The Marianito clown

A poster stuck on an Hiero frame caught our attention.

It showed the classic face of a very large clown. And underneath it read:

-“The Circus Galíndez performs today at 9 pm. A function in tribute to the famous Marianito clown, which is removed from the activity ”.

Casually we had seen Marianito the night before the hotel’s TV and we had even read a report to his person, in a Madrid newspaper.

Marianito with a young face, was undoubtedly a figure of great prestige in Spain.

We decided to attend the circus that night.

It was a Saturday.

At 21 o’clock, European punctuality, the show began. And the classic balancers appeared, the magician, the tamer, the Amazon, the juggers, etc.

The circus was full. The children were a majority.

Already on the end, a voice was heard through a speaker:

-“Now our young and dear Marianito clown, will act for you for the last time, because he retires from your activity.”

And Marianito appeared with the classic deteriorated galley, with his nose covered by a kind of pompom and with his wide pants that almost covered his excessive Zapatones.

He smiled. But his eyes- despite being painted- did not reflect joy. It is that the smile can be the disguise of sadness.

We were located very close to the clown and seemed to guess a deep penalty.

And his work began. And the slaps and the falls and the mistakes arrived.

The boys laughed out loud. But in adults a left nostalgia was warned.

Finished his number, Marianito stopped at the center of the track, looking at his audience. The raid galley and also a wig that covered his hair was slowly removed.

Then he stripped the attachment that deforms his nose. Finally, the painting that covered his face was removed.

There was an overwhelming silence in the circus.

He started talking:

-“I am only 36 years old. This has been my only trade. I don’t know how to do anything else and I can’t do this anymore … “

And he couldn’t continue.

The spectators, disoriented, waited for him to keep talking.

The clown remained several minutes without moving, looking at his audience without saying one more word.

Then, he retired slowly, while an endless ovation accompanied him.

We left the circus with a strange feeling of melancholy.

We enter a nearby confectionery.

Twenty minutes later, the Marianito clown entered to it and we recognized it. I was as defeated.

An impulse- which shyness would not have allowed me in Argentina- made me closer to greet him.

I invited him to our table. He accepted. And his story told us:

-“I have spent 16 years in this human clown profession, not always well understood. I love children and I have been lucky enough to provide them with the pleasure of laughter and happiness.

And I have dedicated myself especially to the creatures located in the last stands of the circus, the cheapest towns, because their parents cannot pay them better places.

Surely those children will not have many frequent toys or joys. And I know that my show is housed in their tender souls for long months and is like another toy – of those that they cannot buy – and that they will carry with them for a long time. He added: It is usually forgotten that childish pain has all adult pain ingredients.

The same fact that children want to be great, means that in their present there is pain.

Many parents ignore that loving children does not mean understanding them. ” And he added without looking at us:

-“I married seven years ago, with the woman I loved from my childhood. She abandoned me a year. But a beautiful blond little girl left me: Maricel. “

Suddenly it standing:

-“Maricel died a month ago, of leukemia.” Added:

-“I was only six years old.”

He held out his hand and moved away slowly …

We understood. That’s why I couldn’t work as a clown …

Shortly afterwards, an Argentine newspaper published information that went unnoticed by many; said:

-“Yesterday life was removed in Madrid, Marianito, a famous clown already retired from the activity.

And that painful news brought to my mind the memory of that sorry man who had ended up challenging death because he had not been able to challenge life. And then this aphorism arose in my mind.

“There are pains that can no longer add pain.”