Artists Unknown

Scan000010861, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. I'm about 12 seconds short of being 5 minutes in the business when the following occurs... Mid 1970's, Don Francisco (Frank Mijares/Pan American Circus) books a mini-circus into a mall in New Jersey. Amongst the lineup are Ken and Vesta Austin, "The Grimaldis", who I saw on International Showtime many years earlier. They arrive with a big, blue Chevy Suburban and a shiny Airstream. We are sharing a vacant store with convention type pipe-and-drape as room seperators for dressing rooms. I'm announcing the show, Ken and Vesta are presenting two acts, the Musical Comedy and the Plate Spinning. This European-type plate spinning act does not rely on "breaking of the plates" as its driving force; they spin plates on rods and spin plates on the table. The idea is NOT to break plates. The cast leaves the stage towards the dressing room and throughout the week the standard KEN AND VESTA after show chit-chat from the stage to the dressing room was, "Lovely audience...yes, dear lovely and a Thursday at that...oh yes quite right...wouldn't mind a week of those...let's hope tonight they're just as good..." Lovely English accents and the politest of manners. UNTIL TODAY, during the plate spinning act a plate goes flying and crashes and BOOM. Ken and Vesta don't miss a beat and continue as if nothing is wrong. End of show, the cast retreats to the dressing room and Ken and Vesta DONT SAY A WORD TO EACH OTHER. Into the vacant store, into the draped dressing rooms and the Vesta says sternly to Ken, "Well, there's another 35 cents down the drain." Mike Naughton