Clowning around — for a living; Bridgeport native is Ringling Bros. clown

Written by Brad Durrell
Thursday, 05 November 2009 16:27

For circus clown Alex Barney, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ eight-performance run in Bridgeport last week wasn’t just another stop on a 23-month tour. It was a homecoming.

Barney, 19, was born and raised in the city. He was able to sleep in his bedroom in his parents’ home near Beardsley Park while the circus was at Harbor Yard Arena.

It’s more homey than the small space — about 7-feet by 4-feet — where he usually sleeps on the circus train while on the road.

“I love every single minute of my life,” said Barney, the son of Joseph and Ann Barney. “I’m always having a good time. I get to be a giant kid all day.”

His father also is a professional clown and entertainer, who now plans and performs shows for the Six Flags theme park chain in the United States. His mother is a computer technology teacher for the city school system.

“We are very, very proud of him,” Joseph Barney said of Alex. Joe Barney is well known locally as a P.T. Barnum impersonator.

Barney is the youngest clown in his Ringling Bros. traveling show troupe, which has 10 clowns. Ringling Bros. has four traveling circus shows. Barney’s troupe has 350 crew members.

In Bridgeport, Barney hosted the circus pre-show in addition to performing in the main show. The pre-show allows circus ticket-holders to meet performers, check out props and learn some circus tricks. He said being the host is like being “the ringmaster before the show.”

The circus crew travels by train from city to city. His troupe was in Buffalo, N.Y., before Bridgeport, and now is in Pittsburgh. He carries everything he needs in a steamer trunk — including his clown outfit and make-up, street clothes and other personal belongings.

His clown character is called “Barney,” and he does just about everything a clown can do — from stilt-walking to unicycle-riding. “You name it, I do it,” he said.

Much of what makes a successful clown, he said, involves improvisation. “It’s on the spot and of the moment,” he said. “I don’t know if you can learn it. You’re kind of born with it.”

He said clowning skills do improve with time and practice. “You make mistakes, and find out what works,” he said. “According to master clowns, you need 20 years to be a really good clown.”

“In my blood”

Barney attended Hooker School and then Notre Dame High School in Fairfield. He joined Ringling Bros. at age 18.

“I’ve been performing since I can remember,” he said. “Show business is in my blood.”

He has five sisters, and two younger siblings are interested in becoming involved in the entertainment industry but not as performing clowns.

“They all know the business,” said Joe Barney, whose clown name is “Geezer.”

As a youngster, Alex’s interests were slightly different than most of his classmates. Instead of academics or athletics, he preferred to focus on his juggling and stilt-walking, and got involved in designing parade floats and creating characters.

He visited a lot of clown conventions with his father, who is active with the Clowns of America International organization.

He said his father inspired him to be a clown. “He got me into being a clown and being an entertainer,” Alex said.

The life of a circus clown isn’t easy. “I live on the road,” he said. “I live in another city every week.”

But it’s a life he would recommend to young people if it’s something they have a passion to pursue.

“It’s definitely worth doing,” he said. “To prepare, I’d get involved in any sort of performing — just get involved in doing something in front of any kind of crowd,” he said.

Before joining Ringling Bros. as a clown, he did a lot of side show work — some with his father — at various entertainment venues.

Like other clowns, Barney was able to create his own clown personality as well as look. “All the clowns design their own face,” he said. “You try to create a face that goes with your own face.”

One key to clown performing, he said, is being able to act so people can pick up on your emotions from a long distance away. “You do that through make-up and body movement,” he said.

One of Barney’s heroes is P.T. Barnum, the 19th century showman who also served one term as Bridgeport mayor.

“I’m a huge fan of Barnum and am honored to share my hometown with him,” he said.

He noted that Barnum played a major role in building Bridgeport into a major urban metropolis in the late 1800s.

He likes Barnum’s perseverance. “Nothing stopped him — not bankruptcy or all the nay-sayers,” Barney said.

When performing in other cities, including overseas, he always tries to tell people about P.T. Barnum and his role in popularizing entertainment for the masses.

While in Bridgeport, Barney received a key to the city from Mayor Bill Finch He planned to visit Barnum’s grave at Mountain Grove Cemetery with other circus performers and also go to the Barnum statue at Seaside Park.

Joseph Barney visited his son every day at Harbor Yard Arena. That was a treat, he said, because Alex is away all the time on the road.

Family members hope to fly to Florida early next year to see Alex perform in Tampa, Joe Barney said. “It was great to have him home for awhile,” he said.