By which name was the famous Swiss clown Karl Adrien Wettach better known?
"Grock Grock (January 10, 1880 – July 14, 1959), born Charles Adrien Wettach, was a Swiss clown, composer and musician. Called ""the king of clowns"" and ""the greatest of Europe's clowns"", Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world. Grock was born in Loveresse, a village in the Bernese Jura in the Canton of Bern. He started early as a performer, learning musicianship and acrobatic skills from his father. When a caravan of Roma passed through, he joined them, learning more instruments and gaining confidence with them. In 1894, he debuted with Fiame Wetzel's traveling circus. He"
"Alexander Granach Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s who immigrated to the United States in 1938. Granach was born Jessaja Gronach in ""Werbowitz"" (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (Horodenka district, Austrian Galicia then, now ""Verbivtsi"", Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin. Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts was the vampire classic ""Nosferatu"" (1922), in which the actor was cast as Knock, the lunatic counterpart to Renfield, effectively a substitute name for Dracula. He"
"which was received with much acclaim during the 1962 International Mime Festival in Berlin. In 1971, Dimitri founded with his wife Gunda a theater. In 1975, he founded the ""Scuola Teatro Dimitri"" in Verscio, now Terre di Pedemonte. It is a small performing arts college in the Swiss national higher education system. In 1973, he was awarded the Grock prize, and appeared with New York's Big Apple Circus. He has also performed in many other countries across the globe. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1995. He died at the age of 80 on July"
"Kladderadatsch Kladderadatsch (onomatopoeic for ""Crash"") was a satirical German-language magazine first published in Berlin on 7 May 1848, and appearing ""daily, except for weekdays"". It was founded by Albert Hofmann and David Kalisch, the latter the son of a Jewish merchant and the author of several works of comedy. Publication ceased in 1944. The first edition, written almost entirely by Kalisch, saw 4,000 copies printed, all of which were sold within 24 hours. Two other writers, Ernst Dohm and Rudolf Löwenstein, were then employed. Wilhelm Scholz's drawings appeared in the second edition, and would do so for the next 40"
"a few skaters have successfully performed the duo's routines since. Michael Mauch, the son of Hans, described the origin of their names: ""Frick took his name from a small village in Switzerland; Frack is a Swiss-German word for a frock coat, which my father used to wear in the early days of their skating act. They put the words together as a typical Swiss joke."" Frick and Frack found fame with the Follies, a revue promoted by Eddie Shipstad and his brother Roy, which began in 1936 and ran for almost 50 years. They also reached a worldwide audience when"
"by the Swiss press, remained for years without a comment by Ruedi Walter. Shortly before he died, Walter said: ""The term takes me proud, because I feel accepted by the people as one of them"". ""Ruedi-Walter-Strasse"" in Zürich-Oerlikon was named after the popular actor. Walter was ""a very good actor, probably one of the best that Switzerland ever had"". Ruedi Walter Ruedi Walter or Rudolf Walter, (born Hans Rudolf Häfeli, 10 December 1916 – 16 June 1990) was a Swiss comedian, radio personality, and stage and film actor starring usually in Swiss German language cinema and television and stage productions."
"""Cocotina"" ('cocos' being the Spanish word for grinning face and applied to the coconut because of the three marks on its shell). Michael's Coco the Clown was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1991. As well as Michael, Poliakoff had five other children with wife Valentina: Helen, Nadia, Sascha, Olga, and Tamara. Tamara was the founder, along with her husband Ali Hassani, of the first circus in the UK not to use performing animals. Nicolai Poliakoff Nicolai Poliakoff OBE (2 October 1900 – 25 September 1974) () () was the creator of Coco the Clown, arguably the"
"Frick and Frack Frick and Frack were two Swiss skaters who came to the United States in 1937 and joined the original Ice Follies show as comedy ice skaters. ""Frick"" was Werner Groebli (April 21, 1915 – April 14, 2008), born in Basel. ""Frack"" was Hansruedi (Hans Rudolf) Mauch, (May 2, 1919 – June 4, 1979), also born in Basel. Frick and Frack were known for skating in Alpine ""Lederhosen"" and performing eccentric tricks on ice, including the ""cantilever spread-eagle"", created by Groebli, and Mauch's ""rubber legs"", twisting and bending his legs while skating in a spread eagle position. Only"
"Bertolt Brecht, Peter Paul Althaus, Stefan George, Ricarda Huch, Joachim Ringelnatz, Oskar Maria Graf, Annette Kolb, Ernst Toller, Hugo Ball and Klaus Mann adding to the already established big names. Karl Valentin was Germany's most important cabaret performer and comedian and is to this day well-remembered and beloved as a cultural icon of his hometown. Between 1910 and 1940, he wrote and performed in many absurdist sketches and short films that were highly influential, earning him the nickname of ""Charlie Chaplin of Germany"". Many of Valentin's works wouldn't be imaginable without his congenial female partner Liesl Karlstadt, who often played"
