Cirque Medrano (Paris) - Revision history

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‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Medrano’s Golden Age */

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‎Medrano’s Golden Age

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‎Change Of Guard

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‎Berthe Medrano’s Circus

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‎Suggested Reading

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‎Suggested Reading

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‎Image Gallery

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‎Enter Louis Fernando

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‎Le Cirque de Montmartre

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 File:Medrano-Busch_Program.jpeg|Program Cover for Medrano-Busch (1940)
 File:Pipo_and_Rhum.jpg|Pipo & Rhum (c.1942)
 File:Medrano_Poster_1942.jpeg|Medrano Poster (1942)
 File:Medrano_Chesterfollies_43.jpg|Program Cover (1943)

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 In May of 1930, Jérôme Medrano made his first trip to New York, where he met up with his closest friend, Maurice Chevalier, the popular French singer who had become a Hollywood film star. They visited [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey]] Circus, which was showing at Madison Square Garden; there, Jérôme met [[John Ringling North]], a future circus director of his generation and with a similar background. For years to come, there would be a constant flow of acts between Medrano and Ringling. Then Chevalier took Jérôme to Hollywood, where Jérôme (who was a huge cinema enthusiast) established contacts he would use later. Meanwhile, in August, a new lighting system was installed in the circus, including modern projectors affixed on the columns around the house, equipped with rolling gels that allowed changing their color automatically. It was true theatrical lighting, hitherto unheard of in the circus world.
-Then, during a scouting trip to Italy in 1931, Jérôme discovered a little-known Italian circus family whose members were exceptional equestrians, able to present a large variety of acts. He signed the [[The Cristiani Family|Cristiani family]] for the entire 1931-32 Season. [[John Ringling]] (or his gants) saw them there, and two years later, the Cristianis went to work with Ringling Bros. in the United States, where they settled and eventually created their own circus. That season also saw the emergence of the auguste Rhum as a major clown star, and the tight-wire somersaulter [[Con Colleano]] made a profound impact and became the new talk of the town. [[The Andreu-Rivels]], with [[Charlie Rivel]]’s impersonation of Charlie Chaplin on the flying trapeze, were another hit that season. At the end of February, Medrano presented a revue, ''La Revue de Medrano'', with music by Maurice Yvain (1891-1945), which ran successfully for five weeks, before the return of Grock in April. It was a very good season.
+Then, during a scouting trip to Italy in 1931, Jérôme discovered a little-known Italian circus family whose members were exceptional equestrians, able to present a large variety of acts. He signed the [[The Cristiani Family|Cristiani family]] for the entire 1931-32 Season. [[John Ringling]] (or his booking agents) saw them there, and two years later, the Cristianis went to work with Ringling Bros. in the United States, where they settled and eventually created their own circus. That season also saw the emergence of the auguste Rhum as a major clown star, and the tight-wire somersaulter [[Con Colleano]] made a profound impact and became the new talk of the town. [[The Andreu-Rivels]], with [[Charlie Rivel]]’s impersonation of Charlie Chaplin on the flying trapeze, were another hit that season. At the end of February, Medrano presented a revue, ''La Revue de Medrano'', with music by Maurice Yvain (1891-1945), which ran successfully for five weeks, before the return of Grock in April. It was a very good season.
 ===Innovations And Expansion===

