By Staff
Washington resident brightens lives with her humor
By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles &Features Editor
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and Martha Seighman is proof positive as far as personalities go.
Seighman — perhaps better known to many as Bubbles the Clown — made her way to Beaufort County from her native Lone Star state when her husband, Jerry, took a job with what was then Texasgulf. The family — the couple has three sons — moved to this area in 1984.
And when the Seighmans relocated to Washington, Bubbles came with them.
Seighman began “clowning around” in 1972 when she appeared in costume at a children’s library program in Wharton, Texas. She followed up with appearances at community events including fundraisers, birthday parties and parades — Bubbles has even gone to the prom.
After getting somewhat settled in her new North Carolina home, Seighman tested the waters by hosting a face-painting booth at Washington’s Summer Festival. In fact, she’s still painting faces; her last “gig” was at last week’s National Night Out celebration.
Bubbles has toured the White House (in full regalia), drawing curious looks perhaps from her fellow tourists. But her get-up didn’t faze at least one of the mansion’s guards.
While she didn’t get to meet President Ronald Reagan during that White House visit, Bubbles has rubbed elbows with more than a few prominent folks. She has met fellow clown Emmett Kelly, Santa Claus, Ronald McDonald, the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, Gaylord Perry, former N.C. First Lady Dottie Martin, Eve Plumb of the “Brady Bunch” TV series, Richard Petty, Mr. Peanut and Miss North Carolina. And she was an occasional guest on the now-defunct local TV show “Witney the Hobo,” which aired on WITN.
But her favorite appearances include the Saturday Night Jamboree, a monthly gathering of physically and developmentally challenged individuals from Beaufort County and surrounding areas. She’s been volunteering with that organization since the mid-1980s, always in costume and always with a smile or a hug for everyone in attendance.
In 1988 Seighman, her husband and sons Jerry, Charles and Thomas were in the national spotlight when the family was selected for a Nick at Nite special, “My Life is Like a Sitcom.” That’s how Bubbles met Plumb, who played Jan, the Bradys’ middle daughter. The premise of the show was that son Charles had written the network a letter about his mother the clown.
In September of that year, the Seighman family learned they were one of three finalists, with the eventual winner receiving a $10,000 cash prize. Network representatives visited the family and during filming 17 crew members crowded into the Seighman residence in Smallwood.
Providing an inside glimpse of the magic of Hollywood, Seighman said the crew filmed two endings for the show.
Fortunately, the family did, in fact, win the top prize, bringing some much-needed good news to Washington in the wake of the murder of Lieth Von Stein just a few blocks from the Seighman home.
Lady Luck smiled on Seighman again a few years later when she won a trip to the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.
One of Bubbles escapades turned out well, but it was touch and go for a while, according to Seighman.
When a magazine published a story on Bubbles, it printed a copy of one of the bills. That caught the attention of the U.S. Secret Service.
The agent wasn’t amused.
While Bubbles has slowed down a bit, Seighman stays busy. She’s a member of two local Red Hat Society clubs and she’s an avid collector of clowns, Avon bottles, postcards, matchbooks, ballpoint pens and Coca-Cola memorabilia, the latter setting the theme for her kitchen decor.
From clowning with the famous and nearly-famous to bringing cheer to the lives of those less fortunate, Seighman wouldn’t change a thing.