Barry Lubin (born July 3, 1952) is an American circus performer best known for his Grandma character. His Grandma character was a headline act at the

Big Apple Circus The Big Apple Circus is a circus based in New York City. Opened in 1977, later becoming a nonprofit organization, it became a tourist attraction. The circus has been known for its community outreach programs, including Clown Care, as well as its ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for 25 seasons from 1982 until his 2012 retirement and relocation to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Lubin's return to the Big Apple Circus in late 2017 was cut short in January 2018 when he admitted to having pressured an underaged, sixteen-year-old circus performer to pose for pornographic pictures in 2004.

Early life

Lubin was born on July 3, 1952, in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

, to Edythe Weinberg Lubin, a homemaker, and George Simon Lubin, an audiovisual engineer. He grew up in nearby

Ventnor City Ventnor City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,210, a decrease of 1,440 in the preceding decade. He graduated from

Atlantic City High School Atlantic City High School (ACHS) is a comprehensive public high school in Atlantic City, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. It is the lone secondary school of the Atlantic City School District. The current school building opened i ...

and went on to college, intending to establish a career as a television director, based on some of his high school experiences with TV technology.

Career

In 1974, Lubin auditioned at

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (late ...

for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus's Clown College. The next year, Lubin created the Grandma character at the circus's winter quarters in Florida. The character was designed with an iconic white wig, baggy red dress, and a

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

necklace. After he left Ringling Bros., Lubin partnered with Dick Monday in 1980 to do stand-up comedy. Their acts included ''A Couple Guys Who Gotta Do a Show'' and ''Pass The Popcorn''. In 1982, Lubin joined the

, where his Grandma character became the star of the show. In addition to performing, he became the show's Director of Clowning and Production Consultant in 2001. In 1998, Lubin briefly retired to spend more time with his daughters, but he returned by November 2001. In 2008, Lubin interrupted his time with the circus to undergo

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

for

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...

. This incident was documented in the 2010

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

documentary ''Circus'', which focused on the Big Apple Circus. By the time Lubin retired from the Big Apple Circus in January 2012, the Grandma character had been seen by more than nine million customers over her 25 seasons with the show. After retiring in January 2012, Lubin moved to Europe, where he continued to perform. He was a star performer at a winter circus festival in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, Germany, and also taught physical comedy in a

Semester at Sea Semester at Sea (SaS) is a study-abroad program which was founded in 1963 and managed by the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado State University is the current academic sponsor and the program is condu ...

program for students from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. In 2013, he returned his Grandma act to the United States for a three-day show at the

Westchester County Center The Westchester County Center is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in White Plains, New York. It hosts various local concerts and sporting events for the area. The County Center was conceived by the Westchester Recreation Commission in 1924 as a m ...

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

as part of a tour with the

Royal Hanneford Circus The Royal Hanneford Circus is an United States, American-based touring family circus. With origins dating back to 1690, it has been called the oldest circus in the world. The family first performed as a traveling troupe in 1807. In 1903, the family ...

. Lubin also performed in shows in China, Russia, Sweden and Antarctica while living in Europe. Following the sale of Big Apple Circus after its bankruptcy, it hired Lubin to headline its 40th anniversary show beginning in Fall 2017. The news prompted a former aerialist to contact the new management on January 19, 2018 about an incident involving Lubin in 2004 when she was 16 years old. Her previous attempt to alert the circus in 2012 had no results because Lubin was not with the circus at that time. She said that Lubin had offered her a role with the circus if she modeled for his personal photography business. She went to Lubin's trailer for two photo sessions during which he successfully pressured her into allowing him to take photos of her genitals. Afterwards, Lubin paid her $200 and secured her some freelance work with the circus. Following the accusations, Lubin was immediately placed on leave by the circus and he chose to resign the same day. On January 23, 2018, Lubin released a statement that said the allegations were true, acknowledged that his actions were wrong, and apologized for them.

Recognition

In 2002, Lubin was inducted into the

International Clown Hall of Fame The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center (ICHOF), located in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States, is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of clown art and achievement. Represented by professional and amateur clown associati ...

and the Sarasota Ring of Fame in 2012, the highest honor in American Circus. In 1999, he was the fifth person to receive the Legend of the Parade Award of

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...

, where he appeared over 15 times. In 2007, he received the

Lou Jacobs Johann Ludwig Jacob (January 1, 1903 – September 13, 1992), professionally known as Lou Jacobs, was a German-born American Clown#Auguste, auguste clown who performed for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for more than 60 years. ...

Lifetime Achievement Award from ClownAlley. He has performed twice (1977 and 2008) at the

International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo The International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo (french: Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo) is an annual circus festival that is held in Monaco every January. The festival was created in 1974 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to reco ...

, as well as at the International Circus Festivals in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, in

Izhevsk Izhevsk (russian: Иже́вск, p=ɪˈʐɛfsk; udm, Ижкар, ''Ižkar'', or , ''Iž'') is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city i ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia. In addition, Lubin is one of only two American clowns to appear at the Wintercirckus of Circus Krone in Munich.

Personal life

Lubin has two daughters, Danielle and Emily, with his first wife, Roberta, a former performer for Big Apple.Collins, Glenn
"PUBLIC LIVES; Just in Time, Grandma Is Out of Retirement"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', November 20, 2001. Accessed September 7, 2017. "In 1982, Mr. Lubin began his first of 13 different Big Apple seasons. Three years ago he made a wrenching decision and retired from the show so he could spend more time at home in Garwood, N.J., with his daughters, Danielle, now 16, and Emily, now 10, both of whom have performed with Big Apple." In 2008, Lubin underwent

for

. Upon his retirement from the Big Apple Circus in 2012, he moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

with his companion, Ann Hageus, a chiropractor he met in 1990 when she worked for the same circus.

References

External links

Barry Lubin's personal website

Barry Lubin on Circopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubin, Barry 1952 births Living people American clowns Atlantic City High School alumni Emerson College alumni People from Atlantic City, New Jersey People from Garwood, New Jersey People from Ventnor City, New Jersey 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews