Clowns And Concertinas

[Stephen Chambers]

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Grock + Edeophone in 1947.

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Correcting myself: I got the clip from British Pathe, as Stephen pointed to and realised that it was Grock I was thinking of, not Rivel.

Henrik

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Though Charlie Rivel also played English concertina :

 

Charlie Rivel

[Daniel Bradbury]

It also make me wonder if there  is ( or was ) the connection between clowning in circuses and comedy music hall acts, where instruments were us. In this instance, concertinas......

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Robin,

 

There certainly was a crossover between the two, and also with blackface minstrelsy. Indeed "Mr. Bones" and "Mr. Tambo", the comedians in a minstrel troop, were virtually clowns in blackface, and most such groups included a concertina, or accordion player.

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I, being a banjo player in the US, have noted that a number of concertina players here either started out as or additionally are fine banjo players (Bertram Levy, Mark Evans and Greg Jowaise come immediately to mind), wonder if perhaps the banjo replaced the concertina in American minstrelsy! Actually, I know that American Minstralsy predates the concertina and additionally that the banjo was very prevalent in English music hall. I greatly admire the classic banjo playing of such english musicians as E.C. Ball and others. However, the comedic/virtuoso connection is a very interesting aspect of clowning. One of the greatest American clowns, in my opinion, was Uncle Dave Macon. He was a banjoist and performer par excellance on the grand old opry who learned much of his art from travelling medicine show and minstrelsy performers.

 

I am intrigued by the banjo/concertina connection and your post (blackface vs. whiteface clowning) touched a button.

 

thank you for your input to the Concertina.net forums (or is it forae?)

[David Barnert]

thank you for your input to the Concertina.net forums (or is it forae?)

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Fora. Like Datum -> Data.

 

From another banjo player (see my info page by clicking my name, upper left).

Edited April 28, 2005 by David Barnert

[Stephen Chambers]

Whilst looking for something else altogether (it helps if you look under "accordion" when searching for concertinas! ), I came across this 1932 clip

, which starts off with concertina playing and finishes with "a double-twist somersault without a springboard".

Beautiful! Edited February 3, 2016 by Stephen Chambers

[Stephen Chambers]

Here is a film clip of Annie Fratellini (great-granddaughter of Paolo/Paul Fratellini) performimg with her husband Pierre Etaix on 28th June 1975, and finishing up with them both playing Aeolas. The stunt with the packing case was originally part of the Fratellini Trio's act...

 

Annie Fratellini et Pierre Etaix

Edited January 28, 2016 by Stephen Chambers

[Mikefule]

Can anyone tell me the historical connection between clowns and concertinas?

 

Just Curious

Cheers

Morgana

We have this discussion in the unicycle forum too. I suspect that no one has ever seen a real clown with a concertina or riding a unicycle - at least not before the current breed of street entertainers got the idea that they "ought to". It's something to do with cheap china ornaments and whimsical illustrations in children's books.

[Tradewinds Ted]

Suspect no one has seen a "real" clown on a unicycle?!

 

I know for certain that I saw clowns on unicycles (and some of the unicycles were exceedingly tall!) when we went to the Barnum & Bailey and Ringling Bros. Circus back around 1970 when I was a child. I doubt I saw any with a real concertina, but reasonably sure there was some sort of squeezebox prop, with very extended bellows.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Tradewinds Ted

[Peter Laban]

 

 

I know for certain that I saw clowns on unicycles (and some of the unicycles were exceedingly tall!)

 

Ditto. Saw Barnum & Bailey and Ringling Bros. Circus too, around 1964.

[Alan Day]

Here is a photo copy of an Eastern European Clown act

Al

SWScan00014.bmp

[Peter Laban]

 

 

I am intrigued by the banjo/concertina connection and your post (blackface vs. whiteface clowning) touched a button.

 

The two instruments did coexist in that context.

 

 

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

Geoffrey Crabb once told me this story about how a clown (from somewhere in europe cant remember where) ordered a few concertinas over the years from the Crabb family, each order was for a consecutively smaller concertina than the previous - maybe he could tell the story if he sees this thread

[JimLucas]

Geoffrey Crabb once told me this story about how a clown (from somewhere in europe cant remember where) ordered a few concertinas over the years from the Crabb family, each order was for a consecutively smaller concertina than the previous - maybe he could tell the story if he sees this thread

 

No time to look it up at the moment, but I recall seeing a video of the act in which he used them, so somebody here must have provided a link.

