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Weary Willie shares the spotlight…
With young flyer Lee Kolozsy
by Lee Kolozsy
As a
young circus performer I worked hard and went through a great deal
of hardship, not to mention running the risk of injury and even
death, for the mere amusement of others. The job was tough, but
the perks were a taste of paradise. I had the good fortune to
receive an education of the highest order, in the Art of
Showmanship. My teachers were my friends and co-workers.
Among them were some
of the greatest Showmen of all time…
I at
one time had the singular distinction of being the youngest member
of the AGVA.
I belonged to a professional association of actors, comics,
singers, dancers, acrobats, daredevils, and more. I had a union
card signed by Danny Thomas. I had the pleasure of working on
shows with legends of the entertainment world. The list is too
long to cover in one brief article. I shall have to narrow the
subject matter to one memorable occurrence.
The most well known
clown in America…
Emmett Kelly is famous to this day, as is
his son, for the characterization of “Weary Willie”. The sad
faced tramp clown of the paintings and figurines. What only a very
few are aware of is that Emmett Kelly Sr. was a
 Master
Showman. He was, above all, a thoughtful and conscientious
craftsman skilled in the art of Showmanship.
I was thrilled at the
prospect of sharing a bill with the legendary funnyman…
The
Hamid-Morton Circus had a long season and
covered many miles. The dates were primarily Shrine and badge
deals
and mostly indoors. The cast played the whole tour as a company
from beginning to end. The lineup included many of the best acts
the circus world had to offer. Big names were brought in for big
dates. When we got to Altoona, Wilkes Barre, Harrisburg, and
Pittsburgh, the show was punched up with additional prestige acts.
The first year I did the tour we had the young ladies from TVs
“Petticoat Junction”. A few years later the big name guest star
was Doug McClure, who played “Trampas” on “The Virginian”. It was
by way of backstage gossip that I learned of Emmett joining the
show for the big ones.
I intended to pay
close attention and take notes…
I
wanted to know why Emmett Kelly was such a big name. I mean there
was no shortage of tramp clowns. Why was he a star? I was going to
make it my business to find out. When the famous Joey
joined on in Altoona, I watched every thing he did. There wasn’t
much to watch. He had no props. He did no bits. He did not
participate in the producing clown’s gags. He simply wandered
around eating leaves from a head of cabbage. Mostly, he just sat
in the audience, in full costume, looking sad, like Chaplin’s
little tramp, eating cabbage. I was mystified, and disappointed.
Why would a sharp guy like George A. hire such a lame act to do
practically nothing? I didn’t get it.
What’s so funny about
eating raw cabbage? …
The
next day I’m in the blues
early, sticking Mickey Mouse in the glass house,
and the lights go out. I hear yelling. Emmett’s in his street
clothes and he’s hollering instructions to the girders. From the
girders I hear “yes Sir Mr. Kelly”. The balloon work came to a
halt. I was watching Emmett and the spotlight guy blocking out the
cues for the famous sweeping up the spotlight routine.
That next show, it brought the house down. I asked him after the
show why he hadn’t put it in from the start. He said quite simply,
that he had no idea where it belonged in the line-up until he had
watched the show a few times.
A sensational
performance is all a matter of timing…
As
the days went by, he kept adding business, a bit here, a gag
there. I kept asking questions. He gave me
 direct
and sensible answers. He taught me that the success of a gag is
largely determined by its placement in the show. The conditions
are always different as the performance moves on. The line-up of
acts should complement one another. Dramatic tension should always
build. Laughter is the release. One must be careful not to
undermine the desired effect.
The audience can be
played like a musical instrument. This is what makes a great
performance…
We
were lining up for spec
one day and Emmett grabs my dad, they confer, they look at me, and
my dad nods in agreement. My dad tells me after spec, “Rehearsal
after finale, Emmett wants to work out a bit for the next show”. I
didn’t like it one bit. I was seething with resentment. This was
my act. We don’t do comedy. My dad was more level headed, plus, he
knew a lot more.
The featured part of
my performance was being taken over by this clown…
At
the close of our teeterboard
routine, the acrobatic acts in the end rings would scram, the
house would go dark, and our troupe would line up in the
spotlighted center ring. The ringmaster would announce, “Directing
your attention to the center ring… where we present the difficult
and dangerous, backwards somersault, flying from the teeterboard,
to the shoulders of the catcher, atop a four man high, human
pyramid, using no nets or safety devices of any kind whatsoever,
with the world’s youngest teeterboard flyer performing this
incredible stunt, completely blindfolded…”
The usual obligatory
drumroll creates a moment of great tension…
The
pyramid would form up, the pusher would leap atop the pedestal,
and my number one spotter (Mom) would lead me blindfolded to the
teeterboard.
By now you could cut
the tension with a knife…
Enter Weary Willie. The spotlight picked him up madly dashing
along the hippodrome track making a beeline for the center ring
frantically pantomiming “STOP THE SHOW-STOP THE SHOW”… he was
running with a straw broom, holding it by the broomstick with the
straw part at the top. As he entered the ring, the pyramid
disbanded, I removed the blindfold, and we all acted put out.
Weary Willie pantomimed that he would like to sweep off the pad at
the flyer’s end of the teeterboard. With some annoyance we
indicated proceed. He began to sweep vigorously.
A dust cloud along
the order of an atomic blast formed in the center ring…
Emmett had talced the broom. This was why he carried it upside
down. It was loaded with about a pound of talcum powder. The
spotlights picked up the cloud of powder created by his energetic
sweeping and the absurdity of it all broke the tension. Huge belly
laughs could be heard from clear up in the nosebleeds.
He stole the show,
and then handed me the audience on a silver platter…
There we all stood frozen in the spotlights, with waves of
laughter washing down from thousands of delighted fans. Then
Emmett cued us with a signal, and we all hammed it up with fake
coughing and sneezing, waving our hands to clear the dust from our
faces. When the laughter died away, Emmett made a grand gesture
indicating “carry on” and exited with the broom under his arm with
the self-satisfied air of a job well done. This was the work of a
Master Showman.
The bit was a
showstopper…
When
we completed the stunt and the pyramid turned a full 360 degrees
in the center ring…the applause was deafening. As we left the
arena, with the cheers and whistles ringing in my ears, I had to
rethink what I had believed earlier. At one point Emmett had told
me “sell the sizzle, not the steak”
By the time we got to
Pittsburgh, it may as well have been called the Emmett Kelly
Circus…
In a
few short weeks, the master clown had pulled all the right bits
out of his old trunk and fitted them neatly into all the right
places in the show. I only wish that I knew by now as much as he
had forgotten by then.
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