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Hey, clown! Yeah, we’re talking to you. Happy Clown Week 2010.
Surely you know this by now, but in the time since President Nixon signed off on National Clown Week in October 1970, the holiday has become internationally observed every year during the first week in August. That means there are only two full days left to celebrate all things clown (in an official capacity, at least): oversized foam noses, squirting flowers, really long shoes, and those tiny cars stuffed with an impossible number of people.
Oh, and clown eggs.
Clown eggs, which have been around since the late 1940s in the U.K., are used to effectively copyright specific facial designs.
The tradition was spawned by Stan Bult—a founder of what was called the International Circus Clowns Club—as a hobby. Now called Clowns International, the organization has had three egg artists, including Bult. Only about 25 of Bult’s original and very fragile eggs remain. These curious artifacts of the clowning industry, along with newer additions, are on display at Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset, England.
View select photos from the Clown Egg Register here.
NewsFeed would like its own miniature portraits, but we have to apply to become members of Clowns International first. In the meantime, you can find us practicing our juggling and trying to cram our entire staff into a taxi.