Hi all,

To your knowledge, has anybody ever impersonated Arlequin as a magician? Or a Joker?

Richard

Back in the 1930s, magician Dai Vernon did a Harlequin act. It was a silent stage act that he performed around NY including the famous Rainbow Room.

Thanks Todd!

I'll search for some information on that act then... I think I could have fun with a Joker character but at the same time, I don't want to look too much like Batman's Joker. That's why I'm researching the roots of that character to start from scratch...

Richard

Dai Vernon's Harlequin Act was one of the few real failures that the Professor endured. He was booked to perform a stand-up silent act by Frances Rockefeller King. The Professor talked about it on occasion. That was the act that he worked out the Ball, Cone and Handkerchief for, if I am not mistaken.

The part that caused the failure of the act was that Dai had an ending that involved the changing of a coconut into a monkey. The monkey would climb up into the light fixtures and "misbehave." The Professor described this in rather colorful terms.

Never perform with a monkey. Not only will they get all the laughs, they will fling poo at you if they don't like your routine.

Richard,
You should go all the way back to "commedia del arte" if you want to learn the history of "Arlecchino" or the "Harlequin" character. I worked/performed with a Commedia troupe for a short spell. Very intertesting artform, and the beginning or birth of many standard comedy characters that live on today in various modern forms...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell'arte
http://www.commedia-dell-arte.com/

AL