Trade organizations are worried about a potential shortage of clowns as membership continues to decline.
According to New York Daily News, which first reported this news, the problems stem from increasingly higher standards, age and a lack of interest.
Glen Kohlberger, president of Clowns of America International, said "What's happening is attrition." He added, "The older clowns are passing away." Numbers in the organization have continued declined over the past eight years.
Though specific numbers weren't provided, Kohlberger did say that membership was down about to about 2,500 from 3,500 for the past 10 years.
CBS News notes one major issue is that the pay is quite weak for clowning. Most will be lucky to earn $15 an hour, but some of the top clowns, such as with the Cirque du Soleil, can earn big bucks, like $200,000 a year.
The higher standards problem comes at many have moved away from the traditional clown look of the poofy hair and colorful attire, to much simpler, more subtle appearances. "The clown in its original form is done and dead," Brad Reason, a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey clown college graduate said during a 2012 Reddit AMA.
Daily News notes Kohlberger added that many younger people who initially become interested, lose that while in high school and college and then "Clowning is then put on the back burner until their late 40s and early 50s."
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
