Karl Adrien Wettach, one of the most famous clowns of the first half of
the 20th century, was born on Jan 10, 1880 in Reconvilier in the Swiss
Canton of Bern. His watchmaker father was an amateur musician and
acrobat, and he taught the young Karl the basics of music and tumbling.
Karl became hooked on performing, and he worked up a variety show with
his sister Jeanne that appeared in hotels and clubs. As an amateur,
during the summer months, Karl appeared with the circus as a tumbler
and then later as a musician. Subsequently, he joined up with a caravan
of gypsies, in whose company he learned his craft and gained experience
with a broad variety of musical instruments. He became fluent in a many
languages, and mastered fourteen musical instruments, including a
miniature violin. At the age of 14, he made his professional debut in
Fiame Wetzel's circus.
He partnered with a clown named "Brick," and they made the rounds of
the international circuit, appearing in France, Africa and South
America. In 1903, Wettach took the stage name "Grock," under which he
became one of the most famous clowns in Europe. "My birth name doesn't
mean anything. I am Grock. The first is the name of the dark years," he
said. As a clown, his life became a quest for perfecting the synthesis
of the man, with his hidden human face, and the clown, the mask
occluding the man beneath the greasepaint. This synthesis was "Grock,"
a figure intended to entertain while remaining forever mysterious, a
beloved figure who never could be fully understood by the audience,
hidden as he was by his mask, hidden as the man Karl was by the mask
Grock.
After Brick married, Grock left him and hooked up with Umberto
Guillaume, a famous clown known as Antonet. Making the move from circus
arenas to the music hall, their act initially failed, but eventually,
they mastered stage technique. When they hit the boards in London in
1911, they had a major success. The duo became the toast of the public
wherever they played. Grock would make England his home for the next 13
years.
By 1913, Grock had polished his most famous and endearing act,
appearing as a simpleton among a plethora of musical instruments,
fumbling with the instruments as if he knew nothing about them,
instruments that the "real" Karl Wettach had mastered. But the clown
Grock would absentmindedly flip a fiddle over, then try to play it,
wondering where the strings went. It was an act that helped develop his
reputation as King of Clowns. Soon, Grock was performing before
European royalty.
A composer of popular ditties, Wettach became a music publisher and
achieved success in the music business with his own songs. Wettach
departed England in 1924 for the Continent, which remained his home for
the rest of his life. He settled in Imperia, situated on the western
Liguria Riviera, with Ines Ospiri, his Italian wife. In 1927, he began
constructing a great 50-room mansion facing the sea in the Cascine
hills that would be called the Villa Bianca, named after his daughter.
During the turbulent years of fascist Italy and World War II, Grock
never let his mask slip, never overtly dabbled in politics. Though he
attracted the admiration of leading Italian fascists, the King of
Italy, European royalty and even Hitler, all of whom claimed to be a
friend of his, he never publicly confirmed those bonds. The man behind
the mask of Grock never declared any allegiance to anyone or anything
but his art.
Grock established his own traveling circus in 1951. Initially, he
struggled due to the large initial layouts of capital, but he soon
achieved financial success as the circus performed shows all over
Europe. His last performance was in Hamburg, Germany, on October 30,
1954, in front of a crowd that included scores of reporters from all
over the world. He then retired to the Villa Bianca, through with
performing, except for several appearances on television he made in
1956.
In addition to being a clown, a composer, and a music publisher,
Wettach was also a writer, penning several books, including his 1956
autobiography, "Die Memoiren des Königs der Clowns" ("Grock, King of
Clowns"). "The genius of clowning is transforming the little, everyday
annoyances, not only overcoming, but actually transforming them into
something strange and terrific," Grock said. "It is the power to
extract mirth for millions out of nothing and less than nothing."
Grock died in Imperia, Italy, on July 14, 1959. He was inducted into
the Clown Hall of Fame in 1992.
