October 2, 2023 • 22 mins
This week I’m trying to understand how and why clowns became scary and I’ll be looking at one clown in particular to help me find the answers: Jean-Gaspard Deburau, who in 1836 was tried for the murder of a young boy. What does this little-known incident from the 19th century have to tell us about our relationship to clowns today?
Special thanks to Dan from TYTD Reviews for providing additional voices!
Show Notes:
- Creepy clown sightings prompt La Jolla school advisory (YouTube)
- Disturbing clown account threatens New Haven schools on Instagram (YouTube)
- Jean-Gaspard Deburau (Wikipedia)
- Clown (Wikipedia)
-
Nye, E. (2022). Deburau: Pierrot, Mime, and culture. Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group.
-
Ambs-Dalès, J.B. (1836). Histoire de Debureau.
This episode of Mount Molehill was written, produced, and edited by Chris, with music by Chris and Alex Bainter / CC BY. Special thanks to Dan from TYTD Reviews for providing the voice of Jean-Gaspard Deburau. All other voices featured in this episode apart from my own are computer generated.
If you have a molehill that you’d like us to turn into a mountain, email us at mountmolehillpodcast@gmail.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
Halloween has alwaysbeen my favorite holiday.
There are a lot of reasons why that is,but I think what it ultimately comes
down to is that Halloween offers us ayearly opportunity to experience a darker
side of life and explore the unknown.
And in that spirit, this month onMount Mole Hill, I'll be bringing
you guys episodes that focuson the spooky side of things.
(00:38):
An elementary school on alert afterparents reported seeing two clowns
just lurking around the campus.
That's audio taken from a storyrun by ABC 10 News in San Diego,
California on October 13th, 2016.
Parents reported seeing a man lurkinghere around campus wearing a clown mask.
(00:58):
Now some are worried about the dangerthis countrywide crown craze might cause.
This incident occurred in the midst of theClown Panic of the Fall of 2016, a sudden
surge of frightening clown appearancesspread across the United States.
These clowns were seen takingphotos, lurking in forests, and even
(01:19):
scaring children in shopping centers.
This wasn't the first timethis had happened either.
Similar creepy clown sightings hadpreviously taken place in the 1980s,
but 2016 marked the most significantand intense scary clown panic to date.
The 2016 clowns were mostly harmless.
They were people engaging in typicalHalloween activities, playing
(01:42):
tricks, taking spooky pictures,attempting to frighten people, or
creating content for social media.
But there were some who tookthings a little too far.
A developing story this morning,police in two Connecticut communities
are on high alert because of somethreatening posts on social media.
Someone is posting threatening photos ofcreepy clowns on Instagram with messages
(02:03):
targeting schools right here in our state.
But, both types of incidents duringthe 2016 clown panic, people donning
the grease paint and red nose as a wayto get into the Halloween spirit, and
those who hid behind the visage of aclown for more nefarious purposes, were
both relying on the same assumption.
That there's something inherentlyterrifying about clowns.
(02:26):
But why?
Welcome to Mount Molehill, aplace where even the smallest
mysteries become mountains.
I'm Chris and this week I'm trying tounderstand how and why clowns became
scary, and I'll be looking at one clownin particular to help me find the answers,
Jean Gaspard Debrot, who in 1836 wastried for the murder of a young man.
(02:52):
What does this little known incidentfrom the 19th century have to tell us
about our relationship to clowns today?
Let's make a mountainout of this molehill.
In order to understand how clownsbecame scary, we have to understand
(03:13):
what they were like in the past.
Have they always been the smiling,red nosed buffoon, or did they
start out as something different?
The history of clowns can be tracedback to ancient civilizations such
as Egypt, Greece, and Rome, wherejesters and court fools commoners
alike with their silly antics.
(03:33):
They would challenge social normsand conventions, often using
humor to criticize authorityor poke fun at the powerful.
This made them beloved figuresamong the common people, who saw
them as champions of the underdogand defenders of the little guy.
However, the modern idea of a clown asa brightly dressed, red nosed performer
(03:53):
who specializes in physical comedy andslapstick humor didn't emerge until
much later, during the 19th century.
One of the earliest and most famous clownsof this era was Joseph Grimaldi, who
performed in London in the early 1800s.
Grimaldi was known for his colorfuland exaggerated costumes, his
(04:13):
acrobatic skills, and his abilityto make audiences laugh with his
comedic timing and physical gags.
He became so famous that the wordJoey became a slang term for a clown.
During the 19th century, circusesbecame increasingly popular in Europe
and America, and clowns played amajor role in their entertainment.
(04:35):
Many of the earliest circuses featureda clown as the central attraction,
and performers like Grimaldibecame legends in their own time.
