FilmArts

The documentary film with the Swiss clown "Gaston" explores the question, from where come the comic characters in the theatre, circus, and film, and has the comedy and the humor changed over time? Is the classic clown figure dead? Do we laugh today, not the same way we used to? Clown "Gaston" embarks on a journey to the roots of comedy. On his journey, he meets representatives of a dying art form: Comedians & Clowns. Gaston Häni (born 1951) talks about comedy, laughter, and fools: "Everybody plays a role in his life. Life is a masquerade and the masquerade is the life." Gaston talks with contemporary witnesses, historians, legendary clowns and comedians, and personalities from the comic guild. Every conversation with Gaston's companions is an exchange among peers, curious, about what it turns into. Clown Gaston is not the object, but the subject of the film in which he actively leads through the history of comedy. The documentary for cinema and TV draws parallels between ancient and modern clowns and comedians. The film traces the story of clowning and its origins beginning with the Commedia dell'Arte and the comic figures in Shakespeare’s theatre and the first celebrated English clown, the white-faced "Joseph Grimaldi" with his pantomime, dances, and jokes. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Vaudeville was king. The Variety and Music Halls featuring a mix of artists like jugglers, vocalists, and comedians became the most popular type of mass entertainment in England, France, and Germany. The last Empires of English entertainment became also the "Golden Age" of clowns and fools. All great names of the Music Hall from Little Tich, Dan Leno, George Robey, and Footit & Chocolat are almost forgotten today. They became the role models for Vaudeville artists like the greatest of all makers of laughter, Charles Chaplin of course and Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel. This comedy pioneer transformed the role of the clown in the pantomime with a look as iconic as Chaplin's Tramp. And later than Litte Tich, Chaplin, Keaton, and Stan Laurel came the Swiss clown "Grock", a grotesque lovable being from another dimension, a clown in apotheosis, discovering with childlike glee a new habitation. The extreme of these comedians was Grock, an entirely unexpected and fantastic visitation to the Music Halls of Britain, France, and Germany. Grock (Adrian Wettach 1980-1959) was the most complete and consummatory of all clowns. Who was this funny clown? Starting from this issue, the film explores the life and career of one of the last great circus clowns today: Gaston Häni. He assesses his 50-year career as a clown and also looks into the future. An entertaining, informative, and funny story & history of comedy.