Joseph Grimaldi made the clown the star of the English pantomime and was the idol of Sadler’s Wells and Covent Garden. His memoirs, revised and edited by the young Charles Dickens, recount a childhood on stage under a fierce father, triumphs, swindling landlords, money troubles and the illness that ended his career.
A lively record of the Georgian theatre, illustrated by George Cruikshank, for lovers of Dickens and stage history alike. Download the free EPUB.