Stumbling Through Life with a Smile

 Another International Clown Week has come and gone. Since the 1950s, the first week of August has been celebrated by clowns all over the world as a time to celebrate the craft of clowning. As might be expected, your humble writer here had his share of clown synchronicities this past week, but also saw a lot of clowns online celebrating in their own ways. Clowns and clowning have been a running theme on this here blog, though it wasn't intended originally- as I've learned, there are those of us who have little choice in the matter. One must accept one's own buffoonery with grace, one supposes, because either way one gets a pie in the face.

To set aside the personal for a moment, let us examine the Clown's Prayer. As religious creeds go, it's a lovely one- and just maybe the most appropriate one for our times. For those unfamiliar, please enjoy its recitation by none other than Clownvis Presley:

 

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Or, if you prefer to read it, it goes like this:

As I stumble through this life,

help me to create more laughter than tears,

dispense more happiness than gloom,

spread more cheer than despair.

Never let me become so indifferent,

that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,

or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.

Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,

make them happy, and forget momentarily,

all the unpleasantness in their lives.

And in my final moment,

may I hear You whisper:

“When you made My people smile,

you made Me smile.

Some versions of The Clown's Prayer include an additional verse, which should be placed second-to-last:

Never let me acquire success to the point that

I discontinue calling on my Creator in the hour of need,

Acknowledging and thanking Him in the hour of plenty.

It's a lovely sentiment, and a simple one. Aside from what I would consider to be the bare minimum of spiritual and moral behavior- that of "Be nice to each other"- it's about as pure and true as words to live by come. One need not belabor the point that the world is cruel, and increasingly chaotic and awful; it seems equally obvious that we live in an era uniquely suited to creating and sustaining anxiety, fear, and worry. Clowns have much to teach us, and regardless of the reader's religious background this prayer offers an example of good humor as an antidote to society's ills. A brief investigation of the origins of The Clown's Prayer bear this out nicely.

The earliest appearance of the prayer that I had been aware of was at Stan Laurel's funeral in 1965, when Dick Van Dyke read it as a eulogy. The prayer has been recited and used in a number of ways over the years, and many have found solace and inspiration in its words. It seems Chris Farley used to keep a printed version of it in his wallet at all times. I had the sense that it was much older than the 1960s, and thought I remembered coming across a version from the 19th century. So naturally, even though I don't really have time for it, I stumbled down a rabbit hole looking for its provenance- and found myself some fool's gold. Bear in mind, this is only a cursory investigation, a thread worth pulling on later- but certainly worthy of a day-after International Clown Week blog post now!

Searching newspapers dot come for "clown's prayer" in the 1800s did not yield any results for the familiar prayer, but it did reveal a rather interesting story which appeared in the pages of quite a few newspapers back in 1883. A clown named Dan Rice, variously referred to with the honorific of "Colonel" or "Uncle", apparently brought a man back from the brink of death with the power of prayer. Rice was one of the most well-known entertainers in the United States during his lifetime, leading biographer David Carlyon to call his book about him The Most Famous Man You've Never Heard Of. His circus rivaled that of Barnum, and in addition to clowning he also worked over the years as a strongman, did an act with a Learned Pig, produced satirical versions of Shakespeare plays, and even ran for President. Some have suggested that he was among several whose face gave us the depiction of Uncle Sam, and if that's not enough, he's responsible for the popularity of phrases such as "get on the bandwagon" and originated the circus cry "Hey Rube!"

By 1883, if this news clipping is to be trusted, Rice had been kicked out of his role in Nathan's Circus due to "habitual drunkenness", which Rice denied. He found himself in his hometown, visiting family, when he became aware of a certain "Squire Ryan", a Justice who was at death's door. The news account says that

"the old clown said "Let us pray," and he forthwith put out a most pathetic invocation, that moved the family and friends to tears. Ministers and deacons had prayed at the bedside before him, but had the melting tenderness and touching pathos of the clown's supplication. Some of those who heard it and sobbed like children saw him in the ring but a few days ago, and had tears brought to their eyes from the excessive laughter over the gibes of this "fellow of infinite jest". The Squire is reported better and out of danger."

Sadly, the content of Rice's prayer is lost to the ages, along with the memory of his former ubiquity. While it brought me no closer to finding the author of The Clown's Prayer, it was a prayer from a clown that may well have saved a man's life- and that's not nothing!

Moving forward in time, I found other clown's prayers which bore little resemblance to the familiar one which is our subject here. One of them was a strange odd plea from a clown to God to save the clown's child, which isn't so much in the spirit of things here. Along the way others from England were discovered, as The Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, holds an annual service in memory of deceased clowns every February. The location is significant, as a sort of Mecca for Clowns- Joseph Grimaldi, who was instrumental in developing what we know of as modern white-faced clowning, is buried nearby. The annual services for Clowns International has been held there since the 1940s, and since 1959 Dalston has also been home to the Clowns-Gallery Museum and the Clown Egg Register.

Here's a clipping from 1935 from the Bucks Examiner, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, which is almost as charming as The Clown's Prayer I was hunting for:

Finally, I found what appears to be the original Clown's Prayer published just five years prior to Stan Laurel's funeral, attributed to a clown named Dan "Pappy" Kerr:

Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville NC 10-16-1960

As the reader can see, it's a bit longer and more personalized. It seems like a retirement speech in a way, which perhaps is partly what it is. A brief bit of research into who Kerr was brought me to a remembrance from a friend and fellow clown, Rev. Austin Miles. Kerr had performed as Pappy for decades following his service in World War II, where he apparently invented the veggie burger. While meat rations were low, he fashioned a patty out of oatmeal that was similar to the real thing- way before it became a trend! Rev. Miles, who had performed as Kokomo the Clown, writes that Pappy had worked on the railroad after returning from fighting in Europe, and that it was a life of sinful cussin', smoking, and drinking- but one day a miraculous event turned his life around. While on a moving train and carrying on with his coworkers, they spotted a black man in a white suit waving and signaling them to stop the train. It was surprising as they were nowhere near a town where one might expect to see someone by the rails, so they stopped and looked for him. He was nowhere to be found, but they did discover that a bridge around the corner had been completely washed out, and they would have been killed had they not stopped. 

Pappy Kerr

Pappy was convinced the mysterious man in white was an angel who had saved their lives, and gave up the rough and tumble life he had been living and started attending church regularly- and those same events led him down the sacred path of clowning. Ultimately, the path of faith and the path of clown led him to compose a lovely prayer which is still recited by clowns across the world today which is, again, not nothing. We could all use more smiles, more laughs, and I for one intend to do my part to try to inspire them.