The Mannequin | 1001 Stories

#184 Barry The Mannequin

We saw two old mannequins standing there. A male and a female.

Barry

A friend and I went to Leeds City Council tip to take some rubbish. We saw two old mannequins standing there. A male and a female. We asked the staff if we could have the female mannequin, they said yes, so we put it in the back of the car.

I had to repair the nose. She had no arms. I repainted it in silver and black. I used the mannequin to sell clothes and homemade hats on eBay.

After a few years I put the mannequin up for sale on eBay. Sold it to a fashion shop in Keighley.

The shop owner’s father came and collected it from my house.

Precis

The beauty of being in a company of older performers is the kaleidoscopic range of real-life experiences that they bring to the table. These experiences cover everything from the vivid and strange world of childhood, to the unexpected late awakenings of old age. Take our newest batch of anecdotes, for example. These new stories are delightfully diverse: from the earthly, sensual joy of baking bread, to the cosmic dreams of outer space; from an unnerving encounter with a poltergeist, to the risqué glories of adult pleasure products and burlesque. Running as a rich theme throughout, is the possibility of love, and the simple wonder of human connection. As one writer tells us, in her story of funeral rites and flirting, “Amidst death, life goes on”, and indeed it does, delightfully so.

Edited by Barney Bardsley

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#184 Barry The Mannequin

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