I just came across this by chance. Some of the top circus clowns in France, in 1929, giving their
opinion on Chaplin and whether he was a clown or not, soon after the release of
his film ‘The Circus’.
Here some of the replies given in interviews at the Cirque Médrano,
published in an article in the magazine Cinémonde
(no. 17; 14th February 1929). (It seems like it's not just today that clowns
are overly critical of each other.)
Porto: “I was disappointed. First, let me say that the
Americans don’t understand circus… The clown doesn’t exist for them. Charlie
did know the circus well. That’s undeniable. But he undoubtedly sought to
please his compatriots. He conformed to their tastes. As Charlie Chaplin is an
old circus artist, a music hall artist…. I thought Charlie would be more
daring. Wasn’t he more of a clown in other films? I loved him in his role as
bank teller. As he is a true clown, and I can see him in our place in the
circus. he has the physical play like Footit had… He is a conjuror. He is an
acrobat. You can see he was a clown, as he can play pantomime. “
Cairoli: “I don’t think he’s a clown. he knew the circus
well, but I think he couldn’t do all that we do. In the cinema, it’s easier to
make people laugh. If you do a bad take, you cut a few metres of film or you do
it again. With us, you can’t erase a single gesture. You have to be at all
times, unfailingly amusing. And that, I can tell you, is very difficult.”
Francois Fratellini: “Certainly, Charlie Chaplin is a clown.
He was one a long time before becoming The Little Tramp in the cinema. I
remember seeing him at the Olympia. He was with the Karno troupe then. He took
all the slaps that weren’t intended for him, and retreated offstage, form where
he bombarded his fellows with al kinds of objects. … I don’t like tis film. I
found Charlie a lot funnier in other films. There was more fantasy. No doubt,
he posses all the qualities which make a good clown. It’s just that his job is
easier. His jokes in front of the camera don’t have to work first time. Despite
that, Charlie is for me a good clown. But a clown I’d like to see in the middle
of a real circus.”
