True Name
Thomas Aylesbury
Stage Name
Tom-Tom the Clown
Appearance
Tom-Tom wears a raggedy purple tuxedo with a matching top hat, a gold vest, over-sized shoes with spats, and elaborate black and white face paint. He has a small pair of tom-toms slung low at his hip by a broad belt. [NOTE: This was my initial vision of his appearance. In reality, his costume should be an unsubtle jab at the Ringmaster's outfit, if he wears one. It's not meant to be mean, but Tom-Tom sees himself as something of a court jester, and it usually gets a big laugh from the crowd… 😊 ]
Date Joined
February 23, 1919
The act he performs when not on the combat team
Tom-Tom is a silent clown (don't call him a mime!). His specialty is leading volunteers from the audience in elaborate charades, deriving humor from the volunteers' inability to understand his drum-punctuated, wordless directions, and using physical comedy.
Why He Joined the Circus
Tom-Tom was extremely depressed following the Great War, his inability to find work, and the death of his sweetheart (see bio). The Ringmaster approached him and offered him a return of his former mobility. He also offered him the ability to sense chaotic beings and their powers, as well as put up wards against them. In addition, he offered Tom the power to move very quickly when unnoticed or in darkness, and the ability to see well in low-light conditions. In return? Tom-Tom doesn't talk. Ever. No singing, no whispers. He uses sign language and his drums to communicate, and resorts to a pencil and a pad of paper if need be.
Biography
Thomas Archer was born in Southampton, 1895. He worked in a bakery but also did some tavern singing. When the Great War began, Tom volunteered and so found himself dealing with the mud, blood, and horror of the trenches. By 1918, Tom had been promoted to sergeant, but was wounded in the leg during the Ludendorf Offensive. After recuperating, Tom returned home and married his sweetheart, Betsy, in the time-honored tradition of soldiers returning from war. Life was not easy for the couple, as Tom's wound did not heal well, and he could only walk using a cane. Betsy started working in a laundry to make ends meet. When Betsy died of the Spanish Flu in early 1919, tom fell into depression. Living only on his meager pension, Tom spent the last of his cash on a ticket to the Ringmaster's Circus. The Ringmaster approached him outside one of the sideshow tents and they began to talk about the seemingly faceless evil that hung over the world. The Ringmaster explained that while evil was sometimes faceless, it could still be identified, fought, and vanquished.
Connections
??? (Unsure at this point)
Audition
The platform went dark, and the beginning of the next act was announced by a staccato flourish of an unseen drum. A spotlight stabbed down, illuminating a thin man wearing a natty version of the ringmaster's fancy tie and tails. On his hip were a pair of small drums. He immediately ran to the front row of the crowd, smiling and shaking hands; eventually he pretended that one man didn't let go of his hand, causing him to lurch backwards and fall down. As the audience laughed, he got up and shook his finger at the man, tapping his drum in time with the gesture.
Eventually, Tom-Tom made his way to the platform, which contained a stage door within a frame, a simple table and chair, and a massive steamer trunk. After removing his coat and hat, he began digging through the thing, eventually coming up with a beret and ascot reminiscent of a stereotypical French movie director's ensemble. He added a thin fake mustache as a final touch, and then pulled out an old-fashioned hand-crank movie camera complete with tripod, which he promptly set up facing the furniture. Finally, he dug out a stack of paper that had MOVIE SCRIPT written prominently on the front. This he showed to the crowd with a smile.
After studying the script for a moment, he returned to the crowd with an appraising eye, fingers drumming thoughtfully. Every so often he would stop before someone and look then over carefully, whipping things out of his pocket like a magnifying glass or a stethoscope for a closer examination. After rejecting several people, he finally selects a pretty girl and leads her onto the platform, encouraging the audience to applaud her.
From the trunk, Tom-Tom pulled out a feather boa and wrapped it around his neck. Drumming a burlesque beat, he strutted through the door in exaggerated style, twirling one end of the boa as he did, and sat on the desk in a classic pin-up pose, nodding at the woman with encouragement. Then he wrapped the boa around her neck, lead her to the door, and ran to the camera. He clapped his hands together and began cranking the camera. Slightly embarrassed, the woman hesitated and pointed at the door questioningly. Tom-Tom rolled his eyes and went to her, taking the boa and repeating his pantomime.
The second time he signaled "action," the woman started through the door, twirling the boa a little but basically walking right in. Tom-Tom made the "cut" sign and drummed impatiently, again taking the boa and repeating the pantomime, only humorously sped up to show his impatience. He clapped "action" and began cranking the camera, and this time the woman does a creditable job of swaying her hips and twirling the boa. Tom-Tom made a "hubba hubba" gesture and led the audience in a round of applause for the embarrassed woman.
Next, Tom-Tom consulted the script again and went back to choose another audience member. He dragged a man to the platform, again leading applause for him, and digs out a villain's cape. Donning the cape and pointing to the script, Tom-Tom bursts through the door, grinning a villainous grin before sinisterly advancing on the woman. He then put the cape on the volunteer. He showed the woman he wants her to be sitting there twirling the boa and pretending to chew gum in classic floozie fashion. With a final nod to the man, he runs to the camera, claps "action," and cranks the camera.
Tom-Tom has the duo go through many takes: first, the man doesn't act evil enough; then, he's too evil, scaring tom-Tom and causing him to run away. Then, the woman fails to react, causing Tom-Tom to go back and forth pantomiming increasingly scary things (a stabbing, a machine gun, etc.), followed by miming her still sitting there chewing gum, unconcerned. Finally, he gets a good take, and went to consult the script again.
He selects another man from the crowd and hurries to the platform, not noticing that the audience member he selected is very, very tall. He signals to the two already on the platform to get ready, then turns and comically bounces off the man as if he were made of solid stone. Looking way up at him, he led him over to the box, climbs up on it, then shakes his hand genially and climbs back down.
Tom-Tom mimes what he wants the big man to do: burst in the door, react to the villain, and chase him out the door. Again, he is comically underwhelmed by the man's low-energy performance, but when he actually acts angry, Tom-Tom runs for his life and hides behind the woman. At last, he gets the take he wants, offers the volunteers up for applause, and leaves the stage.
