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Excerpts from Abe Peña's  popular publications

All material used with the kind permission of the author, given to me personally.

from VILLAGES

"Don Chéma—The Clown

“Si no soy chistoso porque me gusta, es la necesidad.--I'm not funny because I want to, it's because I have to!” One of the many funny lines of don Chéma, the clown and acrobat, when he toured the villages in western Valencia, now Cíbola, County, in New Mexico during the Big Depression of the 1930s, when money was so scarce.

Don Chéma brought laughter to our village of San Mateo. He was a payaso—a clown, and was also a maromero—an acrobat, who entertained us with his many talents. The village looked forward to his arrival by keeping an eye on the dusty road from Grants, some 23 miles away. The first villagers who saw his approaching trucks passed the word, “Ay viene don Chéma, ay vienen los maromeros—There comes don Chéma, there come the acrobats!”

He always arrived on September 20, the vespers of the San Mateo fiesta. We kids followed his trucks to an open field near the center of the village, in front of my great-grandfather Juan Ortega's home and directly across the street from our home. We helped him and his party set up the large circus tent, “la carpa,” driving stakes and poles and setting up portable bleachers.

Don Chéma gave us a ticket to one performance, so he attracted a lot of helpers and assured himself of a good crowd. We got very excited and badgered our parents to attend one of the tandas—performances. It was not difficult to persuade them, because everyone in the village liked don Chéma and wanted to laugh with him.

There was an evening performance on the 20th, another performance on Fiestas day, and a final performance that night. As I recall, it cost 15 cents per tanda. I asked Rosalio Baca, a boyhood friend from San Mateo, if he remembered the word tanda from those days, and he said, “Yes, don Chéma gave us a ticket pa una tanda and we looked forward to that ticket.”

The program started with a trumpeter blaring some high notes. Suddenly don Chéma came running through the curtain, chased by a small barking dog snapping at his torn seat and baggy pants. The audience roared!

He seemingly held a mirror to our village reflecting our dreams, our hopes, our aspirations, and our weaknesses in a humorous way. We saw ourselves in that mirror.

During his act, he would take out a deck of cards and do card tricks. Cards were a popular means of entertainment, and card tricks were popular with all ages. After the Fiestas, we went around playing card tricks on each other, when we could find a deck of cards!

Looking back through the years, he reminded me of the renowned Cantinflas, the unforgettable Mexican comedian who brought us so many laughs through the movies. Don Chéma brought us laughs in person. My father, normally a reserved man, roared when don Chéma recited those unforgettable lines, “Si no soy chistoso porque quiero, si es la necesidad!” Dad quoted him for years. Don Chéma captured the essence of our times.

Los maromeros, the acrobats, were young boys, and excellent tumblers. They were athletes in the fashion of today's gymnasts, without the rings. I recall, after they were gone, we tried to imitate their act.

Besides the program of clowning and acrobatics, there were games to play in an adjoining tent. For 5 cents, you got 5 baseballs and from 30 feet away you tried to knock down a pyramid of ceramic milk bottles. The prize was usually a “made in Japan” whistle. Girls did not participate much in the “baseball throw,” but they did join the “penny pitching” contest.

You could pitch as many pennies as you wanted into small glass plates set on a tiered table about 10 feet away. If you landed one in a plate, you won the plate.

The name Don Chéma must have been a stage name. We knew him by no other. He lived in the Albuquerque area, and brought a “city flavor” to the country. Today, when I think of him, I want to burst out laughing. “The clown running through the curtain chased by a dog snapping at his torn seat and baggy pants!”

Thank you, Don Chéma, for bringing laughter to our village. Although you have passed on, we pray you still have them rolling in the aisles up there!"