Community Chat

[mistriTsquirrel]

On 2/19/2014 ennui1 said:

On 2/19/2014 blackbirdraven said:

i just don't see a cause for alarm on this one...........is there much of a demand for clowns?????????........................................raven

Look at it another way ... would you want to live in a world without clowns?

[ennui1]

On 2/19/2014 mistriTsquirrel said:

On 2/19/2014 ennui1 said:

Look at it another way ... would you want to live in a world <em>without</em> clowns?

[JustJules]

I think the world still needs clowns, and not the scary ones or the a**hat clown variety. I used to like clowns when I was little and my dad would take me to the Shrine Circus, as long as they were happy clowns with the wacky hair, big noses, and clumsy floppy over sized shoes. I think it is when I watched Poltergeist that I first had a fear of clowns, and then Stephen King's IT sealed the deal.

Here is a happy clown story. Does anyone remember Emmett Kelly who created "Weary Willie" the sad-faced clown? He was a multi-talented man, but was perhaps best known with Ringling Bros. circus as the clown that would sweep up after the other performers, and he would try to sweep up the pool of light in the spotlight. He was never photographed smiling in his clown makeup, always had the sad frown painted on....except one time.

The Today Show did a segment on it, one of those strange life coincidence moments. Emmett had died, and his daughter was on a flight to be with her family, shocked and grieving his loss. She read the newspaper and there was a story about Emmett's death. She remembered she had an old picture of him in her bag that she carried, so she took it out to look at it. It was the one picture, the only time he had been caught smiling in his clown face. The one thing she had never known was what her dad was thinking at that moment in time. The man seated next to her noticed her sadness and saw the picture, asking if she was okay. She told him that was her father and that he had just died. The man told her, she would never believe him, but he was the photographer that took that photograph so many years before. The reason Emmett had been smiling, he was doing press interviews and received a phone call from the hospital that his wife had just given birth to his healthy baby girl, and the photographer snapped the picture of his big grin. She realized then, her dad was with her in that moment.

LINK with video here: http://www.today.com/video/today/54067029#54067029

"The daughter of the famous sad-faced circus clown Emmett Kelly was on an airplane and grieving his death when, in a newspaper, she spotted the only photo of him smiling. In an amazing coincidence, she then discovered that the man seated next to was the photographer who had snapped the picture."

[ennui1]

That's a great story, Jules, thank you for posting it.

Red Skelton, an artist as well as a comedian, was famous for his clown portraits.

[mistriTsquirrel]

On 2/19/2014 Jules5280 said:

I think the world still needs clowns, and not the scary ones or the a**hat clown variety.

I much prefer a** clowns over traditional clowns...as long as I'm not dating one.

[JustJules]

On 2/19/2014 ennui1 said:

That's a great story, Jules, thank you for posting it.

Red Skelton, an artist as well as a comedian, was famous for his clown portraits.

ennui1, Thanks, it touched my heart when I heard about it and thought it was share-worthy. Red Skelton was great too, I was lucky to grow up with older parents and they shared these great performers with me. Red's "Freddie the Freeloader" character was hilarious.

[ennui1]

And what about jesters? Mimes? Jokers?

It's going to be a dreary world.

[skuggles]

No clown shortage here.

[mistriTsquirrel]

On 2/19/2014 ennui1 said:

And what about jesters? Mimes? Jokers?

It's going to be a dreary world.

Don't you worry...we still have plenty of Jokers.

And don't forget that we have plenty of comedians--geared towards young crowds and older crowds--so I don't think there will be a problem.

Honestly, when I watch magicians and clowns perform for children, the children often seem either frightened or confused. I think many of them don't recognize clowns and/or magicians as "entertaining." I think those forms of entertainment had their era, and now it is over.

BTW...has anyone ever found mimes entertaining???

[Love my grandkids]

Fine by me. I've hated clowns all my like. To me, they are too weird for words. My DIL feels exactly the same way.

When she was pregnant with grandchild #1, someone gave her a picture frame decorated with clowns. She donated it to Goodwill.