4
Trw Dal!y Tar HeI
Thursday, Octc&er 24, 1S74
Trickster
delights
state fair
by Bill Sutherland
Staff Writer
With the monogram of DM on his breast
there could be no mistake. This really was '
Dave Merrifield The Space Age Super
Sensatir pictured on the back of his own
sweater as sitting languidly on a trapeze
swing under a helicopter.
, But Dave was too approachable, too
urbane to be a sensation. He did not have the
square chin, or the muscular build one would
expect of a supersonic superstar. As far as
appearances were concerned, Dave belonged
on Wall Street in the brokerage firm his
father runs rather than on a swing under a
helicopter going 65 miles per hour.
But as part of the grandstand festivities of
last weekend's . State Fair in Raleigh,
Merrifield was on the ground, returning
from his trailer and approaching a group of
chilled Hell Drivers and Hanneford Circus
people.
Costumes began to appear. Some girls,
bundled in coats, with fishnet stockings
linking them to the ground, had two-toned
lipstick jobs and false eyelashes that looked
too heavy for all but the strongest eyelids to
lift. With their long artificial falls and fluffs
of hair, from afar they could be taken for
blonde venuses.
The announcer, a large man with rose
tinted glasses, used his showman's spiel to
welcome the half-full grandstand to "the
great North Carolina State Fair."
Meanwhile, a few, muffled snickers passed
between some workmen.
A not-so-white mule was escorted to the
ring on the track by the blonde venuses. The
mule cavorted about the ring, rolled in the
thin layer of sand on the clay track, and was
said by the announcer to hate men. A couple
of stooges came down from the crowd to
prove this a . lie. The mule brilliantly
exemplified his inherent obstinance by
chasing, biting and finally climbing on top of
one of the men.
The circus was abruptly followed by the
deep-throated roar of Jack Kochman's white
and heavily decalled chargers mounting the
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Chapel Hill. N.C. 27514
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RIdss, a helicopter trapeze set, freak exhibits and hootchie-kootchie shows are just
year's State Fair in Raleigh
Before the show, loudspeakers promised
Evil Kneivel's motorcycle but without the
original master. The beast, however, was
amenable to a new rider,, who did
wheelstands in various positions under full
throttle in front of the grandstand.
Dave had described his act as the logical
extension of the jet age transformed into a
performance. Yet donned in his velvet cloak,
bejeweled with silver and red glitters, Dave
seemed almost timeless.
The drum roll began and Dave whipped
off his cloak, handing it to a blonde venus.
Reduced to only a glittering pink jumpsuit,
he was no less supra-human. He gave the
crowd a long bow, and made for the
helicopter.
The crowd was getting excited. Dave
waved to them from the helicopter as it v
ascended. After circling the track, the pilot
held the machine in a low hover as Dave
climbed out and down to the trapeze hanging
underneath. Some of the Hell Drivers waved
back.
track. The drivers introduced themselves by
roaring down the track and quickly going
into a sideways spin towards the guardrail.
The object was to miss the rail by the thinnest
, hair conceivable, and one driver in his
runaway enthusiasm hit the rail to the
delight of the crowd.
Much of the act was devoted to the
comedy of Happy the clown. Happy, dressed
in a seersucker suit, cracked jokes in between
acts ("I'm the sucker who bought it at
Sears,") and macje himself the target of mud
spewing cars. Two cars raced by either side
of him, spinning him with their speed.
Happy is told by the announcer to kneel
under one of the ramps while cars jump over
him. : -
Later he is tied to the back of a car and
dragged down the track. Then he is placed on
a step behind the car, and the driver takes
him through a line of fire with his pants
falling down in the process. "Happy's got
more balls than any of 'em," one official
commented.
iL. .
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iff
Today's Feature
Adventure
Off
ofoiinr Hood
STARRING ERROL FLY NN
with Olivia DeHavilland
Basil Rathbone
and Claude Rains ; ,
Shows at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m.
Tickets $1.50 or by subscription. .
ABC Guest Admissions will not be accepted.
- $
it
16 classic films
sponsored by the
Daily Tar Heel
and the Carolina Theater.
A different feature every Tuesday &
Thursday until Dec. 5. Showings at
1:00 & 4:00 p.m.
Series Ticket
$10.00 on sale at
Union Desk & Carolina Theater.
Tickets $1 .50 each at door.
((, .
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Jf V J : Ticket 4 in advance, $5 day of show A Carolina Union '
K Availabla Union Peak end area Record Ban Presentation
Staff pltole by Pr Ray
a few of the many amusements at this
The helicopter jumped forward and Dave
swung with it around the track and back to a
hover. This occurred after each trick. Dave
hung from his knees his ankles and his
neck. He feigned falling and caught himself
with one ankle.
For the finale, the helicopter soard, as the
announcer said, uup into the sky, higher than
a kite." At 600 feet, there is not too much of
Dave to see, but someone observed,
"Goddamn, he's still waving."
"We love this work," he added, and with a
sweep of the hand seemed to include even the
rhesus monkeys and the not-so-white mule.
Dave was inspired at an early age by this
line of work, he said. "When 1 was a kid, 1
went to the Ringling Bros. Circus, and
decided the trapeze was the greatest. So 1 just
practiced."
