The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi

by McConnell Scott, Andrew

  There is another, far more significant, legacy that Grimaldi has given us, an effect on the history of comedy so profound that it transcends any lineage or transmissible skill: Grimaldi brought into culture the figure of the sad comedian, the solitary being whose disproportionate talent to provoke laughter is born of a troubled soul. It was a process helped on its way by an unlikely source, the Italian psychologist and criminologist Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), the ‘father of eugenics’, best known for proposing the theory that social deviance might be predicted by taking careful measurements of a person’s head and comparing them with those of convicted felons.

  Lombroso was also interested in the phenomenon of creativity, arguing in an 1891 book, The Man of Genius, that what society recognised as brilliance was in fact the fruit of a split personality. Of these dual personalities, one is the inverse of the other, the lack of moderation in either field providing the creative component with its exceptional force. Thus, radical thinkers keep conservative habits, actors are withdrawn when not on stage, and comedians, as illustrated by Lombroso with the story of Grimaldi visiting Dr Abertheny, are depressed.

  Having put the idea into scientific literature, it was taken up thirty years later by Sigmund Freud, who wrote that humour was ‘among the great series of methods which the human mind has constructed in order to evade the compulsion to suffer’, methods, he adds, which include ‘intoxication, self-absorption and ecstasy’ and can ultimately lead to the madhouse. Like the tears of the clown, the view that laughter is a diversionary tactic employed by the privately wretched is a contemporary commonplace, yet without Grimaldi, its first exemplar, such an analysis would have been inconceivable.

  As such, Grimaldi represents the genesis of the modern idea of comedy – comedy that is not defined by formal rules of genre, costume or theatrical convention, but as the interlacing shades of light and dark that constitute an individual psychology. Read almost any interview with or biography of a contemporary comedian and you will detect his influence lurking in the inevitable questions that seek to understand why the subject is drawn to laughter, hoping to unearth some explanatory bullying, neglect, or the tragic death of a parent. This is not to discount the value of such analysis, but rather to recognise that, without Joe, we might not have made martyrs and stoics of those as famous as Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Lenny Bruce, John Belushi, Richard Pryor, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Caroline Aherne, Robin Williams, Paul Merton and countless others who are all believed to have wrought their humour through battles with their demons.

  This is how Joseph Grimaldi has changed us, and if it’s a shame that he’s not known better for his songs or his jokes, then it should be remembered that it can hardly be any other way. Comedy performed is an untranscribable art, the very mode of transience, a mayfly living in the confluence of the moment that immediately dies. What kind of memorial could there ever be for someone who operated always in the present tense, whose very purpose was to catch his audience by surprise with a visceral alteration of the now? ‘To those who never saw him,’ wrote a contributor to Bentley’s Miscellany, ‘description is fruitless; to those who have, no praise comes up to their appreciation of him. We therefore shake our heads with other old boys, and say, “Ah! You should have seen Grimaldi!’’ ’ As with all the best comedy, you simply had to be there.

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  Joseph Grimaldi painted by J.E.T. Robinson at the height of his fame in 1819.

  A bird’s-eye view of the St Germain fair, Paris, seen here minus the huge timber roof that covered the entire fairground. It was at St Germain that Joe’s grandfather, Giovanni ‘Iron Legs’ Grimaldi, first sprang to prominence as a great sauteur.

  ‘Grim-All-Day at Breakfast’: This unflattering commemorative print, published only weeks after his death, is the only known image of Joe Grimaldi’s father, the despotic ‘Signor’.

  Jean-Baptiste Dubois: The archetypal forain and dominant clown on the London stage, one journalist wrote that Joe learnt ‘all of his pantomimical amusement under Dubois’ – a claim Grimaldi denied vehemently throughout his life.

  Dora Jordan: While no images exist of either Joe’s first wife, Maria Hughes, or his second, Mary Bristow, the countenance of his first love, the comic actress Dora Jordan, could not have been better known. ‘What generous confidence, what a flush of mirth and tenderness, what a breath suspended and then blurting kind of pleasantry, relieved from coarseness by a delicious voice’, wrote Leigh Hunt.

  John Philip Kemble: The finest actor of his day, known for his austere and noble roles, Kemble is seen here as the Inca champion, Rolla, saving a child from the grips of evil conquistadores in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s Peruvian tragedy Pizarro. Though not a particular friend to pantomime, Kemble had many opportunities to admire Grimaldi’s talent.

  Drury Lane Theatre seen from the stage following its enlargement in 1797. ‘You are come to act in a wilderness of a place,’ said Mrs Siddons.

  ‘The Manager and His Dog’: A satirical print showing the manager of Drury Lane, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, being saved from drowning by Carlo the Wonder Dog, the star of Frederick Reynold’s play The Caravan. That the artist considered performing animals to be the ruin of the patent theatres is evinced by the pair of bemused camels that look on and the figure of Thalia, the muse of comedy, covering her face for shame.

  ‘Half-rural Sadler’s Wells’, as William Wordsworth called it. The theatre stood on the banks of the New River, built in 1613 to provide London with drinking water, and the source for the vast tanks that would become the glory of the Royal Aquatic Theatre.

  Thomas John Dibdin, long-time collaborator with Grimaldi and author of Mother Goose.

  Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin, junior, the unstinting and clubbable mastermind of Sadler’s Wells, with whom Joe had a long and frequently tetchy relationship.

  Charles Farley: A funny-looking bachelor with a curiously bubbling voice, this unacknowledged genius of Romantic drama possessed a keener instinct for theatricality, entertainment and spectacle than any dramaturge of his generation.

  ‘Mr Grimaldi as Orson’: Though one of Dubois’ most successful roles, Joe performed the role of Wild Man in Valentine and Orson for his debut at Covent Garden, making it his own with the help of expert tutelage from Charles Farley.

  ‘The Favourite Comic Dance of Messers Bologna Jun. and Grimaldi’: Joe and Jack Bologna in their pas de deux from Mother Goose.

  ‘Sir, I’ll just trouble you with a line’: Joe as Clown delivering one of the most famous jokes in Mother Goose.

  Joe on the brink of nationwide celebrity: Portrait by John Cawse, painted in 1807 to commemorate the success of Mother Goose.

  ‘A View of the Confusion at Sadler’s Wells’: Eighteen members of the Sadler’s Wells audience died on October 15, 1807, during a stampede caused by a mistaken belief that the theatre was on fire. Onstage, Charles Dibdin can be seen holding a speaking trumpet and calling ‘there is no fire’.

  Covent Garden Theatre in 1809 following its controversial rebuilding after being destroyed by fire.

  The OP War comprised sixty-seven nights of riotous disorder. Early on, Kemble tried to quell the unrest by having protestors violently removed, as in this print, which depicts the doorman James Brandon and his bouncers attacking respectable members of the audience. Right of centre, Daniel Mendoza, the ‘father of scientific boxing’, can be seen laying into a protestor prostrate on the bench. That Mendoza and many of the other boxers Brandon hired were Jews caused an anti-Semitic backlash that further cast John Philip Kemble as an enemy of John Bull.

  The 1809 fire that destroyed Drury Lane Theatre burned with such violent intensity that it illuminated the sky for miles around. Seen here from the Chelsea Waterworks, many thought the circumstances of the conflagration too convenient to be entirely accidental.

  ‘Mr Grimaldi and Mr Norman in the Epping Hunt’: A scene from Harlequin and the Red Dwarf (1812), in which a llama was chased around the stage by
a motley group of huntsmen on a bizarre array of steeds.

  ‘Grim Joey Dashing Little Boney into the Jaws of a Russian Bear’: Also from Harlequin and the Red Dwarf; Joe, dressed as a Hussar with coal-scuttle boots, throws a miniature Napoleon into the mouth of a passing bear.

  ‘Joe Frankenstein’: Grimaldi and the Vegetable Man from Harlequin Asmodeus (1811), one of his most noted ‘tricks of construction’, and a scene that would have certainly been known by Lord Byron and may also have had a subtle influence on the imagination of Mary Shelley. Note Joe’s southpaw stance, which suggests that he may have been left-handed.

  Grimaldi’s last night: Too ill to stand, Joe made his final public performance seated in a chair, from which he sang ‘Hot Codlins’, before rising to give a speech of thanks and being led from the stage by his son.

  The ‘pantomimic wonders’: Joseph Grimaldi as Clown, Thomas Ellar as Harlequin and James Barnes as Pantaloon.

  Henry Stephen Kemble: ‘The irregularities and drunkenness of this man were unpardonable’, wrote Charles Whitehead.

  ‘Mr. J.S. Grimaldi as Captain Corble in Paul Jones’: JS was a talented swordsman and performer in melodrama, but the fact of his parentage made it inevitable that he would be constantly pushed towards playing Clown. Though only in his late twenties when depicted here, the excesses of his life had already made him appear much older.

  ‘Mr. J.S. Grimaldi as Scaramouch’: Not only was Scaramouch one of his father’s greatest roles, it was also one that JS was engaged to play the night he died. Caught in the throes of hallucinations, he garbled snippets of its dialogue and attempted to dress for the part right up to the moment of his death.

  Joseph Grimaldi as ‘Joey’, the most significant comic creation of the nineteenth century. ‘If to be loved by a whole nation in his lifetime and to live in all men’s fancies a hundred years after is a true sign of greatness’, wrote the pantomime historian Maurice Wilson Disher in 1925, ‘then Joseph Grimaldi has a right to be reckoned among our famous men.’

  APPENDIX

  HARLEQUIN AND

  MOTHER GOOSE;

  OR, THE GOLDEN EGG!

  A Comic Pantomime

  by

  THOMAS DIBDIN

  First performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden,

  on Monday, December 29, 1806.

  The Overture and Music composed by MR. WARE. The Pantomime produced under the direction of MR. FARLEY. The Dances by MR. BOLOGNA, JUN. The Scenery by MESSRS. PHILLIPS, WHITMORE, HOLLOGAN, GRIEVE, HODGINGS, and their Assistants.

  MOTHER GOOSE …. MR. SIMMONS

  COLIN (afterwards Harlequin) …. MR. BOLOGNA, JUN.*

  AVARO (afterwards Pantaloon) …. MR. L. BOLOGNA

  SQUIRE BUGLE (afterwards Clown) …. MR. GRIMALDI

  BEADLE …. MR. DENMAN

  LANDLORD …. MR. P. BOLOGNA

  WOODCUTTER …. MR. TRUMAN

  CABIN BOY (with a song) …. MR. SMALLEY

  SERGEANT …. MR. BANKS

  ODDFISH …. MR. MENAGE

  Gardeners … Messrs. Davis, Dick and Morelli. Waiters … Messrs. Baker and Griffiths. Villagers, &c…. Messrs. Abbot, T. Blanchard, Brown, Burden, Everard, Fairbrother, Fairclough, Goodwin, Lee, Linton, Meyers, Monk, Odwell, W. Murray, Platt, Powers, Rimsdyck, Sarjant, Street, Tett, J. Tett. Thomas, and Wilde. Fairies… Masters Benson, Goodwin, Morelli and Searle.

  COLUMBINE …. MISS SEARLE

  WOODCUTTER’S WIFE …. MRS. WHITMORE

  villagers, fairies, &c.: Mesdames Benson, Bologna, L. Bologna, Bristow, Cox, Cranfield, Findlay, Follett, Grimaldi, Iliff, Leserve, Masters, Price, Slader, Watts.

