isn't it rich?
isn't it queer?
losing my timing this late in my career
but where are the clowns
there ought to be clowns
quick send in the clowns
don't bother they're here!
- sondheim, from "a little night of music"
i've always thought clowns are rather funny, but recently, a few people had said clowns are creepy creatures. i know my niece, who's a feisty so-and-so, is coulrophobic, shrinks at the sight of clowns! maybe because in movies clowns had been portrayed as 'bad' creatures doing all kinds of nasty mischiefs.
in the early 90's when my sister's young son was having a birthday, i asked what he wanted for his birthday. he said he wished there would be a clown at his party. so i indulged him. i went to a costume shoppe and rented a clown suit. i didn't want to go around town dressed and made up as a clown so i hid in their apartment building's stairwell and put my clown make up on. we don't know it but putting on clown make up is hard task! thankfully, their apartment was in one of the top floors of a highrise so there was not a lot of people using the stairs.
anyway, when i got to their apartment, i did my signal knock. i had called earlier and talked to the boy to tell him that i will be late for his party. i told him i'd probably come around after the clown has left because i was afraid of clowns. have you had a five-year old boy tell you "afraid of clowns? why, that's preposterous, tante! clowns are fun! but there's no clown yet!"
when my sister opened the door, i poked my head in, all made up and donning a multi-coloured wig. i had to change my voice to something ridiculously high-pitched. when the visitors saw me, they all hollered to nephew, who was busy showing off his "mario" skills to his little guests. he was quite annoyed to have been pulled out of his game but when i greeted him with a song and dance happy birthday, his eyes bulged and fainted, back flat on the floor!
happily, he recovered after some time and even had the audacity to say, i sort of look like his tante. he even pointed out that tante had the same kind of sneakers. at one point, he took the phone to dial my number and left me a message on my answering machine to "come quickly, i have a clown for my party and she's not scary! you gotta see her!"
i did some magic tricks - i had to buy a book of magic for children; there was no google yet at the time - cards coming out of my sleeve, coins coming out of my ears, a sandwich coming out of my bloomers (fancy that, sandwich was wrapped in plastic). at one point, i asked him to get a $5 bill from any of the adult guests and i will make it into a $10 bill from my magic tube. of course the tube was constructed such that you can hide another bill or make the bill disappear right inside the tube. one of the guests, foolishly gave him a $20 bill, that was when i made the $20 bill disappear - for good! bwahahahaha!
fortunately for me, the boy got tired of the clown and ultimately went back to playing with his game. i changed quickly in the bathroom and went back out and knocked again as me. when he saw me, he forgot about his game and excitedly told me about the clown and her antics. it did not disappoint him that the clown was a female clown but made a remark saying i actually sounded like the clown (there was a point in my performance when i accidentally talked in my normal voice).
after that, i had quite a few invitation to children's parties, but of course, i declined. i take my hat off to clowns and entertainers of every kind everywhere. such hard work for so little money.
UPDATE: i forgot that i have previously posted a photo a while back from that party. see here:
http://365project.org/summerfield/365-again/2012-11-24
-o0o-
over at five plus two, there's a similar posting - see here
http://365project.org/fiveplustwo/365/2016-11-02
he also loved oscar the grouch and he was 'phone pal' with oscar for so many years. until now he doesn't want to believe that i could adopt oscar the grouch's voice on the phone. the boy in him really believed he was talking to oscar. :-D thanks, kid.