“Good evening -- it’s circus season all over the country once again!”
So begins Ronald Reagan in a 1955 GE Theater TV biopic of Emmett Kelly, labeled simply “CLOWN.” This obscure little television drama purports to show the ‘birth’ of Emmett Kelly the nonpareil clown. Running all of 27 minutes, the script is hard put to explain such a delicate transformation in such a short space of time, so instead it relies on some howling cliches and inaccuracies that any circus buff worth his or her weight in sawdust would grimace at.
However there is no use in caviling about the faults of this modest little teledrama. The heart of the story is in the right place, in that it shows some of the mystery and pathos surrounding the making of a great clown. From a historical as well as acting viewpoint, it is well worth watching -- just to see Fonda’s interpretation of Weary Willy. He gets the makeup right, yet his face is just different enough to make the makeup a bit disturbing -- more paranoid than pathetic.
Once again we can thank YouTube for posting a good copy of this 62-year old curiosity. You can watch it for free at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSg78kC9OB4
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