Clowning for Little Demon Kids
By Susan Zwirn
Once in a while, fortunately not too much, I come across little Demon children. Here are a couple of examples.
A number of years ago, I was doubling up with another Clown at a little rich kid’s (aka Park Avenue Brat) Birthday Party in a fancy apartment on the Upper East Side section of Manhattan. We had gotten there before the guests arrived, leaving us with the seven year old Birthday Boy and his twelve year old sister. Even though we had both gotten there before our starting time, the Birthday mom almost immediately instructed us (or ordered) to twist up some balloons for her two kids. When making a Balloon Animal for the Birthday Boy, he took one look at it and obnoxiously stated…”That’s NOT what I wanted!” And then with all of his strength, punched me in the stomach! A couple of minutes later, he took Gabbooba’s (the other Clown) Laundry Bag that contained his Hard Headed costume for his next Party, and threw it across the room completely breaking the nose on the Character’s head! The sister who wasn’t much better, kept cursing at us, and when Gabbooba threatened to tell her mom, she shouted out…”Go ahead” “That’s not my real mom anyway!”
Things only got worse when the guests arrived (Thirty 7 year old boys)! I was ordered by the mom to blow up my balloons on the Balcony because the balloons were upsetting her dog. Gabbooba was told to stay inside and do face painting. The thirty boys (duplicates of the Birthday Boy) who were more into balloons than face painting, followed me out on the balcony amusing themselves by hitting me, trying to pull off my wig and putting there hands up my Clown dress! To make matters worse, the Father opens up the Balcony door, letting out the same dog that was supposedly scared of balloons. “Webster’s Dictionary could use this as an example of the word “Kayos”. I think I remember limping my way to my next job that day!
My next experience of sorts, took place in an Arab Mosque also during my less experienced days of clowning. It was for a bunch of Arab kids between the ages 2 to about 12. I was to do my combo act which entailed clowning during the first half of the party and a hard headed character during the second half.
Since I didn’t own the furry hard headed costume I was to wear, my boss had to drop it off at the Mosque. Since he was a man, they wouldn’t let him inside for fear of being spotted by the woman.
There were about 75 kids at the party who were constantly abusing me until they got there balloons twisted and there faces painted. Like the last demon party, the parents were not in discipline mode. In the middle of blowing up like my twenty fifth balloon, my cheap plastic balloon pump broke in two, leaving the other 50 demons hysterical when I told them the news. Out of the blue, this very biblical looking woman with this black head-dress and a long black robe approaches me saying something in broken English. A few minutes later, returns with a plastic balloon pump and proceeded to join me in blowing up balloons. She was the last person I would have expected to carry out this task.
When I was finished with the clown portion of the party, I went into the ladies room to change into my hard headed costume. I barely stepped one of my furry feet into the room when the little terrors seeing me like this for the first time, went into complete attack mode! After a few minutes of trying to endure this terror, I ran back into the ladies room, got changed out of my costume, gathered up my stuff and got the heck out of there!
My boss received a call the next day requesting a refund since I didn’t complete the show even though I stayed an hour and a half over time due to the high volume of kids. I for warned my boss about the whole incidence prior to the request for a refund. Fortunately, he went to bat for me, making sure we both got paid.
This goes to show you…the devil comes in many disguises!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment