Clowns -- Great Britain -- Biography; Grimaldi, Joseph, 1779-1837
"Harlequin Gulliver, or the Flying Island," which was the pantomime
of the year at Covent Garden, was so successful as to be played
sixty-three nights before Easter. On the 30th of March, a piece, under
the title of "The Marquis de Carabbas, or Puss in Boots," was produced,
and utterly failed. It was a very poor affair, was only played one
night, and appears to have fully deserved its fate.
On the same night Sadler's Wells commenced its season, upon which
occasion the unexpected absence of Grimaldi occasioned quite a
commotion among the Audience. He had said nothing about it himself,
nor was the circumstance known to the public until the bills were put
forth, when the announcement of Paulo's engagement and Grimaldi's
secession occasioned much surprise and some manifestation of feeling.
Grimaldi had been spending a few days at Egham; and upon his return to
town, towards the latter end of March, was not a little amazed to see
the walls in the neighbourhood of his house in Spa-fields completely
covered with placards emanating from the rival parties, some bearing
the words "Joey for ever!" others displaying "No Paulo!" and others,
again, "No Grimaldi!" It was supposed by some that Grimaldi himself had
a hand in the distribution of these bills; but he solemnly denied it,
declaring that he never saw or heard anything of them until they were
paraded upon the walls on his return to town.
The theatre opened with "Philip and his Dog," and a new harlequinade,
called "April Fools, or Months and Mummery." Being informed that it
was Dibdin's intention, if any disturbance occurred in consequence of
his absence, to address the house, and state that it had resulted from
Grimaldi's express wish, he went to the boxes on the opening night,
determined, if any such statement were made, to address the audience
from his place, and explain the circumstances under which he had left
the theatre. He was spared this very disagreeable task, however, no
other expression of public feeling taking place except that which is
of all others most sensibly and acutely felt by a manager the people
stayed away. Instead of every seat being taken, and standing-places
eagerly secured, as had formerly been the case, the theatre was not a
quarter filled. There were only forty persons, and these principally
friends of the proprietors, in the boxes; not more than a hundred in
the pit, and the gallery was not half full. Grimaldi stayed only the
first act of the first piece, and then, seeing no probability of being
called for, walked away to Covent Garden, to dress for "Puss in Boots,"
the untimely fate of which has been already recorded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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