Bring On The Clowns, R.I.P.

One of the many pleasures of having young sons is that I have an excuse to collect old videos of my favorite comedians from when I was a little kid. We watched the Three Stooges the other night, to celebrate together my 59th birthday. In my office at home is a painting that I inherited from my father, in whose office it hung for many years when he was a stockbroker.

Last month, we took a family auto trip around Arizona, including Tombstone. I wondered who lived there, to me pretty much in the middle of no where. Little did I know that a cherished clown, Emmett Kelly, Jr., lived in Tombstone. Yesterday he died. I missed the opportunity for my sons and I to search him out. But, the painting is still in my home office.

Emmett Kelly Jr. continued the Weary Willy character made famous by his father.

My father grew up thrilled by Weary Willy. As a kid, I delighted to him when the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus played the old Madison Square Garden, and when I went to Ebbetts Field to see the Brooklyn Dodgers I was thrilled at his antics on field during the 1956 season.

As I post this, my sons are awaiting dinner, and watching a circus video that has a Emmett Kellyesque clown. The tradition continues.

Weary Willy epitomized the clown. Heaven must be rolling today.