PUTTING ON A SMILEY FACE

When you send in the clowns in Southeast Missouri, Smiley is likely to lead the way with his bright red-and-yellow suit, a little round nose and beaming red grin.

Marvin Meier took about an hour to transform from a retired insurance agent to Smiley the clown. With a trick camera that spits out pictures of himself, a pet skunk puppet and a bag of tricks, Smiley heads out to entertain.

Meier is president of the Cape Girardeau Shrine clown unit. The Shrine clowns will perform today at the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway in Jackson. Train rides will be at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Twenty five percent of ticket sales will be donated to the Shrine Club.

For the past six years, Meier has been perfecting his character, Smiley. The work has paid off: Smiley won a central states competition for white-face clowns and also placed in the top 10 twice in international competition.

Last week Meier prepared for a visit to a Jackson nursing home.

"I use a template to outline my mouth," he said, carefully tracing around his new smile. "The red stands out better if there is nothing underneath it."

He carefully covered his face, neck and ears; but not his new smile with "clown white" grease paint. He inspected his progress in a lighted makeup mirror.

As he rubbed in the white makeup and instantly transformed his looks, Meier said: "In competition, you have to be white everywhere. Judges have been known to lift your wig to make sure the back of your neck is white. We also wear gloves so our hands are white."

Once his face was covered with the grease paint, he saturated a large powder puff with baby powder. Then, in what looked like a clown gag, he powdered his entire face.

"If it looks the least bit greasy, judges will mark you down," he said.

A mist of water sets the powder in so the makeup stays put.

Meier uses a small paint brush to put on his red mouth. He then outlines his new smile with a thin, black line.

"See these crows-feet," Meier said, pointing to his eyes. "They tell you to highlight your bad points." He drew three black lines from each eye and then drew large, arching eyebrows.

He touched and retouched the makeup, leaning forward to inspect it closely, and then leaning back to see the full impact.

With a less-than-pleased look, he said, "I'm never quite satisfied with it."

The makeup passed inspection and Meier prepared to dress.

"It's hard to find clown clothes," Meier said, buttoning a ruffled, red tuxedo shirt.

The bright yellow-and-red costumes he wears are sewn by his wife, Oma. Finding material bright enough for a clown costume also is difficult, she said.

Smiley owns two pairs of shoes, really big shoes that are round and flat in the front.

"There are a couple of things that are hard to do in these shoes: dance and drive a car," Meier said, pulling them over his bright red socks.

He opened an innocent-looking briefcase that contained his selection of noses ... bright, shiny red noses with little bumble bees attached.

"I made these noses out of ping pong balls," Meier said, selecting one to wear. "The bee is kind of my trade mark now."

Wearing the makeup and costume, Meier says he is transformed. "I guess I clown a little as myself. But when I'm Smiley I feel and act differently," he said.

When the local clown unit was organized in 1984, members had no experience clowning. Meier said: "A fellow from Sikeston came up and gave us a few ideas. He told us first to decide which type of clown we wanted to be and what our name would be.

"Seventy-five percent of the fellows decided they wanted to be bums. I didn't want to be a bum; I wanted to be a white face. And the first name I could think of was Smiley," he said. "That was one of the best decisions I ever made. The name has stayed with me."

Meier explained that clowns fall into four categories: bum, aguste, character and white face.

"A bum or tramp has a less colorful, more sober appearance. Some are sad. The aguste is more colorful and jovial. A character clown is a character like Charlie Chapman or Abraham Lincoln. I've seen characters from a Dalmatian dog to a basketball player with a net on his head."

The white face clown, Meier said, "is more neat and polite. He is a quieter, nicer character. That's what I wanted to be."

The unit now has about 12 clowns. "We entertain in all the parades we are invited to attend and for organizations and businesses," Meier said. "I enjoy it. I get lots of smiles out of kids, even older kids."

The Shrine clowns perform at least twice a month from April through October. Sometimes they perform for a charitable cause or they accept donations, which are turned over to the Shriners' Hospital for Crippled Children.

Meier enjoys entertaining as a clown so much he now spends much of his free time dressed as Smiley.

"I go to the hospitals and nursing homes most anyplace people want me.

"People really love clowns," Meier said. "It's nothing to have youngsters run out in a parade and want to hug you. Kids love clowns and I think older people enjoy it too. When I go to nursing homes and hospitals, people seem to have a good time."