The grave of Grimaldi the clown is in a park in Islington.
The name Grimaldi is Italian. The Monaco dynasty has the name Grimaldi.
Grimaldi was on the stage from childhood. from the age of two. He acted in pantomime as a monkey or fairy and all sorts of other characters.
His first wife and newborn died in childbirth. To forget and recover, he performed on stage twice a night.
On stage he danced, like his dancer mother, who was in many productions with him. He was an acrobat, did sword fights.
He was a great actor. He walked through the streets of London to observe characters to copy.
When he shot himself in the foot, his concerned mother engaged a young lady from the entertainment world to look after him and she became his second wife and mother of his son.
He was extremely popular. Two of his catchphrases have survived. "Here we are again." And, "Shall I?" was his phrase which involved the audience who shouted, "Yes!"
His son also performed on stage with him.
What legacy did he leave us? When he started on stage the clown wore rags as a village idiot. He whitened his face and drew a big smile in red lipstick, the traditional clown face. He added to his costume circles and then triangles, in bright attention getting contrasting black and white, which have become the traditional harlequin costume.
He died in 1837 and Dickens re-edited Grimaldi's memoirs. Dickens was surprised that this work sold successfully.
Grimaldi was remembered by those who had seen him and those who were born later. On the anniversary of Grimaldi's death each year all the clowns of London and afar gathered to remember him, wearing their clown costumes reminiscent of him, and do so until this day. When the church went out of service, the event moved to another church.
What can you see and do?
1 If you go to London you can see his grave in a pleasant little park in Islington, Joseph Grimaldi Park.
2 The plaque on the house where he lived. Islington.
3 You can buy clown costumes from party shops and online from fancy dress suppliers.
Useful Websites
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6531280/joseph-grimaldi
wikipedia
Joseph Grimaldi Park - Wikipedia
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places, landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.
Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books.
About Angela The Speaker & Trainer
Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.
Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:
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