WOODLAND HILLS : Show-Business Retirees Get Full Treatment

The circus came to Woodland Hills on Wednesday. But before the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clowns traipsed onstage, singing ringmaster Eric Gillett called an impromptu huddle.

The audience awaiting them would be “the hippest we’ve played to all year,” Gillett warned, as sober clowns gulped their coffee with the air of battle-weary soldiers.

“They are all sharp as a tack and believe me they know show business. These are the people who made our business. . . . Don’t perform down to them. Perform up to them,” he said.

The event was a charity performance for elderly residents of the nonprofit Motion Picture and Television Fund’s Country House on Mulholland Drive. It was the second time in three years the circus, which is in town until Sunday, has brought a portion of its show to the home for veterans of the entertainment industry.

Among those watching was Elizabeth Baer, in pink lipstick and bifocals, who described herself as a bareback rider and trapeze artist for a circus in earlier days.

“Things have never been the same since,” sighed Baer, a volunteer for Country House. “Of course, it’s so wonderful to see them . . . it was a wonderful life.”

The performers improvised a circus tent in the paneled dining room of the home. Between the pink Hula-Hoops leaning on one wall, and folded walkers on the other, clowns found space enough to cavort on the carpet, pausing now and then to pat a bald head or kiss an unsuspecting face.

The audience bore out Gillett’s prediction: they laughed on cue, kept time, and even barked like dogs at the ringmaster’s behest.

Thirteen-year-old Russian dancer and contortionist Olga Pikhienko drew gasps as she folded her back like a penknife and somersaulted down the hall.

“I loved that little girl. Boy, she is really an actress, “ exclaimed resident Anna Overton, wife of a former film crewman.

“I’m thrilled to death. It was tremendous. My golly,” said white-haired Sylvia Kantor, former secretary for a production company.

Kantor left the hall beaming like an 8-year-old, and wearing a hat given to her by a clown.

Afterward, clown Rick Gern, 35, called the show a success: “They were quiet, but they had great depth of perception. It was an honor to perform to this crowd.”