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French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 152. Photo: Studio V. Henry.
François Fratellini (1879-1951) was a French circus clown. He performed as an elegant Whiteface. He was a member of the Fratellini Family. Their engagement at the Circus Medrano in Paris, France, after World War I was so successful that it sparked a strong resurgence of interest in the circus. The wit, charm, and superb acting techniques of the three Fratellini brothers were widely admired By 1923, the Fratellini brothers had become the darlings of the Parisian intellectuals. They were lauded in print and worshipped by adoring fans who would show up at the circus just in time for the Fratellini entree, which sometimes ran as long as forty-five minutes.
François was born in Paris, in 1879, and died there in 1951. He had two brothers: Paul (or Paolo) Fratellini (1877-1940) and the very wild and crazy Albert Fratellini (1886-1961). Their father, Gustavo Fratellini (1842–1905), was a Florentine follower of the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi. Gustavo Fratellini took part in the unification of Italy. He was a circus trapeze artist and acrobat, and his eldest son Luigi or Louis (1867–1909), later worked as a clown with his brother Paul. François and Albert also began their careers as a pair. When Louis died in 1909 he left a family without support and Paul without a partner. To solve both problems the remaining brothers formed a unique triple act: François retained his traditional role as the elegant, pompous, white-faced clown; Albert, as the hapless, ragged Auguste, designed grotesque new makeup with high black brows, an exaggerated mouth, and a bulbous red nose (a makeup style that influenced countless subsequent clowns); and Paul joined the act in a new role, the notary, with little makeup and a comic style midway between those of his brothers. The Fratellinis toured Europe and Russia
The Fratellini brothers joined the Cirque Medrano in Paris during World War I. By 1923 they were the toast of Paris, admired by the general public and by such intellectuals as the playwrights Raymond Radiguet and Jean Cocteau, both of whom created characters based on the Fratellinis. Many of the Fratellini Brothers’ children also became circus performers, notably Paul’s son Victor (1901–1979) and Victor’s daughter Annie (1932–1997), who continued the family tradition as successful clowns in France. Albert’s memoirs, 'Nous, les Fratellini', appeared in 1955. The Fratellini brothers appeared in a few films. In 1905, they could be seen in the silent short
L'éléphant acrobate/Acrobatic Elephant (1905), produced by Pathé Frères. It was followed by two other shorts for Pathé Frères the next year, Automobile et cul-de-jatte/Motorcar and Cripple (Ferdinand Zecca, 1906) and Bicyclette présentée en liberté/The Riderless Bicycle (Gaston Velle, 1906). After the first World War, they returned to the screen in the silent feature Rêves de clowns/The Dream of the Clowns (René Hervouin, Madame Vigier de Maisonneuve, 1924) with Georges Melchior. François Fratellini originally played Pierrot the clown in the final film of Sarah Bernhardt, La voyante/The Clairvoyant (Leon Abrams, 1924). Pierre offered shelter to Jean Detaille (played by George Melchior), but when Sarah Bernhardt died, production was halted. It was later decided that the film could be finished with Jeanne Brindeau acting as a double for her. By then, Fratellini had given up the part, which was rewritten for Jean-François Martial as a painter.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia and IMDb.