A Tribute to Mrs Cairoli
A Tribute to Mrs. Cairoli
Originally written by Audrey Gray for the Northern Daily Telegraph
“Meet the Woman Behind the Stars”
Fun for the kids when Papa’s a clown…
“Hello, this is the Northern Daily Telegraph.”
“It’s oo?”
“The Northern Daily Telegraph. Could I speak to Mrs. Cairoli?”
“Vot do you say?”
“Could I speak to… M-R-S C-A-I-R-O-L-I?”
“Mrs. Cairoli? She’s in Coventry.”
“Is she in Coventry next week?”
“Yes.”
“Then when can I get in touch with her?”
“I think you telephone her on Monday.”
“In Coventry?”
“…No, in Blackpool!”
It was a crazy conversation, and a perfect introduction to one of the craziest households in the North. I might have expected it when trying to arrange an appointment with the only woman who can call her husband “the greatest clown in the country” without being insulting.
Mrs. Cairoli was, indeed, in Coventry when I telephoned. She was spending the week with her famous husband, Charlie Cairoli, the greatest clown of them all, who was appearing there at the time. The telephone was answered by Mrs. Cairoli’s sister, visiting from France—though her English was, I gathered, somewhat limited.
However, I persevered, and finally gained entrance to 129 Warley Road, Blackpool—the merriest “madhouse” I’ve ever come across.
“Madhouse” by Mrs. Cairoli’s own proud admission.
“Oh, we are a crazy household!” laughed the vivacious little Frenchwoman as she welcomed me in. “Charlie is often crazier at home than he is in the ring!”
Mrs. Cairoli is small, dark, bubbling over with life, speaking in a wonderful French accent, and smiling almost constantly.
Then—splash!
She has a marvellous sense of humour. She needs it.
“Often when I come into the room, I find Charlie dashing round with the soda siphon and the children fighting him with their water pistols!”
“That boy! Many times I cannot tell who are the children and who is Charlie!”
One day, Mrs. Cairoli made the mistake of stepping down the garden path in her very best clothes, while Charlie was watering the garden. She might have guessed it. Just as she reached the gate—splash!—a terrific jet of water hit her squarely from behind, and Charlie and the children efficiently watered her with the hose until she looked like a drooping daisy.
“The neighbours screamed—but I laugh. I am used to things like that!” chuckled Mrs. Cairoli.
A Family Tradition
Both Mr. and Mrs. Cairoli came from French families connected with the circus for generations. Their fathers were clowns, and their fathers before them. Mrs. Cairoli herself was an acrobat before she married. Now she is content to be a housewife—though a very lively one.
In spite of such deep family tradition, the Cairolis have no fixed ideas about their three children:
- Regina (16), the pianist
- Mary Diana (12), the dancer
- Charlie Junior (9), who enjoys playing the trumpet and dreams of the circus
“They can go into the circus if they want to—but it is up to them,” says Mrs. Cairoli simply.
The Cairoli home is designed entirely for fun. There are no carpets and not too much furniture, so Charlie and the children can dash around, play, and throw as much water as they like with no damage done.
“You wouldn’t call them quiet children—but they take after their father. And I was a naughty baby too!” adds Mrs. Cairoli, eyes twinkling
.
Devoted
Most parents complain that their children are always out with friends. The Cairolis have the opposite problem: their children insist on being with their mother and father—at home, or on outings.
“We have much more fun with you!” they declare.
It didn’t take long to realise that the Cairoli family is deeply devoted to one another. Even so, it surprised me to learn that Mrs. Cairoli goes to meet her husband after work every single day when he is performing at Blackpool Tower.
And “after work” means late in the evening.
“Oh, Papa would wonder what was wrong at home if I did not walk along to meet him,” says Mrs. Cairoli. “I would not dream of disappointing him by not going.”
No wonder Charlie Cairoli looked so happy twice nightly.
He had plenty to be happy about.
The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Saturday 20th December 2002
Violetta, Widow of Clown Charlie Cairoli
Violetta Cairoli, who has died aged 88, was the widow of Charlie Cairoli, one of the world’s most beloved clowns.
She came from one of the great circus dynasties. Her father, Paul Fratellini, was a clown with the Trio Fratellini — favourites of Parisian audiences at the Cirque Medrano and Cirque d’Hiver in the 1920s and 30s. Her mother, Gladys (née Kenworthy), had been a member of an English skating act.
Violetta Lauretta Maximi Ilienne Fratellini was born on July 2, 1914. She was 19 when she met Charlie Cairoli in 1934. Alongside her elder sister, Tosa, she was performing a knockabout acrobatic act at the Cirque Medrano in Montmartre, France. The Trio Fratellini were at the Cirque d’Hiver, and Charlie Cairoli was appearing at Medrano in a clown act with his father.
Violetta was watching the Cairolis’ act when Charlie noticed her and — to her annoyance — serenaded her on his clarinet. Soon afterward, he invited her to the cinema and, during the intermission, announced that he intended to ask her father for permission to marry her. Violetta was even more astonished to hear herself accepting.
Paul Fratellini approved of the match, and the couple married just before Christmas 1934. It was a joyful occasion, though Charlie's parents feared that marriage might take him away from their act.
Violetta had previously appeared in the clown entrées of the Trio Fratellini as a dancer and musician and had even taken part in the Fratellinis’ famous “bullfight” parody. But she did not continue performing in Charlie’s clown entrées with Porto in the Cirque Medrano.
At Circus Krone in Munich in early 1939, the Cairolis were featured in a special show attended by Hitler, during which Charlie was presented with a watch. When war broke out later that year, Charlie was working in Blackpool for the first time. He walked to the end of the North Pier and threw the watch into the sea.
Although the Cairolis were warmly received in Blackpool, the weather that season was dreadful, and at the season’s end Violetta begged Charlie never to return. They did return, however, and Charlie remained Blackpool’s biggest attraction until 1979, when ill health forced him to retire from the Tower Circus ring.
Violetta dedicated her life to Charlie and their three children. A talented cook, she prepared meals for the family, including the spaghetti they ate in enormous quantities in Charlie’s slapstick restaurant act.
After Charlie’s death in 1980, Violetta stayed in Blackpool. Their son, Charlie Jr., followed in his father’s footsteps but never performed a full season at the Tower Circus, instead moving into cabaret and pantomime.
In February 2000, Violetta accepted a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at Blackpool from World’s Fair, the circus newspaper, on behalf of her late husband.
Violetta Cairoli died on November 16. She is survived by her son and two daughters
