Donald Davidson Does Shakespeare

On this site, we've previously followed Donald Davidson, the one-man encyclopedia of Indy 500 racing knowledge, to the Airport. He's one of my heroes, so I can say it's privilege to follow him in whatever he might do. Today, we follow him to his theatrical debut, where he plays the title role in the Speedway Repertory Theater's Production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. We join him in the famous scene where Hamlet deeply contemplates the skull and mortality of Yorick:

Act V, Scene I. A churchyard.

First Clown
A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a' poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.

HAMLET (Donald)
This?

First Clown
E'en that.

HAMLET
Let me see yon skull of nostalgic nature.

(Takes the skull)

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
I recall that I believe he was actually a riding mechanic with
Russ Snowberger in 1933; mark it well.

(pause)

Er, I mean, Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? I suppose I would
say the last time we saw gambols at the Speedway was in 1954,
When Chuck Stevenson brought some gambols with him for
qualifying, although to be fair, in 1953, I believe Duke Dinsmore
brought some with him, though he didn't actually qual...

HORATIO
AHEM, My lord.

HAMLET
Er, right.
Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now speaking of chaps that come to mind, I just want to take a moment
and tell the story of running into Russ a few years before he passed
and he mentioned the entry he ran in 1947 was originally slated to go
to Cliff Bergere, who of course--

HORATIO
MY LORD. I entreat thee, attend. Yorick.

HAMLET
Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that.

Of course, if we're discussing paint, we must bring up
one of my favorite paint schemes, which was in the
1957 race, the Belond Exhaust Special, which
actually went on to win the race. What was interesting
about that particular year was...

(long silence, as Horatio and the clowns stare at Hamlet)

Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.

HORATIO
What's that, my lord?

HAMLET
Canst thou name the last time a Novi qualified in the front row?

(exeunt, with Dave From Marion trumpeting a recessional)