Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 14, 1990 TAG: 9006130138
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRISTINA MOTLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Bo-Bo, a white-faced clown with round red cheeks, blue eyebrows and metallic, Christmas-tree tassel-like hair, "enjoys having a good time and acting stupid," he said.
Since November, Bo-Bo, in his black-and-white outfit with three floppy yarn buttons, has become known as Christiansburg's Pizza Inn clown.
Bo-Bo, whose real name is Allen Coleman, "does it for the kids," said a Pizza Inn co-worker Mike Early. "Like someone meeting their rock star, he attracts children. They stick to him like a magnet and love him to death. The kids would rather see him than eat their pizza."
"I originally did it because I'd never done it," Bo-Bo said. "But now a love affair between me and Bo-Bo has developed.
"It's OK for a clown to do silly things," Bo-Bo says as he pulls out and puts on a round red nose from up his sleeve.
"Being a clown gives you a license to be foolish, and everyone should do it at least one time. If I come in feeling not so hot, once I put on my face I feel a certain lightness.
"I put on my face and shuck my own personality. I become freer and it's fun. People are usually too uptight and this allows me to have a good time."
Bo-Bo, who has dressed up as Groucho-Marx and Little Richard on Halloween and been the Planter's Peanut man in 1971 in North Carolina, has a number of tricks up his sleeve.
Among Bo-Bo's favorite silly things are hiding a string up his sleeve with balloons are attached at the other end and slowly letting the string out, or tying balloons to his white tennis shoes, or singing happy birthday in a Donald Duck-like voice, he said.
"I like doing strange stuff," Bo-Bo said. "Once you find something that works, you hang on to it and build from that."
Bo-Bo can also be recognized by his personal trademark: He wears a military-green fedora hat like Indiana Jones'.
Or he can be recognized by his original mime-like white glittering face. His full red lips and large brown eyes are bordered in black. And two red dots are visible on the sides of his lips to accent his smile.
"Clowning is an art," Bo-Bo said. "The creation of face is original, like a signature. And no one clown has the same face."
Bo-Bo doesn't read joke books but tries to develop jokes around day-to-day, real-life events.
"Some people are offended, but most understand I'm playing on stereotypes and those are funny," he said. "I also allow people to kid and poke fun of me."
Bo-Bo said it is amazing what kids will do to a clown, though. "For example, they grab my metallic hair. They don't know that when they grab a handful of this, they grab a part of me."
No matter, Bo-Bo said he's been lucky enough to never lose his hair.
Other personal experiences Bo-Bo draws from include acting in high school, playing acoustic and electric guitar, working in public relations and being a Robin Williams fan.
Bo-Bo said it's hard to separate Bo-Bo from his own personality, and that is why he thinks he is a good clown.
"I'm compulsive," he said. "I'm not afraid to do something different or be a little bit reckless. I'm one of those old hippies, maybe with a different mind-set. I'd never ask someone to do something I wouldn't do."
Bo-Bo loves his job and said he wants to free-lance as a clown in the future. "I just have fun."
by CNB