Poor Us

by Arthur Chertowsky

I watch the beautiful clown when I’m anxious, depressed or unable to sleep. In this hour-long episode guest-starring Red Skelton, Lucy and Red are a couple of genteel and gentle hobos, embarking on a railway journey via boxcar. They pretend to be a waiter and a diner in an elegant restaurant. The imaginary meal is not to Lucy’s liking, nor is the princely sum of the imaginary bill. Red, as the hobo-waiter, lets hobo-Lucy leave without paying the tab, and then they sing a happy song entitled “Poor Us,” in which they express a preference for the unattached life on the road while pitying all the regular folk. Forty years later, and we’re about to experience life in that boxcar, but the beautiful clown is long gone.

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Arthur Chertowsky is busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.