The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian Paperback – Illustrated, 2 Sept. 2010

To borrow a title from later great clowns, "The Crazy Gang."Andrew McConnell Stott has written perhaps the finest biography I've read this year. Following his modern day prologue at the annual Clowns' Memorial Service in Hackney, the turn of a page takes us back to Boxing Day 1810, as the greatest clown of all is about to step onto the pantomime stage.We are then treated to an enthralling biography of the clown himself, with stories illustrating the theatrical and social scene around him adding extra colour. At the end, for further interest, pantomime "Mother Goose" is reproduced in full from an 1807 printing and the "Notes" section contains famous extracts of verse including Joe's own "Hot Codlins," written for him by Dibden.Deciding to take this broad view is a wise one. With few solid records and so many anecdotes abounding (the "go see the great clown to cure your depression - I am that clown" story is here weighed and rightly fast dispatched) lesser authors might become mired in probably irrelevant details. Instead, placing Grimaldi in his favourite environment allows us to enjoy the intrigues of the artistes' "Green Room" and managers' offices; with excursions into the auditorium, Parliament and the homes of gentry and commoners alike to balance out the biographical insights.Best of all, Stott's text is as light as Harlequin's moves, his eye for humour and the need to clarify details for those unschooled in that period always as deft and sure. Not a single passage drags, and it is both the facts and the atmosphere of the era that the reader will absorb by the end.For those like myself, who know little about that theatrical period, this proves an excellent guide. Those interested in the history of comedy will find it a "must purchase" if only to discover who invented "huge clown shoes" and other comedic elements now taken for granted. Taken simply as a biography, for those who enjoy the genre, I'd say that this is one strongly deserving of a place on your bookshelf.

I found this account of the life of Joe Grimaldi fascinating. Here was the man from whom we still derive the name"Joey" for the white faced clown, who died unable to walk, in his 40s, from a lifetime beating hell out of himself in order to make people laugh...we who live in an age of regulated working conditions and risk management cannot imagine what a risky life it was for an initerant performer whose health was the only asset he had. This book shows what a tough life it was and paints a vivid picture of professional and managerial rivalries.It was well worth buying. I recommend you buy it too!

For those readers interested in the development of the modern-day circus clown from his earliest roots in pantomime, this book is an absolute must. It is a well-researched and in-depth look at the life of Joseph Grimaldi, the first clown to adopt the white face and broad red smile that we have grown to love at the circus. I have always felt that clowns are, inherently, very sad characters and, judging by Joseph's early life, this is, indeed, the case. I commend this book to those who may find the subject matter of interest.

If you (like me) had a vague idea that Grimaldi was just a circus clown - WRONG ! This is an amazing history of life on and off the London stage in the 18th century. You will learn fascinating nuggets of information with every page you turn. Links are made between Grimaldi, Lord Byron, Sheridan, Garrick and are seen in their proper context; it brings the era to life. An amazingly well-researched book.

Joseph Grimaldi remains an iconic figure in the history of comedy, clowning, and pantomime. Andrew Stott's book provides a detailed portrait of the performer, balancing his public triumphs and friendships with historic figures such as Lord Byron, with his rather tragic and disordered offstage life. Whether making theatre history in a record-breaking run in Mother Goose, or taking a fatal dose of poison only to have an attack of wind, Stott turns in a sparkling and vivid account of 18th and early 19th Century London life.

Written with great detail and humour. An excellent biography that gives an insight not only into Grimaldi but also the world of Georgian theatre. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject or the period in general.

Amazed at how positive all the reviews on this book are. I was really looking forward to reading it and have to say I was in for a serious disappointment. The author has clearly got a lot of research behind him but he offers it all up - and I mean all of it - completely undigested. So many people, so many places, and poor Joey gets lost in it all. He deserved a better biography. At some point near the end, after yet another name and yet another irrelevant detail, I suffered information indigestion and stopped reading. All in all..dire.

I found it a very good read, it also amounted to a Social History of the time.Would recomend it to both theatre and history buffs.

