Circus clown of George M. Cohan. He was also one of the main models for "Uncle Sam". With changes in circus and popular culture after the Civil War, his legendary talents under the big top have gradually slipped into almost total historical obscurity; biographer David Carlyon (2001) called him "the most famous man you've never heard of". While Dan Rice's talking and singing clown was taking America by storm, a new type of clown was emerging on the British pantomime stage, one that would have a more lasting influence on contemporary American circus clowning. George Lafayette Fox was America's first great "whiteface"
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus organised 171 circus training sessions and produced the first Flying Fruit Fly Circus event involving 117 performers aged from seven to seventeen. Mark Shirrefs and Ian Mortimer went to local schools and introduced skills to local kids, some of whom are still active in circus, Michael Ling has spent 18 years with Circus Oz. In 1979 "On the Outside", a show about unemployed youth, was designed as a full-scale theatrical performance for high school. Lloyd Sutler, the Murray River Performing Group's resident writer, wrote the script. Performed inside an octagon made of three-inch agricultural piping on a big yellow mat,