Many of us think there is something about ourselves that must be tied to our ancestral history.
At least that is how Mimi Shaw, a business woman, a mother, an impossibly young-looking 73, had felt for years. Why, she wondered, had there always been the unsilenceable urge to perform. And why as a clown?
Recently it all came into focus for Shaw when she learned that her great-uncle was the owner of a circus — Sol’s Liberty Shows — that toured the country circa 1920.
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From teaching to clowning
Mimi Shaw as BJ the Clown. Shaw first started Klown Kapers and then BJ’s Party House in Tallahassee.
Shaw, who graduated from FSU with a BFA in Theater Arts, was given a gift of a clown costume, mailed in a small box by her father, which began a creative journey that she later learned was “in my blood.”
Shaw had gotten a job as a teacher. Kids delighted her and she wanted to delight them too. She would later expand to teaching theater in local high schools and forming the idea of a professional “engagement” business where local performers could meet, learn from, and rehearse together — especially to present for children.
That first professional entertainment business in Tallahassee was called Klown Kapers Inc.
And over time, Shaw had a little audience of her own — children Ben and Julie were born and always thrilled when Mommy dressed up in her own clown costume to perform as “BJ the Clown.”
Tallahassee’s Mimi Shaw of BJ’s Party House, joined the American Showmans league and discovered a history of performers in the family with her great-uncle Sam creating the Sols Libery Shows in the 1900s through 1940s.
Over the next 44 years, Shaw and now a mobile cast of 53 performers would become known as BJ’s Party House.
Today, the list of professional entertainers suitable for delighting gatherings from corporate conventions to kiddie’s birthday parties, to major festivals and parades is staggering: jugglers, magicians, balloon animal makers, fire shows, stilt walkers, tarot teachers, air brush tattoos, singers, musicians, and more.
Mimi Shaw wearing hat with daughter Julie Godwin, who now runs BJ’s Party House.
Over the last four decades, “little Julie”(now Godwin), Shaw’s daughter, all grown up and a mother herself, had shown the same fascination with the world of entertainment, of dressing up, of putting on a red nose and following in her mother’s footsteps to run B.J.’s Party House.
Clowning in the blood
And both of them had often wondered at the odd fascination that draws them to “pagliacci” as the venerable art of clowning was known in Italy’s Commedia dell’ Arte. Why did it seem to be in their blood?
Recently, Shaw joined a national group known as the Showman’s League of America. It is the oldest organization for “outdoor amusement professionals,” founded in 1913 by Buffalo Bill Cody. Its mission is to “offer service and protect the heritage of the outdoor amusement industry,” like circuses and carnivals.
While examining information about the League, Shaw discovered that her great-uncle Sam Solomon was the organization’s 1945 past president and famed owner of Sol’s Liberty Shows.
Mimi Shaw’s great-uncle Sam Solomon was the 1945 past president of the Showman’s League of America and famed owner of Sol’s Liberty Shows.
Sol’s Liberty Shows had been the largest traveling carnival in the U.S. On the road for six months a year and wintering in Caruthersville, Missouri, the Liberty Shows operated from 1919 to 1945. Solomon merged his show with that of another carnival giant, Carl Sedlmyar and it continued to tour until 1979.
“I’ve done at least two years of research on my Uncle Sol,” says Shaw. “And then I met up with another researcher, Kathy Winton, who had a wealth of photos and history from when her own father had been a circus sketch artist and clown with Uncle Sol’s Liberty Shows!”
Dozens of photos of Mimi Shaw’s great Uncle Sam Solomon’s Liberty Shows, a traveling carnival operation on which Mimi Shaw has done research over the past two years.
Lions, tigers, elephants and 250 performers
Shaw smiles proudly at a table spread with framed photos of clowns and jugglers, of Sol’s enormous Ferris Wheel, and of the trucks and later railroad cars that carried the lions, tigers, elephants, 250 performers, and the pet baby gorilla that the midway entrepreneur moved across the country.
Ask Shaw and her daughter Julie Godwin, both with big personalities, and the non-stop smiles of people who like to please others, if knowing about Sam Solomon has somehow brought a comforting closure to the “why” of their love of “carnival” theater — that siren call of performing with a painted face and big shoes, of making children and their parents lose themselves in goofiness and awe.
Their answer is a resounding, “Yes.”
And the clown “dynasty” likely won’t stop anytime soon. “From the recent World Cross Country event to Springtime Tallahassee, we’re going strong,” says Julie, winking that she’s also got a niece who “really loves the business too.”
Contact Marina Brown at mcdb100@comcast.net.
Learn more
BJ’s Party House is a family owned and operated business in Tallahassee providing visual and performing arts services since 1983. Visit bjspartyhouse.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Mimi Shaw of BJ’s Party House learns how clowning runs in her family