tuesday, September 9, 1980
daily nebraskan
page 7
Smiley the clown's contagious cheer is ageless
By Patti Gallagher
I could see his paintedon teardrop from the audience.
Then he pushed the little button on his electric wheel
chair and took center stage. He crooned out "Four Leaf
Clover" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and the woman
in back of me started to sing along.
When he finished, his fans, most of them elderly,
gathered at the edge of the stage to talk with him.
"Why don't you go on TV?" they asked.
"Have you been on the stage?"
4i just love your singing."
Turning on his trademark. Smilev the Clown shakes a
round of hands and asked, "What should 1 do for an en
core?" Smiley, born Bill Bready 55 years ago in Tennessee, has
been a professional clown for 18 years. He has toured the
country with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and
Bailey's circus, as well as state fairs.
The 10 days at the Nebraska State Fair.mostly wheeling
around "talking to the kids," has earned Smiley enough to
pay his debts, he said. ,
But he prefers the circus schedule to the fair. Circus is
only a couple of hours per day, performing an afternoon
and evening show, he said.
Smiley said his entire face - self designed and applied -is
patented in Washington. The oversized white lips, tri
angular red nose, black rimmed teardrop and double-sized
brows peek out from under a silver-glittered derby.
When he's asked "Why you call yourself Smiley," he
puts on a chin-drooping frown, and laughs.
But, Smiley says, the smile doesn't stay on permanently.
"I put it on every morning and take it off every night.
I'd sleep in it, but it's too messy.
If by chance, the namesake fails, Smiiley carries around
his "little smile maker," a rubber ink happy face to stamp
bit smiles on little hands.
In 1978 a stroke left Smiley's right hand unusable. Last
December gangrene started in his toe and continued
upward, requiring several operations. Smiley's right leg is
now amputated above the knee.
While in a Lincoln hospital for the amputation, the
Lincoln Journal ran a contest at last year's state fair to
"make Smiley smile again," he said. He received 400 letters
from his patrons, "the kids," to plaster the walls of his
room.
Ag econ prof gets teaching award
After his stroke, Smilev lived at Lancaster Manor. He
:said the county would not let him stay after his leg opera
tion because he was not a resident of the county.
Though he now lives at Maple wood Nursing Home, 4405
Normal Ave., Smiley said he wants to return to his former
home and friends.
Smiley has been without a family since he was 12 and
has traveled most of his life. He worked burlesque in about
1947 where he picked up some of his crooning tunes, he
said. He also spent four years in the Marine Corps.
"But maybe you shouldn't say anything about the
Marines," he cautioned. He got a bad conduct discharge
when he failed to return from leave on time. That mistake,
he said, cost him veterans' privileges and use of Lincoln's
Veterans Hospital.
He said he has been around the world three times but
now would like to-make Lincoln his permanent home.
Are the kids one of the things that make the clowning
life worthwhile?
"Oh, yea, they're the thing," he says. "The only thing."
By Njoku Julius
A UNL associate professor of agricultural economics
received his profession's highest honor for distinguished
teaching this summer.
Last July, the American Agricultural Economics Associa
tion gave Ronald Hanson the Distinguished Undergraduate
Teaching Award.
The annual award recognizes excellence in agricultural
economics teaching. One award is given to an instructor
with less than 10 years of undergraduate teaching experi
ence, and one to an insturctor with 10 years or more years
experience.
m Hanson said he pays attention to what students say,
reads their comments and tries to understand their
problems. (
"In this way I have made substantial changes in my
teaching methods over the past six years," he said.
Also helpful, Hanson said, are various instructional
programs which the College of Agriculture offers.
Hanson was on the faculty of Southern Illinois Univer
sity for two years. He said he came to UNL because it
places heavy emphasis on high-quality teaching,
"1 saw that Nebraska is a place where a person could
come and develop teaching skills and be recognized for
those," he said.
"Dr. Hanson is an exceptional student adviser," accord
ing to Charles H. Adams, professor of animal sscience and
assistant dean of the College of Agriculture. "His advising
doesn't stop with their academic progress, but he also
follows through to see if they are placed in jobs after
graduation."
Former student Janie Kisker also praised the professor.
"Hanson is not content with knowing that his teaching
abilities are highly regarded, but he is constantly looking
for ways to improve upon them," she said.
In a letter recommending Hanson to the AAEA Teaching
Awards Committee, AAEA Director R. Arnold wrote,
"His.visibility as an expert in agricultural finance is evident
by numerous invitations to speak at meetings and work
shops." Hanson earned his bachelor of science degree in agri
cultural economics from Western Illinois University (1968)
and received his master's degree (1970) and doctorate
(1972) in agricultural economics from the University of
Illinois.
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BUS SERVICE
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mum greyhound.
Special student buses will depart from the
Nebraska Union on R St. on Friday and return
to the Union on Sunday evening.
Bus leaves for Omaha at 3:20 pjn. and returns
at 7:45 pjn. on Sunday. Departure time from
Omaha is 6:30 p.m.
Bus leaves for Grand Island and points West
on Hwy. 30 at 3:40 pm. and returns at 6:10
and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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Sign up at the magazine counter in the Union
at the R Street entrance before Friday.
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Tickets will be on sale at 2:30 Friday afternoon.
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