The clown alley in a circus is a backstage area, usually very near the animal pens, where clowns change into their costumes and apply makeup. Generally, the clowns' personal props, costumes, and other items are stored in this area as well. The term has also come to mean any professional grouping of clowns, in general, regardless of whether or not they are affiliated with a circus or carnival.
In Clowns of America International, "clown alley" is the name given to individual chapters, which function similarly to a union. A Clown Alley Local will co-ordinate social events as well as professional development for members, as well as direct employment opportunities.
Famous quotes containing the words clown and/or alley:
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Holly: Oh, Brad, I’d do my act in clown alley or the horse stop for you. I’d do anything if it was just for you.
Brad: Pigeon, look. Out under the sky you know how I feel about you. But under the Big Top one performer’s just like another to me.”
—Fredric M. Frank (1911–1977)