The story of
Benny Schumann

Benny Schumann was born on 23 May 1945 in Göteborg, Sweden. He was christened Carmelo José Bienvenido Schumann. The Spanish-sounding names are due to his mother being Spanish, the daughter of the world-famous clown Charlie Rivel. In daily talk he has never been called anything but Benny or Benni.

His circus debut was in 1950, in Circus Schumann. From 1951 he was in the matinée performances of Circus Schumann with several acts, including a 9-year old cowboy on two ponies and a clown doing handstands on his grandmother’s arm. Circus Schumann then started the season in the Circus building in Lorensberg in Göteborg and thereafter in Djurgården in Stockholm. In May he started the season in the Circus building in Copenhagen. After Copenhagen he finished the season by performing in Odense, Århus and Aalborg. In winter the Schumann family performed elsewhere in Europe, including Bertram Mills Circus in London.

In 1957 Benny Schumann performed on the tightrope in the Circus building. It was his aunt Adèle Orlando, a famous tightrope performer in her youth, who taught Benny to perform on the tightrope.

In 1958 Benny performed on the tightrope with his mother and later his younger brother Jacques as a permanent feature of the Circus Schumann programme, i.e. also in the evening performances. A year later he became part of Circus Schumann’s famous horse acts. It was Benny’s father, Albert Schumann, who taught him how to train circus horses and perform with them. Albert Schumann was an expert horse trainer – many considered him as the greatest, with abilities now called ”horse whisperer”.

In 1961 Benny performed his horse acts for the first time in Bertram Mills Circus in London. These visits were repeated each year in December and January until 1966, when Bertram Mills closed.

After the 1957 season the Circus building in Stockholm at Djürgården was converted to a TV-studio. This meant the end of the circus in the building. Up to and including 1964 Circus Schumann performed in a tent on Nöjesfelts Square. After the 1965 season it was decided to use the Square as a parking area for the pleasure garden Gröna Lund, thereby bringing Circus Schumann’s visits to Stockholm to an end.

In 1965 Circus Schumann engaged the world-famous plate juggler Eric Brenn. Benny had long been interested in juggling, and after aunt Adèle told Benny that this kind of act would suit him well, he immediately began to practise his own plate juggling act, shown for the first time at the Circus Schumann première in 1967. At the end of the season Benny left Circus Schumann and performed this number over the following ten years under the name Ric Benny in Europe, USA, Canada and Africa.

In 1969 it was no longer possible to have the circus in Göteborg, as the Lorensberg building was to be demolished. At the same time the Circus building in Copenhagen faced an uncertain future. A few years earlier it was bought by the department store Anva, which intended to demolish it and use the area for other purposes.
The brothers Albert and Max Schumann then decided to close Circus Schumann. They still earned money, but the season was shortened as it was no longer possible to play in Stockholm and Göteborg. On Albert’s initiative the brothers closed the circus while the going was good. The closure of the famous Circus Schumann marked the end of an era in circus history.

In 1977 Benny performed in a show at Søpavillonen in Copenhagen together with his grandfather Charlie Rivel and his mother Paulina. Later the three took part in various tours in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In 1980 Benny and his wife Marianne went on tours in Denmark with the ”Circus Clown” show, Their daughters Julia and Patricia took part in the performance on several occasions.

In 1982 Benny went on tent tours as a plate juggler in the Circus Max Schumann. This circus was founded in 1979 by Benny’s uncle Max and his family. Benny’s father Albert Schumann was not involved in Max’s, which closed at the end of the 1982 season.

In 1984, Benny had the premiere of his solo show ”Hej Clown!”, in which he performs as juggler, ventriloquist, tightrope dancer, conjurer and clown, with music and lyrics composed by himself.
With this act he became one of Denmark’s most popular artists with about 150 performances annually. ”Hej Clown!” is still one of the most popular circus artist and clown acts in Denmark. It is performed in long and short versions, both outdoors and indoors, and has had over a million spectators.

In 1991 Benny’s book ”Din og min cirkus” (My circus and yours) was published by Klematis. It is out-of-print, but can be found in most libraries.

Since 1993 Benny has performed in Benny Schumann’s Mini Circus as well as his solo show.Here one meets the ponies Labanovsky and Shadow with Staldmeister Briano as assistant, and also a number of international guest artists. Among the guest artists in recent years has been the sealion trainers Steven Petersen and John Burke, the dog trainer Wolfgang Lauenburger and Florin with his dog Cato.

In 1996 Benny started, in collaboration with the worlds oldest funfair Dyrehavsbakken, The International Clown Festival, now one of Dyrehavsbakken’s annual events.
In 2005 Benny received Bakken’s Oscar.

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