Tuesday, August 04, 2009

GIJON POLIDOR: RBB&B (Undated)



Polidor dressed quite similarly to Tom Dougherty's look on the current Blue Unit.

3 comments:

Raffaele De Ritis said...

Where exactly Gijon Polidor comes from? All I know is that his name was Edouard Guillaume (evidently Guillaume becaming Gijon).
The original Polidor was Ferdinando Guillaume (1887-1977), originally an Italian circus clown (his uncle was Umberto Guillaume, famous as Antonet, the white face partner to early Grock, then to Beby).
Ferdinando originated the name Polidor from a horse that his mother presented him as a child. As Polidor, he became the greatest movie star of Italian early silent cinema, shooting thousands of comedy shorts between 1910 and 1921. He later worked in music-hall, and appeared in Fellini's "Dolce Vita" as the night-club clown with the trumpet and balloons. Of course this original Polidor can't be the same appearing in the Usa. His make-up and character are different too. So, who was Edouard Guillaume Gijon Polidor? A son of the original? A cousin? An imitator?
Thanks for help...

Anonymous said...

Polidor is a common French or Belgian surname.

It has also many variations as Poulidor ( remember the cyclist that always became second)and Palidor.

in the first case Polidor was an artists name and for the American one it was his wreal surname.
So I asume there cant be any relation between those two.

Anonymous said...

Hi Raffaele!

It is my understanding that Polidor (Eadward Guilliaume is how I have seen it spelled) was actually Cuban.

He was most popular in the '20's and '30's. I believe he retired in the late '30's or early '40's.

His life came to a tragic end in the '50's, being involved in some sort of love triangle.

Sandy