R.I.P. Frosty Little

Just heard the news that master clown Frosty Little, who was one of the main teachers at Ringling’s Clown College when I was there, passed away yesterday.  He had been ill, so it is not exactly a shock, but it’s sad.  He was a funny guy who basically dedicated his life to making other people laugh.   The last 15 years of his life or so he spent teaching clowning and telling stories about the old days.  He spent over 20 years with Ringling.   He will be missed.

Frosty was a plain-spoken guy who had been around the circus forever.  At Clown College, he was responsible for vetting the gags that we wrote, and the ones he approved got  a trial run on gag night, and if they worked, they might make it into the big show.

Frosty had rules:  I proposed a gag once that involved a guy in a cactus suit being pursued by a crawling man with a desert motif.  He told me “If a cactus appears in a gag, it’s got to end up being attached to a guy’s butt”

Another time I proposed a gag, and Frosty asked to see me in person.  He looked up and down the page I’d submitted, and then said, “If Mr. Feld ever saw this gag, you and me would be clowning out in Siberia someplace.”

If there is an “up there”, I have the feeling that Frosty is up there, saying Hottarini! and pouring Sea Breeze on his wounds (one of his favorite curatives for just about your ills)

You can read his Wikipedia article here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_%22Frosty%22_Little and visit his own website here

http://www.abcompany.com/usa/id/cl/frostyli.htm (both not yet updated with the news)

Pat Cashin also has a memoriam page for Frosty.