If you were attending a circus performance, as a paying customer, which act would you find more entertaining to watch, these well-rehearsed professional clowns or these well-intentioned Shrine clowns?
Would you still pay to see the show if the juggling, wire-walking, aerial acts and the animal training were also being done by well-intentioned locals?
Certainly it's a "given" that I'd rather see a polished pro than a well meaning amature. That said -
ReplyDeleteI would rather see a clown that looked like a clown (Video 3)! While Ernesto Caroli of the Francos (formerly the Francescos) and others with minimalist make up and exaggerated street clothes are among my all-time favorite artists, it's the circus without spangles.
And while "cirque" clowns that look like gargoyles, and others that look like rock & roll roadies with patch pockets are great as stand-out novelties, I don't want to see a whole alley of them.
Give me some window-pane plaids, some polka-dot coats, some bald pate wigs, in other words, Pat, an 80/20 mix with more clowns like you.
I have gone to circuses where the guy sitting next to me was dressed funnier than all the clowns on the show - and I felt cheated.
A representative from each of the clown types makes me feel like I got my money's worth. And it makes each clown (minimalist or over-the-top) stand out in our memory.
THAT I'd pay to see - twice!
hey Pat,
ReplyDeletewhat are the details to the first video?
-Dan McCallum