Clowns: The evolution from comical to creepy to criminal

Clowns used to be fun as well as funny. They delighted generations of children who loved them and looked forward to seeing them at the circus. In the cartoon Dumbo, (1941) the clowns were hilarious, playing jokes on each other and making the audience laugh. One was standing on the top of a firetruck ladder roasting a hot dog in the flames from a fire that his pals were down below trying to put out.

In 1946 B0zo was introduced to the world and he is considered to be the most famous clown ever. He was so popular that tickets to his television show were sold out years in advance. Children loved him and he represented all that was good about clowns.

In 1988 the movie Killer Klowns frightened children everywhere and it was around this time that I noticed a shift in the way clowns were being viewed by younger generations. Television shows like Goosebumps, and Are You Afraid of the Dark had episodes where creepy clowns haunted children's dreams and did bad things. In 1969 on Scooby-Doo Where are you, a clown was sinister and hypnotizing his victims.

The first famous clown hailed from England in the 1800s and his name was Joseph Grimaldi is who was known as the father of clowns. He created a character named Joey and was the first clown to utilize white face. Emmett Kelly created the popular circus clown, Weary Willie who had the Hobo face. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Pennywise from the Stephen King movie "It'. Some believe this character was based on serial killer John Wayne Gasy. Whether he was or was not, the fact remains that Pennywise is evil and one of the reasons children today do not enjoy clowns as j0kesters and pranksters, but instead, fear them.

There are people who have a disorder known as coulraphobia which is an extreme fear of clowns. No matter how innocent a clown might be, these individuals are extremely fearful. One clown who is known worldwide who elicits happiness is Ronald McDonald. He used to advertise McDonald's food in television ads and would appear at children's birthday parties but he has not been utilized for quite some time.

I can recall going Trick or Treating in the late 1960s and having a smiling clown mask one year. The clown mask had a such happy face and it never occurred to me to be afraid. In the early 1970s, my mother took us to the circus each year and the clowns were goofy, did tricks played gags on each other and children adored them. They were funny and we looked forward to returning to the circus the following year. Circus clowns rode unicycles, piled into small vehicles, and poured water on each other. Sometimes they included the audience in their antics.

It’s believed that social media is what fuels the creepy clown phase today but truthfully, in other nations, clowns have always been associated with darkness. In America, serial killer John Wayne Gasy worked part-time as a clown. This may have been a reason the genre is looked at differently today than in decades past. Clowns used to be a staple at children’s birthday parties but in today’s society one never knows if a pedophile, child molester. or a murderer is hiding behind the mask. Krusty the clown on the long-running animated show The Simpsons gets drunk and smokes cigars. This is the image that younger generations have grown up with.

William Shakespeare gave us the English word for “clown” when he used it in his plays to describe foolish characters. There is nothing foolish or entertaining about creepy, demonic-looking clowns with murder on their minds instead of being harmless. It's pretty disturbing when clowns initially gave children joy and now they frighten them. I was pondering something today that kind of sums all of this up in my mind. I marvel at how when I was a child. I wore a clown mask on Halloween for fun. My teenage grandson wants to wear one on October 31 for the fright value. My how times have changed.