In the United States, One of themost famous clowns of the late 1800s
and early 1900s was Emmett Kelly,who performed with the Ringling
Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
(04:56):
Kelly was known for his sad facedclown persona, which he developed
in response to the Great Depression.
His signature act involved sweepingthe circus ring while wearing a ragged,
downtrodden outfit, which becameknown as the Weary Willie character.
And in these three characters, the ancientcourt jester, the grease painted acrobatic
(05:17):
Joey, and the downtrodden, pitiableWeary Willie, We can already see that
the personalities of historical clownsdidn't fit so neatly into one archetype.
It wasn't until the 1950s and 60sthat clowns really became known
as happy buffoons by default.
When clowns became a staple ofchildren's television shows, and
(05:38):
characters like Bozo the Clown andRonald McDonald became household names.
These clowns were typically friendly,goofy characters who made children laugh
with their silly antics and catchphrases.
This new, sanitized, andalways happy image of the clown
was not long lived, however.
This would all change in the 1970s,largely due to one man, John Wayne Gacy.
(06:03):
I'm not going to go too deep intothis because there are a million other
podcasts and documentaries about himalready, and I don't want to give him
any more notoriety than he already has.
Nor disrespect the memories of hisvictims, but there really is no getting
around him if I want to talk aboutthe transition of the depiction of
clowns in media from happy to scary.
(06:24):
Gacy was a serial killer whowas convicted of murdering 33
young men and boys in the 1970s.
He had a side job as a children'sparty entertainer, dressing up as
a clown named Pogo and performingat events and charity functions.
Gacy's public persona as a cheerfuland friendly clown conflicted with
the horrific crimes he committed.
(06:46):
And this dissonance helped tocement the association between
clowns and fear in popular culture.
After Gacy's arrest and trial, themedia coverage of his crimes focused
heavily on his clown persona, withmany articles and news segments
describing him as a killer clown.
This helped to popularize the ideaof the evil clown in popular culture,
(07:08):
and ossified the image of the clownas a figure of fear and horror.
And this is also when we reallybegin to see an explosion of
scary clowns in pop culture.
There had been a few earlier examplesof scary clowns, such as the titular
characters in Edgar Allan Poe's1849 short story, Hop Frog, and
Cavallo's 1892 opera, Pagliacci.
(07:32):
But it wasn't until after the publicity ofJohn Wayne Gacy's crimes that scary clowns
really become ingrained in the culture.
Soon after Gacy's arrest in 1978, therewere a slew of creepy clowns in media
such as 1982's Poltergeist, StephenKing's 1986 novel, which was adapted
(07:52):
into a TV miniseries in 1990, Funlandin 1987, Killer Clowns from Outer
Space in 1988, Clown House in 1989.
The list goes on and it's atrend that continues to this day.
So the answer to how clowns became athing to be feared seems pretty clear.
(08:14):
For most of their history, thepersonality of the clown was nebulous.
They could be many different thingsand weren't relegated to expressing
just one emotion or point of view.
That changed in the 1950s and 60s with thegrowing popularity of clowns as characters
in children's media, and then again in the1970s with the crimes of John Wayne Gacy.
(08:36):
And this dichotomy of the clown as eitherthe cheerful fool or the malevolent
psychopath is one that persists today.
But that doesn't answer the why of it all.
There must be a reasonthat the scary label stuck.
There must be something about clownsthat makes it easy for us to accept
that they are a thing to be feared.
(08:58):
Which brings us to the storyof Jean Gaspard Debrot.
Jean Gaspard Debrot was afamous French actor and mime who
lived during the 19th century.
He was born on July 31st, 1796,in the town of Colosvar, which
is now Cluj Napoca, in Romania.
(09:18):
His parents were both actors, andhe grew up traveling with their
theater troupe throughout Europe.
Dubrow's childhood was marked byconstant change and instability.
He was raised in the world of thetheater, where he learned the art
of performance from an early age.
His father, who was a well knownactor in his own right, taught him
(09:39):
the art of pantomime and clowning.
And young Dubrow quickly developeda talent for the art form.
In 1816, when Dubrow was just 20years old, he joined the Théâtre des
Phénomélistes in Paris, which was one ofthe most prestigious theatres of its time.
And it was there that he began todevelop his signature character, Pyrrho.
(09:59):
Now, the Pyrrho character hasa long and complex history
that stretches back centuries.
In its earliest iterations, Pyrrhowas a stock character in the Italian
Commedia dell'Arte, a form of improvisedtheater that was popular throughout
Europe during the Renaissance period.
In the Commedia dell'Arte tradition,Pyrrho was a sad and melancholy character
(10:22):
who played the role of the sad clown.
