Copyright © 2014 Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri, 63501
All rights reserved
tsup.truman.edu
Cover art: detail from poster, The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, ca. 1899 (from Library
of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC2-3802); Emmett Kelly, photo by Joseph
Janney Steinmetz (JJS1347), courtesy of Florida Memory, Florida State Archives.
Cover design: Teresa Wheeler
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McManus, Donald, 1959–
Emmett Kelly : the greatest clown on earth / Donald McManus.
pages cm. — (Notable Missourians)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61248-120-3 (library binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61248-121-0 (e-book)
1. Kelly, Emmett, 1898–1979—Juvenile literature. 2. Clowns—United States—Biography—Juvenile
literature. 3. Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Combined Shows—Biography—Juvenile literature. 4. Cabool (Mo.)—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title.
GV1811.K4M35 2014
791.3'3092—dc23
[B]
2014019776
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means without written permission from the publisher.
The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 1: Early Years in
Cabool, Missouri. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: Emmett
the Young Artist . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter 3: Discovering
Weary Willie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 4: The Big Time
and a Big Fire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 5: The Greatest Show
on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Legacy: Emmett and Willie . . . . . . 44
Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Image Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Introduction
“More than anything a circus means clowns:
nameless faceless funnymen full of clever gags.
But our story is about a different kind of clown.
One that makes you laugh, but with a lump in
your throat. His name is Emmett Kelly.”
These were the words used by future US
president Ronald Reagan to introduce a movie
4
called Clown that was shown on television in
1955. Reagan was right when he said that most
clowns were nameless and faceless, but there
was a time when everyone in America knew the
name Emmett Kelly. He was the most famous
clown in the country from the 1930s through
the 1950s, and even today people remember his
clown character.
Weary Willie reminded people of the hard
times that many Americans were struggling with
during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
In my tramp clown character, folks who are
down on their luck, have had disappointments and have maybe been pushed around
by circumstances beyond their control
laugh at themselves, and realizing that they
have done this gives them a sort of spiritual
second wind for going back into the battle.
Willie gave hope and laughter to thousands of
children and adults for four decades. p
5
Chapter One
Early Years in
Cabool, Missouri
Emmett Kelly was born on December 9, 1898, in
the town of Sedan in southeastern Kansas. His
father, Thomas Kelly, made a good living working for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. Emmett’s
mother, Molly, was the daughter of northern
European immigrants and his father was an Irish
immigrant. Thomas rarely talked about his life
6
in Ireland, but he named Emmett after an Irish
hero named Robert Emmett. Emmett’s father
left Ireland to escape famine and political unrest
and like many Irish immigrants, he found a good
job with the westward-expanding railroad.
Almost one million people came from Ireland to the United States between 1851 and
1860. The Irish moved to the New World for
Robert Emmett
(1778–1803) was an
Irish political leader
who led two failed
rebellions against
England in 1798 and
1803. He was captured by the British
in 1803 and executed
for treason. The Irish
people considered
him a national hero.
7
Chapter 3
Emmett Discovers
Willie
Millions of people lost their jobs and many lost
their homes when the stock market crashed
in 1929. By 1933 the Great Depression, as this
crisis came to be called, had taken hold all
over America and it affected the circus along
with everything else. Circuses were closing
and it was harder than ever for performers
to get good jobs. Emmett was lucky to have
20
a job during this era, but Eva broke her wrist
when she fell from the trapeze and she had to
give up working until it healed. A second son,
Thomas, was born during this troubled time.
The tramp
The family was growing,
in American
but their income was getculture
ting smaller. Emmett had
Hobos, or tramps, were
homeless people, usuan opportunity to work
ally men, who traveled
for a season with the Cole
around the countryside,
Brothers circus, but they
often doing odd jobs
would hire him as a clown
in exchange for a meal.
After the Civil War,
only. Emmett decided that
many former soldiers
if he had to give up the
became hobos. They
trapeze he would create a
were much feared as
strangers who might be
really new kind of clown.
dangerous. This began
Emmett’s invention
to change in the early
of Weary Willie took place
twentieth century as
Charlie Chaplin and
during a time in American
other actors used the
history when tens of thouhobo or tramp as a
sands of Americans were
sympathetic character
out of work. The Great
in their films and stage
acts.
21
Chapter Five
The Greatest Show
on Earth
Emmett made his movie acting debut in 1951 in
a strange mystery thriller named The Fat Man.
