Charlie Cairoli - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-05-06T20:09:48Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Enter Charlie Cairoli */

2024-10-12T17:51:40Z

‎Enter Charlie Cairoli

Djando: /* Apprenticeship */

2024-10-12T17:38:32Z

‎Apprenticeship

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2024-06-13T20:10:26Z

‎Image Gallery

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2023-10-27T20:17:50Z

‎Image Gallery

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2023-10-25T18:28:28Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Charlie Cairoli’s Legacy */

2022-01-28T19:32:58Z

‎Charlie Cairoli’s Legacy

Djando at 19:31, 28 January 2022

2022-01-28T19:31:13Z

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2021-10-30T23:06:29Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* See Also */

2020-10-23T21:37:43Z

‎See Also

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 File:Charlie_Cairoli_1966.jpg|Charlie Cairoli and Dominique Mauclair - Gala de La Piste (1966)
 File:Tower_Circus_1966.jpg|Tower Circus Poster (1966)
 File:Charlie_Cairoli_stamd_(2002).jpg|Charlie Cairoli Postage Stamp (2002)
 File:Charlie_Cairoli_Statue.jpg|Charlie Cairoli's statue in Blackpool (2013)

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 But the most significant addition to Charlie’s group of funny men was the diminutive, phlegmatic, and rubber-faced comedian "[[Little Jimmy]]" Buchanan, who joined Charlie Cairoli & Co. (as the group became known) in 1950, and who proved the perfect stooge for Charlie’s devilish concoctions. (Buchanan had been previously featured in the 1949 program of the Tower Circus in a "funny car" act billed as ''Sayers and Jimmy Buchanan''.)
-Of course, Charlie made good use of that traditional figure of authority in classic clown comedy, the ringmaster. It started with the legendary [[George Lockhart]], who had been for a long time in charge of the ring when the Cairolis came to Blackpool. Then it was [[Trevor Bale]], who replaced Lockhart in 1946, [[Alfred Delbosq]] (from 1948 through 1953), Henry Lytton (who came from the theater), and finally&mdash;and perhaps more significantly&mdash;the very talented [[Norman Barrett]], who began officiating at the Tower Circus in 1966, and remained there until 1990, long after Charlie’s death. Like Charlie Cairoli, Barrett eventually became an iconic figure that everyone associated with the Tower Circus.
+Of course, Charlie made good use of that traditional figure of authority in classic clown comedy, the ringmaster. It started with the legendary [[George Lockhart]], who had been for a long time in charge of the ring when the Cairolis came to Blackpool. Then it was [[Trevor Bale]], who replaced Lockhart in 1946, [[Alfred Delbosq]] (from 1948 through 1953), Henry Lytton (who came from the theater), and finally&mdash;and perhaps more significantly&mdash;the very talented [[Norman Barrett]], who began officiating at the Tower Circus in 1966, and remained there until 1990, long after Charlie’s death. Like Charlie Cairoli, Barrett eventually became an iconic figure of the Tower Circus.
 Each season, Charlie presented two new acts: A musical entrée with Paul (whoever that was) in the first half of the show, and a big entrée with all his company in the second half, usually involving generous quantities of water or soap. One of the most memorable was a parody of ''Singing in the Rain''&mdash;not the movie, but the song, as it was originally performed in the MGM movie ''The Hollywood Revue of 1929'' by Marion Davies, Joan Crawford, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny and others dressed in yellow fisherman outfits. Charlie and his partners, in the same costumes, sang and did some soft-shoe dancing under the rain provided by a water hose&mdash;while the ring floor slowly and inexorably sank into the swimming pool underneath it. (Like the [[Nouveau Cirque (Paris)|Nouveau Cirque]] in Paris, the Tower Circus has been built with a ring that can sink to reveal a water basin.)

