JOSEPH GRIMALDI INVENTED CLOWNS

JOSEPH GRIMALDI AS A CLOWN

Without a doubt, Joseph Grimaldi, was the greatest clown and one of the first to become truly famous. He is credited with inventing the clown image and clown make up, and was one of the first to give the performance of a "clown" that was unique from that of the Harlequin and buffon (buffoon).

JOSEPH GRIMALDI

Joseph Grimaldi was born on December 18, 1778, in Clare Market, London, to Giuseppe Grimaldi and Rebecca Brooker, one of Giuseppe's many mistresses. Giuseppe was a ballet master at Drury Lane Theatre, known as "Signor." It is assumed that "Signor" was the result of an incestuous affair and therefore quite mad. He had a fear of being buried alive. He was a horrid and cruel man. His wife, who was the mother of four daughters, was constantly abused and eventually she contracted syphilis due to his many affairs.

Joseph was his first son and the second one was called John. Joseph was barely two and a half when he was forced onto the stage. At three he was performing regularly at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, where he learned his craft. In spite of Joseph's success, his father treated the boys barbarically. He used to pick Joseph up by the hair and throw him into the corner.

Giuseppe terrorised his family with dark and frightening tales. He would take his children through the graveyards and contemplate aloud over each grave about their cause of death. He also frightened them with his fixed idea that he was going to die on the first Friday of the month.

Not surprisingly, Joseph suffered from depression all his life, a condition that was not helped by the drunkenness and debauchery that was common in theatrical life at that time.

At six years old, Joseph was an established performer. When his father died the family was left greatly in debt, and Joseph, at the age of nine became the family's breadwinner.

At first the boys did not believe their father was dead because "Signor" used to play a trick on them, lying on the dining room table pretending he passed away to try and to find out the reaction of the boys. Joe was upset and John delighted which earned him a beating. However, this time, their monster father was really dead, and the world was at peace.

John, at age eight, ran away to sea. Joseph continues his career in Drury Lane theatre and became very famous by his late teens.

When he was 17 he fell in love with Maria Hughes. She was the daughter of the theatre’s stage manager. He had to wait three years 'til Maria agreed to marry him. Soon she was pregnant and Joseph was over the moon. For once, he was truly happy. Eighteen months after they married though, Maria died in childbirth. Joseph never recovered from the loss.

However, he tried to overcome his grief, and married Mary Bristow, a young woman in the chorus at the Drury Lane theatre. Joseph shot himself in the foot onstage and Mary nursed him. She helped him bear his grief, and soon, Mary and Joe had a son.

However, misfortune followed him all through his life.

When he started "playing the clown," Joseph made a fortune. It would have given him a comfortable life but he lost it to a swindler, and was constantly in financial difficulty.

One day, after sixteen years away, his brother John turned up. He had become very rich in the colonies. After meeting Joseph, John left the theatre promising to return soon. John was never seen again. It is assumed that he was murdered for his money.

When Joe developed the personality of the clown, as we still know it today, he also created the clown pantomime, the forerunner of the music hall and burlesque clowns,

It was Joseph who created what would become the traditional clown make-up - the white skin and painted-on mouth. He was the original "Clown Joey." He became a great success and performed at Covent Garden in 1806 in "Harlequin And Mother Goose." The play ran for 92 nights and the take was over £20,000, an enormous sum in those days.

Joseph became such a star; the stage was almost empty during his performance, to have him as the focal point. He also was a fearless acrobat, but his jumping and tumbling eventually cost him his health.

Later on Joseph became the first pantomime dame. He put on a skirt and played Queen Ronabellyanna in "Harlequin and The Red Dwarf."

Mary bore him a son and they called him Joseph. He became known as JS, and he followed in his father's footsteps.

Joseph retired at the age of 45 because of the pain caused by his athleticism. His son, who had been drinking heavily for years developed epilepsy, and also spent time with prostitutes. He had episodes of foaming mania and savagery.

Joseph had to watch him helplessly and didn't dare to confront him. He was petrified it would turn his son into what Joseph's father had been.

Eventually JS left home and refused to see his family. They could only see him when he appeared on stage. It is not known why he left, but many assume it was because his father was then the world's most famous entertainer, and JS could not achieve that. When JS was 30 years old he started to have bouts of hallucinating and violent vomiting. He died soon after.

Towards the end of his life, Joseph Grimaldi was crippled by arthritis and other ailments. Still, he supported himself and family by giving benefit performances. He received from the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund a pension of £100 a year. He spent his last years sitting by the fireplace in the Marquis of Cornwallis tavern. At the end of the evening the landlord, George Cook, would carry him home on his back.

When Joseph Grimaldi died on June 1, 1837 the public mourned his passing. Although his great career was long ago, his contribution to the clown as we know today is unforgettable.

At the height of his success, he counted among his friends Lord Byron, Sarah Siddons, Edmund Kean, critics Leigh Hunt and William Hazlitt and Charles Dickens.

As the saying goes "Fame comes with a price" and Joseph paid a heavy one, but his legacy is not forgotten. On the first Sunday of every February, a memorial service is held for Grimaldi at the All Sants' Church in Hackney, East London.