Difference between revisions of "Jean Richard"

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(Actor, Comedian, Circus Owner)
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Image:Cirque jean richard poster 1973.jpg|Cirque Jean Richard poster (1973)
 
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Image:Jean richard and friend 1981.jpg|Jean Richard and friend (1981)
 
Image:Jean richard and friend 1981.jpg|Jean Richard and friend (1981)
 
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Image:Cirque jean richard in rennes 1982.jpg|Cirque Jean Richard in Rennes (1982)

Revision as of 16:42, 13 October 2008

Actor, Comedian, Circus Owner

By Pierre Fenouillet


It may have been a warning: Jean Richard (1921-2001) was born April 18, 1921 at Bessines, near Niort (France), in a farm named "The Menagerie."

His first encounters with circus performers (particularly Martha-la-Corse, a lion trainer) triggered in him an enduring passion for animals, especially big cats. When he was just ten years old, he told everyone around: "When I grow up, I'll have a lion or a tiger in my garden."

In high schoolA display of equestrian dressage by a rider mounting a horse and leading it into classic moves and steps. (From the French: Haute école), Jean Richard, who had a gift for drawing, began trying his hand at caricature: he would soon sell his cartoons to local newspapers.

After World War II, he organized German tours for French theatrical companies, and then began to make a name for himself performing in a famous postwar Parisian cabaret, L'Amiral. There he developed a successful comic character, that of a jovial and naïve peasant from the small imaginary village of Champignol. He also began to work as an actor – in the movies, in comedies that were sometimes a little cheap, and in the theater. During his long career, he appeared in about 80 films.

His ever-growing popularity gave him the possibility to purchase a vast property in Ermenonville, north of Paris, where he began to gather all sorts of wild animals. His menagerie quickly reached sizeable proportions, and to be able to maintain it, he had to open it to the public in 1956. His private zoological collection, the Zoo d'Ermenonville, had become the most important in the country. His passion for the circus never lessened, though: an amateur animal trainer, he presented in 1955 Rolf Knie's group of African elephants at the Cirque Medrano in Paris, and the following year, the liberty"Liberty act", "Horses at liberty": Unmounted horses presented from the center of the ring by an equestrian directing his charges with his voice, body movements, and signals from a ''chambrière'' (French), or long whip. horse-act of Alexis Gruss at the Gala de l'Union des Artistes. (The Gala de l'Union, as it was known, was a "circus of the stars" type of event – an extremely chic Parisian fundraising event benefiting old actors.) He would appear again at the Gala de l'Union des Artistes in 1963 with a tiger act.

In 1957, his craziest dream became reality: he went on tour with a circus bearing his name, put together with the help of the Gruss family. Jean Richard presented three acts in the show: a cage act(English/American) Act performed in a cage, such as lion or tiger acts. with a group of lionesses, an elephant act, and a comedy sketch from his days at L'Amiral, "The Champignol Orchestra." Ecstatic, he said to a newspaperman: "Each night, when I enter the cage with my cats, I am rewarded for all my efforts and worries." The Cirque Jean Richard will hit the road again in 1958, but this time without its eponym on the show. (For 1959 onward, the Grusses will tour under the name "Grand Cirque de France.")

In 1963, Jean Richard created the first French amusement park on the American model, La Mer de Sable, just a few miles from his zoo. It would be followed in 1966 by a second, western-themed, amusement park, La Vallée des Peaux-Rouges, in Fleurines, Oise.

Meanwhile, Jean Richard continued to appear as a comic actor in movies, to sing in musicals, star in theater plays, and he began playing Maigret, the famous detective created by Georges Simenon, on television – a character he will impersonate for more than twenty years (1967-1990).

1969 saw the concretization of his love of the circus with the launch of his very own Cirque Jean Richard, all brand new from the big topThe circus tent. America: The main tent of a traveling circus, where the show is performed, as opposed to the other tops. (French, Russian: Chapiteau) to the last of the trailers. The success was immediate, and five years later, he bought the Cirque Pinder the ultimate (and largest) French circus. The greatest artists of the time performed under his big tops, and Jean Richard found himself at the helm of the most important circus enterprise in France. Gifted with a remarkable working capacity and an amazing memory, Jean Richard shuttled continually from a radio studio to a TV stage, from the circus ring to the theater boards. To those who asked him how he could do so many things at the same time, he answered: "But I am in a vacation, since I do only things I love!"

A day of May 1973, the machine jammed. A terrible car accident left him between life and death for three weeks. From then on, there would be a "before" and an "after." Jean Richard was obliged to delegate. The company continued to expand, however, with a permanent big topThe circus tent. America: The main tent of a traveling circus, where the show is performed, as opposed to the other tops. (French, Russian: Chapiteau) in Paris, the Nouvel Hippodrome de Paris, and a third touring unit named Nouveau Cirque Jean Richard, then Medrano. But the company had become a giant idol with feet of clay.

A first alarm in 1978 led to a complete reorganization of the company, and to serious downsizing and financial cuts. But it was only a deferred sentence: The company was declared bankrupt in 1983, and the remaining circuses (Pinder and Jean Richard) were bought lock, stock and barrel, by a former associate, Gilbert Edelstein.

Jean Richard, the actor, retired in 1990, and became in some way the wise old man of the French circus. By dint of sheer will, sacrifices, and most of all, passion, he gave back its pride and respectability to the French circus, and made it possible for the French government to recognize it as a bona fide art form.

Jean Richard died December 12, 2001, leaving orphan an entire generation of circus enthusiasts, some of whom are today at the helm of major French circuses.

Image Gallery

References

Jean Richard, Mes bêtes à moi, Fernand Nathan, Paris, 1969.

Jean Richard, Ces animaux qu'on appelle des bêtes, Fernand Nathan, Paris, 1971.

Jean Richard, Ma vie sans filet, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1984.

Pierre Fenouillet, Jean Richard et son cirque, ou l'histoire d'une passion, Éditions du Nez Rouge, Vieux Boucau, 1998.