German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. 3908/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Star-Foto-Atelier.
Charlie Rivel in
Akrobat Schööön!/Acrobat O-o-oh! (Wolfgang Staudte, 1943).
Charlie Rivel (1896-1983) was an internationally known Catalan circus clown. He was the star of the Circo Price. Rivel played the lead role in the German film
Akrobat Schööön!/Acrobat O-o-oh! (1943), directed by Wolfgang Staudte.
Charlie Rivel was born as Josep Andreu i Laserre in 1896 in Cubelles, Catalonia, when his parents were on tour in this town. He was the son of the circus artists Pere Andreu Pausas (Spanish) and Marie-Louise Laserre (French). Only three years old, he began to perform in the family company directed by his parents and in which his brothers Polo, René, Marcel (Celito), Roger (Rogelio), and his sister Nena also worked, all clowns and comic acrobats. His father owned the Reina Victoria Circus in Barcelona. As children, the siblings performed under the name Los Pepitos. After the death of his sister Nena in a trapeze accident, they became Los Andreu, and finally, together with his brothers Polo and René, he formed the Rivel Trio. He took his artistic first name from Charlie Chaplin whom he encountered first in 1910. Andreu did a parody of Chaplin on the trapeze. In Belgium, he met Chaplin when he won first place in an imitation contest. Each respected the other. Legend has it that Chaplin later asked him: "Is it you who imitate me or I who imitate you?" He later discovered his definitive routine, featuring a chair, a guitar, and a long jersey.
Charlie Rivel appeared in a few films. His film debut was an uncredited appearance in the Spanish film Aurora de esperanza (Antonio Sau Olite, 1937) starring Félix de Pomés. He played the leading role in the German film Akrobat Schööön!/Acrobat O-o-o-oh! (Wolfgang Staudte, 1943) with Clara Tabody and Karl Schönböck. Later he appeared in Spain in El aprendiz de clown (Manuel Esteba, 1967) with Enrique San Francisco. In 1971, he appeared in Federico Fellini's film Clowns. He performed in the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 in Luxembourg. In 1970 he received the Premio Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre Award) and in 1983 the Creu de Sant Jordi (Saint George's Cross), one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia (Spain). Rivel was married from 1930 till her death to Carmen Busto Rinke, daughter of the clown Gregorio Busto. She became his representative and artistic advisor and they had four children Paulina, Juanito, Charlie, and Valentino. His second wife was Margarita Camas whom he married in 1982. Charlie Rivel died of a stroke in 1983 in Sant Pere de Ribes, Barcelona, at the age of 87. He is the father of actress and circus princess Pauline Schumann. The Charlie Rivel Hall in Cubelles is a museum dedicated to him and there is also a park dedicated to him in Vigo in the province of Pontevedra, Spain.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
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