Little Billy Merchant - Revision history

Djando: /* See Also */

2023-06-15T19:59:46Z

‎See Also

Djando: /* International Travels */

2022-11-02T11:25:30Z

‎International Travels

Djando: /* International Travels */

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‎International Travels

Djando: /* From Bertram Mills Circus to Copenhagen */

2022-11-02T11:21:02Z

‎From Bertram Mills Circus to Copenhagen

Djando at 11:18, 2 November 2022

2022-11-02T11:18:31Z

Djando: /* Early Years */

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‎Early Years

Djando at 11:12, 2 November 2022

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Djando: /* International Travels */

2022-10-17T22:42:19Z

‎International Travels

Djando: /* From Bertram Mills Circus to Copenhagen */

2022-10-17T22:40:05Z

‎From Bertram Mills Circus to Copenhagen

Djando: /* Early Years */

2022-10-17T22:37:19Z

‎Early Years

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:59, 15 June 2023
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	* Biography: [[Jacko Fossett]]		* Biography: [[Jacko Fossett]]
		+	* Video: [[Coco_Video_(1961)\|Little Billy, Coco, Jimmy Scott and Nikki, in rehearsal]] at Bertram Mills Circus in London (1961)

	==Image Gallery==		==Image Gallery==

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 ===International Travels===
-[[File:Fossett_and_Billy.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Jacko Fossett and Little Billy in Blankenberge (1978)]]Fossett and Billy performed with Benneweis in Copenhagen until 1972. Then, they returned to England where they became fixtures of [[Billy Russell]]'s Circus at the [[Hippodrome (Great Yarmouth)|Hippodrome]] of Great Yarmouth (a popular seaside resort in Norfolk), which was then under the management of John Russell (Billy Russell's son) and Ben Dean. Jacko and Little Billy would be featured at the Hippodrome for six consecutive summer seasons, from 1973 to 1979. During all that time, they also appeared in several circus performances on British television presented by the [[Chipperfields Circus]] Chipperfields or [[Billy Smart]].
+[[File:Fossett_and_Billy.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Jacko Fossett and Little Billy in Blankenberge (1978)]]Fossett and Billy performed with Benneweis in Copenhagen until 1972. Then, they returned to England where they became fixtures of [[Billy Russell]]'s Circus at the [[Hippodrome (Great Yarmouth)|Hippodrome]] of Great Yarmouth (a popular seaside resort in Norfolk), which was then under the management of John Russell (Billy Russell's son) and Ben Dean. Jacko and Little Billy would be featured at the Hippodrome for six consecutive summer seasons, from 1973 to 1979. During all that time, they also appeared in several circus performances on British television presented by the [[Chipperfields Circus|Chipperfields]] or [[Billy Smart]].
 Jacko Fossett and Little Billy continued to work occasionally abroad. In the winter of 1973, they spent one month at the Kronebau, [[Circus Krone]]'s building in Munich. They were quite successful there, but their next engagement (billed as "Les Fossetts") at the [[Cirque Pinder-Jean Richard]] in Paris flopped miserably. Their broad slapstick humor, which worked very well in Britain and Northern Europe, didn't score well with French audiences, used as they were to a more "theatrical" style of clowning&mdash;well-structured and spiked with verbal humor and music (illustrated in England by Charlie Cairoli, who was of French origin).

