1. Emmett Leo Kelly was an American circus performer, who created the clown character "Weary Willie", based on the hobos of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
27 Facts About Emmett Kelly
1. 2.
Emmett Leo Kelly was born in Sedan, Kansas on December 9,1898.
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Emmett Kelly's father, Thomas, was a section foreman for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad.
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In 1917, Kelly moved to Kansas City, hoping to get a job as a newspaper cartoonist.
5.
Emmett Kelly returned to John Robinson in 1923 and was part of a program that included eight members of the Moore family.
6.
Emmett Kelly was among those who made the jump from Hagenbeck-Wallace, although his wife Eva was not given a contract.
7.
Emmett Kelly later wrote that the sadness he experienced at the time worked its way into the character's persona.
8.
Emmett Kelly later said that Igho encouraged him to use the name and overnight, the character that had once referred to as Old Dubey became Weary Willie.
9.
When World War II broke out in September 1939, Emmett Kelly returned to the United States where he was cast in a new Broadway musical starring Jimmy Durante and Ray Bolger.
10.
In 1944, the character that Emmett Kelly had created was cast as the star in the featured spectacle.
11.
Emmett Kelly said that when he saw the big top burning, he knew that he had to help the panicked crowd exit the tent.
12.
In 1949, after a charity circus performance in Los Angeles, Emmett Kelly was approached by an agent representing David O Selznick.
13.
The producer and director of the film agreed that the killer should not depict the same character that Emmett Kelly had spent his career developing.
14.
The circus allowed Emmett Kelly to leave the tour for 15 weeks so that he could join James Stewart and Betty Hutton on the Paramount backlot.
15.
Emmett Kelly said that his favorite scene in the film was the segment that showed him playing solitaire on top of a wagon as the circus paraded through the streets of Sarasota.
16.
Emmett Kelly said the effect was accomplished by the blast of an air hose as he played cards against a yellow screen.
17.
In 1954, Emmett Kelly met a 21-year-old acrobat named Evi Gebhardt who was part of an act known as The Four Whirlwinds.
18.
Emmett Kelly's secret was the fact that he was getting married the next day to one of the girls in the Whirlwinds' tumbling act, Evi Gebhardt.
19.
Under the terms of his 1956 circus contract, Emmett Kelly would appear with Ringling only during the indoor dates in New York and at the Boston Garden.
20.
The interview segment that followed was a classic as Emmett Kelly stayed in character throughout, never speaking and responding only with a grunt.
21.
Late in the 1957 season, on the same day that the Dodgers lost the opener during what would be the "Bums" final homestand ever in Brooklyn, Evi Emmett Kelly gave birth in New York to their second daughter, Monika.
22.
Emmett Kelly was part of an eclectic [one reviewer said "preposterous"] cast which included singer Burl Ives, stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, boxer Tony Galento, singer Chana Eden, Christopher Plummer, and Peter Falk.
23.
Emmett Kelly's nibbling at a cabbage leaf while he listened to stuttering Vasek's lament was unforgettable.
24.
On December 9,1978, Emmett Kelly celebrated his 80th birthday, and although he had been growing visibly weaker, he never stopped working.
25.
In February 1979, Emmett Kelly appeared in a segment on NBC's Today Show, and director Mario Pellegrini cast him in a film with Tony Bennett.
26.
Emmett Kelly was inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame in Sarasota, Florida in 1988 and International Circus Hall of Fame in Peru, Indiana in 1994.
27.
On May 1,1996, a bust of Emmett Kelly was dedicated in the "Hall of Famous Missourians" at the state capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri.