OCR Text |
Show Days of '47 i Festivities High Lighted With j: Rodeo Clowns The outlandishly colored shirts and ridiculous, baggy pants of the rodeo clown, more than a laugh-provoking laugh-provoking costume, are respected badges of a rare kind of courage. " Clowns in rodeo are not only I specialists in comedy. They are there to prevent tragedy. They are brave men first and funny men secondarily. And the real reasons for there presence in the arena the brahma bulls are no laughing matter. To the average rodeo - goer, clowns are in the arena just to liven up the show and to provide a good laugh but to contestants they play more important roles: Insurance against serious injury or death!. For it's the job of the clown to distract the maddened brahmas when their riders have been thrown. To escape the bull's murderous charge, whether he is bucked or jumps off at. the end of the ride, the bull rider has to rely on a fast set of legs and the courage of the rodeo clown. The clown moves in to distract the bull and let the rider get to ( Continued on Page 5) (Continued from Page 1) the fence. Often his job is complicated com-plicated if the rider, injured in the fall, is unable to run. The bull takes after the handiest target so the clown must be in close when the rider goes down and worst of all, must stay in close until the cowboy makes good his escape. Often you'll see the wildly-garbed wildly-garbed clowns competing in the contest events wrestling steers or riding the bulls. But few contestants con-testants have any desire to trade jobs , with the rodeo clown. His is a lonely profession. This year's Days- of '47 World Championship rodeo to be held July 18 through, 24 at the state fairgrounds, will feature three nationally na-tionally famous rodeo clowns who are all daring bull fighters. John Lindsey is recognized as the "dean . of rode.o clowns," and has played top rodeos all over the nation, including in-cluding Madison Square Garden several times. He has earned as high as $20,000 a year for his life-saving life-saving efforts and comic antics. Clois "Dodo" Earls and Johnie Allen have worked the rodeo circuits cir-cuits all over the West, thrilling audiences with their dare-devil antics against dangerous brahma bulls. So when you attend the Days of '47 Rodeo this year, keep an eye on the clowns they deserve your respect. |