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THE ANDREU-RIVELS

The career of the Andreu-Rivels (also known as The 3 Rivels) spanned half a century, from 1920 to 1970. With a trio that has seen three different compositions while remaining centered around René Rivel, the brothers Andreu (Charlie, Polo, René, Celito, and Rogelio) were one of Europe’s most successful and celebrated clown act—even though over the years, their fame has been unduly shadowed by the stature (and it can be said, the considerable ego) of one of the trio's original members, Charlie Rivel, who left his brothers in 1935 to replicate the family act with other, anonymous partners and eventually pursue a "solo" career (albeit never without uncredited partners).

Their father, Pedro Jaime Andreu Pausas (c.1865-1957), was the son of a cabinetmaker from Barcelona, Spain. In the 1880s, when he was fifteen years old, Pedro and his brother Juan left home to follow Circo Milá. As members of the circus, Pedro and Juan began performing a trapeze act. Pedro later joined another circus, Circo Alegría, where he met—and later married—a French acrobat, Marie-Louise Lasserre Seguino. Spain had fallen on hard times, and in order to survive, the young family decided to cross into France, where they hoped to find work. As they made their way toward the border, they performed in village squares across Catalonia.

In 1896, they were traveling in a hand-drawn wagon when Marie-Louise gave birth to José (the future Charlie, 1896-1983) in Cubelles, a village near Barcelona. Surviving as best as they could, they finally reached France three months later. They soon secured an engagement with the small Cirque Dusoulier. The following year, Marie-Louise gave birth to her second child, a daughter, Neña (Marie-Louise Andreu, 1897-1915). At age two, little José appeared in his father's Risley actAct performed by Icarists, in which one acrobat, lying on his back, juggles another acrobat with his feet. (Named after Richard Risley Carlisle, who developed this type of act.). Then the family went on to perform with the Cirque Caignac, where little José appeared in a parody of a strong-man act and in a hand-to-handAn acrobatic act in which one or more acrobats do hand-balancing in the hands of an under-stander. balancing act with his sister, for which he was originally dressed as a girl—which made their "all-girl" act look more attractive to agents and directors.

While they were touring in France, the family continued to grow: Polo (Paul, 1899-1977) was born in Avallon in 1899, and René (1903-1976) in Aubusson in 1903. Then, the Cirque Caignac was destroyed by a storm in 1904, and the Andreu family again fell to performing in village squares—the children doing a variety of acts, including acrobatic dancing, perch-poleLong perch held vertically on a performer's shoulder or forehead, on the top of which an acrobat executes various balancing figures. balancing, and a hand-balancing—before joining the Cirque Caron in Grenoble. There, the Andreu siblings learned trickAny specific exercise in a circus act. riding and began to play musical instruments.

The Andreu family went on to perform in other small French circuses, where José, Neña and Polo appeared in a balancing trio called Los Pepitos. It was probably in 1905, at the circuses Zanfretta and Lambert, that the three siblings began work on their standing-frame flying-trapeze act, with Neña as the catcherIn an acrobatic or a flying act, the person whose role is to catch acrobats that have been propelled in the air.. The following year, in 1906, José got a first taste of clowning, when the director, Monsieur Lambert, called on him to replace the house clownGeneric term for all clowns and augustes. '''Specific:''' In Europe, the elegant, whiteface character who plays the role of the straight man to the Auguste in a clown team., Carleto. Celito (Marcel, 1906-1969) was born that year in Elbeuf, and Rogelio (Roger, 1909-2001) three years later, in 1909, in Roubaix. They would soon become part of the family acts.... (more...)

New Essays and Biographies

• Émilien Bouglione, French version
• Kremo Family, icarists
• The Ziratron, Israel's first Circus
• Carlos Guity, acrobat
• James Clowney, acrobat

New Videos

• Bobby Roberts, elephant act (1985)
• Gunther Gebel-Williams, tiger act (1985)
• The New Flying Girls, flying actAny aerial act in which an acrobat is propelled in the air from one point to another. (2009)
• The Zapashny Troupe, jockeyClassic equestrian act in which the participants ride standing in various attitudes on a galoping horse, perform various jumps while on the horse, and from the ground to the horse, and perform classic horse-vaulting exercises.-acrobats-aerialists combination (1965)
• The Flying Caballeros, flying trapezeAerial act in which an acrobat is propelled from a trapeze to a catcher, or to another trapeze. (See also: Short-distance Flying Trapeze) (2025)

New Oral Histories

• Valentin Gneushev interview on Russian Television (c.1990)
• Dominique Jando interview by the Circus Historical Society (2025)
• Evelyn & André Interview on Blikk TV (2015)
• For A Moment You Fly, The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)
• Vladimir Durov Documentary on Russian Television (c.2000)

Circopedia Books

• Philip Astley & The Horsemen who invented the Circus, by Dominique Jando (2018)

A Message from the Founder

CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly—and sometimes daily—basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to contact us: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.

Dominique Jando

Founder and Curator