Hi-Bi honored by City
Jun. 14—Dick Morris has plenty of stories to tell about his 50 years as Hi-Bi the Clown.
"I go to the parades ahead of the parades so I can play with the kids," he said. "So, here's a trailer full of 5- or 6-year-old dancing girls, and one of my daughter's best friends is standing by there, and her daughter is standing there, so I'm playing to her daughter. And she's being kind of standoffish, so I said 'aren't you the girl who's supposed to kiss all the clowns' and she said 'NO!' I said 'why not,' and she said 'because you're fat and you're ugly.'"
Morris, 83, got a far more positive response Monday when Mayor Marlon Coleman recognized Morris's half century of service with a proclamation at the Muskogee Finance Committee meeting. Members of Morris' family attended.
"As Hi-Bi, he has walked countless miles in community parades across eastern Oklahoma, including six to 12 Christmas parades each year," the proclamation said. "If you didn't find him in the lineup, you'd find him in the street, among the crowd, doing what he does best. School visits are a favorite, where he sits among children and tells them magical stories of how he got the barrettes in his hair."
The proclamation added that Morris sponsored a clown college at Bedouin Shrine for many years.
Morris accepted the proclamation by telling the story of the standoffish little girl. He also recalled a funny time at his clown college.
"We took a bunch of teen-age kids and we dressed them up and we did all kinds of stuff around them," Morris said. "And we went to the Exchange Club, and if you ever visited the early Exchange Club, it was kind of rowdy. One of the skits was one of the clowns would lay on the floor. 'Who is it?' You're supposed to say it's Elvis Presley because he's dead. But she (the clown) laid on the floor and someone in the club said 'it's my wife!'"
Morris said his clowning began when a friend encouraged him to join Bedouin Shrine, he said.
"And he was a clown, so he decided I should be a clown," he said. "He took me to the first parade and dressed me up. And, truthfully, it was like a religious experience. It was like I walked into a room and I knew I was supposed to be there. Probably I was a clown before I even dressed up "
Morris said he began as Hie Bye and wore several different costumes.
"Later, I decided if I wanted to be a clown, I should have the same outfit every time," Morris said. "I changed to the outfit I've got now probably 45 years ago. And I changed to Hi-Bi because I tried to get a personalized tag and they already had Hie Bye."
And Hi-Bi doesn't plan to say bye-bye any time soon.
"I'm planning to keep carrying on," Morris said. "For as long as I can."