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 ===Apprenticeship===
-[[Image:The_Cairolis_c1930.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Porto, Cairoli & Carletto (c.1930)]]For a seventeen-year-old auguste, it was certainly not an easy debut. Carletto was very young&mdash;which was not a positive point since a good auguste needs maturity and experience to be really efficient&mdash;and if he was flanked by his very talented father, which certainly helped, he had to contend with one of the most popular and celebrated augustes in the business, Porto (Arturo Saraiva Mendes de Abreu, 1888-1941), who was a great favorite of Medrano’s audiences. The public at Medrano was very savvy in matters of clowning (the Parisian circus had indeed the well-deserved reputation of being the "temple" of clowning) and Cairoli, Porto & Carletto shared the bill with [[Les Dario-Bario|Dario, Bario & Rhum]], another extremely popular trio. (Furthermore, [[Rhum]], who was a new addition to the Dario-Bario trio, was on his way to become the greatest auguste of them all.)
+[[Image:The_Cairolis_c1930.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Porto, Cairoli & Carletto (c.1930)]]For a seventeen-year-old auguste, it was certainly not an easy debut. Carletto was very young&mdash;which was not a positive point since a good auguste generally needs maturity and experience to be really efficient&mdash;and if he was flanked by his very talented father, which certainly helped, he had to contend with one of the most popular and celebrated augustes in the business, Porto (Arturo Saraiva Mendes de Abreu, 1888-1941), who was a great favorite of Medrano’s audiences. The public at Medrano was very savvy in matters of clowning (the Parisian circus had indeed the well-deserved reputation of being the "temple" of clowning) and Cairoli, Porto & Carletto shared the bill with [[Les Dario-Bario|Dario, Bario & Rhum]], another extremely popular trio. (Furthermore, [[Rhum]], who was a new addition to the Dario-Bario trio, was on his way to become the greatest auguste of them all.)
 Nonetheless, Charlie held his own. He was a very good musician and an excellent eccentric dancer, and he had an engaging, happy personality and a good sense of timing. A Parisian critic noted a little later: "As [Carletto] danced, we thought of [[Grock]], 'when he wasn’t Grock yet'. Because Grock, at the time, was perhaps not much different from today’s Carletto." Considering what Grock had become, it was quite a compliment indeed. The shadow of the great Porto loomed large, but season after season, Charlie affirmed his individuality and secured his place in the trio.

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 Image:The_Cairolis.jpeg|Cairoli, Carletto & Filip (1936)
 Image:Alfred_Court_at_Tower_Circus.jpg|The Cairolis at the Blackpool Tower Circus (1939)
 File:Tower_Circus_1946.jpg|Tower Circus's Program Cover, featuring the Cairolis (1946)
 Image:Cairoli_%26_Carletto.jpeg|Cairoli & Carletto (1947)

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 Image:Tower_Circus_1947.jpeg|The Cairolis at the Tower Circus (1947)
 Image:Delbosq%2C_Charlie_and_Paul_1949.jpg|Alfred Delbosq, Pamela Crozier, Paul Freedman, Charlie Cairoli (1949)
 Image:Charlie_Cairoli_postcard.jpg|Charlie Cairoli & Paul Freedman (1949)
 Image:Charlie_Cairoli_%26_Paul.jpeg|Charlie Cairoli & Paul Freedman (1957)
 File:Charlie_Cairoli_Bathtub.jpg|Charlie Cairoli, Paul Freedman & Little Jimmy (c.1959)

