Maria hung my Lou Jacobs wallboard image on my study wall, this morning, and I love having him there. His spirit will be an inspiration to me and my work, I cannot think of a better muse. The Lou Jacobs hanging – he was perhaps the most famous and much loved of the Ringling Bros. circus clowns, and one of the most popular clowns in the world. I saw him whenever I could, he was a wonderful performer and he understood the power of magic on kids like me.
This magic will be lost to future children. The animal rights people have achieved their seminal goal of killing off the circus, and they will kill off many of the elephants in the process in the name of saving them, but all the people who worried so much about the elephants are no longer paying attention to them or what happens to them.
They are looking for magic to kill elsewhere – the carriage horses, pony rides. Children will never again know the wonder of seeing Lou Jacobs speed around in his little card with his show stealing Chihuahua Knucklehead popping out of his clown costume to kill the show.
Jacobs was born in Germany and started his clown career barrel-jumping and at age seven, appearing as the rear end of an alligator. He was a clown for 60 of his 62 years in the circus. I first saw him in Providence, R.I., walking ahead of the circus parade that marched from the train station to the arena.
His small pork-pie had, bulbous nose and wide lips became the symbol of Ringling Bros. for many years. He inspired clowns all over the world. Jacobs had a genius for making children laugh, I never laughed so hard in my life (and I rarely laughed) as when I saw Lou. I saw him every chance I could – in New York, Boston, Philadelphia. Once I ran away from home and took the train by myself to New Haven to see him. I was 10.
I hate to see a world without magic, a self-righteous world that claims to be sensitive but is actually just self-righteous and thoughtless. I am so grateful to have Lou Jacobs hanging on my study wall to remind me of the power of magic and mystery in the world, and the ability of animals to touch our hearts and imaginations.
Sadly, most children will never seen a clown or an elephant again either, or the wondrous love between some elephants and some human beings.
Ringling Bros. is closing its circus in May, worn down by years of court fights with the people who say they support the rights of animals but do not. RIngling Brothers never lost a court case but just ran out of money and energy to keep fighting them.
There is little magic left in our increasingly joyless and self-righteous world. It seems it has become a crime for clowns and elephants and chihuahuas to make children laugh and touch their souls. We are banishing animals from our world, even those we love and that have worked with us for thousands of years. It is now an awful thing for them to uplift us. Many elephants will pay for this new sensitivity with their lives.
Almost every day, I get another heartbroken message from a circus worker or elephant trainer. They miss the elephants so much, and it seems the elephants miss them as well. Very few places can afford to keep them or care for them, it costs about $65,000 a year for each one, says Ringling Bros.
Elephants, like dogs, become deeply attached to the people they work with. Like big horses, they need work to be healthy. That is lost to them. I hope the domesticated animals of the world can survive the people who love them.
The “lucky” elephants will get to stand idly by in crowded preserves for the rest of the days, they will not be seen or known by human beings again, and the people who took their work away will feel noble and virtuous. It is a curious and inverted world sometimes, Lou will keep me company, a slice of magic on my wall to drink in when I need it.
I am grateful to Jack Metzger of Outback Jack’s for finding this Lou Jacobs image and selling it to me. For once, I think I got the better of him. I teared up when I saw him. Now he will be with me for good.
Lenore is going to the living room, a wider showcase for her.
