Jon Hubbard, also known as “J the Clown” and a member of Salem-based Clown Alley, said the recent rash of incidents where people dress as clowns and break the law has had a negative impact on business. “There are idiots out there giving clowns a bad name,” he said. (Item photo by Owen O’Rourke)
By Thomas Grillo
LYNN — Criminals dressed as clowns are not only striking fear in some Massachusetts communities, but the scary craze has taken a toll on professional clowning.
“We have no business right now,” said Jon Hubbard, 52, also known as “J the Clown,” a member of Salem-based Clown Alley, a close-knit group of local clowns. “We used to average about a dozen calls weekly.
“There are idiots out there giving clowns a bad name.”
The rash of incidents where people dressed as clowns commit crimes has put a damper on the clown trade. A Methuen High School student was charged with disrupting a school assembly after he wore a clown mask and pretended his cellphone was a gun. In North Andover, Merrimack College students were told to shelter in place while a dorm was evacuated after someone reported an armed clown on campus.
Hubbard, who has performed on the North Shore for 42 years, said while the recent spike in bad clown incidents has lessened calls for the performers, it’s been trending that way for years.
“There is a public phobia about clowns and it’s not new, clowning has diminished in the last decade,” he said. “It all started with the book ‘It’ by Stephen King.”
The 1986 novel by the master of horror was the basis for a movie and a TV miniseries in which Tim Curry played the evil clown Pennywise. Set in Maine in 1960, seven outcast kids fight a demon who poses as a child-killing clown. The movie is being remade and is due to be released next year; it will exacerbate the problem, Hubbard added.
“That movie petrified a lot of people,” he said. “But even Stephen King has said ‘Enough already with the scary clown stuff.’”
It didn’t help when it was revealed that serial killer John Wayne Gacy used to dress up as a clown named “Pogo” and worked children’s birthday parties. Dubbed the “Killer Clown,” he sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men. He was executed by lethal injection in 1994.
Frank Avruch, who played Bozo The Clown on TV in Boston during the 1960s and was syndicated nationwide, said the bad publicity about people playing evil clowns has fueled the loss of innocence.
“When I was Bozo, I was a hero,” he said. “In addition to the show on weekdays, we did personal appearances on weekends and I was seen as a lovable character. Today, clowns are portrayed in movies as crooks and killers.”
Julian Wischnewski, 74, is a Lynn resident and local president of the Clowns of America International. He has been clowning since the 1980s.
“Five years ago, I did as many as six parties a week, and now if I get one a week, I’m lucky,” he said.
Today, parents prefer magicians, balloon makers and face painters, not clowns, he said. When he does suit up, customers prefer a hobo clown with a red nose, a top hat, big orange tie down to his knees, a suit jacket and big shoes.
On those rare occasions when he is called to be a clown, Wischnewski uses less makeup and no wigs.
“When I did wear my full clown outfit, parents would say ‘Next time, don’t wear that hair because the more you look like a real person the less scary you are.”
Randy Christensen, president of the World Clown Association, said most of his 2,000 members do clowning as a hobby. They might be a doctor by day and on the weekend they perform at a child’s birthday party.
“Many clowns have contacted me to say they are getting cancellations or customers are asking them to modify their look so they don’t show up in full clown regalia,” he said. “A big part of the work loss is coming from the clown horrors that have been reported in the news.”
Christensen, who has been clowning around for more than three decades, blames the media for contributing to the problem.
“I am disappointed in the coverage,” he said. “If someone robs a bank wearing a Donald Trump mask, they wouldn’t say Trump robbed a bank. These people who are buying clown masks to scare, terrify and threaten people are not clowns, it’s someone wearing a mask.”
Sometimes, he said, performing clowns not only lose business from the bad publicity, but also face anonymous threats.
“One of our clowns, a grandmother, had planned to perform at a kindergarten girl’s birthday party and she received a call from a man threatening to hurt her,” he said.
This kind of intimidation is especially hurtful for his members who do the work as a hobby, he said.
“They visit children in hospitals, seniors in nursing homes, veterans and charity events to give back to their community to spread joy, smiles and laughter for families,” he said. “For our clowns to come under attack is tragic.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].