The producers hoped to cash in on Emmett’s
now-famous image as Weary Willie, but when
Emmett read the script he discovered that his
character was the murderer! Emmett refused to
play the killer as Willie. He didn’t want to betray
36
his circus fans by turning Willie into a villain.
After much arguing with the studio and the
film’s director, Emmett got his way and the studio agreed to allow him to create a new clown
face for the villain in the movie. He went back
to his days as a white-faced clown to create an
entirely new makeup and character.
Emmett planned to rejoin the circus once
The Fat Man was finished shooting, but his agent
37
Legacy
Emmett and Willie
Emmett Kelly’s subtle, gentle approach to circus clowning influenced an entire generation
of performers who moved away from the large
animal acts and “death-defying feats” of Barnum
& Bailey’s to a smaller, more people-centered
circus. A new vision for circus arose where animals were no longer called upon to perform
or humans to risk their lives. The Cirque de
Soleil, from Montreal, the Pickle Family Circus
in San Francisco, the Big Apple Circus in New
York City, and countless other clown-centered
circuses in Europe owe a debt to Emmett’s
humane vision of what the future of circus
could be. p
44
44
Timeline
1898: Emmett is born December 9 in Sedan, Kansas.
1906: The Kellys move to Cabool, Missouri, where Emmett’s father buys farm.
1918: Emmett works painting Kewpie dolls and other props for the Western
Show Property Exchange, which supplies equipment to carnivals, circuses,
and side shows.
1922: Emmett debuts as trapeze artist with John Robinson Circus, doing a
clown act on the side.
1923: Emmett meets and marries Eva Moore; they start a new act called The
Aerial Kellys; their son Emmett Jr. is born
1934: Emmett and Eva’s second son, Thomas Patrick, is born. Emmett establishes Weary Willie as his clown persona in response to Depression era.
1935: Emmett joins the Cole Brothers Circus.
1940: Emmett appears in Broadway show Keep Off the Grass.
1941: Emmett joins Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus.
1944: More than 160 people die and more than 700 are injured when the
Ringling Brothers big top burns in Hartford, Connecticut.
1951: Emmett makes movie debut starring in The Fat Man with Rock Hudson.
1952: Emmett is featured in the film The Greatest Show on Earth.
1955: Emmett marries Evi Gebhardt; they had two daughters, Monika and
Stasia.
1955: The movie Clown, based on the life of Emmett Kelly, is released.
1956: Weary Willie becomes mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team.
1967: Emmett stars in The Clown and the Kids, based on the Pied Piper story.
Emmett Kelly Museum opens in Sedan, Kansas.
1979: Emmett Kelly dies at his home in Florida.
1989: Emmett Kelly is inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame.
1994: Emmett Kelly is inducted into the Circus Hall of Fame.
1996: Emmett Kelly is inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians.
45
For Further Reading
For Young Readers
Alter, Judy. Vaudeville: The Birth of Show Business. New York:
Franklin Watts, 1998.
Fleming, Candace, and Ray Fenwick. The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T.
Barnum. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009.
Granfield, Linda. Circus: An Album. New York: DK Ink, 1998.
Johnson, Neil. Big-Top Circus. New York: Dial Books for Young
Readers, 1995.
Perkins, Catherine. The Most Excellent Book of How to Be a
Clown. Brookfield, CT: Copper Beech Books, 1996.
Presnall, Judith Janda. Circuses: Under the Big Top. New York:
Franklin Watts, 1996.
Websites
All About Clowns. com. Art of Clowning. http://www.
allaboutclowns.com/art_of_clowning.html.
All About Clowns.com. Circus Clowning. http://www.
allaboutclowns.com/circus.html.
All About Clowns.com. Emmett Kelly Sr., Weary Willie. http://
www.allaboutclowns.com/emmett-kelly-sr.html.
c1935 Circus Parade, Cole Bros. Clyde Beatty Allen King.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_KHR1m25RQ.
Childhood Productions. The Clown and the Kids. 1967.
(theatrical trailer). YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=etRE7dYQpys.
46
Emmett Kelly as Weary Willie, clip of “sweeping up the spotlight” skit. vimeo.com/7098350.
Emmett Kelly Museum.com. http://www.emmettkellymuseum.
com/.
Emmett Kelly, What’s My Line? YouTube. http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=Nop6Aoee-HU.
Joey Kelly.com. http://www.joeykelly.com/. Includes biographies of Emmett Kelly, Emmett Kelly Jr., and Eva Kelly
Lewis.
