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COPYRIGHT 2004 Jannetti Publications, Inc.
A few months ago, our Morton Plant Mease Caring Clowns were voted the best Clown Alley in the World! We were also the first hospital clown group to ever win such an honor because of our work cheering patients and hospital staff! The doors are slowly opening for other clowns to provide humor in other hospitals.
Last year, I discovered that Washington University Medical School offers a 1 credit elective for students if they enroll in the course The Science & Art of Clowning. The class actually goes on "clown rounds" at the St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Emmett Kelly, often called the world's most famous clown, once said, "By laughing at me, the audience really laughs at themselves and realizing they have done this, gives them a sort of spiritual second wind for going back into the bottle of life."
The healing power of clowns can be traced back hundreds of years to the Iroquois, False Face Society. The court fool has been discussed in history books as far back as the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. The court jester helped kings to laugh at themselves which kept them in touch with their humanness.
As the founder of a hospital humor therapy program in a JCAHO-accredited hospital,...
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