Clowning Around Under the Big Top : Circus Dreams Come Alive in Fantasy and Role-Playing at Children’s Museum

“Lions, follow me!” snapped the little boy in the Snidely Whiplash mustache. In top hat and tails, Joshua Pimental, 6, of Whittier leads his school chums, costumed as various jungle beasts, through a Hula Hoop, cracking his whip all the while.

It’s circus time at the Children’s Museum at La Habra and with about four school tours a day, it’s often bedlam under the Big Top.

“I think my hearing is going a little,” says tour guide Dorothy Fite. “But the hubbub and the noise don’t seem to bother me too much. The children are really enjoying what they’re doing.”

She excuses herself to help one of the youngsters: “If you dress up like a tiger you can jump through the hoop there,” she tells one reticent boy.

“I want to be a clown,” he says softly.

Fantasy and role-playing are the real stars of “Under the Big Top,” which runs through Feb. 18. With clown costumes and giant shoes dangling from the ceiling, circus memorabilia all around and sawdust underfoot, the exhibit was designed to bring children’s circus dreams to life.

Donations from Ringling Bros. and circus buffs of posters, costumes, animal cages, a popcorn machine and a miniature circus town fill the gallery with nearly as much excitement as a Barnum & Bailey show.

“Under the Big Top” is the latest in an ongoing series of hands-on programs for children offered by the city-run museum, which opened in 1977 as the first museum in Southern California and the only one in Orange County devoted to children. For its efforts, the group has won state and national recognition.

While the kindergartners from Meadowgreen School in Whittier sit in the center ring soaking up the ambiance--bales of hay for tigers to jump on, brilliant sideshow banners, bins of musical instruments for clown parades and circus music in the background--Fite provides a brief history of the Big Top. (Schools pay the regular admission price of $1 for children and $1.50 for adults when they tour the facility.)

“In the time of the Romans there were children who were clowns and some even got to ride on the back of a bull,” she said, adding that children have always been a part of the circus.

When Fite gives the signal, the children dash for the costumes and are quickly transformed into acrobats, clowns, lion tamers and trapeze artists. Saucy-looking 5-year-old girls with painted faces clomp by in high heels and tutus, while tiny clowns parade in a circle and bang on tambourines. A small acrobat is swinging from a trapeze (not to worry--it’s close to the floor) and a little bear is jumping on a trampoline. Nearly every child is squealing with delight and skittering around the room playing with each display--as if he knows the tour won’t leave time to try everything.

After the carrousel rides, face painting and ring toss, a few youngsters still have time to view the enormous motorized circus village display donated by the Fred Canfield family of Fullerton and the hand-carved miniature circus wagons loaned by Fred Kingdon of Brea. Melissa Banning, assistant museum director, said many members of the community helped with donations of props, collectibles and time.

Fite, who has been a museum volunteer for nearly 10 years and who is described by Banning as “the heart of the museum,” says she can virtually see the exhibit enriching the children’s lives as they participate.

“It opens up their world,” she said. “The children come here, and you can almost hear their vocabulary expanding.”

Such enthusiasm from the volunteers helped the museum win a $1,500 grant recently from the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts. As the 1988 recipient of the Business in the Arts Award, the museum, which operates on an annual budget of $400,000, will continue its revolving exhibits and ongoing children’s programs in the converted 1923 Union Pacific Train Depot and red caboose on South Euclid Street. But the facility has a lot more in store for the future.

The museum recently broke ground for its 8,000-square foot wing, which is scheduled for completion in late spring. The addition will feature three new permanent exhibits: Preschool Playpark for infants and toddlers; Kids on Stage, a gallery focusing on the performing arts, and Science Station, an area devoted to exploring the physical sciences.

The new wing will also house a kitchen, a classroom, a gift shop and administrative offices.

“Under the Big Top” runs through Feb. 18 at the Children’s Museum at La Habra, at 301 S. Euclid St., La Habra, open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $1 for children and $1.50 for adults. Information: (213) 905-9793.