“Baby It’s Hot Outside!” Clowning is tough in the summer months, and we try to only do inside events, but sometimes we are out under a tent to provide shade.
This month’s article includes a column about Juggles, our wonderful juggling clown and I hope you all enjoy getting to know more about him. Juggles lives in Boynton Beach and I first got to know him from the Crackerjack clown alley which met in Delray Beach. He was basically going to Delray Medical Center where they had a few clown volunteers. He would go room to room with his famous “frankfurter” dog on a leash and make people laugh at his hysterical puns. When the alley disbanded and I was encouraged to start a new group at Boca Pointe in 2014, I contacted him after we got our training completed and invited him to join us. He has been a fabulous addition to our group and has learned new performance skills as well as being a “giant bubbles expert.” Kids and adults love his juggling skills, and he is a great team player! Here is his story, written by his charming wife, Cheryl.
Most people know him as a nice, quiet, friendly guy. But then, when he assumes the persona of Juggles the Clown, a whole other side of Bob Dodes appears. As Juggles, he makes a lot of “dad jokes” and puns, all the while dressed in his clown get-up and makeup.
As a member of Boca Pointe Clowns on Call, Bob entertains young and old alike, at no cost, with his juggling skills. This group performs at charity functions for no cost, and also at HOA functions, for a fee. The fee goes toward replenishing supplies for the clown group; no clown receives any money from performances. Bob can juggle scarves, balls, clubs, and rings, and can perform devil sticks. He gets the crowds involved by teaching them to juggle scarves. The thing that the crowds seem to enjoy the most is when Bob demonstrates spinning a plate on a stick, then lets kids and adults put the spinning plate on their finger. The plates are unbreakable plastic, so there is no danger to the participants.
Big bubbles are a part of the show. Bob spent months experimenting to figure out just the right formula for making “bubble juice”. The juice has to yield the most interesting bubbles, and a lot of them. Kids love to chase the bubbles, and giggle when they pop them. Bob makes bubble juice by the gallon because he produces so many bubbles at a gig.
Bob started clowning about 15 years ago. He joined the Crackerjack Clown Alley at that time and got advice on how to construct his clown persona. At first, Bob started out as a hospital clown, at Delray Medical Center, which serves adult patients only. Bob would visit the Medical Center once a week and entertain the patients as “Dr. Frankfurter.” He dressed in a lab coat decorated with puns and walked a stuffed hot dog on a leash. The hot dog was decorated with acrylic ice cubes because it was a “chili dog” and sported a watch as a “watch dog.” The dog “relished” going to the hospital and showed off its “great buns.” Bob used his cell phone to show the patients very corny visual puns, cheering up all who were accepting of a visit. He also provided each patient with an origami rose for them to keep as a souvenir. Creating balloon animals was also on the menu. Once Covid came along, the visits to the hospital stopped and have not resumed as of today.
Before retirement, Bob was chair of the Special Education Department at Long Beach High School in New York. While there, he also taught circus arts and bowling in the after-school program.
Bob has been a dedicated square dancer for over 40 years, and dances at the Boynton Culture and Arts Center twice a week. He serves as a Board member of the Southeast Square and Round Dance Association, the local dance group.
Bob plays the guitar and ukulele while watching TV many nights.
As avid bowlers, Bob and wife Cheryl bowl with two weekly bowling leagues. The couple are also dedicated walkers, walking several miles each day.
Retirement for Bob Dodes means staying involved in the community and continuously helping others.
Bob joined Clowns on Call in 2016. He says joining gave him the opportunity to expand his clown skills from creating and designing equipment, learning to perform in skits, as well as making it possible to reach so many more people. Clowns on Call is not only a clown alley, it is a clown family.
Clown Camp at the country club is in full swing. Cutie Pie, Twinkle Toes, Juggles, J.J. and I are training and entertaining the campers on Fridays and Tuesdays. The campers are adorable and have they grown since last year! It’s such fun to have some of the older ones (9 to 10) help the new campers with balloons! We are going to teach more magic this summer and perhaps it will encourage some to improve their skills as they mature. Performing magic is a wonderful hobby for kids and gives them lots of self-confidence as they learn to master unusual skills that always impress the audience. Another aspect is developing the confidence to stand and perform in a clown skit or in our kazoo band. So many children are lacking in the ability to speak louder when they need to. Of course, they can all scream when they are excited, but they lack the poise and confidence to stand up and say something they really want to share when those situations arise, whether in school or in any group. Overcoming those shy, inadequate feelings can change a child’s persona tremendously, and this does happen with our emphasis on voice production using memorized clown dialogue with our silly skits.
I can’t tell you how many parents and grandparents have come up to me after a performance to say they were so proud of their child after watching them perform. It’s a great program for us and we love it. Of course, we are strictly volunteers and we are happy to be a part of camp. Come and watch the clown show which will probably be on Friday, August 8, in the afternoon.
We will be part of the June 28 kids’ event at the Club so maybe we will see some of you there. That’s it for now!
Remember to wave if you see a clown on campus!