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 ===Change Of Guard===
-On July 5, 1892, while he was still working at the Nouveau Cirque, Geronimo Medrano had married Charlotte Blanche Lippold (1854-1905). They formed a strong couple, even though Blanche was barren and didn’t give Geronimo an heir. On August 18, 1905, at age fifty-one, Blanche Medrano passed away, rather suddenly; Geronimo was devastated. He was fifty-six years old (at a time when the average life expectancy for men was around fifty years), he had no successors, and he felt his life had suddenly become pointless. Yet he had a solid support system in his close friends at the circus: The faithful Emilio Maîtrejean, Thomas Hassan, his ''Régisseur'', and "Mr. Emile" (Émile Laurent) his comptroller. They helped him go through a very difficult period.
+On July 5, 1892, while he was still working at the Nouveau Cirque, Geronimo Medrano had married Charlotte Blanche Lippold (1854-1905). They formed a strong couple, even though Blanche was barren and didn’t give Geronimo an heir. On August 18, 1905, at age fifty-one, Blanche Medrano passed away, rather suddenly; Geronimo was devastated. He was fifty-six years old (at a time when the average life expectancy for men was around fifty years), he had no successors, and he felt his life had suddenly become pointless. Yet he had a solid support system in his close friends at the circus: The faithful Emilio Maîtrejean, Thomas Hassan, his ''Régisseur'', and "Mr. Emile" (Émile Laurent) his comptroller. They helped him go through a very difficult period.[[File:Rico_y_Alex.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Rico & Alex (c.1905)]]
-[[File:Rico_y_Alex.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Rico & Alex (c.1905)]]His circumstances brightened up in early 1906, when Geronimo found a warmhearted confidante in Berthe Perrin (1876-1920), a thirty years old seamstress who was twenty-five years his junior. Their friendship eventually developed into an affair and, on May 18, 1907, Berthe gave birth to a son, [[Jérôme Medrano|Jérôme]] (1907-1998). The Medrano line was finally revived, and Geronimo was elated. He married Berthe on August 28, and legitimized his son on the occasion. By all accounts, Berthe was a sweet, caring person, but her humble origins and hard life had made her a strong woman who knew how to take care of business. Although she was not a circus person, Berthe Medrano proved to be a good partner to Geronimo.
+His circumstances brightened up in early 1906, when Geronimo found a warmhearted confidante in Berthe Perrin (1876-1920), a thirty years old seamstress who was twenty-five years his junior. Their friendship eventually developed into an affair and, on May 18, 1907, Berthe gave birth to a son, [[Jérôme Medrano|Jérôme]] (1907-1998). The Medrano line was finally revived, and Geronimo was elated. He married Berthe on August 28, and legitimized his son on the occasion. By all accounts, Berthe was a sweet, caring person, but her humble origins and hard life had made her a strong woman who knew how to take care of business. Although she was not a circus person, Berthe Medrano proved to be a good partner to Geronimo.
 In 1908, Medrano hired a new clown duet, [[Antonet]] & [[Grock]]. Grock had replaced Antonet’s previous partner, the celebrated and immensely creative [[Little Walter]], whose appearance Grock had copied to perform the musical entrée Walter had created with Antonet. The piece, with some additions and much stretching, will make Grock a star. The following year, Louis Fratellini died in Warsaw from a smallpox epidemic, and his brothers, François, Paul and Albert joined forces and formed a clown trio to help support Louis’s widow and large brood. Although these two names, Grock and Fratellini, will long be associated with Medrano, the circus’s stars were then the talented and popular Spanish clowns [[Rico and Alex]] Briatore, who were featured on the Boulevard de Rochechouart from 1910 to 1914.

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 The Fratellinis were not only extremely talented, they also offered something new: A clown trio. Until then, clowns had worked solo, or as a clown/auguste team, like Foottit & Chocolat and many others after them. To the traditional duet of François (the clown, charmingly light and graceful) and Paul (a ridiculous and bombastic auguste), they had added Albert, who had developed an extravagant and phantasmagoric auguste character that injected a good dose of mirthful surrealism in everything the brothers did. Additionally, they had a vast repertoire of classic entrées and musical interludes to which the unusual composition of their team&mdash;and their imagination&mdash;added a veneer of novelty.
-At a time when Parisians needed to escape the daily reality of a war with no end in sight, Medrano was the place to go: It always had good clowns to bring smiles on anyone’s face in a warm and familiar atmosphere&mdash;but the Fratellinis delivered even more: A total escape into a hilarious world of pure fantasy. They quickly become the talk of Paris, and Medrano being the circus it was, journalists, artists, writers, and Paris literati in general transformed the trio into stars of first magnitude. In time, Fernand Léger and a host of painters immortalized them, journalists chronicled their every move, writers wrote essays and books about them, their likeness was used in advertising, and their fame eventually (after the war) crossed the borders. Medrano collected the fruits of their glory.
+At a time when Parisians needed to escape the daily reality of a war with no end in sight, Medrano was the place to go: It always had good clowns to bring smiles on anyone’s face in a warm and familiar atmosphere. Yet, the Fratellinis delivered even more: A total escape into a hilarious world of pure fantasy. They quickly become the talk of Paris, and Medrano being the circus it was, journalists, artists, writers, and Paris literati in general transformed the trio into stars of first magnitude. In time, Fernand Léger and a host of painters immortalized them, journalists chronicled their every move, writers wrote essays and books about them, their likeness was used in advertising, and their fame eventually (after the war) crossed the borders. Medrano collected the fruits of their glory.
 ===The Bonten Era===

