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Grimaldi painted his face white and added designs of red triangles
to his cheeks. This was the birth of the “Comic Whiteface
Clown” of today.
Not only did Grimaldi improve the appearance of the whiteface
clown, he also transformed the whiteface clown into the dominant
character who instigated the  |
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the birth of the “Auguste” clown. Tom Belling, a circus acrobat, was injured during a performance. During his recovery time, to amuse his co-workers back stage Tom would put on baggy pants, a wig on backward that was tied in a top knot and Tom would “clown around”. One day he accidentally ran into the circus arena, stumbling and falling. The crowd roared with laughter, shouting “Auguste” which means “Stupid’ or “Silly”.
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the tramp or hobo clown developed being inspired by the homeless and migratory workers of that
time who roamed WC Fields was a tramp clown, but he changed his image for motion pictures, dropping the tramp look.
We find happy tramps and angry tramps. There seems to be a
wide variety of tramp clowns. The most traditional thing about
tramp clowns is that nothing is traditional except the white
mouth, which was derived from minstrel blackface make-up. |
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Dan Rice often worked with trained animals such as pigs, dogs and horses.
With this patriotic look, Dan Rice became known as “Uncle Sam” a figure that has remained throughout the years. By 1862, Dan Rice was earning $1000 a week, twice as much as President Lincoln. |
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but foremost have been their skills. From animal trainers and musicians to contortionist and jugglers, they all performed some type of skill. |
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In the late 1800s, Carl Bagessen, from Denmark, performed as a juggler. But missing a trick led him to a dish breaking act. He became the sad sack waiter, breaking dozens of plates each show. In France, children would see his performance and go home and raid the household for plates to break. Carl Bagessen was the first and foremost smasher of plates. Where Carl Bagessen made noise smashing plates, Adrien Wellach, “Grock” made beautiful music. For 50 years he did musical antics and routines that made him famous world wide. He played nine instruments. “Grock” spoke very little during his routines, his musical talent spoke for him. |
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One famous English mime artist was Joseph
Grimaldi. He worked several London theaters using the stage name
“Joey”. Joseph Grimaldi contributions to the development
of clowning is so revered that in clown circles today a fellow
clown is often referred to as a “Joey”.
His costume was:
The auguste clown was:
Emmett Kelly was the best known tramp
clown with his character "Weary Willie."
During the late 1800s in America, there
were many About APAC / Registration / Clown Town / Courses
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