The Scrivener: Spangles And Sawdust - Part Three
“The building below the great iron tower housed an impressive aquarium; a cinema; an indoor zoo which worried me; a ballroom famed for Reginald Dixon At The Wonder Wurlitzer; and, of course, the circus…’’ Continuing his spangles-and-glitter series, Brian Barratt tells of a visit to the Blackppol Tower circus, the highlight of his circus-going life.
CLOWNS, AUGUSTES AND BLACKPOOL TOWER
In the 1950’s, I kept a few pages from Illustrated, a weekly colour magazine that disappeared with the arrival of colour supplements to weekend newspapers soon after WWII. The article was devoted to clowns, and depicted Percy Huxter, Charlie Austin and others who were associated with shows like Bertram Mills and Blackpool Tower.
There was also a photograph of a set of eggs, each of which was painted with the face of a clown in his recognised make-up. This formed a sort of registration of that make-up and I understood that no other clown was permitted to copy it.
I still feel upset when I see clowns copying the make-up style of Coco, another great clown of the era. But he was not really a clown — more precisely he was an auguste.
A clown has a white face, dresses in a grand sparkling suit, and wears a conical white hat. An auguste has funny face make-up, often including an attached red nose, wears ill-fitting, outrageous clothes, and sports gimmicks like oversized shoes or an animated wig. In older circus tradition, the outrageous knockabout was actually called a joey, and the auguste dressed in black and white and never actually spoke, but used mime.
In 1982, I wrote to The Age, Melbourne, lamenting the passing of the true art of clowning and its trivialisation by the people who dress up as clown for local parades and parties. I mentioned some of the great clowns of the past, including Grock, and received a phone call a few days later. It was from a old trouper, now retired, who had seen Grock perform in Paris earlier in the 20th century. When he recounted his life in the theatre and the people he’d seen perform so long ago — great names including Melba, Chaliapin and McCormack — I was in tears.
During a family holiday in Blackpool in August 1951, we went to the Blackpool Tower Circus, one of England's finest. This was a highlight of my circus-going life, as I ranked it with Bertram Mills and Billy Smart’s, which I never had the good fortune to see.
The building below the great iron tower housed an impressive aquarium; a cinema; an indoor zoo which worried me; a ballroom famed for Reginald Dixon At The Wonder Wurlitzer; and, of course, the circus.
At the end of the show, the lights went down, and there was a great deal of secretive movement in the ring. When the lights came up again, the whole ring was full of water, and The Great Aquatic Spectacle was displayed, with artistes posed on elevated platforms and stands, and a great deal of impressive lighting. It was a spectacle in true Barnum and Bailey tradition.
© Copyright 2005 Brian Barratt
