Friday, January 25, 2008

JEFF DARNELL REMEMBERS: Peare Family at Cobo Hall


Photo and comments courtesy of Jeff Darnell




From Gary Peare...

I think this was '79. The Blue Show played Detroit when I was in Venice. Tom Dougherty did my dad's (Gene Peare) make-up. The design looked as though my dad had used it for years. It became his makeup for the rest of his life!

His costume is entirely vintage. Those are my great-uncle Hank Peare's shoes (Lou told me they were made out of felt boot liners); they used to be about 30 inches longer. Hank, Bobby Clark, and Paul McCullough all took turns wearing them. The pants and coat were made by Hank's brother-in-law who was one of those Circus Fans of America guys who used to be allowed to work spot dates when shows came to town. He reused all of Hank's stuff


From Jeff Darnell...

Here's another one! Thanks for confirming the date Gary.

JD

Folks in photo: Peare family..... Mom? brother?
In make up: Kelly Tansy, Tom Dougherty, Jeff Darnell, Mr Peare.

1 comment:

Gary said...

My dad was a guest clown in conjunction with it being "Coca-Cola Night". He was a sales manager for the local bottler. It was a nice PR opportunity, I being in Clown College at the time. If you look closely, Tom D. is playing mad scientist with a couple of cokes.

The other people were from Coca-Cola. No relation.

Isn't Tom's make-up job on my dad great? Of course, my dad needed no putty for that nose.

I have some earlier pix of both my dad and me as guest clowns in '78 at Cobo. Chucko did our make-up and Mitch Fredes taught me chin balancing.

Ain't JD cute? Whatever became of Kelly Tansy? He left the Blue Unit mysteriously mid-year, 1980.