Lou Jacobs
German clown (1903–1992)
Johann Ludwig Jacob (January 1, 1903 – September 13, 1992), professionally known as Lou Jacobs, was a German-born American auguste clown who performed for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for more than 60 years. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989. He is credited with popularizing the clown car, which has been a staple of circus clown acts ever since. He is also often cited as the originator of the red rubber ball nose, which is used by many clowns today. Jacobs was the first living person to have his portrait appear on an American postage stamp.
Career in US
In 1923, Lou Jacobs came to the U. S. on a steamship. His older brother Karl, had already made it to the U. S. and worked in the Keith Orpheum Theater as a contortionist. He saved up $150.00 to pay for his brother's boat fare. When Jacobs arrived in New York, he had only two dollars and didn't speak any English.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lou Jacobs” as german clown (1903–1992). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as german clown (1903–1992). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q108337. VIAF identifies the subject as 120584764. The Library of Congress control number is no2010067336. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1992, 1989 and 1923.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lou Jacobs” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.