He has been doing this act for sixteen"
years. On mention of perhaps using
something like a rocket ship, Dave quietly
replied, "There'll be changes in the act, but I
think I'll stick with the helicopter. It's fairly
ideal." .
Dave was back in his large-collared
sweater now, and the grandstand was empty.
He looked up at the sky and rubbed his
hands together. "Tonight's going to be a
bitch," he muttered.
1 J
1 :40-3:30-5:20r7:1 0-9:00
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LATE SHOW
Fri. & Sat. 11:15 P.M.
THE MAGIC GARDEN
OF STANLEY
SWEETHEART" R
3:45-5:30
SHOWS 7:15-9
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ARTHUR GARFIJNKEL
ANNMARGRET
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1 laompson
1
Continued from pt je I
It was difficult to tell which statements this
soulful searcher took seriously. You people
are weird, man. I've just come down from
20.000 feet while you people are just at sea
level," he said.
When Thompson wasn't pontificating or
prophesying, he was either swallowing his
words or shouting chickcnshits,"
"god damns" and "motherfucks."
"Richard Nixon? He's a goddamn punk
from the very beginning a bum. a thug ... a
fuckin loser for all his life and all of a sudden
he's President . . . I've beaten that son-of-a-bitch
for 20 years and I just wanna have one
more shot at him. Nobody's really beaten
him like he oughta be beaten."
Whatever has been made of Thompson's
violence was manifested in his manhandling
during the presentation. With phallic
gesticulations. Thompson fondled the
microphone, yanked it from side to side and,
when it refused to operate, slapped it
crudely.
But his real fit of frenzy was a reply to a
statement accusing Rockefeller of fostering
cannibalism in South America. As
Thompson's right arm flew wildly into the
air and over his right shoulder, the cupful of
liquid he grasped in his hand found its mark
all over the velvet auditorium curtain.
say I'd really like to be in an argument with
a bunch of people."
Before his talk, Thompson had insisted his
sole performance would involve answering
questions written on only 3 by 5 index cards
passed out prior to the show.
After perusing the cards (in a rather hasty
manner), Thompson threw them into the air
indignantly exclaiming. "Is there anybody
here who has any type of intelligent
question?"
Audience: "What candidate do you think
b strong enough to win the 1976 Democratic
nomination?"
Thompson: (throwing hands in air)
"Jesus . . . Well you asked a serious question,
111 give you a serious answer. Mondale."
(pause)
T: (addressing same gentleman) "You and
I. you and me, why don't we talk? Let's fuck
all the others."
A: "Does Terry Sanford have any type of
chance for President?" (boos and hisses from
the audience)
T: (after glancing around) "1 hope not."
A: "What does Gonzo journalism mean?"
T:"I don't know I made it up. It just runs
hounds off the track and confuses professors
of journalism which is not hard to do."
'Gonzo journalism . . . made it up. It
just runs hounds off the track and confuses
professors of journalism which is not
hard to do.9
"He was getting very abusive damaging
property, kicking things around," explained
John Miller, Duke Union President who was
instrumental in removing Thompson and
who had been cautiously pacing and
patrolling the aisles during Thompson's
performance. "We had let him go on for a
long time," he said.
According to Miller, the decision to
remove Thompson was basically a student
decision, made by all members present of the
executive committee and the major speakers
committee but also approved by the staff
involved.
"This had nothing to do with freedom of
speech," he said.
The Union Board will meet today to
determine what, if any, action will be taken.
Thompson's contract stipulated cancellation
if he appeared under the influence of alcohol
or narcotics. And, according to his actions
and words. Hunter Thompson had
apparently imbibed.
"You really gassed them," a young man
said to Thompson during the after-hours ,
parley. ....
"I could tell that," Thompson boasted.
Apparently the "drug-crazed outlaw
journalist" likes to run his own show.
"I was sent down here like a piece of
meat," Thompson said, gnawing on the tip
of his cigarette holder.
"I told them I had no speech¬hing to
A: Did you ever lay an Angels chick?
(Thompson riding with the Hells Angels
motorcycle outlaws turned into his first
book Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible
Saga.)
T: "Never... we had a very delicate
relationship 1 never saw one I'd like to."
A: "What ever happend to Mr. Nixon's
silent majority?"
T: "They're right here... all you pig
farmers and beer hippies."
A: "What's your new book about?"
T: "You wouldn't buy it anyway. You
can't even read."
Thompson's attempts to provoke verbal
battery were successful throughout the night
as observers chaotically blurted out question
after question banning all rules of order.
But the whining of a baby's voice upstaged
them all when Thompson replied, "That's
the most coherent fuckin' thing I've heard."
Some people walked out on Thompson.
Others stayed around until approximately
1:30 a.m., smoking hashish and seeking his
autograph.
"What is this bullshit?" Thompson asked a
persistent groupie.
Scribbling a line of irrelevant inanities,
Thompson remarked, "Shit that is my
name At least it is when I'm drunk."
3:05-5:05
the story of a boy and his dogs... 7-05-9.05
HE MADE A PROMISE AND HE KEPT IT!
DOTY-DAYTON'S
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wnmt, PAUL MAZURSK Y -4 JOSH GREENFELD PAUL MAZURSKY coto.ru,M-
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