Bill Ballantine arranged an audition for me at Circus World! Gale LaJoye, whom I'd seen perform on my first unsuccessful trip to clown college was now the Boss Clown, and for some inexplicable reason (someone either didn't show up, or quit right away . . .), there was an opening for a clown! Why, that could be me . . .
So I packed all my stuff up into my van and drove off to Haynes City, corner of I-4 and SR27.
Above is an aerial photo of Circus World, vintage unknown. Below is Harvey Copeland. It's a recent picture that I got from the Clown College Face book page. I think Chuck Sidlow posted it there. Harvey would never have posed with anything but a PBR, back in the day, at which time, he was, by his own admission, "a half a century old!" Which would make him upwards of 86 or so now. The last thing he said to me as I was leaving his driveway was "good luck! If it doesn't work out, come back, and you can be my apprentice . . ."
"Not bloody likely," I thought to myself as I drove away to my glorious future, but I thanked him profusely anyway. He'd been awesome from the first day I met him, and, little did I know, was about to become even moreso . . .
I got to Circus World-- found Gale, and got a tour of the park. My audition was to perform "Hugo, the Performing Rock" in the afternoon show. By night fall, I was back on the road, once again going backward, not forward, back to Sarasota, where the next morning, I started as Harvey's apprentice.
This clown career was sure slow in getting started . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment