Clowns
Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 12:03 am
A week or so back I posted, on N-Ville, a German musical from 1943 that starred Charlie Rivel, legendary Spanish clown. His performance is almost entirely non-verbal, so in essence, he's a silent clown ( in a sound film). Not in the Walter Kerr sense, but an actual clown. I've talked with some of the comedy gurus in the past and we've come up with a few who were clowns before they entered film (not always in the circus).
So far:
John Lancaster, worked at Selig, starting with the Katzenjammer Kids, was a "Master" clown
Frank "Spook" Hanson, supported Pokes and Jabbs, Hardy and Ruge at VIM
Harry LaPearl, had a series at MinA, supported Mae Marsh in POLLY OF THE CIRCUS
Toto (Armando Novello), we saw one of his Roach's at Slapsticon
Joe Jackson, a few films at Sennett or Triangle Keystone or whatever it was called @1916
Poodles Hanneford, the cream of Weiss Brothers (was he a horse clown?)
Grock, a Swiss clown, one of his films from 1926, is at LOC
Ford Sterling was Keno the boy-clown, does that count?
Wallace Beery started with the circus, did he clown, or just follow the elephants?
Did Marceline ever make any films? All I know is that he performed at the Hippodrome and died in 1927
If interested, here's the link for AKROBAT SCHO-O-ON with Charlie Rivel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2wLrBfXV0
So far:
John Lancaster, worked at Selig, starting with the Katzenjammer Kids, was a "Master" clown
Frank "Spook" Hanson, supported Pokes and Jabbs, Hardy and Ruge at VIM
Harry LaPearl, had a series at MinA, supported Mae Marsh in POLLY OF THE CIRCUS
Toto (Armando Novello), we saw one of his Roach's at Slapsticon
Joe Jackson, a few films at Sennett or Triangle Keystone or whatever it was called @1916
Poodles Hanneford, the cream of Weiss Brothers (was he a horse clown?)
Grock, a Swiss clown, one of his films from 1926, is at LOC
Ford Sterling was Keno the boy-clown, does that count?
Wallace Beery started with the circus, did he clown, or just follow the elephants?
Did Marceline ever make any films? All I know is that he performed at the Hippodrome and died in 1927
If interested, here's the link for AKROBAT SCHO-O-ON with Charlie Rivel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2wLrBfXV0