ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The namesake grandson of the late, great Emmett Kelly, risking a second family estrangement, has decided to become a third-generation professional clown.
Emmett J. Kelly, 33, said a similar decision by his father in the early 1960s incurred the enduring wrath of the original 'Weary Willie.'
The original Emmett Kelly died in March 1979. His son, also Emmett Kelly, runs the Emmett Kelly All Star Circus, based in Tombstone, Ariz.
'Let's face it -- I love my father, and I was hesitant (to clown for a living),' said Emmett J., who added the initial to his professional name. 'But it's my family heritage, my niche in life. I've set it on the shelf too long.'
Besides, says Kelly, he was not enchanted with his job as an accountant.
'Conventional jobs have just not been that satisfying,' Kelly said. 'Whether the spotlight or the stagelight, that's what makes me happy.'
He said his father was unaware of his decision to turn professional and probably would learn about it first reading a newspaper.
Fortified with years of amateur experience, mainly in Peru, Ind., former wintering place for circuses, Kelly tried his professional wings during 1982 with several performances for Southwest Airlines passengers.
He gave mainly pantomime performances in-flight and at the departure gates in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Texas, and Phoenix.
Over Christmas and New Year Kelly became the first member of his family to go on stage since his grandfather appeared as a vaudeville performer without clown costume in the 1920s.
The Albuquerque Kelly is currently playing, in his clown character, with the Albuquerque Light Opera production of 'Carousel.'
Now, with the encouragement of his wife Lisa and their two children, D'Layne, 8, and Jason Christopher, 5, he says he plans to retain an agent and 'make a big push for 1983.'
But it will be with no encouragement from his father, who features himself in his circus as a clown patterned after Weary Willie, the classic character made famous by the first Emmett Kelly.
But Emmett J. Kelly says he doesn't feel his father should view him as a competitive threat.
For one thing, he said, he will abandon the familiar, forlorn facial expression of his father and grandfather. Whereas his progenitors both used the name Weary Willie, he will be just plain Willie with a smile.
The sad face was 'more or less his trademark, built up during the Depression,' the Albuquerque Kelly said. He said he felt the smiling character would be appropriate today, even though the economy currently is at its lowest point since the Great Depression.
He said there would be other differences, also, although he will wear floppy shoes, baggy pants and tatters and tears similar to the other Kelly clowns.
He said he would use a brown base for his facial makeup. 'They had a black bace face,' said Kelly. 'That separates me as well as the curly hair and open hat -- a brim and a rim -- and also I have a gold tux shirt instead of the traditional Kelly green.'
Emmett J. Kelly said his father 'books people in on his show when they go places, while I go as an individual, without any entourage. I that context, I don't see that there should be that much of a problem, other than a name.'
Asked if he had ever explored with his father the possibility of his joining the circus, Kelly said, 'I mentioned it to him the last time I talked to him in October. He said there just is no room...'
With his father, he said, 'when show business comes up, mum's the word.'
Emmett J. Kelly said his father and mother separated shortly after his father, who is now about 55, went professional. But after 10 years with his wife, said the Albuquerque Kelly, he feels his marriage will weather the strain of show business.
