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The Clowns are an antagonistic group of unnamed characters in Disney's 1941 film, Dumbo. They work for their boss, the Ringmaster, in a circus. They are first seen in the parade on the opening day, doing various goofy acts. They served as the secondary antagonists in the film.

Background

Personality

The clowns are not exactly antagonistic through evil or maliciousness, but more of insensitivity towards animals, most notably Dumbo. They take great pride in their jobs as comic entertainers, believing it will earn them respect from their audiences. However, they are also easily scared, as when they see Dumbo finally flying and soaring at them, they immediately panic and run for cover, assuming he will attack them as revenge for the previous act that left him humiliated.  

The clowns are mute during their act, but seem to be generally loud-mouthed otherwise.

Design

It is unknown what the clowns look like without their costumes, as they are only seen as shadows.

Appearances

Dumbo

The clowns first appear during the circus parade, and start a fireman act as Dumbo's first performance as a clown. During the act, one wears an elephant mask and a dress pretending to be Dumbo's mother shouting "save my child!", and the others appear dressed as firemen, with one wearing the uniform of a fire chief. The only one that talks during the act is the "mother." They perform goofy acts such as dousing a fire with gasoline, roasting hot dogs in front of a burning building, or throwing water on a flowerbed instead of the fire. For the climax, Dumbo, who is dressed like a baby and wearing clown makeup, is made to jump from the building, where he is to land in a gigantic pie. He resists, but one clown sneaks up from behind him and whips him with a board. He ends up landing in the pie, much to everyone's amusement. Following the act, the clowns' shadows are shown in their tent changing into casual clothes and celebrating with a bottle of champagne over the popular act. They believe they will earn a lot more money by making the height greater and thus more death-defying. One of the dumber but more sympathetic ones comments that they may accidentally hurt Dumbo if they make the act much too extreme, only to be brushed off by two others who reply that "elephants don't have feelings" and that they are "made of rubber". As they leave to tell their boss of their idea for their next act, their champagne bottle is knocked into Dumbo's water bucket, resulting in him and Timothy Mouse getting drunk.

The clowns ultimately get their comeuppance (along with the Ringmaster) during the second act when Dumbo flies off a thousand-foot-tall cardboard building instead of landing in the pie. This scares them, who either take cover in water barrels (one who was standing on a ladder loses his balance and falls into the pie himself after Dumbo soars at him, the splash soaking four of them) or drive their fire engine into the burning building only to reemerge with scathed rear ends screaming. They are not seen again for the rest of the film. What happens to them after the circus is renamed "Dumbo's Flying Circus" is unknown, although it is assumed that they either lost their jobs, reformed, or quit after witnessing Dumbo flying during the act.

Gallery

Wiki
The Disney Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Clowns.

Trivia

  • The clowns' requests to get a raise from their boss is a reference to the Disney animators that went on strike in 1941 (during the creation of the film), demanding higher pay from Walt himself. Moreover, some of them are caricatures of those animators.


v - e - d
Dumbo Logo
Media
Films: Dumbo (soundtrack/video) • Dumbo (2019) (soundtrack/video)

Television: Mickey Mouse ClubDumbo's CircusHouse of Mouse
Books: The Art and Making of Dumbo
Video Games: Disney's Villains' RevengeDisney Emoji Blitz
Cancelled projects: Dumbo II

Disney Parks
Casey Jr. Circus TrainCasey Jr. Splash 'n' Soak StationDisney Animation BuildingDumbo the Flying ElephantGames of the Boardwalk

Entertainment: AnimagiqueFantasmic!Once Upon a Mouse
Restaurants: Timothy's Treats
Shops: Casey Jr. Trinket Train
Parades: Disney's Dreams On Parade: Moving OnFlights of Fantasy ParadeFestival of Fantasy ParadeHappiness is Here ParadeJubilation!Main Street Electrical ParadeMickey's Storybook ExpressThe Wonderful World of Disney Parade (The Float)
Fireworks: Celebrate the MagicDisneyland ForeverHappily Ever AfterMagical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical CelebrationsMomentousOnce Upon a TimeRemember... Dreams Come TrueWonderful World of AnimationWondrous Journeys
Halloween: Happy Hallowishes

Characters
Original: DumboTimothy Q. MouseMrs. JumboCircus ElephantsRingmasterMr. StorkCasey JuniorPink ElephantsThe CrowsCircus AnimalsClownsSmitty

Dumbo's Circus: LionelFair DinkumQ.T.BarnabyLilliSebastianFlip & FlapLittle Bo PeepLittle Red Riding HoodBig Bad Wolf
Remake: Holt FarrierV.A. VandevereColette MarchantMilly FarrierMax MediciJoe FarrierMiss AtlantisRongoPuckPramesh SinghIvan the WonderfulCatherine the GreaterNeils SkelligJ. Griffin RemingtonSothebyHans BrugelbeckerRufus SorghumBaritone BatesCircus Cook

Songs
Look Out for Mr. StorkCasey, Jr.RoustaboutsBaby MineHit the Big BossPink Elephants on ParadeWhen I See an Elephant Fly
Locations
FloridaCircusDreamland Nightmare IslandWonders of ScienceMedici Brothers' Circus
Objects
The Magic Feather
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