A Clown Without Make-up

Jim Jayes specializes in entertaining little children with his interactive magic show. Photos courtesy of the Albert Lea Public Library.

Two years ago veteran magician, circus clown, and puppeteer Jim Jayes vacationed from his home in southern Minnesota to Door County. “Every time I travel I try to book a few shows,” he says. Because the Door County Libraries were unfamiliar with Jayes, he performed his first show free. “I said, ‘If you like it, you can book me next year,’” he recalls.

Jayes put on his show and approached the librarian. ‘You’re coming next year,’ she said. “Then she told me she had called another librarian and had her listen to the kids laughing over the phone,” says Jayes.

Though Jayes has performed for all ages and a variety of venues over his 30-year career, he specializes in performing for little kids. “I like little kids,” he says. “I enjoy making them laugh. I really gear the show towards fun and silly – I’m not trying to be David Copperfield in a library,” he laughs. “I’m like a clown without make-up. My reaction is as funny as the trick itself.”

One of the most rewarding aspects of performing for the children is making them laugh, providing them happiness or reprieve from their current situation.

“I recently did a show at the Mayo Clinic pediatric ward for about ten kids. One of the boys was a burn victim and they had to bring him out on a wagon,” says Jayes. “There is a puppet that the kids can pet in the show. The puppet nibbled his toes and he was laughing, laughing, laughing. The doctors came out to see him laughing. It was very rewarding.”

Jayes became interested in magic as a young child himself. “I was a sickly kid and my grandfather did a few tricks. He wasn’t a magician but I learned some magic and enjoyed it.”

He finds the library a perfect venue to showcase his magic tricks, as interested children and adults can browse and borrow books on magic. “That’s how I learned,” says Jayes.

Jim Jayes will perform July 23 at 10:30 am at the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Library; July 24 at 3 pm at the Forestville Library; and July 25 at 1:30 pm at the Sturgeon Bay Library. For more information visit doorcountylibrary.org or call 920.743.6578.