He was the Marcel Marceau of Union Square, San Francisco, she was a tap dancing actress. They fell in love and formed a mime duo famous for their characters The Clinkers; known for their slow and deliberate robo-animatronic movements.
This, being the coked up '70's, led to appearances on The Muppet Show, The Red Skeleton Show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, touring China with Bob Hope, performing for Queen Elizabeth II and TWO American presidents, and finally their own t.v. show in 1972!
My parents watched it religiously, so each week, for 45 minutes, my poor growing four year old brain was irradiated with wordless robotic mime vaudville of the most disturbing order.
I actually remembered their "variety" hour as being a cartoon, until it came up again in my teens and, contesting the absurdity of my friend's contradiction wildly, I was shown evidence that they were indeed actual flesh and blood human beings.
Sadly, even the best of times don't last long for a mime.
Here they are in 1981.
Snippets!: Yarnell would later go on to play the body of Dot Matrix in Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs, dubbed by Joan Rivers.
That makes sense. Dot Matrix would also have made an excellent drag name.
ReplyDeletenow i know what those halloween costumes my mom and dad had were all about....
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