Houston’s Emmett Kelly Park is turning 50.
Opened to the public in October of 1975, the City of Houston named its new park after the town’s most famous resident, Emmett Kelly, who spent years in the limelight as iconic clown, “Weary Willie.”
Kelly lived in Sarasota, Florida in 1975, and returned to Houston for a big dedication event on Oct. 11 of that year, speaking to a large crowd at the park, doing media interviews and generally enjoying being the celebrity he had become. Mayor David Impey read a proclamation from Gov. Christopher “Kit” Bond declaring the day “Emmett Kelly Day” across the state. Impey also gave Kelly a “key to the city.”
“You’ve already got the key to our hearts.”
Houston Mayor David Impey regarding Emmett Kelly
Houston City Council members recently verbally committed to putting about $100,000 in next year’s budget for playground equipment upgrades at Emmett Kelly Park.
ABOUT EMMETT KELLY
Emmett Kelly was born in Kansas in 1898. His father was Irish and his mother was a native of Bohemia.
The senior Kelly came to the U.S. when he was a young man and was a railroad worker in Kansas when he purchased an 80-acre farm four miles east of Houston. The Kelly family moved here when Emmett was 6 years old, and later added another 80 acres.
Kelly attended the Ozark School near the farm and became interested in cartooning. His mother encouraged him, and he took a correspondence course.
When he was 19, Kelly left Houston for Kansas City to seek work. Before leaving home, he had gained a reputation as an entertainer with his “chalk talk” act at local church socials and pie suppers.
Kelly later became widely renowned as “Weary Willie,” one of the world’s most famous clowns, and went on to work for years with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, making appearances all over the United States and overseas. He also had a success in movies and television.
Before he left Houston in 1975, Kelly called the experience “indescribable.”
“Please tell everyone that words cannot express my feelings and appreciation for everything that happened during the past few days,” he said. “Just to say thank you would not be enough.”
In March of 1979, Kelly died at his home in Sarasota, where he had lived many years.
Herald page from 2020
