From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Type of clown in 19th-century England
A vintage
picture postcard
of a Silly Billy
Silly Billy
was a type of
clown
common at
fairs
in England during the 19th century. They were also common in London as
street entertainers
, along with the similar clown, Billy Barlow.
[1]
The act included playing the part of a fool or idiot, impersonating a child and singing
comic songs
.
[2]
The role was typically played as a
stooge
to another clown.
[3]
The name is popular because of its nice
rhyme
[4]
and was used as a generic nickname for foolish people, especially those named
William
such as
Prince William Frederick
[5]
and
King William IV
.
[6]
[7]
The nickname was popularised in the 1970s by impressionist
Mike Yarwood
, putting it in the mouth of the chancellor,
Denis Healey
, who took the catchphrase up and used it as his own.
[8]
In 1850, the costume of a Silly Billy was short, white trousers with a long white
pinafore
, white shoes with a strap around the ankle, red sleeves, a
ruff
around the neck, and a boy's cap. The hair or wig was arranged to stick out behind the ears. Red makeup was daubed to emphasise the nose with two smears of black for the eyebrows. Multiple pairs of white trousers were needed because women liked to tease the clown by smearing
gingerbread
or sticking pins into his legs so that they bled.
[9]
Comic routines included a
mesmerism
act in which Silly Billy was hypnotised, a parody of a preacher giving a
sermon
, and a parody of a
temperance
campaign.
[9]
Comic songs included
O'ive getten a Soft Pleace i' my Yead
and
Dolly and the Swill Tub
.
[10]
The wages of a Silly Billy at the time were about two or three
half-crowns
per day, averaging about a pound a week, over the year. About a dozen performers made their living in this way in the London area.
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Hibbert, Christopher
;
Weinreb, Ben
(2008),
"Street Performers"
,
The London Encyclopaedia
,
ISBN
978-1-4050-4924-5
- ^
Griffith, B (1997), "British Plays, Players, and Playing Places",
The Sewanee Review
- ^
English Dance and Song
,
English Folk Dance and Song Society
: 132, 1973,
The fairground Silly Billy was a comedian's stooge, underdog to his clowning, played as a juvenile part.
- ^
Weekley, Ernest
(1932),
Words and Names
, Ayer, p. 19,
ISBN
978-0-8369-5918-5
- ^
Leedham-Green, E. S. (1996),
A Concise History of the University of Cambridge
,
ISBN
978-0-521-43978-7
- ^
Clarke, John;
Ridley, Jasper Godwin
;
Fraser, Antonia
(2006),
"William IV"
,
The Houses of Hanover & Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
,
ISBN
978-0-520-22801-6
,
the general opinion was that he was rather a fool ? 'Silly Billy' was the inevitable nickname
- ^
Gossman, N.J. (2008), "Republicanism in Nineteenth Century England",
International Review of Social History
,
7
: 47?60,
doi
:
10.1017/S0020859000002005
- ^
Marr, Andrew
(2009),
A History of Modern Britain
, Pan Books, p. 346,
ISBN
978-0330511476
- ^
a
b
c
Mayhew, Henry
(1861),
"Silly Billy"
,
London labour and the London poor
- ^
Chambers, William and Robert (May 27, 1865),
"The Drama Under Canvas"
,
Chamber's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts
|
---|
|
Types
| | |
---|
Organizations
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|
|