by Bruce “Charlie” Johnson
On November 13, 1996 Tammy and Tommy Parish finished 17 and 18 years respectively touring with the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Tommy graduated from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1978 and joined the show in 1979. He was promoted to blue unit boss clown in 1980.
He convinced Tammy, his high school sweetheart, to apply for Clown College, and she joined the show in 1980. (They were married shortly after Tammy graduated.) They are both from Neodesha, Kansas. Tommy said, “I consider myself lucky to be able to share a career that I love with someone I love. My wife, Tammy, is the perfect companion. I couldn’t be here without her.”
Frosty Little had become boss clown over both units in 1980, but each unit also had its own boss clown who traveled with the show permanently and performed in the clown
routines. The red unit has had several different boss clowns during the period Tommy remained as blue unit boss clown. His seventeen years as unit boss clown is a record. (Frosty Little was red unit boss clown for ten years before he was promoted to overall boss clown.)
Tommy is an auguste clown whose trademark is a wig parted in the center with a top knot.
Tammy is a whiteface clown whose trademark is a large bow on top of her head. Tammy’s crisp, sharp movements soon made her stand out in the clown alley.
In 1982, Tammy was cast as a damsel in distress in a jungle skit with Michu, billed as the world’s smallest man, playing Tarzan. A gorilla, played by new alley member Jimmy Graham, scared all the hunters away leaving Tammy stranded. Michu swung in on a vine, defeated the gorilla rescuing Tammy.
At one performance, Michu was swung in on his vine and for some reason decided not to finish the skit. He departed for his dressing room leaving Jimmy and Tammy alone in the ring without a finish to the act. Talking their way through it Jimmy and Tammy improvised a slapstick routine that ended with Tammy triumphantly posing with one foot on the prone gorilla’s chest.
Tammy and Tommy often performed routines together. One of their walkarounds was tourists visiting Australia. Tommy walked along as a guide, and Tammy rode in the pocket of a kangaroo. Her legs were in the legs of the Kangaroo costume. Dummy clown legs and her upper torso stuck out of the kangaroo’s pouch. The upper torso of the kangaroo was a dummy strapped to Tammy’s back
The couple played cavepeople in a Stop Gag. Tammy wore a bone in her hair in place of her big bow. When she held a leopard skin drape up in front of Tommy, he changed into a tyrannosaurus rex. In this bend over transformation, Tommy wore a reversible cape which hid the dinosaur torso attached to his back. Behind the cover of the drape, he bent over so the dinosaur torso was straight up and pulled the cape, lined with the same material as the dinosaur, up over his head hiding him. Tammy lowered the drape revealing the dinosaur. Then she raised the drape again, and Tommy reversed the transformation so he was ready to move down the track to the next section of the audience
In the 116th Edition (1986-1987), the clowns performed a parody of the teeterboard act. Wearing a harness, Tammy was hoisted high into the air when another clown jumped on the other end of the teeterboard. Part of this act is included in the video tape titled The World’s Greatest Clown Acts.
Tammy trained their dogs, Buster and Ethel, to perform in the show. In the 116th edition, Tommy performed a basketball dog routine. A small basketball backstop and hoop were set up. Tommy tossed a balloon which one of the dogs kept in the air by jumping up and hitting it. Part of this act is also included in The World’s Greatest Clown Acts.
Tammy created a variation of Eric Braun’s solo dog routine. Tammy tries to hang her wash on the line, but a dog keeps pulling the clothes off. Tommy entered and Tammy grabbed his coat giving it a pull sending him spinning. As he spines, his clothes, linked by a short line, are removed layer by layer. Finally, the dog knocks Tammy over backwards into the laundry basket for the finale. Tammy and Tommy performed the washing routine, often as a pre-show act, in several editions of the circus.
Another pre-show routine Tammy performed frequently was a one-man band. She played an accordion, had a variety of whistles on a harmonica brace, and on her back was a drum and cymbals activated when she walked by strings to her ankles.
The theme of the 118th Edition (1988-1989) was the 20th anniversary of the RBB&B Clown College. Several classic clown acts were revived, including the Firehouse, with Tammy cast as the mother. (A role Lou Jacobs had previously played.)
For the next Blue Unit circus edition (120th) Tammy found herself up in the air once again as the mother in a hot air balloon routine. A pen & ink drawing of this routine is included in the publication Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey A Teaching Unit.
Tammy often worked high off the floor. In addition to the two routines where she was hoisted into the air, she was a stilt walker on high Chinese stilts. (Chinese stilts have a peg leg.) Tammy would wear a skirt with long pantaloons covering the silts. A picture of her on her stilts is included in the 122nd program magazine.
She also was an elephant rider, and was frequently featured in show’s finale on an elephant.
Giving a circus performance a story line to unite the acts is one of the elements of what has been described as the New Circus. The 126th Edition of the RBB&B Circus, beginning in 1996, had a story line about a clown family that tied together the clown routines. The father was portrayed by Tommy Parish. Tammy Parish played the mother. Arturo Figueroa was their baby.
That was a revival of an old clown act. During the 1930’s, Harry and Loretta La Pearl played a father and mother with a dwarf playing their child. This act was sometimes listed as the La Pearl trio.
Tammy’s appearance was used in merchandising. She appeared on T-shirts and an embroidered patch.
Tommy and Tammy have appeared on the cover of every blue unit program since 1988. Some years one is on the front and the other on the back, other years they both are on the front cover, and in 1994 they both appeared on the front and back cover. They also appear on the cover of the Teaching Unit publication, and a drawing of Tammy appears on the clown page. In addition, Tammy is one of three clowns in the RBB&BClown College logo.
In 1988, Family Home Entertainment released a series of RBB&B video tapes including The Greatest Clown Acts of All Time and Be A Clown. Both tapes share some of the same footage. Tammy and Glenn “Frosty” Little demonstrated white face make up application. Tammy and Jim Vogelgesang demonstrated the Whipcracker routine on the Be A Clown videotape. Excerpts from both segments were included in the World’s Greatest Clown Acts.
Their performances were also documented in the show’s program videos.
In addition to her performances, Tammy is an instructor. She taught at the RBB&B Clown College. She taught at some of the Clown Camp on the Road programs
Tommy and Tammy became parents when their daughter, Amelia Jo, was born December 20, 1993. Steve Smith commented, “they are such loyal employees their daughter was even born between seasons.”
This article originally appeared in the Winter 1996 (Volume 3 Number 3) issue of The Clown In Times, written and published by Bruce “Charlie” Johnson.
In recognition of their contributions to the art of clowning, Tammy and Tommy Parish were inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 2023.
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