Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 49

9 wr wry 'V- section APRIL 2, 1979 ST. PETERSBURG TIMES 1 Emmett Kelly is gone but the memory of Weary Willie lives on PETER D. EnLLizciisn old. He had come out of the Ozark moutains with a skill at cartooning. He joined the old traveling tent circuses, breathed life into a character on his sketch pad and created one of the greatest entertainment figures in history: "the only internationally known clown," according to comedian Red "Freddie the Freeloader" Skelton.

From 1923, when Weary Willie first appeared in London, until last Wednesday, neither man nor clown had retired. In fact, Kelly was supposed to be at Roberts Arena today to film some of his famous Weary Willie routines for a movie about his life. Later this week, he had planned a United Way spot with singer Tony Bennett. HE HAD OFFERS for commer-cials. His daughter wanted to start writing his autobiography.

"Weary Willie and I will never retire. We'll keep going together as long as we can," he once said. It all ended last Wednesday morning. Emmett Kelly's heart stopped while he went to fetch the morning paper. Skelton's telegram to Kelly's wife Evi arrived within hours: "I guess the angels needed a laugh." His death was characterized by that twist of circus tragedy so familiar in the business.

A year and a day before, Kelly had been a pallbearer for aerialist Karl Wallenda's funeral. One of Weary Willie's most famous bits was holding a handkerchief as if it were a safety net beneath the Wallenda high wire act. Both had died one year apart on the Ringling Circus' opening day at See KELLY. 6-D When they bury Emmett Lee Kelly Sr. today, an American circus partnership of great acclaim and legend will be officially dissolved.

They'll put Kelly the man in the ground next to his beloved mother and sister in Lafayette, Ind. His longtime business associate, best friend and cosmic alter ego Weary Willie the clown will no doubt go off somewhere to brood with a woebe-; gone expression. As man and clown, they were together for more than half a century. As the pure embodiment of the American spirit of fun and laughter, Emmett Kelly and 1 Weary Willie will live on forever. Weary Willie was the greatest of the melancholy tramp clowns, described by Kelly as "a sad and ragged little guy, the hobo who found out the hard way the deck is stacked, the dice frozen, the race fixed and the wheel crooked." 1 Willie established his reputation as a Ringling Brothers, Barnum Bailey clown for 14 years, then surpassed the fame of all other clowns with his work on television, movies and stages around the world.

WEARING A TORN Derby, flop-' ping shoe, tattered clothes and hangdog expression, Willie opened peanuts with a sledgehammer, had his advances turned away by beautiful showgirls, tried to sweep spotlights under rugs, munched on cabbage, ate the seeds he was supposed to plant in his garden and hung his laundry on the high wire. He was silent, sad, a master of the mime facial expression. Emmett Kelly the man was 80 years Than suddenly a hush came over the people, for there in center ring stood i clown With mouth full of cabbage, holding an old broom, wearing the funniest, the biggest frown The canvas sailed out above him, in colors of crimson and gold With popcorn eyes I stared in fascination, as the sawdust tickled my toes We hit the road in my dreams that night, we wandered through the south a noble pair And boy we gave 'em hell up in Baltimore, and brought them to their feet in Madison Square Well, I took my boy to the circus last week, couldn't find the oi' friend I'd come to know Like a spotlight fading on a darkened stage, the old clown had done his last show Where are you Mr, Kelly? Sweet Emmett, where did you go With your sad painted face and your dancing eyes, and the magic in your ol' raggedy show from Mr Kelly bp Elbert Higgins t. Patartburg Timaa JACK BARRETT Mainsail is a festive art show A r- I -1 -M ft. Uil I the credentials of each of the 83 artists there.

MAYBE THAT word will get around in art circles and attract other worthy entrants in the future. Then Mainsail can be larger without weakening its stringent pre-jurying policy that favors high quality. And for 11 exhibitors who were accepted but didn't show up, may they break out in a rash of regrets. From Colorado, Indiana, Mexico, Orlando, Odessa and Ormand Beach, artists and artisans joined Suncoast creators in the sun, the shade and the pervading sounds of the performers. Interesting note: Only the art deco porcelain by Michael Duvall of Bear Lake, and the handmade papers by Michele Beckman Tuegal of Hallendale were significantly different from or better than art created by Suncoast artists.