Lowdermilk, Robert A. “A Long-Lasting Smile: A Story about
Emmett Kelly Sr.” http://famousclowns.org/happy-hoboand-sad-tramp-clowns/long-lasting-smile-a-story-aboutemmett-kelly-sr/.
Sources
Grant, H. Roger. Railroads and the American People: Railroads
Past and Present. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press
2012.
Kelly, Emmett. Clown. New York: Prentice Hall, 1954.
O’Nan, Stewart. The Circus Fire. New York: Doubleday, 2000.
Prideaux, Tom. “Emmett Kelly’s Woes Makes Millions Happy.”
Look, July 21, 1947.
Ringling-North, Henry. The Circus Kings. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960.
The Sedan Lance, November 2, 1906.
Toll, Robert C. On with the Show: The First Century of Show
Business in America. New York: Oxford University Press
1976.
Towsen, John H. Clowns. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1976.
47
Index
artist, Emmet Kelly as, 12–15
Irish immigrants, 6–8
audience interaction, 24–27
movies and TV, 5, 36–41
early circuses, 13, 19, 29–31
railroads, 6–7, 8–9, 10–11, 31–32
family of Emmett Kelly, 6–7, 9, 12,
16, 21, 27, 42–43
Ringling Brothers, Barnum &
Bailey Circus, 28–29, 32, 34,
41, 44
Great Depression, 5, 20–22
Hartford Circus Fire, 34, 35
hobos, 21–23
trapeze, 15–17
traveling entertainers, 10-11
white-faced clowns, 17–19, 37
Image Credits
Original artwork by John Hare: pgs. 6, 12, 20, 28, and 36.
Images from Wikimedia: cover and p. 1, detail from poster, The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, ca.
1899 (from Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC2-3802); p. 8, potato blight effects
(USDA, Agricultural Research Service); p. 15, Kewpie doll (Lara, Flickr: Kewpie doll, 1 January 2009); p. 29, “Die
Croupade,” from Die Reitkunst im Bilde by Ludwig Koch (Vienna: Campagne-Reitergesellschaft, 1923).
Courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory: photos by Joseph Janney Steinmetz, Steinmetz
Collection: cover and p. 1, Emmett Kelly holding a cabbage (JJS1347); p. 4, Emmett Kelly (JJS0688); p. 23,
Emmett Kelly putting on make-up (JJS0681); p. 24, Emmett Kelly sharing cabbage with an audience member
(JJS2091A); p. 25, Charlie Bell and Emmett Kelly (JJS2095); p. 26, Emmett Kelly rehearsing (JJS2024); p. 40,
Emmett Kelly and Ray Wolfe with painting (JJS 0019); p. 43, Emmett Kelly in a bubble bath (JJS 1346).
Images by iStockphoto.com: background on pgs. 2, 8, 11, 19, 22, 27, 30, 35, 39, 42, 44 (#36701312); p. 18
(#28639082); p. 33 (#31240318).
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs: p. 7, Robert Emmett, the martyr of Ireland, ca.
1873 (LC-DIG-pga-02442); p. 13, Circus wagon at the Circus World Museum (LC-DIG-highsm-12434); p. 16, Male
trapeze performers, print, ca. 1875 (LC-DIG-pga-05715); p. 22, Two hobos walking along railroad tracks (LCUSZ62-50739); p. 30, Society Circus, Ft. Meyer, Capt. John H. Irving, Ringmaster, […] B. Hood, Announcer and
Warrant […] Kreutz, Asst. Ringmaster, photo by Harris & Ewing [1924] (LC-DIG-hec-44159); p. 32, poster, The
Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, 1897 (LC-USZCA-921).
Courtesy of Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books, University of Missouri: p. 10,
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Cabool, MO, 1916.
Private collection of Larry Kellogg: p. 17, The Aerial Kellys, Season 1931.
Courtesy of Connecticut Historical Society: p. 34, Emmett Kelly at Hartford Circus Fire, 1944 (2003.108.3dt).
Courtesy of Universal Studios LLP: p. 37, Emmett Kelly and Rock Hudson, poster for The Fat Man (1951).
Courtesy of Sandra Schulberg and KC Schulberg: p. 38, Emmett Kelly with other cast members on the set of
Wind Across the Everglades (1958, Schulberg Productions).
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures: p. 39, Emmett Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in clown make-up, still shot from
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).
Courtesy of Los Angeles Times: p. 41, Weary Willie cleans his plate—home plate…, photo by Art Rogers,
copyright © 1962, Los Angeles Times, Reprinted with permission.
48