Who invented the clown? I had not realized that this was a question with a good answer; surely clowns have been around in some form every since people could laugh. There were funny simpletons and conmen, for instance, in Greek and Roman comedies. But these were not clowns as we know them, in white face with enormous red lips, and in shocking parti-colored clothes, doing mostly wordless pratfalls and pranks within skits, and enduring sadness behind the mask. These characteristics come to us from the archetype clown, someone you probably never heard of but whom everyone in Regency England knew. In _The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian_ (Canongate) by Andrew McConnell Stott, this forgotten figure is brought back, with an appreciation for his fundamental contributions to clowning, comedy, and the role of the comedian within society. Stott's book is a wonderful recreation of the entertainments of the late Georgian age, and an important history of an essential part of show business.Grimaldi was born into the theater, with a father who insisted on perfect performances and was horrendously abusive if he didn't get them. Grimaldi used the pain to advance his performances. He thought that his knockabout acts were insufficient unless he felt real pain in their fulfillment. He was first seriously injured at age seven, falling through a trapdoor because someone had omitted to cut eyeholes in his costume. The injuries did not stop when he was little, and even the scripted beatings, pratfalls, and leaps gradually wore him away. He could scarcely depend upon his legs to carry him in his mid-forties, but he continued to perform. Audiences probably didn't know what he was sacrificing for their attention, but attend they did. Stott gives a history of pantomime within the biography, which changed because of Grimaldi's art into a new form as a mix of variety show, acrobatics, ballet, and slapstick, as well as a satirical view of contemporary issues. These were not seasonal Christmas shows for kids, but entertainments enjoyed by royalty or by cobblers, even though (showing how there are always those who refuse to approve of new art forms) _The Times_ viewed pantomime as an "alarming symptom of a nation's degeneracy." By the time Grimaldi had taken his most famous roles as Squire Bugle and Clown in _Harlequin and Mother Goose; or, The Golden Egg!_ of 1806, even _The Times_ had come around: Grimaldi, it reported, was received "by JOHN BULL with that clamorous expression of his feelings to which he is accustomed on the view of an old favorite." It is hard to understand completely what all the fuss was about. Perhaps Grimaldi's familiar business of stealing sausages, for instance, had a special tang of humor when there was real hunger within London, and when shoplifters might hang. Much of the rough stage humor came from physical cruelty beyond simple pratfalls. When Stott describes in detail the action within _Mother Goose_ (and even gives as an appendix the script), it seems more silly and chaotic than risible. We might not be able to comprehend what was so funny, but even at the time, commentators repeatedly admitted that they could not communicate just what was so sensationally hilarious about a Grimaldi performance. One journalist attempted to review him, but wrote, "We can in no way describe what he does, nor give any idea of the inimitable style in which he keeps up the ball from the beginning to the end." You had to be there, I guess, and that's never going to happen.That we a couple of centuries later cannot comprehend all of Grimaldi's showmanship does not make Stott's book any less fascinating. In addition to the life of the protagonist, the book's examination of the theater of the times, its fashions and rivalries, makes it a valuable portrait of the pattern of entertainment of the age. After Grimaldi died, the pantomime fashion for clowning subsided, and clowns found their employment in the equestrian ring - in other words, the circus. Stott's picture is of an influential artist, "the first great experiment in comic persona," and Grimaldi did not just bequeath whiteface and pratfalls to his successors. He had a tough life, not only with physical pains but with his horrific upbringing, his losing a beloved first wife, his outliving his one son, and his being repeatedly betrayed by those he trusted. He took these demons and battled them onstage with showmanship and humor, initiating a classic pattern or tradition of the rueful clown followed by Charlie Chaplin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and many others.

J'ai bien reçu le livre "The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian". Merci!

Not to put too fine a point upon it: one of the best books ever written about the world of the theatre. A wonderful introduction to the ribald, sleazy, corrupt, energetic and wholly unpredictable Regency. Impeccable research, terrific editing instincts and an eye for the telling anecdote, and at the same time, a sense of pathos, this book chronicles the life and times of Joseph Grimaldi, 1788--1837, the clown who gave his name, Joey, to the practice and profession of clowns ever since. Grimaldi's life has long fascinated this reader; in some ways I have longed for this book for ten years and it did not disappoint. Moreover, the author's skillful, readable weaving of the influence of current events (it was not then history; they lived it) on the lives of the many characters here, on the theatre itself, on the life and more to the point, the livelihoods of troupes of actors, musicians, clowns who broke their hearts and occasionally their very backs to bring entertainment to a hungry and passionate public. The author's own background as a comic and not a mere academic infuses the narrative with a deep vein of understanding. Even if you care nothing for the Regency, read it as an antidote to Jane Austen's Regency. This book will take you far away and fill you with both delight and sadness. A gem.

Most biographies are so boring and dry. I don't mind scholarly books but I do mind boring books. But this book is excellent. I was so moved by the story of Joe Grimaldi. He was such a likeable person. The book made me long to see him perform. He sacrificed his life for his craft by punishing his body with falls and stunts until he couldn't even stand up. His last performance (he was only in his late 40s) was done from a chair. He sang his "hit song," Hot Codlins. Oh, how I wish I could have been there. I'm grateful that he got a rousing and cheering send-off from the audience. Andrew Stott tells a fascinating story here. I knew zero about pantos. And he really made me fall in love with Joey Grimaldi. P.S. I also recommend the Dickens' edited version of Grimaldi's memoirs.

As the founder/curator of the American Vaudeville Museum, which collections are in trust at the University of Arizona in Tucson, I’m embarrassed that I’ve only just read Andrew McConnell Stott's exhaustively researched and masterly written "The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi” (now, nearly a decade after it was published by Canongate/UK) in 2009. Better late than never.The book won praise by informed theatre historians and at least three prizes of the highest order for non-fiction. Stott's account, bracketed by the reigns of George III and Victoria, covers a British cultural era that crossed the Atlantic most familiarly to Americans in the novels of Charles Dickens, Stott's rendition of British Pantomime and its most notable star, can be difficult to moor to the equivalent period in American history, but the author makes its telling accessible as well as fascinating."The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi” rises to the top tier of recommendations I can offer from my collection of more than 2000 show business history books