A Familiar Face

This statue has been sitting in my favorite cafe for no reason that I know, for several months now. When I first saw it I immediately named the man it represents, and others were surprised when they looked him up and I had it right. It has Hollywood souvenir company logo on the bottom and probably came from the local thrift shop.

Emmett Kelly (1898-1979) was very familiar to me as a boy, and my Mom was a fan of his, but it's a distant memory now. Mom would sometimes reminisce about how she was acquainted with circus performers as a teenager, including the then-famous "Flying Wallendas." She was invited to join the Circus but declined, and she wondered what her life would have been like if she'd gone with it.

Kelly was an icon, and I remember watching his act on black & white TV where he would try to sweep up the spotlight on the empty stage, and he'd be startled when it would move away from him, then he'd keep trying. His character was the sad hobo-clown "Weary Willy," based on the hobos of the Great Depression. This was entirely new because it appealed to the sympathy of the audience rather than only making them laugh.

Now that I've done a bit of quick reading on him, I wonder if Mom ever met or knew Emmett? One thing is for sure: I would sometimes dress up as a tramp (or hobo) for Halloween. I'd put on worn-out baggy clothes and a felt hat, and I'd burn a cork and rub it on my cheeks, for whiskers. I may well have been dressing up as Emmett Kelly.

Hello, Emmett!