Emmett Leo Kelly (December 9, 1898March 28, 1979) was an American

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

performer, who created the

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

figure "Weary Willie," based on the

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. ...

s of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in the 1930s. According to Charles W. Carey, Jr.: :Kelly’s creation of Weary Willie revolutionized professional clowning and made him the country’s most familiar clown. The sad-sack, shuffling antics of his unkempt, downtrodden hobo offered a complete contrast to the madcap cavorting of brightly colored, white-faced conventional clowns and has served as an alternate model for professional clowns ever since.

Early life

Kelly's father was a railroad worker. He was put in a correspondence school for cartooning by his mother. Subsequently he began entertaining and giving " chalk talks" at local schools. He moved to Kansas City in 1917, hoping to get a job as a newspaper cartoonist. Unable to be a cartoonist he worked other jobs to support himself. He began working for carnivals and circuses as a laborer, and then eventually trained as a trapeze artist.

Career

He met his first wife, Eva, when working at the

John Robinson Circus John H. Robinson created the John Robinson Circus, whose winter quarters were in Terrace Park, Ohio. Famous elephants Chief "Chief", an elephant from John Robinson's circus, killed his trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tillie Tillie the ...

. They married in 1923. They had a trapeze act together. During these years he was also working on the Willie character. He had first created Willie as a cartoon character. In the 1920s he began performing as the clown character. The character caught on with audiences during the Great Depression in the United States. They could identify with a character who wasn't too successful and was sad about his various (comic) failures. Additionally, Kelly and Eva divorced, and he worked his sadness over the divorce into his clown act. Kelly appeared with a number of circuses, most prominently that of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, which he joined in 1942 and remained with until 1956. Kelly appeared in the 1952 Oscar winner for Best Picture '' The Greatest Show on Earth''. In 1956, he starred in a dramatic role, a TV adaptation of the story of Wilhelm Voigt, the "Captain From Kopenick," who masqueraded as a Prussian officer in 1906. It was broadcast as part of the Telephone Time anthology series. Kelly was a Mystery Guest on the March 11, 1956, broadcast of '' What's My Line?'' and answered the panelists' questions with grunts rather than speaking yes or no. When the round was over, panelist Arlene Francis mentioned that Kelly was not allowed to speak while in makeup. In 1967, he starred in the musical ''The Clown and the Kids'', which was shot and produced in Bulgaria. By the time of his death, Kelly had become the most famous clown in the world.

Hartford circus fire

On July 6, 1944, Kelly was preparing to perform in a matinee show of the Ringling Brothers Circus for an audience of 6,000 in Hartford, Connecticut. Twenty minutes into the show, the circus tent, which had been waterproofed with

paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins t ...

and gasoline, caught fire. Kelly was among those who acted quickly to help extinguish the fire, and then he helped panicked audience members—mostly women and children, due to World War II—to swiftly exit the tent. Officially, 168 people died in the fire, and 682 people were injured. The cause of the fire was never determined. Kelly's actions that day were immortalized by audience member Ralph Emerson, who took a photograph of Kelly rushing toward the burning tent in his full clown make-up and costume, carrying a single bucket of water. The photograph was published in ''Life'' on July 17, 1944. According to eyewitnesses, Kelly was seen to be crying. The fire affected Kelly deeply and for the remainder of his life; according to his grandson, Joey Kelly, he "rarely spoke of the fire to anyone other than family."

Death

Emmett Kelly died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on March 28, 1979, at his home in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The c ...

. He is buried in the Rest Haven Memorial Park, in Lafayette, Indiana.

Legacy

Kelly's son, Emmett Kelly Jr., did a similar "Weary Willie" character; the two were estranged for many years as a result. Kelly Jr. died in 2006. Kelly's boyhood town of Houston, Missouri, named Emmett Kelly Park in his honor and hosted an annual Emmett Kelly Clown Festival, which attracted clowns from across the region, including Kelly's grandson, Joey Kelly, who returned every year to perform as a special guest. The festival ended its origina 21-year run in May 2008, and returned in April 2022.https://houstonherald.com/2022/04/emmett-kelly-clown-festival-schedule-announced/ According to the documentary ''

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

Unmasked'', the choice for the mask of the film's fictional serial killer Michael Myers was down to two: a modified

Captain Kirk James Tiberius Kirk is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Originally played by Canadian actor William Shatner, Kirk first appeared in ''Star Trek'' serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as captain. Kirk leads ...

mask and an Emmett Kelly mask. While the Emmett Kelly mask was unsettling and eerie, it did not quite evoke the creepy feeling they were seeking. The Kirk mask did, resulting in the crew selecting it for the film.

Gallery

File:Chana Eden and Emmett Kelly on the set of "Wind Across the Everglades," Everglades National Park.jpg, Kelly and Chana Eden in 1958 on set of '' Wind Across the Everglades'' File:Ringling Circus clown Emmett Kelly in a bubble bath Sarasota, Florida.jpg, Kelly in a bubble bath (photo by Joseph Janney Steinmetz) File:Ringling Circus clown Emmett Kelly- Sarasota, Florida (8530293955).jpg, Emmett Kelly as Weary Willie File:Emmett Kelly 1953.jpg, Emmett Kelly in his ''Weary Willie'' persona (center) with two

Ringling Bros. Ringling may refer to: People *Ringling brothers, seven American siblings of one America's largest circuses ** Charles Edward Ringling (1863–1926), circus owner ** John Ringling (1866–1936), circus owner ** Otto Ringling (1858–1911), American ...

whiteface clowns in a 1953 advertisement for the Pan-American Coffee Bureau File:Ringling Circus clown Emmett Kelly getting ready for the show- Sarasota, Florida (8531415356).jpg, Emmett Kelly getting ready for the show- Sarasota, Florida File:Emmett Kelly, Bell Telephone System advertisement 1949.jpg, Emmett Kelly, Bell Telephone System advertisement 1949 File:Kay Hernan and Emmett Kelly in Florida 1948.jpg, Kay Hernan and Emmett Kelly in Florida 1948

References

External links

www.willieandme.com
in Sedan, Kansas *
Squire Rushnell tells Stasia Kelly's story
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Emmett 1898 births 1979 deaths American clowns Burials in Indiana People from Houston, Missouri People from Sarasota, Florida People from Sedan, Kansas Trapeze artists