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.
Kelly ca. 1953
Kelly and Chana Eden in 1958 on set of Wind Across the Everglades
Kelly in a bubble bath (photo by Joseph Janney Steinmetz)
Emmett Kelly as Weary Willie
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the field of performance, training and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.
Advertisement for the Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1900
Sells Brothers Circus with Great Danes
Astley's Amphitheatre in London, c. 1808
Circus Ronaldo