Rodeo Clown Campbell Autrey Keeps the Spirit of 1960's Rodeo Comedy Alive

At just 18 years old, rodeo clown Campbell Autrey is looking backward to help carry rodeo entertainment forward.

The Atlanta, Texas, entertainer has developed an appreciation for the traditional style of rodeo comedy that filled arenas decades before he was born. Now, Autrey is helping bring a piece of that history back into the arena by teaming up with 87-year-old former rodeo clown Marilyn Jones.

Jones began clowning in the early 1960s after her friend Sissy Smith encouraged her to dress as a clown for an all female rodeo in Hot Springs, Arkansas. What started unexpectedly turned into four years of entertaining rodeo crowds.

During those years, Jones crossed paths with legendary rodeo clown and bullfighter Lecile Harris. Jones and Harris performed together on several occasions, including a camera comedy act that became part of her rodeo memories.

More than six decades later, that history caught Autrey's attention.

Autrey studies traditional rodeo comedy and considers Harris one of his greatest influences. Much of the young entertainer's approach is inspired by the "old school" rodeo clowns who combined carefully developed comedy acts with the unpredictability of a live rodeo performance.

Rather than allowing those routines to exist only in photographs and memories, Autrey invited Jones back into the arena to recreate the camera act during the Friday night performance of the 2026 Pioneer Days Rodeo.

The pairing puts nearly 70 years between the two performers, but their shared appreciation for rodeo comedy bridges the generational gap.

For Jones, the opportunity means revisiting a part of her life that began more than 60 years ago.

"I think this is going to be so much fun," Jones said. "I love to have fun."

Jones joked that some of the more physical acts from her younger years, including routines involving cars, crashes and jumping from vehicles, will stay in the past. But the comedy that once entertained rodeo crowds will have another opportunity to come alive.

For Autrey, bringing Jones back into the arena represents something larger than recreating a single act. By studying performers who came before him and incorporating pieces of rodeo's entertainment history into his own career, he is helping introduce those traditions to audiences who may have never experienced them.

Rodeo has changed considerably since Jones first put on clown makeup in the 1960s, but Autrey's approach shows that some parts of the sport's character do not have to disappear with time.

With one performer representing rodeo comedy's past and another carrying it into the future, an old school act will once again have its moment under the arena lights.

The special performance brings together two generations separated by nearly 70 years in age but connected through the traditions of rodeo entertainment. For Autrey, it is an opportunity to honor the performers who helped shape the profession. For Jones, it is one more chance to make a rodeo crowd laugh in Bowie, Texas.

The Pioneer Days Rodeo in New Boston, Texas, is a UPRA-sanctioned event that brings generations of rodeo tradition together, making it a fitting setting to celebrate the history and evolution of rodeo entertainment.