Clowning around on Thanksgiving morning
In 1975, Barry Lubin had just graduated from clown college. He hadn’t yet spent five years touring with the Ringling Brothers Circus. He hadn’t started his nearly three decade career at the Big Apple Circus. He hadn’t yet become Grandma, his big top alter ego. He was just a young clown with a dream—he wanted to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. So he and a friend talked their way onto the route.
“We might have been one of the last uncredentialed acts to make it into the parade,” says Lubin. “We just said, ‘We are clowns and we would love to do this, is there any way?’ And somehow we talked our way in. We worked the room. We did it again the next year and they said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s you guys.’”
“That would never fly these days,” says Lubin. Macy’s employees though, who dream of donning
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a holiday tradition that New Yorkers feel incredibly proud to call our own, and completely thrilled to share with the rest of the country, both on the streets of Manhattan and broadcast live to homes across the nation. This year marks the 91st annual parade, and as always, the dedicated team at Macy’s has blended classic entertainment with innovative ideas and new faces to put on a show to remember.
There are four new giant balloons to look floppy shoes and a red nose once a year, can attend Macy’s Clown U., a one day crash course, taught by Lubin and other clowning professionals from the Big Apple Circus at the Big Top at Lincoln Center. More than 1,000 clowns fill the streets during the parade, entertaining the crowd as the procession pauses for entertainers on floats to perform for the cameras as they reach the grandstand on 34th Street. The vast majority of those clowns spend their day jobs in shipping and receiving, or managing the shoe department, or working in HR at Macy’s.
The clowns in the parade are divided up into 38 units, each led by an experienced clown. Each group has their own look and theme, and at Macy’s Clown U. the group, usually about 250 would-be clowns, warms up together, then splits off into groups to develop a routine, for this year. “We have a lot new faces,” says Susan Tercero, Group Vice-President for Macy’s Parade & Entertainment Group. “Everybody gets excited about new iconic characters. We have Illumination’s The Grinch, “Frozen’s” Olaf, Paw Patrol—it’s a really big deal to have this balloon in the parade for our preschool-age fans—and Jett from Super Wings, who transforms into an airplane.”
While the big balloons always command the most attention, they’re not the only exciting elements in the parade. “We have such great talent, such a mix of people, there’s something for everybody,” says Tercero. “We’re expecting Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, the Muppets from Sesame Street, famous chefs, big university bands, the United States Air Force Band— a lot of great stuff.”
The centerpiece of the Delta Air Lines float this year will be a living Christmas tree made up of 125 Macy’s employees from all over the country singing an original song composed for the parade. “This song, and the singing tree itself, are about coming together for the holidays,” says Tercero. “There’s no other company that can do this kind of thing. Our choir is so excited to come to the parade, including some people who have never been to New York City, some who have never been on an airplane, some who have been Macy’s a sight gag and bit that they’ll use to keep the crowd in high spirits throughout the parade. Then they reconvene and perform for one another before taking the show live on Thanksgiving morning, in full costume and makeup.
Training to be a clown is different than other forms of comedy and theater, says Lubin. “It’s not like stepping into a role—it’s employees for over 40 years. They’re from all walks of life and during a difficult time in this country it’s great to say we have all these different types of people we can bring together at Thanksgiving, in a way that is truly magical and special.”
This year the classic Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street” turns 70, and in celebration of the 1947 film, Macy’s has revived the classic Harold the Baseball Player balloon, this time rendered entirely in shades of black, white and grey. “It looks like he was lifted straight out of the movie,” says Tercero. Harold will be accompanied by a contingent of black and white clowns as well, to create a vintage feeling segment in the parade. “I just Iove the way our creative team thinks about telling a story.” says Tercero.
For the team at Macy’s, the challenge each year is how to live up to the previous year, and how to create even more magic for viewers. “We always ask, ‘What does the audience want? What are they looking for?’” says Tercero. “We’re bringing something to people that is a part of their history and their holiday traditions. We’re creating memories and it’s really important to not ever have something that is going to be just okay. We want everyone to walk away and say ‘That was amazing. I wonder what they’re going to do next
year.’” finding out the best of who you are. We take your quirkiness and encourage you to be yourself, to enjoy what’s happening. Clowning is really about touching the hearts of each individual person as much as you possibly can.”
In this year’s parade Lubin, in full Grandma gear, will be riding a giant tricycle and keeping a close watch on his clowns to make sure everything is going smoothly, all while enjoying the amazing energy of the crowd.
“Not everyone understands the magic that is parade day,” says Lubin. “Anybody who has experienced it wants to come back and do it again. There are 6 million people lining the streets of New York and boy are they having a good time. At the end my face hurts from smiling.”