  In the course of the Pantomime (among others) the following NEW SCENERY will be introduced:

  VILLAGE, with STORM and SUNRISE –(Hollogan)

  MOTHER GOOSE’S HABITATION –(Phillips)

  HALL IN AVARO’S HOUSE –(Hollogan)

  COUNTRY INN. INSIDE OF DITTO. MARKET TOWN –(Phillips)

  WOODCUTTER’S COTTAGE. PAVILION BY MOONLIGHT –(Grieve)

  FLOWER GARDEN –(Grieve) ST. DUNSTAN’S CHURCH –(Whitmore)

  ENTRANCE OF VAUXHALL GARDENS –(Whitmore)

  INTERIOR OF DITTO –(Whitmore)

  GROCER’S SHOP, Outside – (Hollogan)

  GROCER’S PARLOUR –(Phillips)

  MERMAID’S CAVE –(Whitmore)

  SUBMARINE PAVILION –(Hollogan)

  The Machinery by Messrs. SLOPER, BOLOGNA, JUN.,

  CRESWELL, and GOOSTREE.

  The Dresses by MR. DICK and MRS. EGAN

  MOTHER GOOSE;

  OR, THE GOLDEN EGG!

  SCENE FIRST

  A village, with storm, &c.

  Sunset, on the RIGHT are the entrance gates to Squire Bugle’s Mansion, adjoining to it Colin’s Cottage. A Church with the churchyard in front, LEFT; the perspective a distant view of a river and a bridge over it; moving objects both on the river and bridge.

  During the storm MOTHER GOOSE has raised, she is seen descending from the skies mounted on a gander. After the storm the clouds disperse, and a Rainbow is seen, the Sun rises gradually, &c., &c.; its golden beams are finely reflected in the windows of the Church.

  A crowd of MALE and FEMALE PEASANTS assemble, decorated with flowers, to celebrate the nuptials of the SQUIRE and COLINETTE; some dance while others sing the following:

  chorus

  Neighbours, we’re met on a very merry morning,

  Lads and lasses dressed in all their pride so gay,

  To celebrate the happy hour, when maiden shyness scorning,

  Sweet Colinette is married to the Squire to-day

  Old and young

  Join in the throng,

  Cutting nimble capers,

  Haste to the church,

  In the lurch

  Leaving care and vapours.

  No one sad,

  Hey! go mad,

  Man and maiden seem to say,

  If I know who

  Prove but true,

  The next may be my wedding day.

  Enter AVARO, leading COLINETTE.

  Bugle solo. Enter the SQUIRE from the mansion, equipped for hunting, preceded by HUNTSMEN, JOCKEYS, GROOMS, and SERVANTS.

  AVARO presents COLINETTE to the SQUIRE. She turns from him and welcomes COLIN, who appears at the window of the cottage. [AVARO] interferes. COLINETTE approaches and points to the tomb of the SQUIRE’S late wife, which is seen in the centre of the churchyard, bearing the following inscription:

  In Memory

  OF

  XANTIPPE

  WIFE OF

  BULLFACE BUGLE, ESQ.

  when the SQUIRE jocularly sings the old air of

  First wife’s dead

  There let her lie

  She’s at rest,

  And so am I.

  The SQUIRE, AVARO, and COLINETTE with HUNTSMEN, &c. march in procession, but are interrupted by COLIN, who enters from his cottage. COLINETTE, from an impulse of love, flies to him for protection. They are separated by AVARO, who with the SQUIRE, COLINETTE, &c. sing the following:

  Sestetto and Chorus

  COLIN When guardians break a promise due.

  SQUIRE Who dare our progress stop?

  AVARO When richer suitors come to woo.

  SQUIRE Such folks as you can hop.

  COLINETTE Yet listen to the injured youth,

  AVARO (to SQUIRE) Your dignity he mocks.

  COLIN I claim her hand.

  SQUIRE Indeed, forsooth! I’ll put him in the stocks.

  Then merrily, merrily march away,

  For this shall be my wedding day.

  CHORUS Then merrily, merrily march away,

  It is the Squire’s wedding day.

  COLIN This should have been my wedding day.

  A BEADLE and COUNTRYMAN enter, with MOTHER GOOSE in custody as a reputed witch. The BEADLE addresses the SQUIRE as follows:

  BEADLE So please your worship e’er we go,

  Punish this wicked witch.

  MOTHER GOOSE O f
ie!

  Good neighbours, why d’ye use me so?