The unique auguste makeup of Belgian born Chesty Mortimer (Paul Mortier) and a photo that shows him flanked by an unidentified clown in drag as well as Bluch Landolf (who did a come-in bit with a broom that strongly influenced Otto Greibling's pie plate routine) performing the Boxing Gag with and unidentified partner.It's hard to be certain but I believe that Chesty's presentation of this gag pre-dates the very popular version done by Otto Griebling (widely credited with creating the routine) and his longtime sparring partner Freddie Freeman first on the Cole Bros. and later on the Ringling circus.
At any rate, this photo was used by artist James Shucker as the source for the illustration of the Boxing Gag in Felix Sutton's 1953 book The Book of Clowns.
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THIS JUST IN:
The 1931 Hagenbeck-Wallace program lists the boxing gag as being performed that year by Poodles Hanneford and Otto Griebling. This would pre-date Otto's version of the Cole show a few years later. It would be interesting to know how this version compared to Otto performing it with Freddie.
And just why is it that Otto could only perform the gag with other equestrian clowns?
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