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 ===Charlie Cairoli’s Legacy===
-[[Image:Charlie_Cairoli_at_BTC.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Charlie Cairoli, Little Jimmy & Paul King (c.1965)]]Although Charlie Cairoli became Britain’s most famous clown and was one of the principal reasons why so many families went to Blackpool in the summer and attended a performance at the Tower Circus, his fame expanded beyond the British Isles. He made television appearances in the U.S (twice on CBS’s ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in 1962, and twice on ABC’s ''The Hollywood Palace'' in 1966) and in France (on the long-running French Television’s circus show, ''La Piste aux Etoiles'', in 1973).
+Although Charlie Cairoli became Britain’s most famous clown and was one of the principal reasons why so many families went to Blackpool in the summer and attended a performance at the Tower Circus, his fame expanded beyond the British Isles. He made television appearances in the U.S (twice on CBS’s ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in 1962, and twice on ABC’s ''The Hollywood Palace'' in 1966) and in France (on the long-running French Television’s circus show, ''La Piste aux Etoiles'', in 1973).
-In 1966, he was invited to participate in the prestigious [[Gala de La Piste]], an annual fund-raiser held at the [[Cirque d’Hiver]] in Paris: Carletto was returning to the French capital for the first time since the beginning of WWII, and the Parisian audience feted him as the star he indeed was. For many old circus enthusiasts, the memory of Cairoli, Porto and Carletto had never faded away. Charlie Cairoli & Co. appeared in three other editions of the Gala de La Piste, in 1967, 1972, and 1977. Charlie was also often featured on British television&mdash;most notably in the famous documentary show, ''This is Your Life'', in 1970, where Eamonn Andrews retraced the life and career of the great clown, who was already a living legend.
+[[Image:Charlie_Cairoli_at_BTC.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Charlie Cairoli, Little Jimmy & Paul King (c.1965)]]In 1966, he was invited to participate in the prestigious [[Gala de La Piste]], an annual fund-raiser held at the [[Cirque d’Hiver]] in Paris: Carletto was returning to the French capital for the first time since the beginning of WWII, and the Parisian audience feted him as the star he indeed was. For many old circus enthusiasts, the memory of Cairoli, Porto and Carletto had never faded away. Charlie Cairoli & Co. appeared in three other editions of the Gala de La Piste, in 1967, 1972, and 1977. Charlie was also often featured on British television&mdash;most notably in the famous documentary show, ''This is Your Life'', in 1970, where Eamonn Andrews retraced the life and career of the great clown, who was already a living legend.
 In December 1977, Charlie participated in the fifth [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]]; the large hippodrome tent that hosted the Festival at the time was notorious for its lack of hospitality to clowning, and it was certainly not a good venue for Charlie’s subtle playfulness (which was very real indeed, in spite of his fondness for slapstick humor). He didn’t get a Gold or Silver Clown (no clown did&mdash;beside Charlie Rivel in the very first Festival&mdash;until [[George Carl]] in 1979), but he was awarded the [[Louis Merlin]] Trophy, one of the Festival’s major prizes. "Of course," Charlie remarked afterwards, "the Gold Clown passed me by, but we have been quite a few like this; not everybody can win. But the name of Louis Merlin brings back so many good memories that, all things considered, I cannot regret anything."

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:31, 28 January 2022
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−	[[Image:Charlie_Cairoli.jpg\|right\|~~180px~~\|Charlie Cairoli]]	+	[[Image:Charlie_Cairoli.jpg\|right\|300px\|Charlie Cairoli]]

	==Clown==		==Clown==

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 * Video: [[Cairoli_Video_(1966)|Charlie Cairoli & Co., musical entrée]], on ''La Piste aux Étoiles'' (1966)
 * Video: [[Charlie_Cairoli_Pie_Entree_-_1966|Charlie Cairoli & Co., pie entrée]], on ''Hollywood Palace'' (1966)
-• Video: [[Cairoli_Pie_Video_(1966)|Charlie Cairoli & Co., pie entrée]], on ''La Piste aux Étoiles'' (1966)
+* Video: [[Cairoli_Pie_Video_(1966)|Charlie Cairoli & Co., pie entrée]], on ''La Piste aux Étoiles'' (1966)
 * Video: [[Charlie_Cairoli_Milk_Entree_-_1966|Charlie Cairoli & Co., milk entrée]], on ''Live From The Hippodrome'' (1966)
 * Video: [[Charlie_Cairoli_Milk_Entree_-_1973|Charlie Cairoli & Co., milk entrée]], on ''La Piste aux Etoiles'' (1973)