Modern circus clown
Main article: Circus clown
The circus clown develops in the 19th century. The modern circus derives from Philip Astley's London riding school, opened in 1768. Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences. American comedian George L. Fox became known for his clown role, directly inspired by Grimaldi, in the 1860s. Tom Belling senior (1843–1900) developed the "red clown" or "Auguste" (Dummer August) character in c. 1870, acting as a foil for the more sophisticated "white clown". Belling worked for Circus Renz in Vienna. Belling's costume became the template for the modern stock character of circus or children's clown, based on a lower class or "hobo" character, with red nose, white makeup around the eyes and mouth, and oversized clothes and shoes. The clown character as developed by the late 19th century is reflected in Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci ("Clowns"). Belling's Auguste character was further popularized by Nicolai Poliakoff's Coco in the 1920s to 1930s.
The English word clown was borrowed, along with the circus clown act, into many other languages, such as French clown, Russian (and other Slavic languages) кло́ун, Greek κλόουν, Danish/Norwegian klovn, Romanian clovn etc.
Italian retains Pagliaccio, a Commedia dell'arte zanni character,[5] and derivations of the Italian term are found in other Romance languages, such as French Paillasse, Spanish payaso, Catalan/Galician pallasso, Portuguese palhaço, Greek παλιάτσος, Turkish palyaço, German Pajass (via French),[6] Yiddish פּאַיאַץ (payats), Russian пая́ц.
