The 8th Emergency Clown Nose® pick of the Holiday Season is Buster Keaton. In this series I’m exploring the noble as well as ignoble clown. Each day through Christmas look for posts to my blog, www.LloydBrant.com, of a different public figure that either delighted in playing the clown, or that the public has unfortunately chosen to paint as a clown.
I selected Keaton to be a part of a special series of historical figures that dedicated their lives to changing the world through the wisdom of humor, and also completes the trifecta of the great silent movie comedians.
Keaton, Chaplin, and Lloyd are the three greatest influences in my career as a professional clown. From my early twenties I have worn the baggy pants of Chaplin. In my mid-thirties when I first needed prescription eyeglasses I of course chose the classic round style of Lloyd. Then when my Father died my Mother gave me his grey Stetson fedora, which I immediately blocked into a porkpie, like the hat worn by Keaton. No matter what the current fashion this odd patchwork of Keaton, Chaplin, and Lloyd has been my signature street dress for twenty-five years.
My son tells me my taste in clothes is like a broken clock… I’m in style about once a decade.
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