Joseph Grimaldi

This article is about the celebrated English clown. For other uses, see Joe Grimaldi (disambiguation).

Joseph Grimaldi
Grimaldi in portrait by John Cawse, 1807
Born	18 December 1778(1778-12-18) Clare Market, London, England
Died	31 May 1837(1837-05-31) (aged 58) Pentonville, Islington, England
Years active	1780 – 1823
Spouse	Maria Grimaldi (died) Mary Grimaldi

Joseph Grimaldi (18 December 1778 – 31 May 1837), was an English actor and comedian who is perhaps best known for his invention of the modern day whiteface clown. He chiefly appeared at Drury Lane in pantomime where his greatest success was appearing in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg and followed with a successful performance at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.

Early life

Grimaldi was born in Clare Market, London, into a family of dancers and clowns. His Italian father, Joseph Giuseppe Grimaldi (d. 1788), was a dancer and pantaloon who first appeared in London, as a balletmaster, at the King's Theatre in Haymarket, and was later engaged by David Garrick to play in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Grimaldi's mother, Rebecca Brooker, was also a dancer and played small parts at Drury Lane and Sadler's Wells including the corps de ballet. His paternal grandfather, Giovanni Battista Grimaldi appeared on stage as "Iron Legs Grimaldi" and was popular in Italy and France.

By the age of three, the young Grimaldi made his début at the Sadler's Wells theatre on 16 April 1781, where he had a minor role in a production of Pandora's Box. He took part in the Drury Lane christmas pantomime later that year. In 1782, he attended Mr Ford's academy, a boarding-school at Putney, but he continued to act. He performed simultaneously at Drury Lane and Sadler's Wells, often on the same night, occasionally running the distance between theatres. Grimaldi's father died in 1788, when Joseph was nine, and the family entered into poverty as a result.

Career

Grimaldi as a clown

As a pantomime clown Grimaldi was considered unsurpassable, his greatest success occurring in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (1806 and often revived).^{[citation needed]}

Joseph Grimaldi was an innovator, his performance as Joey introduced the modern clown to the world, building on the existing role of Clown as a country bumpkin and fool, derived from the Commedia dell'arte; and making the clown the central character in the Harlequinade. His physical comedy was extraordinary, as was his ability to invent visual tricks and buffoonery, and his ability to poke fun at the audience. As music hall became popular, he introduced the pantomime dame to the theatre and was responsible for the tradition of audience participation. Songs about trades had always been popular on the stage in the 1800s. To gain inspiration, Grimaldi looked to the streets and everyday life. His most famous song, "Hot Codlings", told the story of a toffee apple seller on the streets of London:

A little old woman,
her living she got
by selling hot codlins,
hot, hot, hot.
And this little old woman,
who codlins sold,
tho' her codlins were hot,
she felt herself cold.
So to keep herself warm,
she thought it no sin
to fetch for herself
a quartern of ........

The audience would shout "Gin", with some glee, and Grimaldi would fix them with a stare and say "Oh! For shame!", in mock disappointment.^{[citation needed]}

A famous 'sad clown' anecdote was first told of Grimaldi (later also told of Grock):

A young man goes to see his doctor. He is overcome by a terrible sadness and doesn't think anything will make him feel better.

The doctor says, "Why not do something happy, like going to see Grimaldi the clown?".

The young man answers, with a knowing look, "Ah, but Doctor", he says, "I am Grimaldi."

Comedy performer Tony Allen said of Grimaldi's performance:

Any description of Joey Grimaldi's varied talents always includes his unusual skill of lampooning popular figures of the day by apparently re-arranging fruit, vegetables and cooking utensils and other every day items on a barrow. It wasn't a one-off joke, he was known for it and he rang the changes. For example: upper class dandies, the Prince Regent included, had made the Hussar uniform high fashion. Now just how Grimaldi arranged a coal scuttle, a muff and a full-length coat into a primitive cartoon sculpture that had a Covent Garden audience of 2,500 rolling in the aisles night after night was beyond me. I assumed that an allusion to royalty was dangerous and his comic genius must have been in the execution, leaving the joke therefore lost to us.

.

Personal life

As a young man, Grimaldi married the daughter of the principal proprietor of Sadler's Wells. Maria Grimaldi died in childbirth 18 months after their marriage. He found solace in performance, and eventually married again, to Mary Bristow. A son, Joseph Samuel Grimaldi was born and entered the acting profession, but drank himself to death by the age of thirty.^{[citation needed]}

Retirement

Suffering from ill health, Grimaldi retired from the stage. In his farewell speech he told his audience: "Like vaulting ambition, I have overleaped myself and pay the penalty in advanced old age. It is four years since I jumped my last jump, filched my last oyster, boiled my last sausage and set in for retirement". By 1828, he was broke, and benefit performances were held at both Sadler's Wells (17 March) and Covent Garden (28 June). A pension of £100 per annum was instituted by the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund. He could barely walk, but spent his last years at the Cornwallis Tavern, in Pentonville, the landlord, George Cook carrying him back to his nearby lodgings at the end of the evening.^{[citation needed]}

Grimaldi died on 31 May 1837, having become an invalid, owing to the years of extreme physical exertion his clowning had involved. The Illustrated London News wrote; "Grimaldi is dead and hath left no peer. We fear with him the spirit of pantomime has disappeared". Grimaldi requested that after his death he be decapitated before burial, reportedly because of a fear of burial alive. His grave is in Joseph Grimaldi Park (formerly, the courtyard of St. James's Chapel), Pentonville Road in Islington.

Legacy

Joseph Grimaldi's grave in Joseph Grimaldi Park

To this day, on every first Sunday in February, a memorial service is held for Grimaldi at Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, Hackney. At this service, hundreds of clowns flock from all over the world in full 'garb', and the service is followed by a show for the children. This memorial service was used as part of the setting of the climax of the 1989 romantic comedy Her Alibi, although in the film it took place on July 26.^{[citation needed]} The church hall had been the home of the Clowns' Gallery, but after a fire they relocated to a nearby community centre.^{[citation needed]} The Clowns Museum/Gallery has since moved to Wooky Hole.

His Memoirs in two volumes (1838) were edited by Charles Dickens. The original editions of Grimaldi's memoirs are very hard to find. The 'Memoirs' as they now exist leave much to be desired, since the editing was poorly done and the finished publication was based on an earlier editing job. Much of 'Memoirs' was not even written by Grimaldi (in the 1st person) but rather produced in the 3rd person (Dickens' technique). The original manuscript from which the 'Memoirs' was derived has been lost. However Richard Findlater suggests that the original work may exist in a private collection. There is a blue plaque on a building in Granville Road, Finchley, commemorating that he once lived nearby.

References

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Grimaldi, Joseph". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Joseph Grimaldi - It's Behind You

Bibliography

• Anthony, Barry (2010). The King's Jester. London: I. B. Taurus & Co. ISBN 978 1 84885 430 7. 
• "Boz" (Ed.) (Charles Dickens), Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, from Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)

External links

• Clowns Gallery & Museum
• Joseph Grimaldi English Heritage Blue Plaque at Grimaldi's home - Exmouth Market, London.
• The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi by Andrew McConnell Stott, Jenny Uglow, Guardian, 1 November 2009
• Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, edited by Boz
• The Life of Joseph Grimaldi; with Anecdotes of his Contemporaries by Henry Downes Miles, 1838