Pictured above is the Winter Quarters rehearsal schedule for the 131st Edition of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. By the 22nd of December we'd been working for almost a month with the end of Winter Quarters just a couple of weeks away. We had gotten to the point where we were running the show from start to finish for the most part. Things were quickly coming together.
Still, the days were usually long, tiring and for the clowns sometimes frustrating. As the schedule above clearly shows every part of the show has a specific rehearsal time allowing the acts sufficient time to run through their routines in the circus rings. Even "Adventure" is listed in the rehearsal at this point in time. Adventure is the pre-show entertainment which included the clowns along with other acts. Being included on the schedule wasn't the norm for Clown Alley until we neared the end of Winter Quarters.
In the past clowns didn't get to work on the performance floor until everyone else had which was usually after dinner when the only people remaining were the technicians running the light cues. During this time the lights could change from blue to red to a complete blackout during the course of our rehearsal. It could at times be surreal. Our rehearsal day usually ended around nine in the evening or a little later only to start all over again a few short hours later.
In 2001 things hadn't changed too much although we did have a side room we shared with the prop builders and costumer adjacent to the rehearsal building where we could work on our gags. In this space was a trailer that served as an office for the our clown bosses. We made the most of the space setting up our Clown Alley there and rehearsing our sole ring gag and track gags as space availability and time permitted. If we needed to work on more than one gag we also rehearsed outside. We tried to be as flexible as possible.
When it rained we quickly discovered that water seemed to be attracted to Clown Alley collecting in a large puddle smack-dab in the middle of it. We had nowhere else to go so we elevated our trunks on wood and bricks and threw down sawdust to soak up the water. The magic word is flexible.
I haven't reminisced with Pammy about Winter Quarters in a while but I'll ask her tomorrow. If we get a chance to talk about it I'll post some more. When we talk we tend to jog each others' memories.
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