Sunday, June 15, 2014

clowns are people, too


While I'm not afraid of clowns, I'm not particularly enamoured of them, either. I find them rather creepy, though I know there are many different types of clowns (I inexplicably love Cirque du Soleil for example). Anyway, when I found these stamps in the 10¢ box, I picked them up partly because they were Gibraltar (of which I have none) but mostly because I thought this theme might show up in Sunday Stamps. I wanted to be ready.
Charlie Cairoli (1910-1980) born in France he was the most popular attraction for 40yrs at Blackpool’s Tower Circus
Nicolai Poliakoff (1900-1974) born in what is now Latvia, created Coco the Clown, who is officially an auguste, or the fool who gets the pie in the face
Charles Adrien Wettach (1880-1959) Swiss born Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world
Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) performed at Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells simultaneously as London's leading clown and comic entertainer

These were issued in 2002 
for the Europa theme of The Circus, Famous Clowns
According to Grock "The genius of clowning is transforming the little, everyday annoyances, not only overcoming, but actually transforming them into something strange and terrific… it is the power to extract mirth for millions out of nothing and less than nothing. 

I will admit, I like the bright colours and the fact that they look like happy clowns and not the down and out clowns that may be more of a North American style. Red Skelton (1913-1997) comes to mind. He was a very funny man and I loved his show, but his hobo clown, Freddie the Freeloader, always made me uneasy. 
He also has a stamp which I don't have, but now that I've seen that there are 20 stamps in this series of old television shows from the 50's and 60's (issued in 2009) I want one. Or rather, all of 20 of them!


13 comments:

  1. Joseph Grimaldi? No relative of the Grimaldis of Monaco, I presume?

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  2. Dad could never get enough Red Skelton. I found he wore a little thin after a few viewings.

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  3. I remember Charlie Cairoli who was quite a high profile clown in the UK, or it may be the fact I live on the other side of the bay to Blackpool. Clown makeup is a fascinating, and yes slightly unsettling, thing, I can see why the stamps attracted you.

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  4. Clowns give me the heebies. For me all those stamps make me want to look away!

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  5. These are gorgeous despite the subjects. Seems many of us can now safely admit that we don’t actually like clowns much. The history however, is fascinating.

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  6. I didn't like clowns very much, but that was more because I thought they were silly than scary. It seems like clown pictures were very popular at one time, and I couldn't understand why.

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  7. These stamps are gorgeous.I wonder why most people don't like clowns... As a child, they intrigued more than scared me. I always wanted to know how they were without the make up!

    Me too, I like the Cirque du Soleil (I have attended it just once).

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  8. Great Stamps. I got to see Red Skelton live about 20 years back. I think he was 87 then. He still kept a full schedule and was sharp as a tack. Wouldn't have missed it for the World.

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  9. Well done Gibraltar for issuing this set. To my surprise I had heard of all of these clowns and recognise three of them from the stamps.

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  10. I think most clowns are rather creepy too. But I do like these stamps.

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  11. These colourful stamps show well that there are different types of clowns. Thank you for sharing!
    In my own blog I told I used to be afraid of clowns, but now I realize that, apart from heebies, I thought some of them too silly, and that there were definitely some clowns who attracted my attention in a positive way. Like the clown on the last stamp, who looks brave, smart and might have had exciting adventures (I don't know if I am right, but his look makes me think so :-).

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  12. Hubby cannot stand clowns! I love the stamps, though!
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

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  13. I'm not a great fan of clowns but the name Red Skelton was certainly a blast from a dim and distant past.

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