Name: Cambridge Ames Merriweather
Title of Act: Sad Clown
Summary of Act:
I was a sad clown with the Ringling outfit for three and a half years. Before that, I traveled extensively with an Indian circus in Europe that caught fire and managed to burn 14 simian and 3 big cats. A midget act also perished in the flames, which was unfortunate, because one of those was my wife and another my mistress. I didn't mind losing the tiny wife - she bordered on the shrewish and was free with my money - but the little mistress I still miss sometimes when I smell fry bread.
The Ringling Brothers let me go in New Jersey, when I was caught running a three-card Monte game on the boardwalk on my off-day. If the Ringlings weren't so tight with a dollar, I wouldn't have needed to run the game. I can apply various sad clown makeups and juggle with pins and small balls, if they are weighted properly and well-rounded. I can no longer do the pratfall, since I slipped a disc in Birmingham. I can run a profitable three-card Monte and am fair at close sleight-of-hand. I cannot fold balloon animals. I have tried, but they pop and make the sprats cry.
Notes: In these difficult times, it is my notion that happy clowns are better business for the carnival. We have Domino, the Sad Clown, who while often drunk, still seems plenty of sad clown for the time being. Plus, the Conjurer act and the Fortune Teller tend from the sullen to the morose. When approached with the option of perhaps being a happy clown, Mr. Merriweather went into a huff, snatched up his hat and left my coach. Somehow, he managed to obtain a roustie's whitewash brush and drew a giant white cock and balls on the side of the menagerie trailer. I have added him to the "Do Not Hire" list.
-Miller Hatsfield
Manager in Charge of Hiring and Senior Roustabout
The Salty Peters Traveling Carnival, Roadshow and Burlesque Review
April the 22nd, 1937
No comments:
Post a Comment