Entertainer. He gained fame as half of the Sherman Brothers clown duo. At an young age he aspired to tightrope walking , using a rope tied between two trees in his backyard and balancing himself. Continual practice at this produced results, as he daily applied himself to becoming an entertainer. By age 17 he had become skilled at singing and tightrope walking (referred to in the circus as wirewalking, for it is a wire, or more exactly a cable, rather than a rope, that is employed). He gained work on the Vaudeville entertainment circuit by singing the specialty song "Follow The Bouncing Ball" in a movie theater. It was such theatrical vocalizing that brought him together with Paul Kafka, a vaudevillian entertainer who did a low wire act suspended by two "female" assistants (who were actually men with very strong jaws dressed and made up to look like women) suspending Kafka by their teeth. Kafka was planning a new highwire act, and described it. Chester Sherman, who could walk the wire with ease, auditioned for Kafka, and was given the job, pending parental permission. At first his mother denied approval, but when he threatened to run away from home, she recanted and gave her permission. From that day forward, he never again left the business of show. Later, when Kafka returned to England, Sherman continued on in vaudeville, this time joining with The Kenneth Waite Trio. Chester and Waite turned to clowning, a less-physical means of earning a living. It was in Kenneth Waite's Acrobatic Trio where he eventually met his future partner in clowning, Joe (Vani) Sherman. During their time with the Kenneth Waite Trio, they played the State and Lake Theater in Chicago, Illinois - it was that theater where the Waite Trio opened the show. In 1937 when Waite retired the act, Sherman and Vani became The Sherman Bros. and began clowning as their life-long career. As circus clowns they appeared throughout the United States for over 37 years, from 1937 to 1975, touring with the Medina, Howard, Carden-Johnson, and Polack Brothers circuses, as well as the Orrin Davenport Shows and other Shrine circuses. They devised what would become traditional clown acts, among them the "hot doggie", wherein a clown steals hot dogs from a clown vendor, eats them all, gets sick and has his stomach pumped by clown doctors, producing a small dog. As the act exits, the dog follows, erect on its hind legs. In addition to their regular show obligations, the duo voluntarily visited hospitals throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, entertaining both the patients and staff. They clowned with other featured circus clowns Felix B. Adler, Emmett Kelly Sr., Harry Dann, Lou Jacobs, Otto Griebling, Shorty Flemm, Chester BoBo Barnett, Freddy Freeman, Paul Jung, Larry Cross, and Peluza, remaining active until Chester's 1975 retirement, followed by his death in 1976. In 1995 the Sherman Brothers - Chester (posthumously) and Joe - were hailed by their profession and inducted into the International Clown Hall Of Fame. Their clown wardrobe and effects were donated to the museum at the time of their induction. His partner in clowning, Joe Vani Sherman, joined him in death March 21, 2008.