Send in the clowns: Entertainers gather during Shriners’ annual convention

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Shriners Hospitals

Facts about the Shriners Hospitals as provided by the Shrine of North America:

515,000 Shriners at 191 temples throughout North America.

22 (including four burn hospitals at Galveston, Texas; Cincinnati; Boston; and Sacramento ) that last year admitted more than 27,000 patients and had nearly 257,000 outpatient and research clinic visits. The first Shriners Hospital opened in Shreveport, La., in 1922.

$567 million, including $485 million for operational expenses and $25 million for research. Cost for treatment at a Shriners Hospital: $0. All funding comes from gifts, bequests, income from the endowment fund and fund-raisers -- no government dollars.

More than 650,000 children had been treated at Shriners hospitals through last year.

For information about Shriners Hospitals call (800) 237-5055.

Stan "Fuzzy" Kedzierski perhaps sums up best what being a Shriners clown is all about.

"I had the honor of working before children at the Shriners Burn Hospital in Galveston (Texas) and saw at least one child who had burns over 60 percent of his body," said the 84-year-old retired Westinghouse Electric manager from Murrysville, Pa.

"You can't cry when you are performing as a clown, but you can't leave a place like that without a tear in your eye."

Fuzzy the Clown, believed to be the oldest working Shriners clown of the more than 4,000 nationwide, is one of 300 Shriners clowns in Las Vegas for the Imperial Council Session -- the Shriners national convention.

About 9,000 members are meeting at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Flamingo, Palace Station and Las Vegas Hilton through Friday. The Shriners first met in Las Vegas in 1935 in what is believed to be the first convention held in Las Vegas.

"As volunteer clowns, the satisfaction we get is in the faces of the children who watch us perform," said Fuzzy, a "grotesque whiteface" clown. (There are three types of clowns: whitefaces like Bozo, the "tramp" or "hobo" clown and the pastel-faced "auguste" or "character" clown).

Although Fuzzy was in attendance at the convention this week, he could only lend support to his floppy-shoe comrades as he recently had his left eye replaced and could not apply makeup to the orbit area.

"I'll be working again soon," he vowed. This week, Fuzzy will receive his second coveted Red Nose Award for extensive hours donated to Shriner clown activities.

Harold "Hap" Hendrick, 66, a Las Vegas resident since 1973 and a charter member and clown with the Zelzah Shrine Center for 27 years, will lead a group of local Shriners clowns in a 6 p.m. parade Wednesday in downtown Las Vegas.

More than 3,000 Shriners from all over the country will participate in the event that starts at Charleston Boulevard and Fourth Street and heads 1.5 miles north to Ogden Avenue. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman will be the grand marshall.

"Your whole attitude changes once you put on the makeup and you begin interacting with the children," said Hap the Clown, noting it takes about an hour and a quarter for him to put on his auguste makeup and getup. "You become this character, and all you want to do is make the children happy."

Being a Shriners clown, however, is more than just fun and games.

"We are heavily involved in the fundraising for our Shriners hospitals," said 62-year-old Joe Cole, the president of the International Shrine Clown Association, who is a retired Texas high school football coach and an auguste-faced clown appropriately named "Ol Coach."

"Each year we have a goal of raising $300,000 for our hospitals. We do this by putting on some good shows. We may be amateur clowns, but I like to think we are 'amateur professional' clowns."

One of the fund-raisers involves passing around a simple red sneaker. The tradition dates back many years to when it was learned that sneakers were about the only comfortable type of shoe that children with severe burns on their feet could wear.

Hap, a semi-retired auctioneer, says when the Shriners and Shriners clowns take on a project, their commitment runs deep.

"A few years ago, two pre-teen Las Vegas girls were burned in a house fire, and we had to get them to Galveston," he said. "The transportation included an air ambulance ride that cost $10,000 that we paid for.

"When we take a child into the program, we take care of all of the costs. Still, a lot of people don't know that is what we are here for."

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