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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (118093)	8/23/2001 2:59:39 PM
From: Horgad	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Downturn Enough to Bring Tears to a Clown dailynews.yahoo.com By Ian Driscoll NEW YORK (Reuters) - It looks like few clowns will be smiling in New York this Christmas. Corporate America has got so preoccupied with issuing pink slips and taking other cost-cutting measures to ride out the economic downturn that it has been putting plans for year-end parties on ice. That's bad news for clowns and other entertainers. ``Most regular accounts are saying 'We haven't even started thinking about that yet,''' said Stan Wiest of A. Wiest Entertainment, an entertainment-booking agency whose repertoire includes clowns, a performing dog and ventriloquists. Wiest, who has been in the business more than 20 years, said he has never seen such a sudden or steep shortfall in holiday season bookings. ``Companies are saying it's not appropriate to do these things when they are giving out pink slips,'' he said. By now, Wiest would normally expect to have had a diary crammed full of bookings for Christmas parties and other seasonal bashes, but he has plenty of performers still prepared to sing for their supper. Mr. Lucky, the performing dog whose credits include Saturday Night Live (news - Y! TV) and The Letterman Show and who is usually charged out a $900 per hour, has suffered a 30 percent decline in his pre-Christmas bookings. Polka-Dots, a New York-based clown with a once lucrative sideline in singing-telegrams, traces the decline back to the technology sector crash that started last year. She used to do singing telegrams about eight times a week, dressed as either a French Maid, Playboy Bunny, Chicken or Gorilla. ``Now I'm down to just two a week,'' she said. Daisy Doodle, a children's clown whose adult alter-ego is Delilah, the belly, hula and sometime flamenco dancer, said her summer bookings are down 40 percent on earlier years. Nor is she optimistic about the holiday season. ``This is the slowest year since I've been keeping records, and I haven't received any Christmas bookings yet.'' Still, it is not bleak across the board. Several large companies, perhaps keen to secure a clearer view of the future -- many have been complaining about lack of visibility for everything from the economy to new orders and profits -- have been booking those who say they can see into the future. Psychic and tarot card reader Sebastian Black said his bookings are higher than a year ago.