VARIETY ARTISTS
"It's the laughter lines you see
they stay with you right through thick and thin
eyes you can hide, but not the lines
the network changing constantly
like the points in the rails you keep going over
in sluggish and sullen towns.
They don't mean us any harm the audiences
but you need to earn every penny
we take 'em out of their drudgery
eight to five lives doing what destiny tells 'em
we bring a bit of light
slap and tickle, eye make - up
it's always been that way with variety.
It all makes you fall about with laughter
but that's what we're after.
Who else could do that?
Without that surge of acceptance
how could we beat this unsinkable pain?
With our extraordinary and tricky talents
learnt with sweat on the run
we up sticks and stay in digs
it may seem glamorous to some.
By the way: one of those days
I could have been famous, son."
raypool
Tue 25th Jul 2017 20:28
Thanks Mark. It is certain that the practitioners of the art of entertaining do need to have scope to portray all emotional ranges, but their own experiences were often lonely and hunted by the life itself. Still, it was good money and kept them out of factories.
David, thank you for giving me the inspiration for this poem. I picked a role and gathered my poetic wares in a seedy bag of pick and mix. The clip is exactly right. Pants down time - Rod Steiger was wonderful. He portrayed W.C Fields once. I was told once that when Tommy Steele was top of the bill at a theatre -he peeked through the curtain to see how many were in house. An aged comedian tapped him on the shoulder and said: "That's it son, you bring 'em in and we'll entertain 'em."
Thank you Harry. Always nice to get your affirmation - from a master of the genre. I tried the conservational mode as I felt it was more in your face.
Suki, good to hear from you on this one. I chose a tired Liverpool accent - passable I hope. So many comics used to come from there until it started to become respectable and self consciously cultured.
Col: I so much enjoyed the Alexei Sayle show, magic and the outfit so right. I remember a resident host in a club I worked in called Ron Twist. He used to pace the stage nervously and always say: "It's comedy over this side, and tragedy over here." The band regarded it as their duty to keep a straight face.
Love to all and especially to all the likers!
Ray