He was often portrayed as a lovestruck,naïve young man who was constantly
being tricked and humiliated bythe other characters in the play.
And Dubrow quickly became one of themost popular performers at the Theatre
des Foonambulistes, and his versionof Pyrrho was widely praised for its
(10:42):
elegance, wit, and emotional depth.
One of the key innovations thatDubrow brought to the character of
Pyrrho was his use of pantomime.
Instead of relying solely on dialogueand conventional acting techniques,
Dubrow used his body language andfacial expressions to convey a
range of emotions and tell stories.
(11:03):
He developed a highly stylized andexpressive form of pantomime that allowed
him to communicate complex ideas andemotions without ever speaking a word.
Debrose Pirro wore a white suit and hat,which helped to create a distinctive
visual identity for the character.
He also used makeup to create astark contrast between Pierrot's pale
(11:25):
face and dark eyes and mouth, whichhelped to accentuate the character's
melancholic and isolated nature.
Dubrow's Pierrot was also notable forits emotional depth and complexity.
Rather than simply playing the characteras a sad and hapless figure, Dubrow imbued
Pierrot with a range of emotions, fromjoy and exuberance to sorrow and despair.
(11:48):
He portrayed Pyrrho as a complex andmultidimensional figure, and de Broglie's
innovations helped to elevate thecharacter of Pyrrho from a traditional
stock character to a fully realized andnuanced figure that could be explored
and developed in a variety of ways.
And Jean Gaspard de Brogliewas an immensely popular
(12:09):
figure in 19th century France.
He had a natural ability to connectwith audiences, who were captivated
by his performances, which were bothvisually stunning and emotionally
powerful, and he was idolized forhis personal charisma and magnetism.
Dubrow's popularity extendedfar beyond the theater.
(12:29):
His performances were widely celebratedin the media, and he was the subject
of countless articles and essays.
He also inspired a generation of artistsand writers who drew inspiration from his
performances and incorporated elementsof his style into their own work.
Dubrow's unique approach to theaterand pantomime embodied 19th century
(12:51):
France's sense of experimentationand artistic exploration, and he
quickly became a symbol of theavant garde and a cultural icon.
But, at the height of his fame,he was involved in an incident
that was totally at odds with hisonstage persona and public image.
He beat someone to death with a cane.
(13:13):
On the 21st of April in 1836,Dubrow and his family were taking
a walk in the village of Bagnolet.
which was located on the outskirtsof Paris and was known for its
rural and picturesque scenery.
While walking, he was recognizedby a possibly drunk young man
named Nicolas Florent Viollin,who began to shout insults at him.
(13:37):
Dubrow got into an altercationwith Viollin, during which
Dubrow struck Viollin on thehead with his walking stick.
Later that day, Villian died,and Dubrow was arrested and
charged with manslaughter.
Now, there isn't much readilyavailable information about
the specifics of this event.
(13:58):
In fact, the only reference to itin Dubrow's Wikipedia article simply
states, He went to court on charges ofmurder in 1836 because he had killed a
boy who called him Piro on the street.
And I found out that, althoughan account of the trial exists,
It doesn't seem as though it hasever been translated into English.
(14:20):
What follows is taken from the thirdedition of Histoire de Dubrow by J.
B.
Amstel's, a pamphlet published in1836, in which two articles dated May
11th and May 22nd from the Gazette deTribunaux covering the incident and
the trial that followed are reproduced.
I used machine translation totranslate them into English.
(14:44):
Dubrow appeared in court on May11th, 1836, and here to assist
me with a courtroom reenactmentis Dan from TYTD Reviews.
Accused, what is your name?
Jean Gaspard Dubrow.
What is your age?
I'm turning 40.
(15:05):
Where were you born?
At Newcolin in Bohemia.
What profession do you practice?
Dramatic artist.
Tell us how the sceneof April 18th happened.
I was out walking withmy wife and children.
We arrived at Romainville nearPrez Saint Gervais, and a young
man, who was in the company of twoother people, began to shout, Ah!
(15:28):
Here is Pierrot with his Margot,Harley Quinn, and Harley Quinnette.
As he continued his cries, I leftthe road, I took a side road,
and I headed towards Bagnolet.
About two hours later, I'mjoined by these same people.
The young man then started his criesagain, and to make himself heard better,
he put his hands to the corners of hismouth and shouted loudly, Hey Pierrot!
(15:50):
Hey!
Clown!
Naughty Clown!
Here you are with your Margot.
I gave my son a kick in therear telling him to shut up, but
finally, as it continued, I cameback to this young man and I said
to him, What do you want from me?
Do I owe you anything?
