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Clowns

Children watch as two clown-attired firefighters perform a spoof on fire safety. (Cameron McLeod/Special to the Standard-Examiner)

N. Davis firefighters demonstrate safety through comedy with children

Loretta Park Standard-Examiner

Last updated Saturday, February 16, 2013 - 8:04am

SUNSET — The pair on stage may have been clowning around, but their message of fire safety and prevention was serious.

Children, Clowns, Fire safety, Firefighters, Featured Read more Comments

What to do with the show when calliope falls silent

Charles F. Trentelman Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, October 22, 2012 - 8:10pm

Eve Hartley called me half a dozen times about her 1959 football movies. I was slow to get back, because I didn’t connect her with the calliope.

They are cool movies.

Back in the 1950s, some news agency collected highlights of college games, strung them together on huge reels of 16 mm movie film with sound and sent them to TV stations.

Four huge reels of this stuff now sit in Eve’s living room, along with a monster sound movie projector. We watched excerpts from the 1959 Army-Navy game (Navy won, 43-12) while Eve told me how her husband died horribly from toxic bacteria in that very room, leaving her with a lifetime of stuff to get rid of.

Clowns, Staff column, Utah history, Wasatch Rambler Read more Comments

In a July 31, 2012 photo, Julie Varholdt, aka "Lovely Buttons," poses for a portrait at the third annual Clown Campin' in Ontario, Calif. The week long event is held for clowns across the United States and Canada to learn, get inspired, and network. (AP Photo/Grant Hindsley)

Clown camp intended to lift spirits

Gillian Flaccus The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 10:31am

ONTARIO, Calif. — Even when she’s not in character, Julie Varholdt acts like a buffoon.

On a recent day, the veteran clown named "Lovely Buttons" gave her age as 1 billion, 527 million and 437,512 seconds; did a few pull-ups on a luggage cart, and then stretched out on a hotel front desk to the giggles of the receptionist.

Bring up professional clowning, however, and the mother of three decked out in cartoon-sized purple buttons, a red straw hat and oversized shoes grows serious — and even sheds a few real tears.

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(NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner) Joseph Anderson was one of the original Boots ’N Bunker clowns before becoming the fire marshal at the North View Fire Department 13 years ago. The Boots ’N Bunker clowns teach fire safety in Ogden schools.

Fire marshal remembers time in fire-prevention program

Jamie Lampros Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, December 25, 2011 - 11:24pm

NORTH OGDEN — Joseph Anderson told his boss there was no way he could ever be a clown. But 21 years later, he’s looking back on the success of the Boots ’N Bunker fire-prevention program he pioneered in the Ogden schools.

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Illustration by SHADE LEEDS
Special to the Standard-Examiner

Send away the clowns

Brad Gillman Standard-Examiner staff

Last updated Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 3:01am

Cue the carnival music. Tie those balloon animals. Refill the seltzer bottles.

The clowns are here.

Did you jump into the nearest bush when you heard this? Well, you're not alone. You may have coulrophobia -- a fear of clowns.

Richard Arbogast, chief medical officer for McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, said that 10 percent of people, young and old, have a negative reaction to clowns.

A 2007 study by the University of Sheffield in the U.K. polled children at a children's hospital about decorating the ward with pictures of clowns.

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BAD CLOWNS

Brad Gillman Standard-Examiner staff

Last updated Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 1:02am

Pennywise the Clown -- In the 1990 movie "It," the television adaptation of Stephen King's tale of horror, a group of kids are tormented by a clown demon. Pennywise beckons them to join him in the sewer: "We all float down here."

"Poltergeist" clown doll -- The movie series that started in 1982 brought tales of a family being threatened by ghosts -- and also featured an eerie combination of dolls.

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