I usually see some prety sucky Shrine routines, a lot of wooden performances or a bunch of yama-yamas milling about like cattle in a feed lot. But you can't tar them all with the same brush. Back in '84 I did the Tarzan Zerbini tour and the Shriners in Saskatoon had a decent, well-rehearsed routine, decent faces and wardrobe, nice props, and weren't drunk. The group in Omaha was pretty good, and the small bunch in Melbourne, FL presented a really good stemroller gag on the Hoxie Show one year. Other than that...
Every year certain local, amateur clowns were welcome to come work in the alley when I was on Beatty-Cole. I even HIRED a couple of them from time to time if I had a local gig and needed an assistant.
I've also seen plenty of bad performances, childish fits and no-shows from so-called "professional (Ringling included)" clowns.
Please don't forget that the root of the word "amateur" comes from the Latin word for "love"--the fact that someone clowns for the love of clowning shouldn't be confused with the fact that they have no talent, skill or polish, or any business being out in the ring in front of the public.
The fault lies with the circus producers. By cutting corners and putting our brothers out of work, they are only gypping the public out of good entertainment. Incidentally, in case some readers don't know the history, Hubert Castle is the one credited with comoing up with the idea of using the Shriners so he could pocket more money. The Shriners themselves have managed to steal the business out from under the professional circus concession guys and have extorted a 60% ding off the elephant and camel rides. Talk about greed!
4 comments:
I get the feeling Shane had some really great pancakes this morning and Pat's planning on seeing Sherlock Holmes this weekend.
-T.C.
Please...shoot me in the head...do it now.
Absolutely no need to hire pro clowns to do shrine spot dates! Perfect example of that!
I usually see some prety sucky Shrine routines, a lot of wooden performances or a bunch of yama-yamas milling about like cattle in a feed lot. But you can't tar them all with the same brush. Back in '84 I did the Tarzan Zerbini tour and the Shriners in Saskatoon had a decent, well-rehearsed routine, decent faces and wardrobe, nice props, and weren't drunk. The group in Omaha was pretty good, and the small bunch in Melbourne, FL presented a really good stemroller gag on the Hoxie Show one year. Other than that...
Every year certain local, amateur clowns were welcome to come work in the alley when I was on Beatty-Cole. I even HIRED a couple of them from time to time if I had a local gig and needed an assistant.
I've also seen plenty of bad performances, childish fits and no-shows from so-called "professional (Ringling included)" clowns.
Please don't forget that the root of the word "amateur" comes from the Latin word for "love"--the fact that someone clowns for the love of clowning shouldn't be confused with the fact that they have no talent, skill or polish, or any business being out in the ring in front of the public.
The fault lies with the circus producers. By cutting corners and putting our brothers out of work, they are only gypping the public out of good entertainment. Incidentally, in case some readers don't know the history, Hubert Castle is the one credited with comoing up with the idea of using the Shriners so he could pocket more money. The Shriners themselves have managed to steal the business out from under the professional circus concession guys and have extorted a 60% ding off the elephant and camel rides. Talk about greed!
Elmo
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