Posted 7/10/2005 11:45:43 AM by Editor
News from Ed Limbach viewed 706 times
Sunday, July 10, 2005 - Madison, WI
The CFA Web Site editors recently had the oportunity to interview CFA President-elect Mary Jane Foote.
Mary Jane, We appreciate your willingness to chat with us. I know CFA
members will enjoy hearing what you have to say. Tell us when and how you got
sawdust in your blood?
In 1949 I turned four years old, and my folks
took me to see Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey under canvas in Madison, Wisconsin. We went each year
and I kept all of those early circus programs. Those were the golden years- of
Unus. Mr. Mistin. La Norma, Pinito del Oro-I was hooked!
Did anyone in your family tree participate in the circus industry?
When I was in grade school, I put on a backyard
circus each summer-once advertising that I would jump from the top of my swing
set into a ring of fire on the ground below. Of course that swing set also had
a trapeze, and I soon learned to hang by my heels. I took gymnastics, tap, and
ballet lessons at Turner Hall-and once performed on the stage for a banquet at
my school.
In my high school years I remember going around
to local businesses, and asking them to save me the flamboyant Betty-Cole and
Cristiani Bros. posters that filled their window. I put them all up on my
bedroom wall, and gazed at them each night-dreaming of perhaps running away
with the circus someday, and becoming a trapeze artist. Years later I had some
of those wonderful posters restored and encapsulated, and still display them on
our walls today.
Looking back on my childhood, I guess my Dad
was sort of a closet circus fan. He didn’t belong to any circus clubs, but he
was always the one who took me to the lot early in the morning to see the tent
go up. He was the one who purchased a set of Merle Evans Ringling Brothers and
Barnum & Bailey 78rpm circus records, and sat outside and played them on the
phonograph for my backyard circuses. And, he was the one who couldn’t wait to
tell me that the Wallendas were going to perform at the Zor Shrine Circus. My
uncle was a Shriner, and we would purchase tickets from him each year.
So, I take it that you had aspirations of being a circus performer such
as a trapeze artist?
Being a trapeze artist would have been great. I
had heard about the circus arts program at Florida State University and wanted to
attend college there-but my folks said that would be far too expensive, and
insisted that I enroll in the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus instead.
No, I never did become a trapeze artist-but I did become Blossom the Clown. I
started out doing some liturgical clowning with a couple of friends at my husband
Bob’s church. Then I had the opportunity to participate in the Milwaukee Circus Parade. I
had attended the very first parade in 1963- never dreaming that someday I would
actually be in it! I also had the opportunity to clown for a day on Walker
Bros. Circus in East Troy, Wisconsin-and for a week on
the Hamid Show in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. That was the
thrill of a lifetime for me.
 Blossom the Clown
When did you become a member of CFA?
When I was yonnger, there was no such thing as
a junior membership in the Circus Fans Association of America. When I turned 18,
the first thing that I did was join CFA. I ordered a CFA elephant pin, which I
proudly wore to the lots. One morning my Dad and I were watching the tent go
up, when a man approached me and said that he had noticed my pin. He was a
longtime member of CFA, and invited me to a meeting of the Wallenda Tent in his
circus rec room. There I met several other Fans, including a girl about my age.
I know that you have participated in the Milwaukee Circus Parade as a clown. Was it a big let
down for you when the parade was cancelled in Milwaukee?
I do miss the Great Milwaukee Circus Parade, and
also volunteering in the cook tent at the lakefront show grounds. But what I
miss the most is the circus train. I loved riding the train as Blossom-standing
out on the vestibule and waving at everybody along the way-and hearing the kids
say, “Look Mom, a clown!”
Do you still participate in the parade at Baraboo?
Now I enjoy participating in the Baraboo Circus
Parade. With all of its circus heritage, Baraboo is certainly an appropriate
setting
Speaking of Baraboo and the fact you reside in Wisconsin, what do you see as the future of the Circus World Museum? Is there anything that circus fans can do
to help?
I remember going to Circus World Museum when it first
opened in 1959, and often volunteer there now as a greeter. Fans can help
Circus World by volunteering to help at the Parade or the Museum, by spreading
the word and thereby helping to increase attendance, or through financial
contributions.
I know you must be excited about becoming the next President of CFA. Do
you have any specific objectives that you would like to work on as President?
I have come up through the ranks in CFA, and am
truly honored and excited to become President. My goals are to spread the word
about CFA, to become more inclusive in our membership, to express thanks to
organizations and individuals who help the circus, to see more cooperation
among the various circus-related organizations, and to expand our horizons to
include a broader definition of the circus. I feel the need not only to reach
out more to youth, but also spotlight what they are doing-and to make our
meetings and conventions more innovative and exciting, so that those young
people who do attend will find it worth their while.
Mary Jane, we look forward to having you as President of CFA and we
appreciate your willingness to participate in this interview. Is there anything
you would like to comment on?
Sometimes I think that CFA is the best kept
secret in town. I would like to see information about how to join CFA published
not only in the various circus programs, but also in all other circus-related
publications-such as the Bandwagon, The Little Circus Wagon, Back
Yard, Circus Report, Spectacle, etc.- and in turn, for CFA to
provided information in The White Tops about joining the other circus
organizations, or subscribing to the other circus publications. It is a
well-known fact that many Fans belong to more than one of the organizations,
and subscribe to more than one publication. We are all bound by a common love
of the Circus, and need to maintain a spirit of cooperation and of promoting
each other-and not a feeling of competition.
Mary Jane, thank you.
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