For those of you who’ve read this on my old blog, sorry I’m recycling (I did do some editing and attached new photos of model Michael Catarama as a very fashionable clown). For my new followers here is the story of why I’m attracted to clowns.
It all started when I was 19 years old, I had just moved to Los Angeles and was working as a Kitty’s Concession girl. Yeah, well it was a lot less glamorous than it sounds. Imagine wearing and outfit 2 sizes too small (designed to be so), 4 inch heels, a hat that is designed to rip the hair from your scalp, 10 lb Lucite crate of goodies hanging from you neck and the standard issue lashes were so long that I had to crane my chin upwards to see. Not to mention that you worked for tips and 10% commission which on a $1 candy bar was not much. So most of my evening were spent hustling people for tips.
I got a booking working Universal Studios; it was supposed to be the event of the fall, the anticipation was so great the promoters booked three of us.
Needless to say the event did not live up to the hype. Not even a drunken, pot smoking, Grace Jones could save the evening. So my friends and I spent hours wandering the back lot looking for anyone who wanted a stick of gum or pack of smokes. We finally gave up, and watched Grace Jones try to score a joint from and audience member from the stage in front of the LA PD.
Well the only person that treated us decently was this clown. I don’t remember his name now because it was ages ago but he held my crate as I adjusted my hat, which at this point felt like sticky fingered infants having a go at my tresses. We commiserated about the promise of big bucks and droves of people. Instead of sulking with is my usual fashion, we made the most of it and talked, laughed, had a good time the three cigarette girls and a clown. He told us how he volunteered at hospitals and hosted a children’s TV show. “Not in clown face”, he said. Till that point I it had not occurred to me that he was a regular person under that makeup. When the long evening had drawn to a close, the gentleman clown walked all of us to our cars and bid us farewell. I however asked for his number and wanted to see if he wanted to catch a bite.
I had lived in LA for 4 months by now and the men in this city were horrid. No one made any qualms about actively seeking what they wanted from you. If you did not give it up that they would move on and surf the pipeline of babes, which was Hollywood. And quite frankly they could every single guy I met had producer credits or connections to the bizz, or said they did. Only having recently fallen off the turnip truck it all seemed so big and grand. Years later I realized how many frauds lived in the city of Angles.
Back to the clown, so as opposed to the other guys I met in LA the clown was perfectly happy with his gig, did not want anything from me but nice conversation and was a perfectly nice guy.
We went on one date and he came without clown face and he was a perfect gentleman did not try to make a move. But for some reason the spark that was there when he had the makeup on was gone. He walked up in his average car, he was average height, and had an average face. I was disappointed to see that the princely face I had imagined was nowhere to be seen. I had secretly wished he had put on that clown makeup and let me live my fantasy. I had so badly wanted his face to match his kind acts, and gentle voice.
It did not work out and I fell out of contact with him. I saw him once again it was however, not in person but on TV, the show that he had briefly mentioned on which he was the host of in plain face.
So I guess the attraction in essence is not the makeup, but the potential. It’s seeing someone half dressed, it’s the fantasy, and it’s the moment of endless possibilities, before reality comes crashing down on you. So for some strange reason clowns have come to represent that moment to me.
So there you have it the whole story.
See the whole story of Michael Catarama at the link below:
http://fashionindie.com/there-should-be-more-shirtless-clowns/
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