Gilyan Franceso, 82: ill-tempered clown
sankkuss
Gilyan Francesco
GILYAN FRANCESCO, who has died aged 82, was
known as South Africa's "National Clown" but was a
performer of volatile temperament.
On one occasion, while he was working with a small circus
in Mauritius, two of the show's performing monkeys
escaped. They found Francesco's make-up kit, daubed
themselves like clowns and ran into a dressing tent,
destroying all the costumes before being caught. Francesco
insisted either the monkeys went or he did; so they were
given away to a Mauritian.
A few weeks later Francesco asked how the monkeys were.
"They were delicious" the man replied.
One of Francesco's acts involved him dressing up as an
Oriental Princess, and hypnotising a horde of crocodiles
before walking up and down a ladder of sharp swords.
When he cut his bare foot on one of the swords, badly
placed by a careless assistant, Francesco attacked the boy
responsible in front of the audience. The next day, a nun
knocked on his door inquiring about the condition of the
poor lady who had been in a fight in the ring the night
before.
In another incident Francesco was found bashing a dwarf
clown over the head with a metal bucket, because he was
infuriated by the dwarf's having resigned in the middle of a
performance.
Gilyan Francesco was born at Wellington, in the Cape, in
1919, although there is some doubt about his age. He made
his stage debut aged six, playing a mouse in the pantomime
Dick Whittington, with the words "eek! eek!", which he
spoke through a hole in the scenery. He began his career as
an actor, taking theatrical tours to the most remote parts of
the continent, and often sleeping under bridges or beneath
bits of stage scenery due to lack of funds.
His clowning skills, however, were taught to him by the
Australian clown Tony Murrell, who paid him 25 cents a
week, "and a clip on the ear every time I didn't clean
Murrell's shoes properly". Francesco became an auguste
(traditionally the clown with a red nose and baggy trousers)
and played this part for some years at Pagel's circus, until
Madame Pagel decided he should become an elegant
white-face clown in spangled costume.
In the 1950s Francesco, known as "Fanny" to circus folk,
moved to Boswell's Circus, one of South Africa's greatest
touring shows. Francesco then joined Wilkie's Circus to
work with the British clown Charlie Bale, but had a
disagreement with the owner and left after a week.
Boswell's later merged with Wilkie's show and Francesco
toured with it during the 1970s. Such was his fame during
this period that a wig-making firm took a half page
advertisement in the programme proclaiming that it had
made Francesco's hairpiece. Francesco was retained by the
South African Ministry of Education to lecture to school
children on a variety of subjects, from animals to road
safety.
Francesco, who was still performing a few days before his
death, liked to say that his face was lined by a lifetime of
laughter rather than age: "Yesterday I felt 121; tomorrow I
may feel 33."
James L. Neibaur
>"They were delicious" the man replied.
ROFLMAO!
JN
Please visit the most poorly designed web pages online:
my Favorite Movies web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/movies.html
and my Favorite Performers web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/rant.html
Robert R. Feigel
>
> From today's Daily Telegraph --
>
> Gilyan Francesco
>
> GILYAN FRANCESCO, who has died aged 82, was
> known as South Africa's "National Clown" but was a
> performer of volatile temperament.
>
Far be it from me to speak ill of the dead, but I was sitting in the
Peanut Gallery during a Howdy Doody Show many birthdays ago when I
witnessed some rather unexpected behaviour from Clarabell the Clown (who
honked with an airhorn and never spoke to camera). The boy sitting next
to me was the snotty son of a network executive and had brought a 'pea
shooter' with him. Whenever Clarabell's back was turned (exposing a part
of his neck that wasn't covered in thick white makeup) the boy would
whip out his shooter and let one off.
After a couple of bullseyes Clarabell turned to scan the gallery during
a break, pegged the offender and said, "Do that again you little fuck
and I'll break your scrawny little neck ... big shot father or NO big
shot father."
Needless to say, the usually jubilant gallery was a tad subdued when the
break was over. However, except the resident brat, we soon recovered.
Honk honk!
lynn paden
news:tnrgj0i...@corp.supernews.com...
> On Fri, 17 Aug 2001 12:08:06 -0400, sankkuss <sank...@MailAndNews.com>
> wrote:
>
> >GILYAN FRANCESCO, who has died aged 82, was
> >known as South Africa's "National Clown" but was a
> >performer of volatile temperament.
>
>
hey, there are good clowns too.
jamison
(who has a soft spot for emmett kelly)
Don Mackie
"lynn paden" <lynnNOS...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> hey, there are good clowns too.
Good/bad - they're not funny.
--
"Any PC built after 1985 has the storage capacity to house an evil spirit,"
Reverend Jim Peasboro
Matthew Hubbard
>
> On Fri, 17 Aug 2001 12:08:06 -0400, sankkuss <sank...@MailAndNews.com>
> wrote:
>
> >known as South Africa's "National Clown" but was a
> >performer of volatile temperament.
>
And I had so hoped this thread wouldn't degenerate into a
binary political pissing contest.
Sigh,
MattH
Old Curmudgeon
> "David Carson" <da...@neosoft.com> wrote in message
> news:tnrgj0i...@corp.supernews.com...
>> On Fri, 17 Aug 2001 12:08:06 -0400, sankkuss <sank...@MailAndNews.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >GILYAN FRANCESCO, who has died aged 82, was
>> >known as South Africa's "National Clown" but was a performer of
>> >volatile temperament.