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 * Dominique Denis, ''Medrano Boum-Boum, 1897 à 1928'' (Aulnay-sous-Bois, Éditions Arts des 2 Mondes, 2022) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-915189-25-4
 * Dominique Denis, ''Cirque Medrano, direction Jérôme Medrano, de 1928 à 1934'' (Aulnay-sous-Bois, Éditions Arts des 2 Mondes, 2022) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-915189-43-8
 ==See Also==

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 * Pierre-Robert Lévy, photographies de Pierre J. Dannès, ''Un soir à Medrano'' (Montgeron, Éditions Photostars, 2006) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-9527837-0-5
 * Pierre J. Dannès, Jr., ''Dannès, ses photographies'' (Montgeron, Éditions Photostars, 2010) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-9537837-5-0
-* Dominique Denis, ''Medrano Boum-Boum, 1897 à 1928'' (Aulnay-sous-Bois, Éditions Arts des 2 Mondes, 2012) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-915189-25-4
+* Dominique Denis, ''Medrano Boum-Boum, 1897 à 1928'' (Aulnay-sous-Bois, Éditions Arts des 2 Mondes, 2022) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-915189-25-4
 * Dominique Denis, ''Cirque Medrano, direction Jérôme Medrano, de 1928 à 1934'' (Aulnay-sous-Bois, Éditions Arts des 2 Mondes, 2022) &mdash; ISBN 978-2-915189-43-8

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 File:Medrano_Construction.jpeg|Medrano's semi-construction (1932)
 File:Fratellini_Trio_(1932).jpeg|The Fratellinis (1932)
 File:Vesque_Recordier_et_Boulicot_1934.jpg|Recordier & Boulicot by M.J. Vesque (1934)
 File:Medrano_Magazine.jpeg|Program Cover (1935)

