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Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Where to see statues of Comedy Characters - A light-hearted look at London, Dublin and Paris


Traditional seaside feature of Britain. Punch and Judy.

From these shows we get two common phrases, 'that's the way to do it,' and, 'pleased as punch'.

Clowns
An early clown in the UK was Grimaldi.
He made popular the phrase, 'Here we are again,' which was used in Pantomimes, and the question to the audience, 'Shall I?'

GRIMALDI


Plaque to Grimaldi in London, England.


Joseph Grimaldi clown. Blue Heritage plaque in London, England.



Grave of Joseph Grimaldi, the clown, in Grimaldi Park, Pentonville Road, Islington, North London, England, UK.



Avenue Q, American play, which I saw in London.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Charlie Chaplin said, "A day without laughter is a day wasted."

Charlie Chaplin statue, London, England, UK

Charlie Chaplin said, 'All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.'

You can see another statue of Chaplin in Vevey, Switzerland, where he lived.

OSCAR WILDE
Also look for the statue of Oscar Wilde, Witty Oscar Wilde, reclining, in London. On arriving in the USA, asked if he had anything to declare, he said nothing 'except my genius'.

Oscar Wilde in Conversation, statue in Adelaide Street, near Trafalgar Square,  London, England, UK.


Plaque on the house in Tite Street Chelsea, where Wilde lived in London, England.

During the late 1880s, Wilde was a close friend of the artist James McNeill Whistler and they dined together on many occasions. At one of these dinners, Whistler said a bon mot that Wilde found particularly witty, Wilde exclaimed that he wished that he had said it, and Whistler retorted "You will, Oscar, you will."

Oscar Wilde had been born in Dublin.

Plaque to Oscar Wilde in 1 Merrion Square, Dublin, Eire.


: "The most interesting people are men with a future and women with a history".
"I like men who have a future and women who have a past." Dorian Gray, ch. 15
Hubert ;-) 10:55, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
.... Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.
If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

Those Drapes

 The quote supposedly attributed to Wilde on his deathbed, "Either those drapes go or I do."

Grave of Oscar Wilde in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France.

Statue of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square, Dublin, Eire.

Another view of this remarkable statue.

On the same fashionable square is the Jester's Chair which commemorates another comedian, Dermot Morgan, who played Father Ted in the Irish TV sitcom. Photo by NTF30 in Wikimedia commons under Merrion Square. 

I was Delighted to come across this by change when I was looking for photos of Oscar Wilde. I know that the main Wikipedia articles do not overload with a hundred shots of the same scene but simply take the best one. However, Wikimedia Commons shows you everything available which for me when researching is much more useful.


Jester's Chair commemorating Father Ted.


Pantomime
Christmas time in London (except when prevented by Covid-19).
You also see pantomime on ice at ice rinks.
See YouTube.

Useful Websites
https://www.a-speakers.com/speakers/brad-ashton-keynote-speaker/
 Brad Ashton's books on comedy: 
“How to Write Comedy”, 
“The funny Thing about Writing Comedy”, 
“The Job of a Laughtime”, and 
“Stand up and Be Laughed at”.



About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author of 20 books, and a speaker and speech trainer.
Her books include:
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Quick Quotations


Writing Poetry For Fun
Angela's Alarming Animal Poems
Pantomime characters, pantomime dames create humour.

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