Difference between revisions of "Billy Buttons, or the Tailor's Ride to Brentford"
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| + | Billy Button, or The Hunted Tailor a farce | ||
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| + | The Lilliputian Hunted Tailor, or Young Mr. Button's Unfortunate Journey to Brentford | ||
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| + | “Billy Button” concluded the entertainment under the title “The Lilliputian Hunted Tailor, or Young Mr. Button’s Unfortunate Journey to Brentford” | ||
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| + | Philip Astley created what is considered to be the first circus in England in 1768. He also created the first circus clown act — “Billy Buttons”, or the “Tailor’s Ride to Brentford”. The act was based on a popular tale of a tailor, an inept equestrian, trying to ride a horse to Brentford to vote in an election. The tailor has tremendous difficulty mounting the horse correctly. When he finally succeeds the horse starts off so fast that he falls off. | ||
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| + | David Carlyon makes the point that “Billy Buttons, or the Tailor's Ride to Brentford, was originally “a riding, not clown, act; relying on the popular assumption of tailors as physically inept or cowardly” (p. 175) | ||
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| + | http://www.circushistory.org/Day/Day17.htm | ||
| + | http://archive.pba.org/programming/programs/tiaarchives/587/ | ||
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| + | David Carlyon 2016. The Education of a Circus Clown: Mentors, Audiences, Mistakes. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History Springer:Appendix B, p175. | ||
Revision as of 06:29, 8 June 2016
Billy Button, or The Hunted Tailor a farce
The Lilliputian Hunted Tailor, or Young Mr. Button's Unfortunate Journey to Brentford
“Billy Button” concluded the entertainment under the title “The Lilliputian Hunted Tailor, or Young Mr. Button’s Unfortunate Journey to Brentford”
Philip Astley created what is considered to be the first circus in England in 1768. He also created the first circus clown act — “Billy Buttons”, or the “Tailor’s Ride to Brentford”. The act was based on a popular tale of a tailor, an inept equestrian, trying to ride a horse to Brentford to vote in an election. The tailor has tremendous difficulty mounting the horse correctly. When he finally succeeds the horse starts off so fast that he falls off.
David Carlyon makes the point that “Billy Buttons, or the Tailor's Ride to Brentford, was originally “a riding, not clown, act; relying on the popular assumption of tailors as physically inept or cowardly” (p. 175)
http://www.circushistory.org/Day/Day17.htm http://archive.pba.org/programming/programs/tiaarchives/587/
David Carlyon 2016. The Education of a Circus Clown: Mentors, Audiences, Mistakes. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History Springer:Appendix B, p175.
It has been performed under numerous names (and possibly incarnations), those used in South Africa include
