Felix Adler - The King of Clowns!
King of Clowns, White House Clown and Greatest Clown on Earth were among the titles associated with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus clown, Felix Adler.Frank Bartlet Adler was born June 17, 1895 in Clinton; son of Joseph and Nettie Adler; married March 6, 1948 to Amelia Irvin; died in New York City on February 1, 1960; buried in Springdale Cemetery.
As a boy, Frank sang in the St. John's Episcopal Choir and attended Jefferson School. Although a good student, school wasn't his priority. He also put his artistic talent to good use in creating his clown make-up and designing costumes that his aunt sewed for him. Although stories abound that Frank Adler ran away to join the circus as a small boy, his sister discredited them, saying that he was always putting on his own shows at his home and he hung around the circus from dawn until dark whenever it came to town. He told a Clinton Women's club audience in 1933 that his mother used to warn him that someone in the circus would steal him.
In December of 1910, he dropped out of school and a Clinton Pharmacist for whom he worked sent him to a Chicago Pharmacist College, but the call of show business was too much to resist. He later advanced to vaudeville, billed as "The Gloom Dispeller" before joining up with the Ringling Brothers who originally hailed from McGregor, Iowa. He served as a mess sergeant at Camp Dodge in World War I. During this time period, he and his pet rooster, Jim, often entertained the troops, but he looked forward to returning to the circus.
During his early years with the circus, Felix stayed close to the clowns every minute to study their mannerisms, acts and costumes. He was a perfectionist in comedy and researched what made people laugh. He wrote in an article in Liberty Magazine in 1936 "There is nothing else so funny as somebody else in pain."
With the Ringling Brothers Circus, Felix waddled the rings in a droopy clown suit followed by an piglet which he trained to climb a small ladder and slide down a greased slide to receive a nip of milk from a baby bottle as a reward. These pigs made their debut only after intensive training from Felix and later his wife, Amelia. Once the pigs grew too large for entertainment purposes, they were given to families along the road, who often kept in touch with the Adlers.
After his marriage in 1948, Adler's pigs were all named "Amelia". The pigs responded to audible clicks. Because they grew so quickly, more than 360 pigs were trained during Adler's circus career.
Some of the performances were not in script. During a "big bad wolf" act, a pulley broke loose from some of the high tackle and hit Felix, knocking him unconscious momentarily. The pigs started climbing all over Felix and making great noise. The audience howled. John Ringling urged Felix to keep that in his act, but Felix with never able to repeat the act.
With the help of the piglets, Adler's circus act became a great success. Even Adler's facial trademark, the birthstone nose, was modeled after a pig's snout. Felix also used other animals in his act. A famous dog, Trixie, was taught to hold onto various parts of Felix's padded costume and hang on. Once when both Trixie and Adler were hoisted up to the top of the tent by a pulley connected to the back of Aldler's coat, the machine failed to lower them safely for about 10 minutes. Trixie was trained never to let go as long as Felix kept kicking. Had Felix stopped kicking during that time the dog would have dropped and been killed.
His joy of performing lay in the deep-rooted affection he had for other clowns. He trained many of the clowns for the Ringling Brothers Circus.
Felix loved the canvas and when the circus was burned in Connecticut in 1944, he missed the big top. The tent was eventually rebuilt, and Adler returned to the big top in May 1959. He had been a clown for 50 years. He was very proud that for 28 years, from 1919 to 1946, he never missed a performance.
Even as Ringling Brothers' head clown costume designer and trainer, Felix returned to his hometown many times to perform, donating the proceeds of each program to Lend A Hand and the boys department of the YMCA.
"Funny Felix" died after emergency surgery on February 1, 1960 and is buried in Springdale Cemetery.
Felix was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame in Delavan, Wisconsin on April 23, 1989. As one of first clowns inducted, Felix was joined by Mark Anthony, Red Skeleton, Lou Jacobs, Emmett Kelly, Sr., and Otto Griebling.
The legacy of Felix Adler, King of Clowns, continues each June as the town of Clinton, Iowa celebrates "Felix Adler Days". A children's museum, known as the "Felix Adler Discovery Center", has also been created in downtown Clinton.
Ringling Bros OnLine Circus | Felix Adler Discovery Center