He pretended to withdraw, but seeingthe gentleman who was with him, and
whom I knew to be his master, comingtowards me, the young man also came back.
(16:14):
Then, as I advanced to enter into anexplanation, my wife seized me round the
body and in the efforts I was making tofree myself, I don't know how, but my cane
fell upon one of the two individuals whocontinued to overwhelm me with insults.
How did you hold your stick?
By the middle.
Which end did you strike with?
(16:35):
The small end.
What was your intentionin using your cane?
I repeat that I had nointention of hitting.
When you learned that the unfortunateman had died from the blow he had
received, did you not immediatelysay, If he has died, too bad for him.
I'm not myself when I get angry.
No, sir.
This isn't possible because Ididn't know that the young man
(16:58):
was dead until the next day.
When you got back to Paris,didn't you go and tell the police
commissioner what had happened?
Yes, sir.
I went straight to the policecommissioner who lives in my building.
When did you know thatyoung Violine was dead?
I found out the next day,and those who informed me can
tell you how grieved I was.
(17:20):
The superintendent asked what I'dhit him with, and I immediately
went to fetch this unfortunate cane.
Several more witnesses are called to thestand giving very much the same story.
Nicholas Florent Viollin wasthe instigator and Dubrow
reacted to his provocations.
Although the witnesses called to thestand didn't all agree that the cane
(17:43):
attack was an accident, some maintainedthat Dubrow struck Viollin on purpose.
After being hit in the head, the pamphletexplains that Violine immediately
fell to the ground, got up, fell downagain, got up again, and walked over
to a pile of rocks where he sat downand died just over an hour later.
(18:05):
Violine was 19 years old.
The jury took just five minutesto declare Dubrow not guilty.
The trial attracted significantattention from the media and inspired
numerous writings about Dubrow.
An eerie indication of the case'spublicity and Dubrow's fame are the
ornate walking sticks from the 19thcentury that feature a pommel shaped
(18:29):
like Dubrow's face in Piro makeup.
These walking sticks are still soldtoday at auctions with an explanation
of Dubrow's reputation as a skilledmime actor who was accused of murder.
But perhaps the most interestingpart about the Dubrow murder trial
was the public's reaction to it.
The courtroom was filled with onlookerscurious to hear the voice of the actor, as
(18:53):
they had never heard it before and wantedto discover who the real Dubrow was.
However, even after hearing his voice,they did not disassociate the real
Dubrow from his on stage persona.
When the defense lawyer listed Dubrow'spositive qualities such as being a good
father and husband, the public laughedwhen he mentioned that Dubrow was an
(19:16):
upstanding member of the National Guard.
As it was incongruous with Dubrow'sonstage portrayals, the public did
not find it surprising when thepolice commissioner, who knew Dubrow
for six years, stated that Dubrowwas a placid person, as it was
consistent with the character of Piro.
However, they found it sensational whenDubrow reportedly expressed a sense
(19:40):
of humiliation after the incident,suggesting a side of his character that
was absent from his onstage persona.
People saw Dubrow through the lens of hispyro character, which was so integral to
his theatrical identity that many couldnot distinguish it from his real self.
The court case did not diminish thesympathy that his audience had for him,
(20:03):
in fact, There was a surge of supportfor him that was evident both in court
and on the streets after his acquittal.
Despite the accusations of violenceagainst him, people continued to
see Dubrow as a lovable rogue,much like his pyro persona.
Because the actions of Dubrow wereso incongruous with the image of
his pyro, That the public was unableto reconcile the contradiction,
(20:27):
and so, they simply ignored it.
And I think this whole Dubrow affairgets to the heart of answering
the question of why we are sowilling to accept clowns as scary.
There is an inherent unease oranxiety around clowns due to their
distortion of their true identity.
(20:48):
By donning a physical appearance thatis not their own and exaggerating it
to the point of becoming a caricatureof a human, and Clowns wear a false
smile over an impassive face, making itimpossible to discern their true nature.
Beneath the facade of the greasepaint, the motley, the red nose, and
the lipstick smile, lies a stranger.
(21:11):
A stranger, potentially like Dubrow,with an unpredictable capacity
for violence belied by theiroutward appearance and persona.
And in the face of such a contradiction,we're confronted by a choice.
Either ignore it, as Dubrow'sadoring fans did, or be scared of it.
(21:36):
Mount Mole Hill is written, produced,and edited by me, Chris, with
music by myself and Alex Painter.
Special thanks to Dan fromTYTD Reviews for providing the
voice of Jean Gaspard Dubrow.
All other voices featured in this episode,apart from my own, are computer generated.
All of the sources used in thisepisode can be found in the show notes.
