Making a Living Clowning Around : Hushy the Clown will open a one-man show geared toward young children at the West End Playhouse.

“I’m born as an artist,” declares Hushy the Clown. His tone is both proud and a little wistful. “I can’t do any other thing.”

Fortunately for all concerned, Hushy (pronounced Hooshy ) adores being a clown. “I just love this work,” he says in a lilting European accent. “I love kids.”

On Saturday, Hushy opens a six-week run of his one-man show at the West End Playhouse, a performance, he says, that is geared toward children ages 3 and older. “I work with props, I do slapstick, I bring kids up to be involved with the act,” he says. “I do clown magic for them, I dance, I make animal balloons. It’s just one hour, ‘cause little kids get tired after that.”

West End Playhouse artistic director Edmund Gaynes was introduced to Hushy about a year and a half ago. “He impressed me as somebody who was really serious about what he did, and did it in the old-fashioned tradition of the European circus,” says Gaynes, who’s producing the show.

“It reminded me of the last children’s show I produced, Gideon Potter’s ‘The Wonder Faire’--which was a big hit and ran here for three years--in that it was original, different from the usual children’s theater you always see: ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ ”

Hushy’s reviews bear out the praise. “A sensitive, surprisingly accomplished performer,” says the San Francisco Chronicle. “An impeccably trained, spirited mime,” says the New York Times. And from the London Daily Telegraph: “An understanding of human emotion possessed only by the great.”

Apparently equally happy performing for children’s birthday parties as doing a sophisticated evening of pantomime for adults, Hushy (born Hushy Boroumand) relies on both his formal training and years of on-the-street experience.

Born in Iran, he grew up in Germany. “My father was very strict, made me be an engineer,” he recalls. “But after finishing technical school, I never worked in that field.” Instead, Hushy enrolled at the Berlin Mime Academy for three years, then spent another year studying mime with Etienne Decroux (Marcel Marceau’s teacher) in Paris, before emigrating to the United States at age 23.

His first impression of Los Angeles was not altogether positive. “It was too big for me,” he says with a slight shudder. Settling in the Bay Area, Hushy taught mime for four years at UC Berkeley. “But I didn’t want to make a career of that,” he says. Instead, in 1975, he became one of 5,660 who applied for a position with the Ringling Bros. Circus--and was one of the 60 who were accepted.

“I worked with them a year, and really learned what clowning was about,” he says. “But that’s a hard life, always traveling--trains, tents.”

Over the last two decades, Hushy, 44, has not exactly settled down. He’s been back and forth to Germany (where much of his family still lives) several times; his last sojourn there was for five years, during which time he toured all over Europe.

Now married and living in Hollywood, Hushy admits that making a living as a clown may not be the cushiest career choice. “It’s very hard here,” he says. “This city is for TV and movies. I will get it together, but it’s difficult. I’m not going to give up. I’m very positive, you know.”

WHERE AND WHEN

What: Hushy the Clown.

Location: West End Playhouse, 7446 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys.

Hours: 2 p.m. Saturdays. Closes July 2.

Price: $7.

Call: (818) 904-0444.