December 9th is Weary Willie Day #WearyWillieDay. I have a question had you hear of Weary Willy Day and if so what did you think of this #Holiday and why? I don’t know about you but I love Clows and watching them perform.
David also likes #Clowns and at one time I used to collect ceramic Clowns just like my Cousin John Michael did. As for Charlie he will tolerate with Clowns but would prefer to not have to. As for Suzzie she was scared of Clowns and wanted no, part of them even.
Join David and I today as we celebrate Weary Willie Day which as we all know is celebrated on December 9th every year in the U.S. as a recognition of the art of clowning, but with a twist. Weary Willie, as the name suggests, is a Clown who wears his smile upside down and the day is a tribute to the character popularised by circus performer Emmett Kelly during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Did you know Emett Kelly is my favorite #clown of all time. Who is your favorite Clown and why?
Kelly, who created the Weary Willie character, was born in 1898 and started his career as a trapeze artist and cartoonist. When he started ‘clowning about’, he performed as the traditional white-faced, happy-go-lucky clown. He came upon the idea to create a contrasting, sad clown as early as the 1920s but it was difficult to sell management on his idea.
The Great Depression that began in the U.S. in 1929 saw an increase in the number of migrant workers forced to travel to earn a living. These workers, termed ‘hobos’, became the inspiration for Kelly to revisit his unpopular idea. Given the changed circumstances that had made his idea more acceptable and relevant, management finally gave the go-ahead and Weary Willie was born.
The character really captured the zeitgeist and became the most recognizable clown figure in the U.S. at the time. Weary Willie was not completely made up in white paint like other clowns and did not wear brightly-colored clothing. He looked more like an out-of-work tramp with an upside-down smile plastered on his painted mouth, and this made people feel better about themselves and uplifted their mood.
While the first occurrence of Weary Willie Day is not clear, Weary Willie Day coincides with the birthday of Kelly, who was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989 and the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1994. The model of the sad clown continues to remind us to take life’s troubles with a pinch of salt
How To Celebrate Weary Willie Day
- Put a twist on your best pout as a tribute to Weary Willie and pose like it hurts. For the best results, try amusing snapchat filters but take the sad, sulking face seriously.
- =If you want to kick up the celebrations a notch, get creative with a Weary Willie costume. Grease your shirt and find a convincing pair of torn jeans. Ruffle your hair and smudge your face paint.
- =If you’re really in the mood for serious fun, travel to Wisconsin to visit the International Clown Hall of Fame or to Indiana, which houses the International Circus Hall of Fame, or even to the Emmett Kelly Museum in his birthplace of Sedan, Kansas.
Interesting Facts About Emmett Kelly
- Emmet Kelly was present at the infamous Hartford Circus fire of July 6, 1944, where 167 people died.
- Emmet Kelly appeared in an award-winning film “The Greatest Show on Earth” which won the 1952 Academy Award for Best Picture and was set in the Ringling Brothers’ Circus that Kelly worked for.
- Kelly’s son played the character Emmett Kelly Jr. who kept the character of Weary Willie alive until his death in 2003.
- There is a park in Emmet Kelly’s name where he grew up in Houston, Missouri, which named a Park in his honor.
- ]Until 2008, the same town hosted a Clown festival named in Emmet Kelly’s honor, and which attracted performers from across the region.
Why We Love Weary Willie Day
- Although the figure of the sad Clown is well known, it still subverts expectations of and from a Clown which offers us an alternative to rose-tinted glasses and goofy antics.
- Just like Depression-era audiences liked to watch Weary Willie because it made them re-evaluate the hopelessness of their own circumstances, Weary Willie Day reminds us of all the things that we need to be grateful for.
- Of course, a great way to celebrate Weary Willie Day is to turn into a Clown ourselves which is a chance for us to get creative with our own unique interpretation of our Clown personality and to manifest it through make-up and clothes.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