(22:00):
This podcast features materialsprotected by the Fair Use Guidelines
of Section 107 of the Copyright Act.
All rights reserved tothe copyright owners.
If you have a molehill that you'd likeme to turn into a mountain, whether it's
a mystery that you just can't solve,or just an interesting topic you'd like
me to delve into, please reach out.
You can email me at mountmolehillpodcastat gmail dot com, or you can call and
(22:25):
leave me a voicemail at 505 218 6894.
Follow us on Instagram to see updatesand supplemental material for the show.
Thanks for listening.
I'll be back with anotherepisode in two weeks.
Halloween has alwaysbeen my favorite holiday.
There are a lot of reasons why that is,but I think what it ultimately comes
down to is that Halloween offers us ayearly opportunity to experience a darker
side of life and explore the unknown.
And in that spirit, this month onMount Mole Hill, I'll be bringing
you guys episodes that focuson the spooky side of things.
(00:38):
An elementary school on alert afterparents reported seeing two clowns
just lurking around the campus.
That's audio taken from a storyrun by ABC 10 News in San Diego,
California on October 13th, 2016.
Parents reported seeing a man lurkinghere around campus wearing a clown mask.
(00:58):
Now some are worried about the dangerthis countrywide crown craze might cause.
This incident occurred in the midst of theClown Panic of the Fall of 2016, a sudden
surge of frightening clown appearancesspread across the United States.
These clowns were seen takingphotos, lurking in forests, and even
(01:19):
scaring children in shopping centers.
This wasn't the first timethis had happened either.
Similar creepy clown sightings hadpreviously taken place in the 1980s,
but 2016 marked the most significantand intense scary clown panic to date.
The 2016 clowns were mostly harmless.
They were people engaging in typicalHalloween activities, playing
(01:42):
tricks, taking spooky pictures,attempting to frighten people, or
creating content for social media.
But there were some who tookthings a little too far.
A developing story this morning,police in two Connecticut communities
are on high alert because of somethreatening posts on social media.
Someone is posting threatening photos ofcreepy clowns on Instagram with messages
(02:03):
targeting schools right here in our state.
But, both types of incidents duringthe 2016 clown panic, people donning
the grease paint and red nose as a wayto get into the Halloween spirit, and
those who hid behind the visage of aclown for more nefarious purposes, were
both relying on the same assumption.
That there's something inherentlyterrifying about clowns.
(02:26):
But why?
Welcome to Mount Molehill, aplace where even the smallest
mysteries become mountains.
I'm Chris and this week I'm trying tounderstand how and why clowns became
scary, and I'll be looking at one clownin particular to help me find the answers,
Jean Gaspard Debrot, who in 1836 wastried for the murder of a young man.
(02:52):
What does this little known incidentfrom the 19th century have to tell us
about our relationship to clowns today?
Let's make a mountainout of this molehill.
In order to understand how clownsbecame scary, we have to understand
(03:13):
what they were like in the past.
Have they always been the smiling,red nosed buffoon, or did they
start out as something different?
The history of clowns can be tracedback to ancient civilizations such
as Egypt, Greece, and Rome, wherejesters and court fools commoners
alike with their silly antics.
(03:33):
They would challenge social normsand conventions, often using
humor to criticize authorityor poke fun at the powerful.
This made them beloved figuresamong the common people, who saw
them as champions of the underdogand defenders of the little guy.
However, the modern idea of a clown asa brightly dressed, red nosed performer
(03:53):
who specializes in physical comedy andslapstick humor didn't emerge until
much later, during the 19th century.
One of the earliest and most famous clownsof this era was Joseph Grimaldi, who
performed in London in the early 1800s.
Grimaldi was known for his colorfuland exaggerated costumes, his
(04:13):
acrobatic skills, and his abilityto make audiences laugh with his
comedic timing and physical gags.
He became so famous that the wordJoey became a slang term for a clown.
During the 19th century, circusesbecame increasingly popular in Europe
and America, and clowns played amajor role in their entertainment.
(04:35):
Many of the earliest circuses featureda clown as the central attraction,
and performers like Grimaldibecame legends in their own time.
In the United States, One of themost famous clowns of the late 1800s
and early 1900s was Emmett Kelly,who performed with the Ringling
Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
(04:56):
Kelly was known for his sad facedclown persona, which he developed
in response to the Great Depression.
His signature act involved sweepingthe circus ring while wearing a ragged,
downtrodden outfit, which becameknown as the Weary Willie character.
And in these three characters, the ancientcourt jester, the grease painted acrobatic
(05:17):
Joey, and the downtrodden, pitiableWeary Willie, We can already see that
the personalities of historical clownsdidn't fit so neatly into one archetype.