[Randy Stein]

Been a while since I was on cnet. Nice to see an interest in circus arts.

I was a former circus performer and used my music and the concertina as part of one of my acts. The ICA Magazine did an article not too long ago about me and my circus experience. It has a couple of photos though I have plenty more in boxes at home. Bello & Stein was a musical acrobatic clown act. At one point I actually did a flip off Joe's shoulders while playing the EC to the tune of Stumbling. In hind sight it was crazy!

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Randy Stein interview pdf.pdf

Edited January 30, 2016 by Randy Stein

[mike_s]

My comment has no concertina content. I remember as a kid in the 50's clowns were sort of the comedy part of the circus and were generally sort of benign like Clarabelle (sic?), Bozo and Seattle's JP Patches. But lately they have become sinister like the clown in "It" brilliantly played by Tim Curry and Krusty on The Simpsons. My point is I used to enjoy clowns antics but now find them sort of creepy concertina or no. Just my $.02.

[StuartEstell]

Been a while since I was on cnet. Nice to see an interest in circus arts.

I was a former circus performer and used my music and the concertina as part of one of my acts. The ICA Magazine did an article not too long ago about me and my circus experience. It has a couple of photos though I have plenty more in boxes at home. Bello & Stein was a musical acrobatic clown act. At one point I actually did a flip off Joe's shoulders while playing the EC to the tune of Stumbling. In hind sight it was crazy!

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I find this sort of thing fascinating -- I'd be terrified of tearing the bellows apart, but then I've never done any kind of "flip". How do you go about rehearsing something like that, Randy?

[JimLucas]

At one point I actually did a flip off Joe's shoulders while playing the EC to the tune of Stumbling. In hind sight it was crazy!

I find this sort of thing fascinating -- I'd be terrified of tearing the bellows apart, but then I've never done any kind of "flip". How do you go about rehearsing something like that, Randy?

Since he plays the English, I'm sure that if he had any sense he would have practiced with an anglo.

[JimLucas]

I remember as a kid in the 50's clowns were sort of the comedy part of the circus and were generally sort of benign like Clarabelle (sic?), Bozo and Seattle's JP Patches. But lately they have become sinister like the clown in "It" brilliantly played by Tim Curry and Krusty on The Simpsons. My point is I used to enjoy clowns antics but now find them sort of creepy concertina or no.

 

It sounds to me as if it's not your attitude that's changed, but the nature of the clowns you're seeing. Are there still circus clowns in the US? The newer "clowns" you mention strike me as sadistic parodies of the "real" clowns of my childhood, having nothing in common with the real clowns, except for garish makeup and costumes. (I remember once seeing Howdy Doody "live", along with Clarabell the clown and Howdy's other friends.) I remember seeing the Joker in Batman comic books, but it never occurred to me to associate him with Bozo, Clarabell, etc.

 

And that brings me to the association between clowns and concertinas. As you say, the clowns of our American childhood were the comedy act, pure and simple. Clowns in Europe have been viewed differently. They perform comedy, but their acrobatic skills are clearly at least as impressive as those of the other performers, and they often perform musical interludes with virtuoso skill even when "murdering" the music. (Are you familiar with Victor Borge? Not an acrobat or a painted face, yet a musical clown of the highest caliber.) Did you view the recently posted video of Grock? (There are also other, shorter Grock videos on YouTube.) He was one of the best, but far from the only one. And the concertina was/is the ideal instrument for that style, since it's capable of both complex arrangements and simple melodies, yet it's hand-held and can be played while being waved around arbitrarilty (or, unknown to the audience, to assist with balance).

 

And it sounds like it's that "European" clown tradition that Randy was following in his act. It's something I myself never saw in the US, but apparently it wasn't completely absent.

[bazza]

I sold an old beat up Lachenal Anglo on Ebay a few years ago to a French clown, He wanted it as a prop not to play.