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Q
& A :
J E N N I F E R Z A Z O (and
“Mr.Clown,” Earl Chaney)
 From Venice to
Vegas: Circus
Memorabilia from the Collection of Earl Chaney at The College of New Rochelle from April 3-June 26,
2005 is an exhibition that showcases
one-of-a-
kind items, rare artifacts and circus memorabilia from the
collection
of renowned circus clown Earl “Mr. Clown” Chaney. The curator of the
exhibition is Jennifer Zazo, Director of the Castle Gallery. Shortly
after the show
opened, Jennifer Zazo and Earl Chaney were interviewed about the
show.
Jennifer,
tell us how From Venice to Vegas came about
as an art show for the Castle Gallery?
 JENNIFER:
I first met Earl Chaney in Las Vegas, Nevada. I went
into his magic shop Planet Mirth, and while there spent time talking to
him about the circus and his life, and he asked me what I did.
I told him I was Director of the Castle Gallery and at the time I was
curating The Black Madonna exhibit, which was my first
exhibition. He invited me to go behind the scenes, so to
speak, to the back rooms of his shop where he had his circus
collection. As soon as I saw it I was so impressed by the amount of
stuff that he had that I asked him if he had ever exhibited it. He told
me
his collection had never been shown to
the public, and I realized it was a great opportunity for the Castle
Gallery.
Why did you think the
circus
would make a good show for the Castle Gallery?
JENNIFER: The Castle Gallery has a history of showing not only art
work but objects of popular culture as well, and I realized Earl’s
wonderful
collection would fit the mission of The College of New Rochelle and the
Castle Gallery.
Earl, why did you want
your
first exhibition
to be at The College of New Rochelle?
 EARL:
Oh, I guess, because I liked Jennifer. That was the
main reason. I also thought it was a great idea. The collection
had never been on display, and I believe the public should see it. It
was a
wonderful opportunity.
So, Jennifer was the
first
person to come to you and say, "let’s put your collection on
exhibition"?
No one had asked you in Las Vegas?
EARL: That’s right. Vegas only wants big shows. For me, coming to
CNR, was like a dream come true. When I came here to New Rochelle and
saw what Jennifer had done, I was overwhelmed. When I walked in
the door of the Castle Gallery it made me feel the way I always felt
about clowning:
it makes you smile. How can anyone who walks into this show not smile?
How much of your
collection,
in terms of percentage, is in this show?
EARL: Probably ten percent. I do have a lot of circus
memorabilia.
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"I
picked
a lot of photographs
that dealt with women in the circus because we are a women’s college. I
thought
that it was important to see the women’s role in the circus."
Jennifer Zazo
Director, Castle Gallery
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Jennifer, how did you go
about
selecting items for the show?
JENNIFER: Well, after the board of the Gallery approved the show, I
returned to Las Vegas and made the decisions on what would be in the
show, based
on space in the Gallery and wanting to represent the history of the
circus. As I have told people, I could have done just a
photography exhibit with the amount of photographs Earl has. He had so
much, that I had to be
very selective.
How did you, as a
curator, make
these decisions?
JENNIFER: Well, for example, the clown shoes we have on display. They
are the biggest pair of clown shoes in the world, so we absolutely had
to have those. And then the other shoes – the big sneakers--were
sneakers
Earl had just worn when he was in Malaysia, which was one of his most
recent
international trips, so I thought that was really nice because they
were
a new addition.
With regard to the circus posters, I tried to pick posters that were
colorful and had different images. With the photographs, I picked those
that had
notable people in them. And I also picked a lot of photographs that
dealt
with women in the circus because we are a women’s college. I thought
that it was important to see the women’s role in the
circus.
I also tried to pick items that were visually pleasing to the eye. For
example, with many of the costumes you can actually imagine what the
person
would look like inside of that costume.
And finally, another area where I had to be very selective was the
Ronald Room. The section of the exhibit was from Earl's time as Ronald
McDonald. Earl has so
many items from this part of his career, from little gadgets and
knick-knacks, to toys.
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What was
also
interesting to me was to see student reactions when they walked into
the Ronald Room, particularly because there are several of the old toys
that just don’t exist any more. Those characters are not part of
McDonald’s Land. And they’re asking, “Who’s the Professor?” So
it’s funny because I remember these characters from when I was growing
up. But the younger generation has never seen those characters.
Jennifer Zazo
Director, Castle Gallery
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Jennifer, what’s been the reaction within the
College
Community,
and the larger community, to this show, From Venice to Vegas?
JENNIFER: So far, we’ve just gotten a great response to the
collection. We had our first school group. They were seventh
graders and they loved
the show. They really liked the dolls. They really loved the
monkey. They loved the huge mousetrap.
What was also interesting to me was to see their reactions when they
walked into the Ronald Room, particularly because there are several of
the old
toys that just don’t exist any more. Those characters are not part of
McDonald’s Land. And they’re asking, “Who’s the Professor?” So
it’s funny because I remember these characters from when I was growing
up. But the younger generation has never seen those characters.
Is there anything
else,
Earl, that you’d like to say
about yourself or From Venice to Vegas?
EARL: I thank Jennifer Zazo for bringing my life’s work to the center
ring, so to speak, of The College of New Rochelle. What more could a
circus clown ask for?
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From Venice to
Vegas:
Circus Memorabila from the Collection of Earl Chaney is
at the Castle Gallery from April 3-June 26,
2005 and is presented through the generosity of the many friends of the
Castle
Gallery and The College of New Rochelle.
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