Book summary
Краткое содержание: Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 10 key ideas
- Аудио скоро
A clown with a painted grin runs through London streets, a crowd at his heels, to reach his next stage on time.
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Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 7 h 40 min6 h 5 min fast, 9 h 10 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 109 70059 chapters
- Страницы
- Страниц: 342516 in large print
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Средний longer sentences, everyday words
- Первая публикация
- 1838by Joseph Grimaldi
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi in short
The memoirs follow one working life from a toddler's first bow to an old man's last farewell. Grimaldi is trained on the stage of Drury Lane and Sadler's Wells by a stern, eccentric father. He loses his inheritance, marries for love, loses his wife, and rises to the top through Mother Goose.
What Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi is about
What does it cost to make a whole nation laugh? Joseph Grimaldi, the most loved clown of the English stage, answers in his own words, and the bill is higher than you might guess.
These memoirs follow him from the age of one year and eleven months, when his father pushed him onto the boards of Drury Lane, to a quiet room in Pentonville in December 1836. Shaped into a book after his death in 1837, they are part theater history, part family story, and part tall tales. You meet a father who stages his own death, burglars, a purse of gold, and the working life behind the painted face.
Для кого. This book suits readers who love theater backstage, Georgian London, true tales of rogues and practical jokes, and warm, funny memoirs by people who lived by their wits.
The 10 key ideas
Key idea 1 · free to read
A child of dancers steps onto the stage
Grimaldi begins with his family. His grandfather was a French dancer nicknamed Iron Legs. His father came from Genoa to England in 1760, but he cared far more for dancing than for court life and soon taught dance and fencing.
Joseph was born on December 18, 1779, in Clare Market, close to the theaters. His father was sixty-five and as odd as a man could be. At one year and eleven months the boy was carried onto the stage of Drury Lane in the pantomime Robinson Crusoe. He played the Little Clown, the audience loved him at once, and he earned fifteen shillings a week.
In 1782 he added Sadler's Wells, where he played a monkey, and the real labor began. Grimaldi says plainly that every large sum he earned cost him an equal amount of toil.
The comic mask has a working life behind it, and that life starts early.
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A strict father and a fortune in a box
The father was a loving man with a savage way of teaching.
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Loss, a lost fortune, and a runaway brother
The father died on March 14, 1788, the very day of the month he had dreaded all his life.
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Love, a letter, and the burglars of Pentonville
Around the age of fifteen Grimaldi fell in love with Maria Hughes, the eldest daughter of the owner of Sadler's Wells.
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A purse of gold, a joke on a magistrate, and a wedding
Before dawn one morning in 1798, Grimaldi kicked a heavy net purse near the Tower of London.
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Grief, new pantomime, and a quarrel with Kemble
Happiness did not last.
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Practical jokes, a leaky theater, and Mother Goose
Grimaldi had a talent for falling into comic adventures.
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Fire alarms, a highwayman, and the Old Price riots
The memoirs do not hide the darker side of laughter.
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Star of the provinces, and a costly share in Sadler's Wells
By 1817 Grimaldi was at the height of his earning power.
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Pain, a lost son, and a farewell to the stage
By 1818 Grimaldi's body was failing.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Вопросы о книге Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi
What is Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi about?
It tells the life of the clown Joseph Grimaldi, from his first stage appearance as a toddler in the 1780s to his retirement and last years. It is full of backstage stories, travels, friendships, jokes, and money troubles.
Who was Joseph Grimaldi?
He was the English pantomime star of the early nineteenth century, the son of an Italian dancer. His clown character, with its painted face, songs, and mischief, became the model for the modern circus clown, and clowns are still called Joey.
Is the book easy to follow?
Yes, in the sense that it reads like a friend telling anecdotes. Each chapter has a short heading listing its adventures, and the scenes are lively, with plenty of dialogue, jokes, and clear dates.
What is the main message of the memoirs?
The book shows that a life of comedy can hide great effort and sorrow, and that kindness, honesty, and cheerfulness are what a person keeps. Grimaldi ends proud that he never knowingly wronged anyone.
Как сослаться на это издание
Grimaldi, Joseph. Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/memoirs-of-joseph-grimaldi.
Grimaldi, J. (2026). Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/memoirs-of-joseph-grimaldi (Original work published 1838)
Grimaldi, Joseph. Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/memoirs-of-joseph-grimaldi.
@book{grimaldi2026memoirs,
author = {Grimaldi, Joseph},
title = {Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/memoirs-of-joseph-grimaldi},
note = {First published 1838}
}
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