The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Reporter’s note: Each time I attend the Blaine County Fair I’m impressed with the gaggle of kids following around a lady who’s wearing wild face makeup and outlandish, bright colored clothing. She’s usually pulling a cart full of surprises or has a bunch of surprises laid out on a table to entertain kids. Whatever she’s doing, the younger set is drawn to her like a magnet. Folks familiar with the Blaine County Fair, particularly if they have little kids or grandkids, know this ‘Pied Piper of Montana kids’ as Pippi the Clown.

Thinking about the upcoming fair, I called Fair Board Chairman Don Richman to ask if Pippi the Clown would be returning this year. He said, “Oh yes, we wanted her back. She’s been doing our fair at least the eleven years I’ve been on the Fair Board.” I decided to track down Pippi and learn who she really is and how she ended up being a clown. She shared quite a journey and story.

Not always a clown

My first question in a phone interview with Pippi was, “Do you ever reveal your real name and is it okay to use your given name in this story?” She laughed (I was to learn she laughs a lot) and replied, “Yes, my real name is Jeanne Simmons but I had to adopt a different name when I joined the film actors’ union years ago.” She explained that since there was already a well known actress with the same name, “I began using my mom’s family name instead. That’s how I became known as Jeanne Thomas.”

Pippi, it’s really hard to think of her as Jeanne, began her story describing when she was living in California. She had done college work in Jungian psychology, theatre and English literature. Her real love was directing Greek tragedies. She spent 30 years in San Francisco directing and teaching mimes. During her time in San Francisco she was doing a job directing mimes and that lead to a totally unexpected gig when she crossed paths with an instructor with the Ringling Brothers School of Clowns. He told Pippi he thought she would make a good clown.

The Ringling instructor helped her learn about makeup, costumes and how to be a clown. She said, “He got me my first gig. People liked me as a clown and my business snowballed. Being a clown was never in my original playbook.” Again, chance pushed her career in a new direction, working as a clown at fairs and community festivals.

After a particularly grueling tour of directing and teaching, she secured her first job as a clown at a county fair in Big Piney, Wyoming. She told, “From there I went to Scobie, Montana. I can’t explain it, but I soon fell in love with doing fairs, the Hi-Line and the people in the small towns of northeast Montana.” Soon she was doing fairs and celebrations in the entire Rocky Mountain region and began to think about moving to Montana. In 2000 she bought a house outside Red Lodge. She describes it as, “a house in a pasture where I can see the mountains.” The day we spoke she said, “When you called I was fixing my septic system. I love living in the country but it does have its challenges at times.”

Since moving to Montana she’s added to the number of county and state fairs she regularly does along with other types of celebrations. And she still teaches and directs, sometimes outside Montana. She shared that she has other characters she does different from Pippi the Clown. For seasonal work and other types of celebrations she has: Trixie the Elf, for Christmas celebrations and holiday strolls; Flopsy the Bunny, obviously Easter; Lucky the Leprechaun and Pinky the Clown Witch. Each of these special characters has its own makeup, costumes and bag of tricks. Pippi said she makes many of her own costumes, some that are quite elaborate to create the desired effect and persona of the character she’s playing. And she still enjoys doing her intricate balloon work and elegant face paintings on the kids.

What’s next?

Pippi said in an interview several years ago in the “Missoulian” newspaper that over time being a clown “took over my life.” She spent 30 years doing directing and teaching in California and part of that included 20+ years as Pippi the Clown and other characters. But she’s definitely not done. She said, “I’d really like to expand the number of state and county fairs I do and add some other seasonal and special festivals.”

“And,” she added, “I’ve recently been developing characters with a new focus, like helping promote weed control.” Asked if she might develop a character that looks like leafy spurge, she laughed and said, “No, this character would be more like a ‘weed sheriff’ who weeds out the bad guys—you know, the undesirable species.”

We began talking about other possible characters, like a mosquito fairy who could help do away with some of those nasty creatures along the Hi-Line. About mosquitoes, Pippi said, “My first fair in Montana was at Scobie. I was staying at the Sleeping Buffalo Resort and when I got out of the car at the motel the mosquitoes swarmed me. I was wearing white slacks and by the time I got the door to my room closed my slacks were black with mosquitoes. I was really terrified of mosquitoes for a while after that.” Maybe there is a mosquito-like character in her future.

Whatever the character Pippi happens to be playing, one thing does not change. Kids are attracted to her and she loves to entertain them. In a 2013 interview she summed up her career as a clown saying, “I love my job. Watching the kids enjoying themselves is what makes this so fun.” And locals can look forward to seeing the flamboyant character, having fun with kids, back in Blaine County for the 2017 fair that runs July 12 through 16.