Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A circus clown known as Coco, the iconic Auguste character famous for taking buckets of water and custard pies.
On the island
Eight records
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Band
The first record naturally of the circus performer is uh the Gladiator March.
That is my favorite, very silly, so that's why I won't take it with me.
Swan Lake (excerpt from the last act)
Ernest Ansermet and the Swiss Romande Orchestra
Well, in the olden days in Russia, in the circuses there used to be ballet as well… and I love ballet.
That is to be my music for trapeze act… I was courting my wife.
Madama Butterfly (closing scene)
Because you see, when I was in Lithuania, one producer came to me and said… 'We produced an opera called Madam Butterfly when there was supposed to be a child.'
I drawn the first talkie picture with Richard Talbot… to remind me of my youngen days.
Ochi Chornye (Black Eyes)Favourite
When somebody gets depressed and they don't feel like to talk or whatnot, so we always have to come on Ochi Chorne.
Sing the Song of Springtime (Coco's road safety song)
I made a record of it… Sing the song of spray time… Well, the story I'm about to tell you is a true story… about a little boy who couldn't come to the circus because he met with the accident.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:51Could you endure the loneliness of a desert island, do you think?
Well, I don't know. I don't know. I've got so many memories to think about. I don't think I would be lonely.
Presenter asks
4:58Was there a circus tradition in your family?
My father was in the circus in the summer. On the theatres in the winter.
Presenter asks
5:48And when did the circus become your ambition?
After my father came from the war, because my father was in the Russian war in 1906. Against Japan. So when the time came for me to go to the school, it was not in my head to learn in the schools. My head was to be in the circus all the time. So I used to run away from the school, so follow the people with the organs… That's why it gives me away to a circus, a very small one.
Presenter asks
7:11How old were you when you joined the Imperial Russian Army, and what happened during the revolution?
The keepsakes
The luxury
paper, pencils, and empty bottles
I could write up some little stories special for children. And [put] in a bottle and throw it in the water.
I was [in] the Imperial Russian Army. I was oldest, I was 14 years of age. In 1917, I was wounded on the German front… And four days before the revolution broke out, a whole army officer came to us and said, 'Well, boys, the situation is very bad. We haven't got enough food for everybody. So those boys who feel like they can't stand on their own feet and go home, please do.' So I was one of the volunteers.
Presenter asks
8:07What did you do after you left the hospital during the revolution, and how did you [end up in the Ukraine and Red armies]?
Well, I've been trying then to get into Ukraine because Ukraine there was more food than in Russia. When I came to Kiev I joined in the Ukraine army because the only way to get food is to be in the army. It's the only safest place to be… Afterwards, yes, after the uh Ukraine Army I had to join the Red Army… And from Russia they send us to Siberia to fight the Kovchak army. That didn't like it. So naturally I run away.
Presenter asks
11:08How did it happen that you took your wife with you in the Latvian army?
You say she found out that I was stopped on the road. We took her into the barracks. Next day she came overhead a chat through the window. So I said to [my wife], 'Darling, don't worry, I shan't belong.' But I was wrong. You say they send us to another place… Well, she came there and we hided here on [a train] and she followed me… When I came there, they naturally people knew who I was by then, that I'm Coco the Clown, when everybody tried to help me. Nobody found out that she was traveling with me.
“Well my real name is Nikolai Polyakov. No Roy, no, no, I'm not a clown at all. You say I'm a August. Yes, and the difference. The difference between an August and a clown is, you say a clown he got a white face, nice fungal dress, the fellow who never gets wet, never gets any custard pies in his face. But I'm an August. I'm always the guilty one. See, I always the buckets of water and the custard pies on my face. And I'm the funny man like.”
“And the child have to be saved by firemen… and used to carry me across the stage in a big panic. And I can't forget that I lost my wig in the middle of the stage, well the fireman, the actor, he left me in the wings to carry on with his play. But I turned round, I went right to the middle of the stage, picked up the wig, put it on and walked away.”
“I went to Berlin. And then you came to England? To England, yes. In nineteen twenty nine. I only came for four weeks. And you've been here ever since? Yes, my four weeks not finished yet.”
“I thought we may swing on the other foot couldn't, so I went head downwards into the orchestra. I'm good job that was a violinist. I fought on the violinist. I broke his violin, and that would save my life, it broke my foe. His validist was unconscious, and I went at the stage and carried on with my action.”
“Well, what I would like to do is to take a lot of paper with me… and pencils and empty bottles… not messages for help, but I could write up some little stories special for children. And the b put in a bottle and throw it in the water. It might come.”