The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi
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Review
Grimaldi is once more the tragic anti-hero - to be loved and reviled in equal measure. This is a wonderful book: beautiful, heartbreaking and absolutely fascinating. --Amanda Foreman
A round of applause is due to this exuberant, impassioned portrait, for bringing the great Grimaldi into the limelight again. --Observer
As a portrait of London life in all its mutinous and anarchic variety this book would be hard to beat. --Spectator
Sad though his decline was, his story, as McConnell Stott tells it, conveys an overwhelming impression of verve and ingenuity. --Sunday Times
Grimaldi's is a story of comedy mixed with pathos, endurance and absurdity. It is exceptionally well told here.
--Daily Mail
A round of applause is due to this exuberant, impassioned portrait, for bringing the great Grimaldi into the limelight again. --Observer
As a portrait of London life in all its mutinous and anarchic variety this book would be hard to beat. --Spectator
Sad though his decline was, his story, as McConnell Stott tells it, conveys an overwhelming impression of verve and ingenuity. --Sunday Times
Grimaldi's is a story of comedy mixed with pathos, endurance and absurdity. It is exceptionally well told here.
--Daily Mail
Review
This interesting and entertaining book gives a real insight into how much professional comedy has changed over the last 250 years, and how much it hasn't changed.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating book; entertaining, fastidiously researched and beautifully written. I doubt many people will know of Joe Grimaldi now, but in Georgian England he was a true star in a time when Byron instituted the very notion of modern celebrity.
Except the crucial difference between now and then is that Grimaldi had talent, bags of it. He was torn between the warring theatres of Drury Lane and Sadlers Wells, which Stott brings to uproarious life throughout this biography of the first clown (as we now recognise them). Grimaldi excelled at playing the archetype in the pantomime, but his own life was punctuated by tragedy and cloaked in melancholy. He was a troubled individual, his story is very moving, and you can see the shades of several current lugubrious comics in his character. He made them laugh all night, but was 'Grim-All-Day'.
However, Stott doesn't over-indulge the maudlin aspects of the story. Instead his well-crafted prose evinces hope and humour in the hardest struggles, making this an - ultimately - uplifting read. As well as it's excellent content, it's a beautifully produced and designed book and the perfect antidote to the bookshop shelves at this time of year stuffed full of garish biographies saying nothing of interest about vacuous lives.
Except the crucial difference between now and then is that Grimaldi had talent, bags of it. He was torn between the warring theatres of Drury Lane and Sadlers Wells, which Stott brings to uproarious life throughout this biography of the first clown (as we now recognise them). Grimaldi excelled at playing the archetype in the pantomime, but his own life was punctuated by tragedy and cloaked in melancholy. He was a troubled individual, his story is very moving, and you can see the shades of several current lugubrious comics in his character. He made them laugh all night, but was 'Grim-All-Day'.
However, Stott doesn't over-indulge the maudlin aspects of the story. Instead his well-crafted prose evinces hope and humour in the hardest struggles, making this an - ultimately - uplifting read. As well as it's excellent content, it's a beautifully produced and designed book and the perfect antidote to the bookshop shelves at this time of year stuffed full of garish biographies saying nothing of interest about vacuous lives.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A brilliant, fascinating pleasure to read.
I loved the inclusion of the Mother Goose script because it made it so much easier to visualise pantomime as it was then and I could easily picture Grimaldi at work each evening. I felt kind of sad for him because he worked really hard and was on the receiving end of some tough luck but I loved how respected and loved he was by the end of his career. In fact it brought tears to my eyes in the closing chapters when he had his final shows and could barely walk. Had health and safety laws existed at that time many of the imaginative and wonderful stunts, props and scenes would never have been brought to life.
It is fantastic that something I would never otherwise have chosen to read about has been vividly brought to life and it was an absolute joy to immerse myself in the world of clown, pantomime and theatre.
I loved the inclusion of the Mother Goose script because it made it so much easier to visualise pantomime as it was then and I could easily picture Grimaldi at work each evening. I felt kind of sad for him because he worked really hard and was on the receiving end of some tough luck but I loved how respected and loved he was by the end of his career. In fact it brought tears to my eyes in the closing chapters when he had his final shows and could barely walk. Had health and safety laws existed at that time many of the imaginative and wonderful stunts, props and scenes would never have been brought to life.
It is fantastic that something I would never otherwise have chosen to read about has been vividly brought to life and it was an absolute joy to immerse myself in the world of clown, pantomime and theatre.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Celebrity story with a true celebrity as its subject
I'm not a fan of clowns albeit I am not scared of them, and would not normally have read a book about them but I had heard about this one when it was the Radio 4 Book of the Week,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by History Fan
One of my top 10 books of all time
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. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mary Evans
JOEY THE CLOWN
I purchased this book on a reccomendation from a Sunday newspaper not always the most reliable of sources,but anyway it turned up trumps with this one! Read more
Published 20 months ago by WILLIAM SMAIL
The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi
A worthwhile read, this book is full of interesting facts, not only about 18th and 19th century London theatre but about London itself and how what are now fully fledge parts of... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Red Cabbage
Where the wheeping clown began
A biography can be dry, a summary of facts, the research worn heavily. This is not. This is a story that, to step into cliche has sound and smell. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2010 by J. Nimmo
Was thouroughly enjoyed
I bought this as a christmas present for my mother and she has read extremely widely and her feedback was that it was excellent. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2010 by Ms. J. E. Weston Davies
The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi
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. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2009 by Michael D. Swift
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