"Both crossings were broadcast live on Discovery Channel. The Flying Wallendas The Flying Wallendas is the name of a circus act and daredevil stunt performers, most known for performing highwire acts without a safety net. They were first known as ""The Great Wallendas"", but the current name was coined by the press in the 1940s and has stayed since. Karl Wallenda was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905 to an old circus family, and began performing at the age of six. While still in his teens he answered an ad for a ""hand balancer with courage"". His employer, Louis Weitzman,"
"Rudolf Bernhard Rudolf Bernhard or Rudolf Bernhard Conrath (26 March 1901 – 21 October 1962) was a Swiss comedian, radio personality, and stage and film actor starring usually in Swiss German language cinema and television and stage productions. In 1941 Berhard founded the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. Born in Basel, Canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland as ""Rudolf Bernhard Conrath"", he attended Realschule and worked as optician in his father's business, then as a canvasser of ads. He gained first stage experience at ""Dramatischer Verein Basel"" with performances as a humorist on occasion of club events and family celebrations. On 26 March 1925"
"The Flying Wallendas The Flying Wallendas is the name of a circus act and daredevil stunt performers, most known for performing highwire acts without a safety net. They were first known as ""The Great Wallendas"", but the current name was coined by the press in the 1940s and has stayed since. Karl Wallenda was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905 to an old circus family, and began performing at the age of six. While still in his teens he answered an ad for a ""hand balancer with courage"". His employer, Louis Weitzman, taught him the trade. In 1922, Karl put"
"Ruedi Walter Ruedi Walter or Rudolf Walter, (born Hans Rudolf Häfeli, 10 December 1916 – 16 June 1990) was a Swiss comedian, radio personality, and stage and film actor starring usually in Swiss German language cinema and television and stage productions. Born in Solothurn, Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland to Pauline née Furter and Paul, ""Hans Rudolf Häfeli's"" family moved from Solothurn to Basel in 1921. There he attended the primary school, the college for mathematics and natural sciences (""Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliches Gymnasium"") and the business school where he graduated at the ""Maturität"" level. Still in Basel, Walter began an apprenticeship at"
"Lou Jacobs Johann Ludwig Jacob (January 1, 1903 – September 13, 1992), professionally known as Lou Jacobs, was a German-born American auguste clown who performed for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for more than 60 years. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989. He is credited with popularizing the clown car, which has been a staple of circus clown acts ever since. He is also often cited as the originator of the red rubber ball nose, which is used by many clowns today. He was the first living person to have his portrait"
"Franz Jarnach Franz Jarnach (14 October 1943 – 16 January 2017), also known by his stage name Mr. Piggi, was a German actor and musician. He was best for his role as Schildkröte in the improvisation comedy series ""Dittsche"". He appeared in the series 217 times between 2004 and 2016. He was a pianist for the 1960s British beat group Lee Curtis and the All-Stars. He appeared on the music program ""Beat-Club"" with the group twice. He was also a member of the rock band The Rattles during the early 1990s. Jarnach was born in Bad Godesberg, today a district"
"Bach Maier and Manfred Faust. Munich: Piper. Karl Valentin Karl Valentin (born Valentin Ludwig Fey, 4 June 1882 in Munich – 9 February 1948 in Planegg) was a Bavarian comedian, cabaret performer, clown, author and film producer. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture. Valentin starred in many silent films in the 1920s, and was sometimes called the ""Charlie Chaplin of Germany"". His work has an essential influence on artists like Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Loriot and Helge Schneider. Karl Valentin came from a reasonably well-off middle-class family; his father had a partnership in a furniture-transport business. Valentin first"
"Nicolai Poliakoff Nicolai Poliakoff OBE (2 October 1900 – 25 September 1974) () () was the creator of Coco the Clown, arguably the most famous clown in the UK during the middle decades of the 20th century. Technically, Coco is an Auguste, the foolish character who is always on the receiving end of buckets of water and custard pies. The auguste often works with the more clever white-faced clown, who always gets the better of him. Poliakoff was born in 1900 to a Jewish family in (today Daugavpils), Latvia which was then part of the Russian Empire. His parents worked"
"created a rotation of recurring roles. In addition to the silent ""Eugene,"" his most familiar characters were the fey, lisping poet Percy Dovetonsils, and the heavily accented German radio announcer, Wolfgang von Sauerbraten. Mr. Question Man, who answered viewer queries, was a satire on the long-run (1937–56) radio series, ""The Answer Man"". Others included horror show host Auntie Gruesome, bumbling magician Matzoh Heppelwhite, Frenchman Pierre Ragout, and Miklos Molnar, the sardonic Hungarian host of a cooking show. The Miklos character wasn't always confined to a kitchen; Kovacs performed a parody of ""The Howdy Doody Show"" with ""Buffalo Miklos"" as the"