>>
>> Clowns are evil, vile, horrible creatures. Nuke them all.
>>
>
>
> hey, there are good clowns too.
>
>
But perhaps not in Texas. Maybe David has something he'd like to unburden
himself of. ;)
--
Roy Archer
http://www.royarcher.org.uk the graphics gallimaufry
http://www.fonts.org.uk free fonts
-
Bill Schenley
> > >known as South Africa's "National Clown" but was a
> > >performer of volatile temperament.
> > Clowns are evil, vile, horrible creatures. Nuke them all.
> hey, there are good clowns too.
Which one . . . John Wayne Gacey?
Brad Ferguson
lynn paden <lynnNOS...@earthlink.net> wrote:
Emmett Kelly sued his son, Emmett Kelly Jr., for co-opting Daddy's
makeup and act. It's a seedy world behind the greasepaint.
Old Curmudgeon
trilled:
> On Sat, 18 Aug 2001 08:58:19 GMT, Old Curmudgeon
> <roya...@eurosport.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>
>>Maybe David has something he'd like to unburden himself of. ;)
>
> I do have several personal experiences that account for much of my
> feelings. I started to write about them, but my explanation quickly
> turned into a biographical essay was too long and too personal to share
> with this group. So, I'll leave the personal stories for another day
> and simply list some of the reasons that everyone can relate to:
>
> 1) Who is Batman's greatest villain, and perhaps the most famous
> villain
> in all of comic book history? That's right, The Joker -- the evil
> clown, the archetypical homicidal maniac, the epitome of the phrase
> "criminally insane." It wouldn't work unless there was some truth to
> it.
>
> 2) Remember the scene from "Poltergeist" where the boy, Robbie,
> nervously stares at his clown toy as it sits on a chair? He throws a
> blanket over it so it won't be scary anymore. The clown ends up under
> Robbie's bed, and when the time comes, it tries to choke him to death.
> I'd say that scene plays off of a few universal childhood fears,
> wouldn't you?
>
> 3) Of all the pathetic, disgusting, despicable characters on The
> Simpsons, surely Krusty the Klown is among the worst. Though he makes
> a living entertaining children, his personal life his filled with vice
> and excess and an utter lack of compassion for his fellow man. And
> don't forget, his old sidekick, Sideshow Bob, is a self-styled "evil
> genius".
>
> 4) Mimes.
>
> And here, in this thread, we read about one clown who routinely erupted
> during performances and rained blows upon his assistants and
> colleagues, no doubt with the audience laughing along, thinking it was
> all part of the act. We read about another famous, beloved clown who
> snarled at a mischievous child, issuing vulgarities at him and
> threatening, in front of witnesses, to maim him. Even the revered
> Emmett Kelly, it appears, was a selfish, vicious man who sued his own
> son for the offense of wanting to be like him.
>
> I also group mall Santas in with clowns (refer to the 1983 film "A
> Christmas Story" for a good illustration), as well as people who walk
> around wearing full-body costumes, such as sports team mascots and
> amusement park cartoon characters.
>
> The world would be a better, happier place without clowns.
>
> David Carson
I can't disagree with any of it.
Brad Ferguson
<da...@neosoft.com> wrote:
> 1) Who is Batman's greatest villain, and perhaps the most famous villain
> in all of comic book history? That's right, The Joker -- the evil clown,
> the archetypical homicidal maniac, the epitome of the phrase "criminally
> insane." It wouldn't work unless there was some truth to it.
In fact, the Batman let the Joker escape when they first met, in the
belief that he was only a clown who'd been kidnapped by what he soon
found out to be the Joker's gang.
And don't forget that Jimmy Stewart's clown in "The Greatest Show on
Earth" had murdered his wife.
I myself believe that clowns are demons scaled down to human size and
abilities.
Down with clowns.
Michael Dalton
>Clowns are evil, vile, horrible creatures. Nuke them all.
Watch a clown in action: they take superhuman amounts of physical abuse.
They are hit with pies and seltzer and sticks, and buckets of water or
confetti. They are stuffed like herring into cars and phone booths. And
through it all, they just get up, brush themselves off, and get back to
the task at hand. They're terrifying because they're indestructible.
Now look at its face--the whiteness, the hideous rictus. It's a death
mask. They're not only indestructible, they're the walking dead. Clowns
attack that dark soft underbelly of the psyche where we still believe in
zombies; it couldn't be any clearer if they were shouting "BRAINS! BRAINS!"
--
Michael / mada...@indiana.edu / sentir? sinta quem le^!
Steve Oldham
If Kramer is afraid of clowns that's enough for me.
Steve
Biminy . . . Quinn Biminy
Pick up an Insane Clown Posse album
and
Rent the film "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"
These will make you love clowns. . . really.
Bim
"The puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but
because it gave pleasure to the spectators."-Thomas B Macaulay
Maria: Marry sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan
Sir Andrew: O! If I thought that, I'd beat him like a dog
UnaP93
>Two suggestions for clown haters:
>
>Pick up an Insane Clown Posse album
>
>and
>
>Rent the film "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"
Well...i prefer "Shakes the Clown". You'll still hate clowns, but at least
it's funny. ICP is all right-at least they know how to bait Eminem, certainly
a clown without makeup.
Gikas...@gemaccountant.com
Gern Blanston
> clown over the head with a metal bucket, because he was
> infuriated by the dwarf's having resigned in the middle of a
> performance.