Photos courtesy of Greg DeSanto At it's peak, the Detroit Shrine Circus ran for 17 days and paid it's clown alley better than any other Shrine date in the country. As a result they had their choice of the best circus clowns in the country... Everett Hart, Paul Jerome, Jo Jo Lewis and Charlie Bell... and this was only PART of the Alley! (I'm sure that there were Shrine clowns in Detroit at the time, but back then producers had some pride in the shows that they produced and only used the very best of the volunteer clowns to fill out the larger ring gags) Felix Adler Back then these men weren't good simply because they were Ringling clowns, they were Ringling clowns simply because they were good.