"in San Francisco. His father, a German, had a Swiss castle in which Wedekind grew up. Until World War I, when he was forced to obtain a German passport, he was an American citizen and traveled throughout Europe. He lived most of his adult life in Munich, though he had a brief period working in advertising, for the Maggi soup firm, in Switzerland in 1886. Having worked in business and the circus, Wedekind went on to become an actor and singer. In this capacity he received wide acclaim as the principal star of the satirical cabaret ""Die elf Scharfrichter"" (""The"
"Coluche Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci (28 October 1944 – 19 June 1986), best known under his stage name Coluche (), was a French comedian and actor famous for his irreverent sense of humor. Colucci adopted ""Coluche"" as a stage name at age 26, when he began his entertainment career. He became known for his irreverent attitude towards politics and the establishment, and he incorporated this into much of his material. He was one of the first major comedians to regularly use profanities as a source of humor on French television. He was born on 28 October 1944, just weeks after"
"Karl Wallenda Karl Wallenda (; January 21, 1905 – March 22, 1978) was a German-American high wire artist and founder of The Flying Wallendas, a daredevil circus act which performed dangerous stunts, often without a safety net. He was the great-grandfather of current performer Nik Wallenda. Wallenda, born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905, began performing with his family at age six. The Great Wallendas were noted throughout Europe for their four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire. The act moved to the United States in 1928, performing as freelancers. In 1947 they developed the unequaled three-tier 7-Man Pyramid. Karl"
"of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia. His father, Philipp Jarnach (1892–1982), was a noted composer. Jarnach died from a heart attack on 16 January 2017 in Hamburg. He was 73. Franz Jarnach Franz Jarnach (14 October 1943 – 16 January 2017), also known by his stage name Mr. Piggi, was a German actor and musician. He was best for his role as Schildkröte in the improvisation comedy series ""Dittsche"". He appeared in the series 217 times between 2004 and 2016. He was a pianist for the 1960s British beat group Lee Curtis and the All-Stars. He appeared on the music program ""Beat-Club"""
"Karl Valentin Karl Valentin (born Valentin Ludwig Fey, 4 June 1882 in Munich – 9 February 1948 in Planegg) was a Bavarian comedian, cabaret performer, clown, author and film producer. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture. Valentin starred in many silent films in the 1920s, and was sometimes called the ""Charlie Chaplin of Germany"". His work has an essential influence on artists like Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Loriot and Helge Schneider. Karl Valentin came from a reasonably well-off middle-class family; his father had a partnership in a furniture-transport business. Valentin first worked as a carpenter's apprentice, and this"
"Charlie Callas Charlie Callas (born Charles Callias; December 20, 1924 – January 27, 2011) was an American comedian and actor most commonly known for his work with Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin, and his many stand-up appearances on television talk shows in the 1970s. He was also known for his role as Malcolm Argos, the restaurant owner and former con man, on the Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner television series ""Switch"" (1975–1978). Callas was also known as the voice of Elliott the dragon in Disney's live-action/animated musical film ""Pete's Dragon"" (1977). Callas was born in Brooklyn, New York,"
"im Schnee"" and in Mary Chase's ""My Fründ Hanspi"" (Swiss German version of ""Harvey""). Ruedi Walter was a popular actor who played adorable-smart roles, shaping the hearts of his audience. He sat always for professional dialect theater and appeared in numerous vernacular versions of modern dramas, including as ""Karl Knie"" in Jörg Schneider's dialect edition of Carl Zuckmayer's ""Katharina Knie"" in 1985 in a circus tent at Zürichhorn, and in the title roles of television adaption of Molière's ""The Miser"" and ""The Imaginary Invalid"". Walter embodied numerous other roles in film and television, and in various recordings of Swiss German"
"bitten zur Kasse"", in which he played train robber Michael Donegan. In 1968, he changed sides by playing Scotland Yard detective Perkins in Edgar Wallace movies. When the second public television station in Germany, the ZDF, started planning a new mystery series with a different type of investigator in 1973, he was chosen for the character of detective Stephan Derrick, with sidekick assistant Harry Klein (played by Fritz Wepper). The character of Stephan Derrick became a cult figure. The series was licensed in 104 countries and was popular with the Chinese, Japanese, and Italians (and even Pope John Paul II)."
