Entertainer clownin’ around for 30 years

[attach]2270[/attach]She’s sang and danced with the Care Bears during the CNE, performed in a kite festival in Singapore, played the flute with 2,000 others led by a world-renowned flutist, and literally played the clown for years.

That’s when she’s not writing a bestselling book on face painting, creating a Juno-nominated kids’ album with the Sphere Clown Band, or watching that 1984 album go gold. And then there’s managing the multi-million dollar entertainment agency she owns on Danforth Avenue, [url=http://www.sphereentertainment.com]Sphere Entertainment[/url].

Indeed, there’s a very real sense that the title of that kids’ album, I Can Do Anything, is a theme song of sorts for Patricia Silver.

The longtime Beach resident, entertainer and entrepreneur is celebrating her 30th year in business and is now running one of only a handful of entertainment businesses of its kind in the country.

With a team of 10 full-time employees, Silver produces character shows and events mainly in and around Toronto, but her reach extends as far as China and Singapore. Working with over 2,000 dancers, musicians and performers, her agency does everything from writing the script and the music for the production to hiring actors and dancers, choreographing, getting the costumes made and staging the show.

The company’s latest achievement: producing all the shows for Shrek in Canada for DreamWorks.

“It’s a great anniversary present,” Silver says.

Working in an industry that’s traditionally been male-dominated hasn’t always been easy. When she launched the business with her then-husband in 1980, women simply didn’t own businesses, she says. There was more than one time when she signed her name with the more gender ambiguous “Pat” instead of “Patricia” to get a deal.

But the biz has changed, she says, and she hasn’t had to do that in a long time. Today, Silver makes a point of signing her name “Patricia”.

American-born and educated, Silver was a publicist at CBC before she set out on the road performing in the 1970s with some friends in a band. That venture lasted only six months, she says, but she never went back to her former occupation.

“I’m a musician at heart.”

She started doing backup for Canadian entertainer Bobby G. Griffith in a band called Sphere, which was quite popular in the day in the Sutton Place Hotel and other Toronto hotspots. The group was such a hit it started referring other performers when it was booked.

It took a phone call to Silver from Toronto entertainment agent Larry Cuthbertson for her to see that the band could be charging for the referrals it was providing for free.

That’s when the agency started — literally on the kitchen table in her Beach home, Silver says.

Aside from the band bookings, the Sphere band was still playing six nights a week. Then it started clown shows during the day — Silver says she thought clowning looked fun, so long-time mentor Dan Stephenson booked her for eight hours at the CNE years ago and that was her first act. Writing kids’ songs with the rest of the group followed from there, as did the Juno nomination.

Eventually the biz morphed into an agency that books clowns, magicians and other performers. The Sphere Clown Band still exists and performs.

One of the most rewarding aspects of her type of work has been giving artists the opportunity to perform so they’re not working in construction, Silver says.

Her proudest moment was when she received a phone call from a local stilt walker and juggler couple. “Thank you for buying our house,” they said to her.

“How satisfying is that?”

For Silver, creating a situation where everyone wins — the client, the performers, the company, the audience — is vital.

“That’s the hippie in me.”