book review of Clown, Autobiography of Emmett Kelly
Clown, Emmett Kelly‘s autobiography (written with the help of F. Beverly Kelly) is a very warm, friendly biography of the famous tramp circus clown. It is told in a very homespun style, as though Emmett Kelly was sitting across the dining room table, and telling you the story of his life. He begins with the story of his family, his father – working for the railroad and saving up enough money on his meager salary to make a down payment on a farm, and the family’s moving there.
Emmett Kelly moves on from there to telling his own story, how he became an artist (who sketched a tramp clown that he named “Weary Willie”), how he joined the circus as an aerialist, how he had to ask multiple times to be allowed to be a clown … And how he had to fight to be allowed to portray a tramp clown, as well.
Table of contents for Clown by Emmett Kelly
- Country Boy
- City Boy
- First of May
- Bigger and Better
- Tenting Tonight
- Stage Doors
- The Big Time
- Magic Lanterns
- The Alley