when she whirled 2990 times in 32 minutes...

"mary bayrooty, the syrian girl who last year whirled for thirty-two minutes without cessation, making something like 2,240 revolutions established a new record yesterday afternoon in barnum & bailey's freak hall. she made 2,990 twirls in thirty-seven minutes. this is a new world record... when the last note died and the last whirl had been achieved, marie was fresh as paint. she ran across the floor to the nearest reporter and pinned a rose on the lapel of his coat, remaining until her fame had been suitably sounded. then she sat down and gave the other freaks a chance."

much as i wish i'd written the text above, it is a newspaper account of marie bayrooty that i found online while researching her. the CDV with her image was a recent find.

some serious clowns...

the melancholy looks on the faces in this RPPC remind me a little of the sad clowns in some of picasso's early works...there's a lot of pathos here, and not much jolly in these faces.

a quote from the web: "Picasso identified most closely with the clowns, those performers who masked their true selves with costumes and makeup. In fact, Picasso portrayed himself as the harlequin in a diamond-patterned costume in Family of Saltimbanques. The jester and the acrobats are lost in their own thoughts and glance toward the woman, who sits alone, while the harlequin reaches out to the child behind his back. In his deft representations of the various figures, Picasso manages to portray not only the lifestyle of the real saltimbanques but also the apparent melancholy mood of his friends and the collective alienation of this group."

two man circus...

1. the guy with the bucket (and his face, arms, and striped pants).
2. the string of light bulbs.
3. the band beneath the stage.
4. the people in the window just above the word national.
5. the big box on the stage (and the empty chair... and the patterned rug)
6. the little boy in black on the right side (and his mom sitting behind him).
7. the reflections beneath c. butsch.
8. the word "ositary"
9. the black abstract shapes in the windows above c. butsch.
10. all of the ladies in hats...