The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus made a touring return last fall in September 2023 after a shuttered pause in 2017 that seemed to be the final chapter for the traditional three-ring tent tradition of “thrills and chills.”
After the usual winter hiatus housed in Tampa, Florida, the newly reimagined circus tour begins again May 10 at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, and the featured acts no longer include elephants, lions, tigers or bears — or any live animals. The only thing close to a four-legged creature is a robotic dog named “Bailey Circuit” and his antics with “trainer” Nick Nack.
And while there are still acrobats, jugglers, unicyclists, highwire artists, aerial artists like “the human rocket,” musicians and dancers, also gone are the clowns of yesteryear. In fact, the parent company Feld Entertainment, based in Chicagoland and the circus website at ringling.com, refrains from the mention of the term “clown,” referring only to the description of “comedy acts.” For example, the starring comedy performers from Ukraine, a trio called Equivokee, wear almost no face make-up and are only described as “mimes.”
In 1942, half a century after the death of P.T. Barnum, it was the Ringling Brothers who hired the clown icon Emmett Kelly to play his melancholy hobo-clown Weary Willie as the starring attraction for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
I would have loved to have discussed this demise of the century-old traditional clowning career, as no longer embraced by the most famous global circus, with Northwest Indiana clown claim-to-fame David Gerard who died last month at age 64 on April 11.
Hammond resident Gerard’s wake was last Friday at Acevez Funeral Home in East Chicago with Catholic funeral mass by Msgr. John Siekierski the next morning on Saturday at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in East Chicago. A private interment followed at Holy Cross Cemetery.
When friends and mourners paid their respects last week for the celebration of David’s life and clowning career, in the lobby of the funeral home, positioned near the registration book in the lobby, guests were greeted by “Bubba,” David’s feathered and multi-colored talking parrot pal. The inner sanctuary was filled with flowers, easels with photo memory montages, and positioned near the cremation urn was David’s bronzed large clown shoe.
Born David Gerard Mysliewiec to his parents Lorraine and Theodore Mysliewiec in East Chicago on Dec. 10, 1959, he was raised in Hammond with an early hobby as a novice magician and was a graduate of Gavit High School. David loved to tell everyone that after high school, “he ran away and joined the circus.” But first, David graduated from Clown College in 1980 and developed his clown alter-ego identity as “Pockets the Clown,” while also becoming a skilled juggler and unicyclist.
He joined the “Red Tour” of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus for a two-year span which included overseas tour performances in Japan where he opted to legally shorten and change his stage name to simply “David Gerard.” He left Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus to join Frazen Brothers Circus in 1982, and by 1987, was performing as Pockets with Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus, touring the country 11 months out of the year.
When he decided to return home to settle again in Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland, he successfully interviewed with McDonalds Corp. to secure a coveted contract as one of the fast food chain’s clown ambassador brand faces in their sanctioned guise as Ronald McDonald the clown, a position he held for more than 20 years.
It was a secret identity he always said “was known to few, as to live by the strict McDonald’s contract code,” while educating and entertaining students, teachers and parents with corporate scheduled appearances throughout Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. He said his most cherished memories were with the special kids of the Ronald McDonald House Charity events and his annual opportunities with Special Olympics.
David’s appearances as Ronald McDonald were often coordinated with Restaurant Management Corp. of Portage, the Northwest Indiana McDonald’s franchise headquarters operated by the Lubeznik Family of Michigan City roots, including father Glenn and sons Sam and Rod who operate a chain of the fast-food restaurants throughout Northwest Indiana.
The McDonald’s International Corporation retired their use of clown Ronald McDonald for their branding and commercial promotion in 2016 but still occasionally allow the character to be used for limited appearance events and parades, including last year’s 97th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
David spent his retirement years as an officer and member of the East Chicago Knights of Columbus 1700 and also loved to use his distinct entertainer’s voice as a BINGO caller for his church. His obituary lists his surviving friends and family as Earl Eby and Bubba the Parrot, in addition to “Charlie, Linda, JP, Jarett, Nathan, Heidi and Joyce.”
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
