Tears of the clowns

Fruit and Jingles, aka Susan Oberg and Harvey Jacobvitz, are so good at their antics - magic, juggling, balloon sculpting, and skits - that they have earned coveted awards at Clowns of America International conventions and have became certified judges for both that organization and the International Shrine Clown Association.

When they’re not performing professionally, the couple from Hull donate their time and talent to raise money for local causes including Wellspring, the town’s multiservice organization; the Chamber of Commerce; Fort Revere Park and Restoration; and the Paragon Carousel. They also volunteer much of their funny business to organizations that help children with cancer. State Senator Robert Hedlund considers them “an asset to their community, and a colorful asset, at that.’’

Now, in an unfortunate irony, the professional clowns who have done so much for others have had to scale back as they weather their own personal crises.

Jacobvitz’s diagnosis of prostate cancer last year coincided with a cancer recurrence in Oberg’s daughter, Wendy Nelson, just as the couple were tending to ailing parents they have since lost.

“It’s a mystery how so many sad things can happen to such caring people,’’ said Jacob Elementary School nurse Barbara Meschino. She has long called on Jacobvitz when hearing of a student going without a warm jacket, sneakers, or eyeglasses, knowing he will get the items to her through the Angel Fund at the Weymouth United Masonic Lodge, where he is a member. “They are always doing for others, often behind the scenes,’’ she said.

Weighed down as they are, with Oberg caring for her daughter while Jacobvitz looks after 10-year-old granddaughter Vanessa Nelson, they still manage to find time to help. “Jingles’’ appeared with clown-in-training Vanessa to boost the fun at the Paragon Carousel’s recent Open House weekend by sculpting balloons into animals for the children.

The couple’s mix of clowning and philanthropy began 25 years ago, when Oberg donned a clown costume for a carnival to support public school sports programs. “Watching the reactions of the children, the smiles on their faces when I went over to them, I was hooked,’’ she said.

Oberg soon began entertaining for another cause, Why Me Inc., a Worcester-based nonprofit that helps support families of children with cancer.

Oberg understands the trauma of losing a child: A house fire many years ago took the life of her 2-year-old son. She learned how difficult it is to make sense of a child’s death, to move forward. So when Why Me director Margaret White stopped into the costume shop where Oberg was then working to rent a Santa suit for a visit to a child who wasn’t going to make it until Christmas, Oberg insisted on taking care of the order herself and even paid for it, recalled White, who then invited the fledgling clown to entertain for her organization.

Spurred by her experiences, Oberg created a clown therapy program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, started a bereavement group with Why Me, and held a yearly “Clown Clinic’’ emphasizing dancing and laughter instead of needles and pain.

Meanwhile, Quincy auto mechanic Jacobvitz was developing his own appreciation of clowning’s greater merit. Initially attracted to the magic tricks and socializing, he soon discovered that clowns “bring in a cheerful element so that everyone gets more connected, they start opening up,’’ he said.

Some 15 years into their separately evolving careers, the two, both divorced, met at a professional convention. Their burgeoning friendship led them to start Eye Candy Productions, a video company with diverse customers including the nonprofit Father Bill’s Place in Quincy and such corporate clients as Supreme Oil.

It also led to their wedding in 2000 in full clown regalia at the carousel before a clown-packed audience and 3,000 onlookers.

They went on to create the Clown Arts Program through the Hull Parks and Recreation Department, where children ages 4 to 16 learn how to juggle, spin plates, and create a clown character and skit. “How many kids get to grow up in a town that has a clown camp?’’ South Shore historian John Galluzzo asked rhetorically.

Even during their visit to China, where they performed at Beijing’s Golden Week Festival, Fruit and Jingles didn’t just entertain. They also taught clowning to students at a vocational school who were destined to do menial tasks for a living. Teaching the students wasn’t planned; Oberg asked permission when she understood the nature of their future. Their work in this case was “the exportation of happiness,’’ said Galluzzo.

Until last year, the couple held an annual Chocolate Lovers and Wine Tasting event at the Clarion Hotel in Hull to benefit Why Me.

Oberg explained to vendors and patrons in 2008 that it would be the last tasting event, as she needed to devote herself to her daughter’s care. She chose to divulge the cancer afflicting her own family to remind people that supporting families whose children have cancer enables them the “luxury’’ to be there with their sick or dying child.

“I’ve been with parents when they say to their child, ‘It’s OK, you can let go now,’ ’’ said Oberg. “It’s something you never forget. Your heart explodes . . . but knowing that you were there for that child makes all the difference.’’

For more information about the couple’s work, go to Eyecandypro.com or call 781-925-9793. Constance Lindner can be reached at clindner2@gmail.com.