The clown showed up 45 minutes late, wobbled a bit, and had alcohol on his breath. His first act involved juggling fire batons. The crowd was afraid that he’d set something on fire, but once the music started, he stopped wobbling and pulled it together. He went into a clown trance and put on the loveliest half hour of juggling entertainment ever seen. When it was over, he demanded to be paid cash and asked for a double vodka to go, pulling a thermos out of his clown bag and motioning for it to be filled. ... such was his way. He was known to his friends as “Chuck the Alcoholic Clown,” but to his public, he was “Clarence the Magnificent.”