Joseph Grimaldi was one of England’s most famous Regency-era entertainers. Sometimes he’s described as the first modern clown, because he established a lot of the hallmarks of clowning that still exist today. 

Research:

• Boyle, Laura. “Joseph Grimaldi, King of Clowns.” Jane Austen Centre. 4/14/2014. https://janeausten.co.uk/blogs/uncategorized/joseph-grimaldi-king-clowns
• Grimaldi, Joseph. “Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi.” Edited by Charles Dickens (“Boz”), illustrated by George Cruikshank. London, George Routledge and Sons. 1838.
• Kaplan, Charles. “The Only Native British Art Form.” The Antioch Review , Summer, 1984, Vol. 42, No. 3, "Divine Goalie" Sport and Religion (Summer, 1984). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/461136
• Moody, Jane. "Grimaldi, Joseph [Joe] (1778–1837), actor and pantomimist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. May 29, 2014. Oxford University Press. Date of access 7 Sep. 2023, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-11630
• Read, Leslie du S. "Grimaldi, Joseph [Giuseppe] (1709x16?–1788), dancer and dentist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 23, 2004. Oxford University Press. Date of access 7 Sep. 2023, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-64341
• Simon, Ed. “Here We Are Again!—How Joseph Grimaldi Invented the Creepy Clown.” JSTOR Daily. 5/4/2022. https://daily.jstor.org/here-we-are-again-how-joseph-grimaldi-invented-the-creepy-clown/
• Stott, Andrew McConnell. “Clowns on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Dickens, Coulrophobia, and the Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Fall 2012). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26899534
• Stott, Andrew McConnell. “The Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi.” The Public Domain Review. 11/14/2011. https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-memoirs-of-joseph-grimaldi/
• Stott, Andrew McConnell. “The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain’s Greatest Comedian.” Canongate. 2010.
• Woods, Leigh. “The Curse of Performance: Inscripting the ‘Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi’ into the Life of Charles Dickens.” Biography , Spring 1991, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Spring 1991). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23539893

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