New York World's Fair - Emmett Kelly Jr
Send in the sad clowns! Just one will do, come to think of it. Emmett Kelly Sr. developed his character "Weary Willie" - a hobo clown who evoked pathos as well as laughs. This was revolutionary in its day, as most clowns performed slapstick stunts and devoured children.
When Sr. retired in 1960, his son, Emmett Kelly Jr. took over the Weary Willie character. In 1964, Eastman Kodak was looking for a representative to appear at its pavilion at the New York World's Fair and chose Kelly, who rapidly became one of the most popular attractions at the Fair.
Eastman Kodak was so pleased that they asked him to become the touring Ambassador of Goodwill for the company, which Kelly Jr. did for four years.
It was during those six years (two years at the Fair and the subsequent four years) that he became America's most recognized and photographed clown.
10 comments:
I have never ever liked clowns! My security word today is oilly, LOL
i remember thinking how sad he looks when i was a kid. i wonder what he was like as his regular self?
I'm going to have nightmares tonight.
MAJORRRRRRRR !!!!!!!!!!!! Don't ever post a clown again...... I'm OK now.
I'm changing this to The Clown Blog. All clowns, all the time. Deal with it! ;-)
Wasn't I clown enough?
Well clowns have really fallen from public fancy (and the clown horror thing, while awesome the first few times, hasn't helped). So Emmett Sr and Jr escaped my notice. Thanks for the spotlight on him. That's the blueprint for a home he's using as the blanket prop. I find his concept and act very interesting and poignant.
Funny, just yesterday I was thinking about people that were once known by everyone but who wouldn’t be known buy anyone under 40 years old today. Emmett Kelly came to mind
I've only heard of him, but now I recognize the face in a thousand clown paintings! Interesting, it looks here like he might be doing his own version of Buster Keaton's routine where he unfolds a small map that keeps getting bigger and bigger until it completely covers him up.
It was a single spotlight, not several. He had to chase it around at first. He finally caught up with it and swept it until it grew smaller and smaller and I believe he wound up putting it in his pocket.
Dreemfinder, you may be right; I was relying on my memory, which has been known to be faulty! I could have sworn that there were three or four little spotlights moving around, but wouldn't put money on it.
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