"comedy would often begin with a simple misunderstanding, on which he would insist as the sketch progressed. The notable critic Alfred Kerr praised him as a ""Wortzerklauberer"", or someone who tears apart words and language to forcefully extract and dissect its inherent meaning. His sketches often parodied and derided ""shopkeepers, firemen, military band players, professionals with small roles in the economy and the defence of society"". Many contemporary artists, including film-maker Herbert Achternbusch and Christoph Schlingensief (""Valentin is one of the greatest for me!""), trace their artistic roots back to Karl Valentin. Complete Works in 8 volumes. Edited by Helmut"
"that faith. David Kalisch David Kalisch (also known under the pseudonym: D. J. Schalk; February 23, 1820 – August 21, 1872) was a German playwright and humorist. His infancy and early childhood were spent in a home of comfort and culture; but when he was only seven years old his father died, leaving the family without any means of support, and Kalisch was compelled to add to the family resources by entering the employment of a dealer in small wares, who later on entrusted him with the management of a branch establishment in Ratibor. In 1843 he returned to Breslau,"
"Karl Gottlieb von Windisch Karl Gottlieb von Windisch (, , January 28, 1725, Pressburg – March 30, 1793, Pressburg) was a Hungarian German writer who produced a series of letters that were published as """"Briefe über den Schachspieler von Kempelen nebst drey Kupferstichen die diese berühmte Maschine vorstellen"""", translated as """"Inanimate Reason; or a Circumstantial Account of That Astonishing Piece of Mechanism, M. de Kempelen's Chess-Player; Now Exhibiting at No. 9 Savile-Row, Burlington Gardens"""", following a series of performances of The Turk that he attended. The letters have been cited often since their publication in attempts to uncover the secret"
"names. In the ""NCIS"" episode ""Devil's Trifecta"" (Season 10, Episode 9), Diane Sterling refers to Special Agent Gibbs and Senior FBI Agent Fornell as Frick and Frack. Frick and Frack Frick and Frack were two Swiss skaters who came to the United States in 1937 and joined the original Ice Follies show as comedy ice skaters. ""Frick"" was Werner Groebli (April 21, 1915 – April 14, 2008), born in Basel. ""Frack"" was Hansruedi (Hans Rudolf) Mauch, (May 2, 1919 – June 4, 1979), also born in Basel. Frick and Frack were known for skating in Alpine ""Lederhosen"" and performing eccentric"
"married to actress Eva Hassmann until November 2011, who co-starred with him in ""Otto – Der Katastrofenfilm"". He also works as a voice actor, providing, among others, the German voices of Mushu in Disney's ""Mulan"" movies, Sid the Sloth in the ""Ice Age"" franchise, and ""The Grinch"" in ""The Grinch"" Otto Waalkes Otto Gerhard Waalkes (born 22 July 1948) is an East Frisian comedian and actor. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and movies. His perhaps most famous trademark are the 'Ottifanten' ('Ottiphants'), elephant-like comic characters of his own design. They featured"
"David Kalisch David Kalisch (also known under the pseudonym: D. J. Schalk; February 23, 1820 – August 21, 1872) was a German playwright and humorist. His infancy and early childhood were spent in a home of comfort and culture; but when he was only seven years old his father died, leaving the family without any means of support, and Kalisch was compelled to add to the family resources by entering the employment of a dealer in small wares, who later on entrusted him with the management of a branch establishment in Ratibor. In 1843 he returned to Breslau, and in"
"in Germany, Australia and Italy. The song took its title (although misspelled for copyright reasons) from a character - ""Grimly Feendish - The Rottenest Crook in the World"" - in the UK children's ""Wham!"", ""Pow!"" and ""Smash!"" comics from the 1960s, as well as ""Cor!"", ""Shiver & Shake"", ""Monster Fun"" and ""Buster"" in the 1970s and 1980s. Created by Leo Baxendale, Grimly was an over-ambitious and generally incompetent, childlike criminal mastermind, who was often shown wearing a long, black coat, starting initially as the villainous foil to Eagle-Eye, Junior Spy. Although popular enough to merit his own strip, the regular"