Joseph Grimaldi

Comic actor, singer, and acrobat, born in London, UK. From 1800 until his retirement through ill health in 1828, he dominated the stage of Sadler's Wells as the figure of ‘Clown’ in the English harlequinade. Many of his innovations became distinctive characteristics of the pantomime clown, or ‘Joey’. His Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838) was edited by Charles Dickens.

Joseph Grimaldi (December 18, 1778 - May 31, 1837), the most celebrated of English clowns, was born in London, the son of an Italian actor (of the same name, also known as 'Iron Legs').

When less than two years old, he was introduced to the stage at Drury Lane;

His Memoirs in two volumes (1838) were edited by Charles Dickens.

A famous 'sad clown' anecdote was first told of Grimaldi (later also told of Grock): A young man goes to see his doctor. The doctor says, "Why not do something happy, like going to see Grimaldi the clown?". The young man answers, with a knowing look, "Ah, but Doctor," he says, "I am Grimaldi."

Suffering from ill health, Grimaldi retired from the stage and died some years later, a physical wreck, owing to the years of extreme physical exertion his clowning had involved.

To this day, on every first Sunday in February, a memorial service is held for Grimaldi at All Saints' Church, Haggerston, North-East London - the home of the Clowns' Gallery.

The original editions of Grimaldi's memoirs are very hard to find. Self-publisher John Haines ( Josh Rogan ) has made available a scanned copy of an 1846 edition and a full-text version of the 1853 Routledge 'Cheap New Series' edition.

It should be noted that the 'Memoirs' as they now exist leave much to be desired, since the editing was poorly done and the finished publication was based on an earlier editing job. Much of 'Memoirs' was not even written by Grimaldi (in the 1st person) but rather produced in the 3rd person (Dickens' technique). Richard Findlater discusses this problem in his work "Grimaldi: King of Clowns" (1955) and in his own edition of the 'Memoirs'.