1. Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the weekly Clown-Ministry mailing list. This is just a short note to let everyone who’s interested know about new additions to the site, and related information.
First, a welcome to all of the new subscribers from around the world! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, or to post a question in the Forums
Second, for our subscribers in the U.S. of A., don’t forget that Thursday, May 6th, is the National Day of Prayer — read President Bush’s proclamation.
And now, back to our regularly-scheduled newsletter.
2. New skits on-line
Courtesy of Larry & Grannie come 3 new skits – the first one, 2 Parties & A Pig Sty, is a re-telling of the parable of the Prodigal Son that they originally did for their AWANAs group — I should have the other 2 up in the next few days
3. New Articles
In addition to the President’s proclamation of the National Day of Prayer, I’ve added biographies for Robert Armin, William Kempe and Richard Tarleton — three of the clowns that worked with William Shakespeare, and how they influenced his plays and the ‘role’ of the clown in theater.
Also added reviews of the Handbook for Magical Party Clown (a very nice, nearly essential book for clowns who perform at parties), and a review of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. I needed to add the Great Dictator since I also reviewed the newly released Chaplin Collection Volume 1 which includes Gold Rush, Great Dictator, Modern Times and Limelight, on 8 DVD’s. If you’re a Chaplin fan, I strongly recommend it — it contains both the original & re-editied versions, as well as some very nice ‘extras’ including a documentary, music, etc. It’s not cheap – approximately $73 as I write this via Amazon.com, but if you plan to own 2 or more of these films, it’s cheaper to purchase the 8-disk set than to buy any 2 individually. However, if you’re happy with a “cheap” copy, you can pick up DVDs of Chaplin elsewhere (I purchased a dual set DVD with Chaplin in “The Kid” and “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” as well as Buster Keaton in “The General” and “Steamboat Bill Jr.” for $5.50 at my local Wal-Mart — but the quality of the video was definitely poorer.)
4. Questions
Q: “What’s in your wallet?” Am I the only person who’s sick of those commercials? Actually, I’m going to do something a little different for this issue’s question. The question is, What’s in your pockets? In other words, when you go clowning, what essential ‘goodies’ do you make sure to have on you in your pockets? If I get enough answers, I’ll either share them in the next issue, or if there’s enough I’ll post them in an article on the web site. I’ll go first: in my left pants pockets, 260Q balloons (I tend to make lots of balloon animals), and a 3-foot piece of rope (good for several rope tricks, including the “impossible knot” which I use in a gospel presentation). My right pocket typically contains mundane things like car keys, popped balloons (hey, it’s pop art), a squeaker, and various other things depending on where I’m going & what I’m doing. My costume includes a vest, which gives me 4 more pockets – I keep a healthy supply of business cards (and another squeaker) in the outside right pocket, a “stacked” deck of cards in my inside right pocket, a gimmicked deck of cards for the “Niagara Falls” routine that David Ginn describes in “Clown Magic” in my inside left pocket, and I keep different things in my outside left pocket (balloon rockets recently, for some reason)
A: That’s up to you! Or, if any of the things in my pocket don’t make sense to you, I’ll explain them in more detail next time.
5. Web Site of the Week
Last time, I mentioned a clown dealer that I’ve used in the past, http://www.ClownAntics.com/ — Another that I’ve been happy with, run by Cheezo, is http://www.ClownSupplies.com/ — just ordered new makeup and a wig for the missus there :o)
6. Outroduction
This is a weekly e-mailing from http://www.clown-ministry.com/ — if you received this by mistake, or you just don’t want to receive it any more then simply reply to this message with ‘unsubscribe’ as the subject of your message, and I’ll gladly remove you from any future mailings. As always, feel free to submit your own skits, articles, ideas for articles, etc.
Thanks for listening, and bump a nose!