It wasn't until the 1950s and 60sthat clowns really became known
as happy buffoons by default.
When clowns became a staple ofchildren's television shows, and
(05:38):
characters like Bozo the Clown andRonald McDonald became household names.
These clowns were typically friendly,goofy characters who made children laugh
with their silly antics and catchphrases.
This new, sanitized, andalways happy image of the clown
was not long lived, however.
This would all change in the 1970s,largely due to one man, John Wayne Gacy.
(06:03):
I'm not going to go too deep intothis because there are a million other
podcasts and documentaries about himalready, and I don't want to give him
any more notoriety than he already has.
Nor disrespect the memories of hisvictims, but there really is no getting
around him if I want to talk aboutthe transition of the depiction of
clowns in media from happy to scary.
(06:24):
Gacy was a serial killer whowas convicted of murdering 33
young men and boys in the 1970s.
He had a side job as a children'sparty entertainer, dressing up as
a clown named Pogo and performingat events and charity functions.
Gacy's public persona as a cheerfuland friendly clown conflicted with
the horrific crimes he committed.
(06:46):
And this dissonance helped tocement the association between
clowns and fear in popular culture.
After Gacy's arrest and trial, themedia coverage of his crimes focused
heavily on his clown persona, withmany articles and news segments
describing him as a killer clown.
This helped to popularize the ideaof the evil clown in popular culture,
(07:08):
and ossified the image of the clownas a figure of fear and horror.
And this is also when we reallybegin to see an explosion of
scary clowns in pop culture.
There had been a few earlier examplesof scary clowns, such as the titular
characters in Edgar Allan Poe's1849 short story, Hop Frog, and
Cavallo's 1892 opera, Pagliacci.
(07:32):
But it wasn't until after the publicity ofJohn Wayne Gacy's crimes that scary clowns
really become ingrained in the culture.
Soon after Gacy's arrest in 1978, therewere a slew of creepy clowns in media
such as 1982's Poltergeist, StephenKing's 1986 novel, which was adapted
(07:52):
into a TV miniseries in 1990, Funlandin 1987, Killer Clowns from Outer
Space in 1988, Clown House in 1989.
The list goes on and it's atrend that continues to this day.
So the answer to how clowns became athing to be feared seems pretty clear.
(08:14):
For most of their history, thepersonality of the clown was nebulous.
They could be many different thingsand weren't relegated to expressing
just one emotion or point of view.
That changed in the 1950s and 60s with thegrowing popularity of clowns as characters
in children's media, and then again in the1970s with the crimes of John Wayne Gacy.
(08:36):
And this dichotomy of the clown as eitherthe cheerful fool or the malevolent
psychopath is one that persists today.
But that doesn't answer the why of it all.
There must be a reasonthat the scary label stuck.
There must be something about clownsthat makes it easy for us to accept
that they are a thing to be feared.
(08:58):
Which brings us to the storyof Jean Gaspard Debrot.
Jean Gaspard Debrot was afamous French actor and mime who
lived during the 19th century.
He was born on July 31st, 1796,in the town of Colosvar, which
is now Cluj Napoca, in Romania.
(09:18):
His parents were both actors, andhe grew up traveling with their
theater troupe throughout Europe.
Dubrow's childhood was marked byconstant change and instability.
He was raised in the world of thetheater, where he learned the art
of performance from an early age.
His father, who was a well knownactor in his own right, taught him
(09:39):
the art of pantomime and clowning.
And young Dubrow quickly developeda talent for the art form.
In 1816, when Dubrow was just 20years old, he joined the Théâtre des
Phénomélistes in Paris, which was one ofthe most prestigious theatres of its time.
And it was there that he began todevelop his signature character, Pyrrho.
(09:59):
Now, the Pyrrho character hasa long and complex history
that stretches back centuries.
In its earliest iterations, Pyrrhowas a stock character in the Italian
Commedia dell'Arte, a form of improvisedtheater that was popular throughout
Europe during the Renaissance period.
In the Commedia dell'Arte tradition,Pyrrho was a sad and melancholy character
(10:22):
who played the role of the sad clown.
He was often portrayed as a lovestruck,naïve young man who was constantly
being tricked and humiliated bythe other characters in the play.
And Dubrow quickly became one of themost popular performers at the Theatre
des Foonambulistes, and his versionof Pyrrho was widely praised for its
(10:42):
elegance, wit, and emotional depth.
One of the key innovations thatDubrow brought to the character of
Pyrrho was his use of pantomime.
Instead of relying solely on dialogueand conventional acting techniques,
Dubrow used his body language andfacial expressions to convey a
range of emotions and tell stories.
