More Old Photos. Wait! Is THAT...Teddy Ruxpin?

Rolling right along with the photos from my checkered past, I give you some photos of me in a checkered jacket!

Well it is not really a checkered jacket. It is not even a houndstooth pattern. I called this my "white noise" pattern because it looked like a TV tuned to a nonexistent channel.

I got this thing from The Chess King (Anyone remember those stores?) and believe it or not I only RECENTLY got rid of it! It had these baggy sleeves and BIG shoulder pads. I always said I got it from Jay Leno's garage sale and it always got a laugh on stage.

The REAL bit of cool fashion to look at are the shoes. Those were 75th Anniversary, Limited Edition Converse High Tops. (They MAY have been 65th or 70th Anniversay shoes, I forget now) There were only 3 colors of these bad boys available and I wore these with PRIDE! I wish I still had them. They're probably worth money now.

Other things to look for in this photo...The Shaker Cups & Rings (as seen in an earlier post), juggling clubs (which I RARELY use anymore, clown shoes (to imply I'm funny?) and yes, that IS a Teddy Ruxpin doll!

I used to do a bit on stage where I would simulate a ventriloquist with the Teddy Ruxpin. I'd hit the tape on the doll, it would do its creepy talking thing, and then I would take a drink of water. I was too hip for the room in many cases, but when the joke went over, it KILLED! How sad is that? I still have the damned bear! Anyone want it? Make me an offer!

This photo was my attempt at casual humor. I'm reading the article about me in the Park Ridge Advocate (as made famous in my Jesus story!) and Teddy is sitting next to me. I'm WEARING the clown shoes this time and sitting on an old trunk.

I always liked the idea of reading a story about me in a photo of me. I was still taking on a few clown gigs but didn't REALLY want to promote that too much. Hence, I would imply I was a clown with the shoes, but not go out of my way to encourage people to hire me as a clown.

That trunk (the same as in the above pic) was purchased at an antique store for $25.00 and I bought it specifically to take these photos. It looked so old-tyme vaudeville I had to have it. My mother has the trunk to this day and uses it for storage and as a coffee table. EVERYONE who sees it wants to buy it.

While many of the photos from this shoot were never used, I did pluck a couple of them for my SECOND brochure. I'll post some scans of my first brochure another time (it is SCARY!).

Before I started using my latest brochure, THIS ONE was the best one I'd ever had. It REALLY sold the act well and served me for a long time! This is just the cover but it is very cool, even by my jaded standards of today.



I really liked the vaudeville poster feel of this and if I'm remembering correctly, I got the idea for the layout from an old promo sheet from a local performer, Jerry Ashton. I'll have to look for his poster somewhere in my archives and tell you about him some day.

The brochure features the BEST clown photo ever taken of me. Thankfully for my wife who HATES clowns, that photo is no more. But that pic was taken in the alley behind the local newspaper office in Marengo, IL. The pic looked like I was in Europe or something and was very expressive.

Believe it or not, this brochure actually sold my act and brought me into a lot of people's homes. I'll take some time to show you the inside and make sufficient fun of myself for you. Of course, if you'd like to make fun of me, my comments button is always open!