| Let These
Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey
Clown College Graduates Help...
Kevin Bickford and Robin
Shaw are both graduates of the Ringling
Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown
College, under the direction and tutelege
of Bill Ballantine (Dean, and author
of the book Clown Alley). They
attended the full nine week course in
Venice, Florida, taking courses in mime,
elephant riding, dance, makeup, costume
design, juggling, balance, acrobatic
tableaux (pyramid building), unicycling,
prop construction, prosthetics, film
study, crowd psychology, vaudeville,
gags, gag writing, comedy, circus history,
yoga, gymnastics, stiltwalking, skill
balance, clown character study, and
more. Kevin attended the class in 1971,
Robin in 1972.
They
then traveled with Ringling on tour
throughout the United States and Canada
for 5 years. Deciding after 5 years
to try other opportunities, Kevin moved
to Hollywood to work in the entertainment
industry, and Robin moved to Chicago
to work for a PR firm which handled
the Ringling account. She then moved
to the Ice Capades for two years where
she was Publicist for the Eastern Tour
with Dorothy Hamill. After that she
moved to California, where she met up
with Kevin. They subsequently landed
jobs as lead characters on a show produced
for Disney Cable. That show, Contraption,
ran for a total of 5 years. Since then,
they have appeared in over 30 sitcoms,
including Seinfeld and
The Drew Carey Show, as well
as various commercials and radio shows.
They have also appeared in movies such
as Slapstick, The Grinch, Life
as a House, My Sister's Keeper and
Tomcats.
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