He started working as a young child in his family's circus act, and then joined with his brother Joshua and half-brother Abraham "Alf" Alvarez as an acrobatic troupe, the Three Cliftons (also known as the Clifton Brothers, and under a variety of other names), often performing in formal evening dress.
The troupe toured internationally before splitting up in 1900, and Joe Clifton took on the name Boganny.
Membership of the troupe changed over time but generally included Boganny's children as well as midgets and a dog.
The troupe performed regularly in London and toured in Britain, the United States and Australia.
[2] Joe Boganny died in 1943, in Kensington, London, at the age of 69, and was buried at East Ham Jewish Cemetery.