(Mrs. Tuegal won Best of Show at Mainsail 1978 and Best in Graphics this weekend). BY MID-SATURDAY, judge Paul Smith, director of the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, was willing to say; "Photography is the strongest medium here." Indeed only the 16 potters outnumbered the photographers (by one). But Smith was speaking about artistic expression and few exhibitors topped the work of Tampa photo-artists Jack Breit (winner of Best in Photography) and Arthur Brown. Brown's videotaped program took the Best of Vanguard, a category for untraditional media and unique to Mainsail among outdoor shows.

However, even this Mainsail wasn't perfect. There were still many routine scenic photographs and jewelers (among eight) routinely wrapping silver around stones rather than matching the creativity of Patricia Karnes-Stinson of Seminole and Pam Allman of Oneco who took Best of Crafts. AND CURIOUSLY (but with the trend at other outdoor festivals) graphic and painting entries are declining; just 12 painters and 14 makers of prints and drawings were found to be good enough to show at Mainsail. However, when their work is as fine as those of Deborah See ART, 6-D Mimuil Art FMtival: eomptit)v xhibrtion iponurd by Junior Lugu of St. Patoriburg.

St. Potoraburg Art! Commit-on. Fntival of StotM. City Dopartnwm of Louuro Swvicol nd Aru Cantor AHoewtion and aupportod by 20 patron Hrma and Individuals, laat waakand. By CHARLES BENBOW St, Patartburo Timaa Art Critic Sandy Eppling's giant stuffed-fabric tire pump and soft chainsaw sculptures rivaled husband Paul's welded-metal monsters for kids' attention.

Meanwhile, dad probably watched belly dancer Karina, just one of more than 27 acts in the free Performing Arts Festival nearby. The all-round felicitous double "happening" St. Petersburg's fourth annual Mainsail Sidewalk Art Festival filled Straub Park downtown with spectators and creators this past weekend. Kids could also participate in 10 different creative activities in a circus tent manned by Arts Center and Junior League volunteers. Food and drink concessions sold twice what they had anticipated and scurried to renew supplies.

Simply being allowed into this highly competitive exhibition is now worth listing among -V ft rt T.tA I Si lb, Civ I 1 I St. P.trbur( TrniM STEPHANIE JAME8 Abdul Kareem Shakoor (sitting at table) won a $50 prize in the Mainsail Art Show for Best Demonstration for his jewelry exhibit. opinlsn CLARK ON FILM it This scene from Hair ends the movie as thousands of students protest in Washington against tiie Vietnam War. (I 0 i) 1 Onftad Artlat 'Hair' skillfully updates message of the '60s import in an age when young people have cut their hair and turned away from social protest to pursue more selfish interests. The Czech director proved he understood American culture in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

He proves it again by taking Hair's thin story filled with '60s themes and giving it modern relevance. THE STORY CONCERNS a young Oklahoman named Claude (John Savage), who comes to New York to join the Army and fight in "the Nam." He meets up with a young tribe of Central Park hippies (led by Treat Sea HAIR, 2-D America's involvement in Vietnam. IN FACT, a flag hung in the theater lobby, above a sign which gave a running bodycount of the number of Americana killed in Indochina. Hair exemplified many of the cultural contradictions that marked the America of the '60s: It was a celebration of the counterculture, of protest, drugs and free love. And it was, at the same time, the product of one of the great patriotic enterprises of establishment America: show bit.

The film is now with us. To director Milos Forman'i credit, Hair does not seem out of place or out of time. Forman realizes that Hair'i message may have greater Ma (ratad POI. muaicai dkaetad ky MHoa 'orman. Muaie by Oaromo ftaont, Jomoa ftado and Ooh MaoOormot.

Stara John Savago, Troot WS-am and Bavarly O'Angala. Contain nudity and aongo wtth adutt thomaa. By ROY PETER CLARK tt. Pataraburg Tim Hm Crttlo I never got to see the musical Hair on Broadway, but I tried. In 1969 you had to wait weeks for a ticket.

Yes, I tried. I stood in the lobby of the theater, with the war still raging in Vietnam, trying to get a look at the most politicized musical in Broadway history, a how which shocked and delighted "radical chic" audiences with a little nudity and a lot of outrage against I 1 mm wm ca.4ja A A Lf 1.