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Expodition: Under the big top

Broadcast Date: May 15, 1967

For Coco, a clown with the Ringling Bros. Circus, clowning is the family business. He's a third-generation clown bearing the name Coco, and his son – a Marine serving in Vietnam – plans to carry on the tradition. But clowns aren't the only attraction. In this segment, Coco tells CBC Radio's Expodition about some of the wild animal performers that await visitors to a rare outdoor staging of the circus at Expo 67.  

Expodition: Under the big top

• Coco the Clown was the alter ego of Michael Polakovs, whose father, Nikolai, made the Coco name famous in England.
• In 1966, fast-food chain McDonald's relaunched its clown mascot, Ronald McDonald. The company hired Polakovs to create Ronald's look, and Polakovs chose the clown's signature red wig, white face and yellow jumpsuit.
• Polakovs was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in Wisconsin in 1991.
• The outdoor performance of the circus at Expo 67 was not greeted favourably. A theatre critic for the Globe and Mail noted that the venue was too large: "The Autostade is too big a space for even the greatest show on earth, and the circus folk must have wished they stayed indoors. It was cold out there."

Expodition: Under the big top

Medium: Radio

Program: Expodition

Broadcast Date: May 15, 1967

Guest(s): Michael Polakovs

Host: Bob MacGregor
Reporter: Martin Bronstein

Duration: 4:11

Photo: Clown Alley

Last updated:
April 3, 2008