OLDEST CLOWN IN BRITAIN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 11

OLDEST CLOWN IN BRITAIN.

. - PERFORMING AT NINETY. Mr. James Doughty, the ; oldest actor and clown in tho United Kingdom, was to celebrate his ninetieth birthday, on August 28 with three benefit performances on the West Pier at Brighton. Mr.-Doughty is an interesting link with' the theatrical past. He followed in the'footsteps of the great Grimaldi. 'He has worn Grimaldi's' wigs. Ho has sung Grimaldi's songs/ He regretfully recalls the days when the' harlequinade was the attraction of i a pantomime and the clown its chief performer. Motley, which he will wear once more on his birthday, is to him a garb as sacred aa the mournful doublet of Hamlet. " There' aro no clowns now," he remarks with, a shade of bitterness.- " Last year I! heard the tale of a theatrical manager who ! forgot : all' about the clown' when he ; :was arranging. his ■ pantomime, arid at the' last minute gave a super half-a;crown extra to play the part!" The contemptuous tone.of the' criticism must be left to the imagination. ■ •; Old though he is—lie,is now wheeled,to his daily performances oil-the pier in a bathchair—Mr; Doughty is still a picturesquo figure. : He wears a. smart cut-away coat . and a Gladstono collar. He puts his troupe of dogs through their paces with great punctiliousness, and sends the children into shrieks of delight with ripe ,old jokes .that used to, amuse their grandfathers. Who remembers the famous song " Hot Codlins " ? ; Grimaldi sang it/.'Doughty sang it after him. Doughty in his now quavering tenor sang the first few lines of it:' — A.little old woman, a living she got : By selling of codlins, hot; hot, hoi:. This little old woman; so wo have been told, Tho',her codlins were hot she was monstrously; cold. :. ... . •: V'' N So to keep, herself warm she thought it no ' -. sin v. To run-and get half a quartern of ——■ Y ; ": " .Here the audience shouted'the names ..of various beverages, starting ' vrith gin, and the-expert-clown finished oft the line triuiri--phantly with' some potation they had' not mentioned.- '■ ' • - 11 And 'what are codlins?" .asked the interviewer. > ",H6t'bilked apples." 'v = v - • "'■There,'- ; now," said' a' niember of.-"--thp clown's-family, . "I- have heard that/, song hundreds of times, and I always thought it was fish!"' ■The''- greatest success Mr. Doughty over had with the song was one day when,, after ' singing it thousands of.-times, lie. forgot'the beginning; and devoted three minutes to asking the- band and the audience, who,';/of course, would not believe him. . Here is a story which suggests the kind, of humour the old clowns loved. ; "Lady!. Diana Huddlestori asked nio to train her dog; I-wont to the Princes' Club :every-day,, to train him. Oi)e day he was'obstinate.' Lady Diana told me to flick him;! ' I believe in; kindness, your ladyship,' T said. " '4$ well;'.you. are tho best, judge.'- 1 - ' No, 11 my lady,' I said, ' the baron is the,, best judged aud Baron I-luddleston, the Jud£e of the Exchequer, put down his paper ! "atid laughed Mr. Doughty is very proud-'oFtwo things —a letter'of .thanks from 'Queen after, a performance at, Osborne, and a certificate ,o£: approval from the' Society for the Proventionn of Cruelty to Animals, • ',*>%