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 [[File:Fossett_and_Billy.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Jacko Fossett and Little Billy in Blankenberge (1978)]]Fossett and Billy performed with Benneweis in Copenhagen until 1972. Then, they returned to England where they became fixtures of [[Billy Russell]]'s Circus at the [[Hippodrome (Great Yarmouth)|Hippodrome]] of Great Yarmouth (a popular seaside resort in Norfolk), which was then under the management of John Russell (Billy Russell's son) and Ben Dean. Jacko and Little Billy would be featured at the Hippodrome for six consecutive summer seasons, from 1973 to 1979. During all that time, they also appeared in several circus performances on British television presented by the [[Chipperfields Circus]] Chipperfields or [[Billy Smart]].
-Jacko Fossett and Little Billy continued to work occasionally abroad. In the winter of 1973, they spent one month at the Kronebau, [[Circus Krone]]'s building in Munich. They were quite successful there, but their next engagement (billed as "Les Fossetts") at the [[Cirque Pinder-Jean Richard]] in Paris flopped miserably. Their broad slapstick humor, which worked very well in Britain and Northern Europe, didn't score well with French audiences, used as they were to a more "theatrical" style of clowning&mdash;well-structured and spiked with verbal humor and music (illustrated in England by [[Charlie Cairoli]], who was of French origin).
+Jacko Fossett and Little Billy continued to work occasionally abroad. In the winter of 1973, they spent one month at the Kronebau, [[Circus Krone]]'s building in Munich. They were quite successful there, but their next engagement (billed as "Les Fossetts") at the [[Cirque Pinder-Jean Richard]] in Paris flopped miserably. Their broad slapstick humor, which worked very well in Britain and Northern Europe, didn't score well with French audiences, used as they were to a more "theatrical" style of clowning&mdash;well-structured and spiked with verbal humor and music (illustrated in England by Charlie Cairoli, who was of French origin).
 Nonetheless, in 1978, they did well at the [[Cirque de la Voix du Nord]] in Lille, near the French-Belgian border, and they even won an award at the Festival International des Clowns held in the seaside resort of Blankenberge in Belgium. Their Parisian failure was one of the rare instances where their act didn't translate well; they were generally very well received abroad, including in such shows as the huge ATA ([[Artisten Tiere Attraktionen]]) at Vienna's Stadthalle, or in Italy with [[Enis Togni]].

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 As ''The Austins'', Billy and the Austin brothers performed in [[Tom Arnold]] stage shows on the Moss-Empire circuit, and at [[Belle Vue International Circus]], Manchester's huge and prestigious Christmas show at Belle Vue Zoological Gardens. (Founded in 1929, it was, after Mills, the biggest winter show in England, and it had the longest winter season: six to seven weeks.) Then, still as a trio, they performed in the first post-war tour of Mills in 1946&mdash;but they didn't participate in the London winter show at Olympia. (Coco rejoined Mills in 1947 and would become its most iconic figure.) After Mills, Billy and the Austins spent the 1948 and 1949 seasons with [[Chipperfields Circus]].
-[[File:Bertram_Mills_Circus_Tour_61.jpg||thumb|right|300px|Bertram Mills's Program Cover Featuring Little Billy with Coco and Jacky Sloan (1961)]]Then, Len and Alby parted company; Little Billy and Alby Austin returned to Bertram Mills Circus for the summer tour of 1950. Billy would remain with Mills until the end of the tenting show in 1964; he also participated in the winter shows at Olympia until that year, although these ended in 1967, when the Mills brothers decided to dissolve their company). Meanwhile, in the summer of 1962, the popular auguste [[Jacko Fossett]], an old stalwart of the [[Robert Brothers Circus]], joined Mills and would remain with the show until the end in 1967. Billy and Jacko had met previously when Billy was still with the Austins; during their time together at Mills, they would often partner in the clown reprises.
+[[File:Bertram_Mills_Circus_Tour_61.jpg||thumb|right|300px|Bertram Mills's Program Cover Featuring Little Billy with Coco and Jacky Sloan (1961)]]Then, Len and Alby parted company; Little Billy and Alby Austin returned to Bertram Mills Circus for the summer tour of 1950. Billy would remain with Mills until the end of the tenting show in 1964; he also participated in the winter shows at Olympia until that year, although these ended in 1967, when the Mills brothers decided to dissolve their company. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1962, the popular auguste [[Jacko Fossett]], an old stalwart of the [[Robert Brothers Circus]], joined Mills and would remain with the show until the end in 1967. Billy and Jacko had met previously when Billy was still with the Austins; during their time together at Mills, they would often partner in the clown reprises.
 After Mills had folded its tent, Billy Merchant decided to retire from show business, and went to live in Reading, Berkshire, in a theatrical guesthouse ran by friends of his where he used to stay between contracts. But this didn't last long. In 1966, the [[The Schumann Dynasty|Schumanns]], the legendary equestrian family that had been long associated with Bertram Mills Circus, had asked Jacko Fossett to join their prestigious [[Cirkus Schumann]] in Copenhagen, Denmark, along with Antonio, a dwarf auguste from Bertram Mills. There, the duo partnered with another diminutive auguste named Kiki (Otto Moskovitz, 1908-1985), a Romanian who was a Cirkus Schumann's favorite. When Kiki retired in 1968, Jacko called Billy Merchant to replace him; it was the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration.

