The Clown Cries
Records, tapes, payphones, film, are but a few reminders of my childhood. Who knew such things would disappear from our landscape within a few decades? Now I hear the news that Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be closing down, as other circuses have dropped their tents for the last time.
An entertainment mode that relies on live acts of trapeze artists, clowns, and animal acts have fallen to virtual reality and on demand movies.
I think we lost a little, perhaps: our heritage, tradition, and memories of families and communities gathering together for entertainment.
Long gone are the days of the circus troupe arriving by train and parading through town marching among the cheering town folks who seen exotic animals for the first time. Now, no more ringmasters and their ballyhoo, the big tops, dazzling high wire artists, and of course, the clowns. The disappearance of the circus is another thread of our lives we cannot pass along to the next generation, but in stories. It is the time the clown cried for the last time.
Records, tapes, payphones, film, are but a few reminders of my childhood. Who knew such things would disappear from our landscape within a few decades? Now I hear the news that Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be closing down, as other circuses have dropped their tents for the last time.
An entertainment mode that relies on live acts of trapeze artists, clowns, and animal acts have fallen to virtual reality and on demand movies.
I think we lost a little, perhaps: our heritage, tradition, and memories of families and communities gathering together for entertainment.
Long gone are the days of the circus troupe arriving by train and parading through town marching among the cheering town folks who seen exotic animals for the first time. Now, no more ringmasters and their ballyhoo, the big tops, dazzling high wire artists, and of course, the clowns. The disappearance of the circus is another thread of our lives we cannot pass along to the next generation, but in stories. It is the time the clown cried for the last time.
