ALL THE WORLD LOVES A CLOWN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17864, 4 June 1926, Page 7

ALL THE WORLD LOVES A CLOWN.

THE ART THAT GOES WITH CHALKED FACE. Some strange feeling, deep-seated in everybody, makes us love a clown. When fathers and mothers take the children to a pantomime, expecting to be bored whilst the youngsters live for a while in fairjdand—what happens? The tears run down their checks as they laugh at the capers of the clown. Blood-stirring tragedies shown in the theatres of ancient Greece and Rome were relieved by the antics of clowns, and Menander, the Greek poet who wrote plays MOO years before Caesar conquered Britain, was perhaps the first playwright to appreciate the importance of breaking the illusion on the stage for a few moments with a joke. In mediaeval day's a jester was a retainer attached to royal or noble households. A 1 - though he was supposed to be a tidier of stories, and was privileged by his supposed foolishness to say sharp things without having to suffer for them, he was really Goles, Court fool to William the Conqueror, is said to have saved his master’s life, and Rahere, a clown in the Court of HenrV I "'as founder of St Bartholomew’s Hospital! (Mown was a term applied to uncouth "clods” or rustics. It soon became the recognised name of the whimsical comedian who developed into the eccentrically got-up figure of our pantoOne of the greatest clowns was Joseph Grimaldi, who delighted London audiences 150 years ago. lie always appeared as a grown-up child

struck with wonder at every object he beheld. Belonging to a family or clowns and dancers, he began at Drury Lane and Sadler’s Wells when an infant, but made his greatest success in "Mother Goose " at Covent Garden in 180(i. To think that clowns arc limited to the slapdash burlesques of the stage, or to the circus ring, is a mistake. You need not assume baggv- trousers and a wellchalked face to be a master of clown ship. According to a distinguished English scholar. Charlie Chaplin and Grock will a! wavs be clowns, no " matter what thev wear. The real clown often produces the heartiest laughter by playing upon emotions that ?iccm to have nothing to do with smiles. Older people often get more enjoyment out of the performance than children, because the true artiste appeals to emotions which only mature folk can experience. Even the traditional .costume of. the clown bears out this theory. You love its grotesque outlines because you pity a man who has to wear such ridiculous clothes. What does a baby do when it slithers plates over the edge of a high chair ? It waits a second in apprehension before chuckling with delight. This momentary spasm of emotion is noted in adults as well, and the showman’s test as part of the response to his joke, a half-muffled feminine shriek from his audience. Chaplin, according to modern scientists, is probably our greatest clown, and he should be proud that he is this type of comedian. At times we are carried away by Charlie’s humanity, but whilst our eyes are tilling with tears he gallumphs down the street with boots pointing east and west—just to reassure us that he is only a clown ! The art lies in the mingling of the real and the unreal, for the clown is the ‘duly entertainer who is able to satisfy our craving for the ridiculous, at the same time coupling with it some worth-while idea.