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 [[File:Miss_Lala.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Lala Kaira at the Cirque Fernando painted by Edgar Degas (1879)]]Nonetheless, Louis Fernando was a capable Artistic Director. He was aware that his circus was not equipped to compete efficiently in the equestrian department with the Cirque d’Hiver and the Cirque des Champs-Elysées, or to stage the spectacular pantomimes the Cirque d’Hiver, and soon, the huge [[Hippodrome de l’Alma]] (open in 1877) produced. The Cirque Fernando was, however, better tailored than its competition for intimate comedy, and it had a popular leading clown to boot. In January 1876, Louis produced ''Le Barbier Frétillant'' ("The Wriggling Barber"), a comic pantomime with Boum-Boum in the title role. It was the first of a long series of similar pieces that featured Geronimo Medrano and made him a true circus star.
-Novelty acts, not star equestrians, were what set the Cirque Fernando apart&mdash;from an all-female equestrian show, to the riding seal of Raziscoff, or the lions of Captain Cardona. In December 1878, the sensation of the show was the Mulatto aerialist [[Miss Lala]] (Olga Albertina Brown, 1858-?), "la Sirène des Tropiques" ("The Tropics’ Mermaid"), who had a considerable Parisian success and was immortalized by Edgar Degas. (This show also featured the Fratellinis, in the person of [[Gustavo Fratellini]]&mdash;the father of the legendary [[Les Fratellini|François, Paul and Albert]]&mdash;and his partner, Romoli.) Miss Lala and the [[Kaira Troupe]] (in which she belonged) went on tour with the tenting Cirque Fernando during the summer and remained under contract with Fernando until the end of 1879.
+Novelty acts, not star equestrians, were what set the Cirque Fernando apart&mdash;from an all-female equestrian show, to the riding seal of Raziscoff, or the lions of Captain Cardona. In December 1878, the sensation of the show was the Mulatto aerialist [[Miss Lala]] (Olga Albertina Brown, 1858-1945), "la Sirène des Tropiques" ("The Tropics’ Mermaid"), who had a considerable Parisian success and was immortalized by Edgar Degas. (This show also featured the Fratellinis, in the person of [[Gustavo Fratellini]]&mdash;the father of the legendary [[Les Fratellini|François, Paul and Albert]]&mdash;and his partner, Romoli.) Miss Lala and the [[Kaira Troupe]] (in which she belonged) went on tour with the tenting Cirque Fernando during the summer and remained under contract with Fernando until the end of 1879.
 When the Cirque Fernando went on its annual provincial tour under canvas in the summer of 1879, Medrano went to work at the Hippodrome de l’Alma, while the Fernando building was rented out and transformed into a ''café concert''&mdash;a variety show featuring mostly singers, and where drinks were served. The circus would often be similarly rented out in the summer for extra-curricular activities, and during the season, on dark days, for public meetings or political reunions: The most publicized of them were meetings held by Georges Clémenceau, then the Député (M.P., or Representative) of Montmartre. (A major French columnist and politician, Clémenceau would become France’s Prime Minister in 1917, during WWI, and helped build victory over Germany.)

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 File:Medrano_Program_1924.jpg|Program Cover (1924)
 File:Les_Fratellini_-_Fernand_Léger.jpeg|Les Fratellini by Fernand Léger (c.1924)
 File:Les_Fratellini.png|The Fratellinis (c.1925)
 File:The_Andreu-Rivels_(c.1925).jpg|The Andreu-Rivels (c.1925)

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 Jérôme and Violette Medrano remained in their apartment in the circus for a few weeks, while the Bougliones renovated the circus to their needs; a not so good renovation was to have the Barbier-Daumont’s frescoes at the periphery of the house "refreshed" by an advertising painter, who transformed them into cartoon-like illustrations. Once their affairs in order, the Medranos moved to Monaco, where they settled in a rented apartment.
-[[File:Hermanos_Clowns.jpeg|right|300px|Poster for The Hermanos at the Cirque de Montmartre (1968)]]The Bouglione Juniors (Firmin, Sampion, Émilien, and Joseph) took over the management of the circus, which was renamed ''Cirque de Montmartre''. Since they were also running the mighty Bouglione traveling circus (their father, Joseph Bouglione, and their uncle Firmin were running the Cirque d’Hiver), they put together very short winter seasons. In addition, they performed only three days a week, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on Holidays.
+[[File:Hermanos_Clowns.jpeg|right|300px|thumb|Poster for The Hermanos at the Cirque de Montmartre (1968)]]The Bouglione Juniors (Firmin, Sampion, Émilien, and Joseph) took over the management of the circus, which was renamed ''Cirque de Montmartre''. Since they were also running the mighty Bouglione traveling circus (their father, Joseph Bouglione, and their uncle Firmin were running the Cirque d’Hiver), they put together very short winter seasons. In addition, they performed only three days a week, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on Holidays.
 They had commendable shows, certainly more energetic and less sedate than what the Cirque d’Hiver, now free of any serious competition, was showing by then. The Cirque de Montmartre often headlined the Barios (the famous clowns created their hilarious parody of ''Cleopatra'' there), but somehow the special magic of the old Medrano was gone. The atmosphere was not the same: Gone was the sophisticated lighting, the special intimacy created by hosts such as Jean Dréna and Medrano’s house augustes, and gone, too, were the surprises, the unexpected novelties. The style was too close to that of the Cirque d’Hiver, and in spite of the Juniors’ best efforts, the Cirque de Montmartre just looked like its annex.