Movies in the Mountains: Swiss Clown Glock entertains

I hope some of our Movies in the Mountains members will be entertained by Grock (1880–1959), a Swiss clown and comedian who influenced many younger stage clowns, such as Chico & Harpo Marx and Victor Borge. Search youtube.com for “Grock The Clown – Stage Performance (“Bühnen-sketch”, 1931) to find it. Grock was not the daring acrobat of comedy as was his American contemporary, Fred Stone (1873–1959, the original Oz Scarecrow, long prior to Ray Bolger). Grock’s canvas was smaller but many colored: He spoke six languages and played as many musical instruments. His vocalized sound effects astonished his audiences.

I see a beauty in the finest of physical comedy. Wit is not restricted to written or spoken speech; it is the guiding refinement of motions into deft and delightful physical poetry. It isn’t Buster Keaton’s fall that is funny; it surprises and alarms us. It’s

Buster’s adroit and swift recovery from the seemingly awkward and embarrassing, yet carefully executed, blunder that sparks our relief and wins our applause.

Undisciplined stumbling and flailing about may amuse children, but the clown that engages adults needs to employ discipline and demonstrate physical expression that is as neat, defined and sophisticated as in ballet or modern dance. Modern dance choreographer Doris Humphrey put into a phrase the dynamic that powered her dances: “fall and recovery.” Martha Graham’s impetus was “contract and release.” Both apply to physical comedy as well as dance, and in the craft and art of movement lay the kinship. Frank “Chatty” Cullen Edgewood