(11:03):
He developed a highly stylized andexpressive form of pantomime that allowed
him to communicate complex ideas andemotions without ever speaking a word.
Debrose Pirro wore a white suit and hat,which helped to create a distinctive
visual identity for the character.
He also used makeup to create astark contrast between Pierrot's pale
(11:25):
face and dark eyes and mouth, whichhelped to accentuate the character's
melancholic and isolated nature.
Dubrow's Pierrot was also notable forits emotional depth and complexity.
Rather than simply playing the characteras a sad and hapless figure, Dubrow imbued
Pierrot with a range of emotions, fromjoy and exuberance to sorrow and despair.
(11:48):
He portrayed Pyrrho as a complex andmultidimensional figure, and de Broglie's
innovations helped to elevate thecharacter of Pyrrho from a traditional
stock character to a fully realized andnuanced figure that could be explored
and developed in a variety of ways.
And Jean Gaspard de Brogliewas an immensely popular
(12:09):
figure in 19th century France.
He had a natural ability to connectwith audiences, who were captivated
by his performances, which were bothvisually stunning and emotionally
powerful, and he was idolized forhis personal charisma and magnetism.
Dubrow's popularity extendedfar beyond the theater.
(12:29):
His performances were widely celebratedin the media, and he was the subject
of countless articles and essays.
He also inspired a generation of artistsand writers who drew inspiration from his
performances and incorporated elementsof his style into their own work.
Dubrow's unique approach to theaterand pantomime embodied 19th century
(12:51):
France's sense of experimentationand artistic exploration, and he
quickly became a symbol of theavant garde and a cultural icon.
But, at the height of his fame,he was involved in an incident
that was totally at odds with hisonstage persona and public image.
He beat someone to death with a cane.
(13:13):
On the 21st of April in 1836,Dubrow and his family were taking
a walk in the village of Bagnolet.
which was located on the outskirtsof Paris and was known for its
rural and picturesque scenery.
While walking, he was recognizedby a possibly drunk young man
named Nicolas Florent Viollin,who began to shout insults at him.
(13:37):
Dubrow got into an altercationwith Viollin, during which
Dubrow struck Viollin on thehead with his walking stick.
Later that day, Villian died,and Dubrow was arrested and
charged with manslaughter.
Now, there isn't much readilyavailable information about
the specifics of this event.
(13:58):
In fact, the only reference to itin Dubrow's Wikipedia article simply
states, He went to court on charges ofmurder in 1836 because he had killed a
boy who called him Piro on the street.
And I found out that, althoughan account of the trial exists,
It doesn't seem as though it hasever been translated into English.
(14:20):
What follows is taken from the thirdedition of Histoire de Dubrow by J.
B.
Amstel's, a pamphlet published in1836, in which two articles dated May
11th and May 22nd from the Gazette deTribunaux covering the incident and
the trial that followed are reproduced.
I used machine translation totranslate them into English.
(14:44):
Dubrow appeared in court on May11th, 1836, and here to assist
me with a courtroom reenactmentis Dan from TYTD Reviews.
Accused, what is your name?
Jean Gaspard Dubrow.
What is your age?
I'm turning 40.
(15:05):
Where were you born?
At Newcolin in Bohemia.
What profession do you practice?
Dramatic artist.
Tell us how the sceneof April 18th happened.
I was out walking withmy wife and children.
We arrived at Romainville nearPrez Saint Gervais, and a young
man, who was in the company of twoother people, began to shout, Ah!
(15:28):
Here is Pierrot with his Margot,Harley Quinn, and Harley Quinnette.
As he continued his cries, I leftthe road, I took a side road,
and I headed towards Bagnolet.
About two hours later, I'mjoined by these same people.
The young man then started his criesagain, and to make himself heard better,
he put his hands to the corners of hismouth and shouted loudly, Hey Pierrot!
(15:50):
Hey!
Clown!
Naughty Clown!
Here you are with your Margot.
I gave my son a kick in therear telling him to shut up, but
finally, as it continued, I cameback to this young man and I said
to him, What do you want from me?
Do I owe you anything?
He pretended to withdraw, but seeingthe gentleman who was with him, and
whom I knew to be his master, comingtowards me, the young man also came back.
(16:14):
Then, as I advanced to enter into anexplanation, my wife seized me round the
body and in the efforts I was making tofree myself, I don't know how, but my cane
fell upon one of the two individuals whocontinued to overwhelm me with insults.
How did you hold your stick?
By the middle.
Which end did you strike with?
(16:35):
The small end.
What was your intentionin using your cane?
I repeat that I had nointention of hitting.
When you learned that the unfortunateman had died from the blow he had
received, did you not immediatelysay, If he has died, too bad for him.