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 Then, in 1939, as the outbreak of WWII, Billy, who could not enroll in the military, did nonetheless his patriotic bit and went to work as an aircraft fitter at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Finally, as the war was coming to an end, he resumed his performing career at Blackpool's [[Tower Circus]], and for the 1944 season, he teamed up with the auguste [[Fiery Jack]] (Fred Zetina) at the [[Chessington Zoo Circus]], in Surrey, southwest of London. For the summer of 1945, he returned to the Tower Circus in Blackpool, where became part of [[Charlie Cairoli]]'s act. [[Coco]], another great British clown, and a [[Bertram Mills Circus]]'s fixture before the war was also in the show.
-Charlie Cairoli was indeed a great mentor, from whom he learnt a lot, and whose simple, minimal French-style make-up he adopted for himself. He must have done well with Charlie Cairoli because when [[Cyril Mills]] visited Blackpool on his talent search before restarting Bertram Mills Circus after the war hiatus, he offered Little Billy a contract for the first post-war tour of Britain's premier circus in the summer of 1946. Before that, Billy spent the winter season with [[Spider Austin|Len]] ("Spider") and [[Alby Austin|Albert]] ("Alby") Austin, who had also been contracted by Cyril Mills for his circus's reopening.
+Charlie Cairoli was indeed a great mentor, from whom Billy learnt a lot, and whose simple, minimal French-style make-up he adopted for himself. He must have done well with Charlie Cairoli because when [[Cyril Mills]] visited Blackpool on his talent search before restarting Bertram Mills Circus after the war hiatus, he offered Little Billy a contract for the first post-war tour of Britain's premier circus in the summer of 1946. Before that, Billy spent the winter season with [[Spider Austin|Len]] ("Spider") and [[Alby Austin|Albert]] ("Alby") Austin, who had also been contracted by Cyril Mills for his circus's reopening.
 ===From Bertram Mills Circus to Copenhagen===

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 He was born William Alfred Merchant on July 31, 1919, in Bristol, England. His father was unknown&mdash;and practically nothing is known of his mother, either. This lack of a father may be the reason why&mdash;along with the fact that William was afflicted with achondroplasia (dwarfism)&mdash;his mother chose to abandon him at an early age. Billy, as he became known, was placed in an orphanage in Bristol where he spent his childhood and adolescence.
-[[File:Austins_-_Little_Billy.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Alby & Spider Austin with Little Billy (c.1948)]]As a teenager, he became increasingly attracted to show business and spent his free time visiting the local music-halls, notably Bristol's Hippodrome and Empire Theatre. In 1937, the Empire featured the celebrated troupe of performing "midgets" of John Lester (1870-1950), a former American aerialist turned impresario. Lester's troupe was mostly composed of little people, perfectly proportioned, as opposed to dwarves such as Billy. Nonetheless, he went to the theater to see John Lester. Asked by the impresario what he could do, Billy answered that he could tumble; that was good enough for a comedy part, and he was hired.
+[[File:Austins_-_Little_Billy.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Alby & Spider Austin with Little Billy (c.1948)]]As a teenager, he became increasingly attracted to show business and spent his free time visiting the local music-halls, notably Bristol's Hippodrome and Empire theatres. In 1937, the Empire featured the celebrated troupe of performing "midgets" of John Lester (1870-1950), a former American aerialist turned impresario. Lester's troupe was mostly composed of little people, perfectly proportioned, as opposed to dwarves such as Billy. Nonetheless, he went to the theater to see John Lester. Asked by the impresario what he could do, Billy answered that he could tumble; that was good enough for a comedy part, and he was hired.
 Billy did a tumbling act with two diminutive partners that was in effect a visual parody of popular acts of the genre, such as [[The Craddocks]] and, later, [[The Charlivels|Charlivels]]. Lester was not the easiest of directors, and after a while, Billy, who now had stage experience, joined the acrobatic troupe of Joe Boganny (John Clifton, 1874-1943), whose act, very popular on the British variety circuit, traditionally included dwarf acrobats. With Boganny, Billy became truly exposed to "big time" variety and what is more, he could fully express his nascent comedic talents. He finally was in show business, and there to stay.

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:12, 2 November 2022
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−	[[File:Little_Billy.jpg\|right\|~~400px~~]]	+	[[File:Little_Billy.jpg\|right\|350px]]
	==Clown==		==Clown==