I'm not myself when I get angry.
No, sir.
This isn't possible because Ididn't know that the young man
(16:58):
was dead until the next day.
When you got back to Paris,didn't you go and tell the police
commissioner what had happened?
Yes, sir.
I went straight to the policecommissioner who lives in my building.
When did you know thatyoung Violine was dead?
I found out the next day,and those who informed me can
tell you how grieved I was.
(17:20):
The superintendent asked what I'dhit him with, and I immediately
went to fetch this unfortunate cane.
Several more witnesses are called to thestand giving very much the same story.
Nicholas Florent Viollin wasthe instigator and Dubrow
reacted to his provocations.
Although the witnesses called to thestand didn't all agree that the cane
(17:43):
attack was an accident, some maintainedthat Dubrow struck Viollin on purpose.
After being hit in the head, the pamphletexplains that Violine immediately
fell to the ground, got up, fell downagain, got up again, and walked over
to a pile of rocks where he sat downand died just over an hour later.
(18:05):
Violine was 19 years old.
The jury took just five minutesto declare Dubrow not guilty.
The trial attracted significantattention from the media and inspired
numerous writings about Dubrow.
An eerie indication of the case'spublicity and Dubrow's fame are the
ornate walking sticks from the 19thcentury that feature a pommel shaped
(18:29):
like Dubrow's face in Piro makeup.
These walking sticks are still soldtoday at auctions with an explanation
of Dubrow's reputation as a skilledmime actor who was accused of murder.
But perhaps the most interestingpart about the Dubrow murder trial
was the public's reaction to it.
The courtroom was filled with onlookerscurious to hear the voice of the actor, as
(18:53):
they had never heard it before and wantedto discover who the real Dubrow was.
However, even after hearing his voice,they did not disassociate the real
Dubrow from his on stage persona.
When the defense lawyer listed Dubrow'spositive qualities such as being a good
father and husband, the public laughedwhen he mentioned that Dubrow was an
(19:16):
upstanding member of the National Guard.
As it was incongruous with Dubrow'sonstage portrayals, the public did
not find it surprising when thepolice commissioner, who knew Dubrow
for six years, stated that Dubrowwas a placid person, as it was
consistent with the character of Piro.
However, they found it sensational whenDubrow reportedly expressed a sense
(19:40):
of humiliation after the incident,suggesting a side of his character that
was absent from his onstage persona.
People saw Dubrow through the lens of hispyro character, which was so integral to
his theatrical identity that many couldnot distinguish it from his real self.
The court case did not diminish thesympathy that his audience had for him,
(20:03):
in fact, There was a surge of supportfor him that was evident both in court
and on the streets after his acquittal.
Despite the accusations of violenceagainst him, people continued to
see Dubrow as a lovable rogue,much like his pyro persona.
Because the actions of Dubrow wereso incongruous with the image of
his pyro, That the public was unableto reconcile the contradiction,
(20:27):
and so, they simply ignored it.
And I think this whole Dubrow affairgets to the heart of answering
the question of why we are sowilling to accept clowns as scary.
There is an inherent unease oranxiety around clowns due to their
distortion of their true identity.
(20:48):
By donning a physical appearance thatis not their own and exaggerating it
to the point of becoming a caricatureof a human, and Clowns wear a false
smile over an impassive face, making itimpossible to discern their true nature.
Beneath the facade of the greasepaint, the motley, the red nose, and
the lipstick smile, lies a stranger.
(21:11):
A stranger, potentially like Dubrow,with an unpredictable capacity
for violence belied by theiroutward appearance and persona.
And in the face of such a contradiction,we're confronted by a choice.
Either ignore it, as Dubrow'sadoring fans did, or be scared of it.
(21:36):
Mount Mole Hill is written, produced,and edited by me, Chris, with
music by myself and Alex Painter.
Special thanks to Dan fromTYTD Reviews for providing the
voice of Jean Gaspard Dubrow.
All other voices featured in this episode,apart from my own, are computer generated.
All of the sources used in thisepisode can be found in the show notes.
(22:00):
This podcast features materialsprotected by the Fair Use Guidelines
of Section 107 of the Copyright Act.
All rights reserved tothe copyright owners.
If you have a molehill that you'd likeme to turn into a mountain, whether it's
a mystery that you just can't solve,or just an interesting topic you'd like
me to delve into, please reach out.
You can email me at mountmolehillpodcastat gmail dot com, or you can call and
(22:25):
leave me a voicemail at 505 218 6894.
Follow us on Instagram to see updatesand supplemental material for the show.
Thanks for listening.
I'll be back with anotherepisode in two weeks.
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