A
couple of years before I started my Theater X project, I got an email
from Paul Blackwell with a link that told the following story:
From
the website of actor/musician Johnny
Melville
In Memoriam-- George
On the 23rd September2003 there will be a benefit performance for
the family of Georgio Peugeot. Georgio Peugeot, the American clown
was tragically killed in Switzerland on 17 August 2002 when his car
was hit by a train. Georgio was a charming and gentle clown who started
his performing days as a juggler in the 70s with the Salt Lake Mime
Troupe from Utah. He was also part of that explosive Fools Scene which
sprung out of Amsterdam and fathered the variety and street scenes
of today. Soon after he developed a unique contact improvisation style
with Jack Millet in the 80s. Georgio was also a proficient teacher,
and later producer/director of various groups and events.
I first met Georgio in Barsham Fair, a medieval festival in England
in 1975. I was performing at that festival with my group SALAKTA BALLOON
BAND and on the first day there I noticed a large crowd enthousing
round a juggler. Dressed in cloured overalls he had beautifully long
reddish-blond hair which bounced on his shoulders in roll-up locks
which a baroque wig-maker would have been jealous of. He was doing
something I had never seen before - juggling a cauliflower, an apple
and a peanut. Now in those days juggling had not yet become a mass
phenomenon like now, and I was used to seeing the typical street performer
with 3 clubs and 3 balls.....but here was Georgio innovating with
3 different sizes and weights, eating the apple as he juggled and
when he finished that off he flipped the peanut high in the air and
caught it perfectly in his mouth, the cauliflower perching on his
neck. Over those days he also adopted a festival-partner: a 6 year
old princess whom he integrated into his show: it was utter charm
and it was funny too.
Over the years we met occasionally at festivals but it wasn't till
the PALAZZO COLOMBI VARIETY 2001 that I actually worked with him when
he urged me to perform in the show. I must say it was a very pleasurable
experience. I worked with comedians and acrobats who were not only
of the highest calibre but also due to Georgio's acute sense of teamwork,
were also generous and willing to share the limelight. He himself
was open, fun, easy to work with and very serious about his comedy
which all the great comedians are. He will be sorely missed by all,
and my condolences go to his son and wife, THE COMEDY KIDS, and all
of us left in shock who knew him, worked with him and loved him. Losing
clowns like Georgio the planet does not need right now.
I had heard this news verbally from Matt Child a month or so earlier,
but reading the details was still a pretty sobering experience. I
was comforted by knowing he had friends who cared about him, and his
family, whom I never knew.
George
(center) as Georgio in 1976
Festival of Fools; Amsterdam, Holland |
(L
to R) Mark Nelson & Georgio in 1975
Dublin Art Center, Ireland |
Some
of my own thoughts
George
was a lifelong learner, and natural leader who exemplified humor,
wit, compassion, and sheer guts to those who were fortunate enough
to know him. I was his friend and fellow traveler for only a few
years, but they were some of the most intense times in my entire
life. It was really important to have a person of George's strength
and goodness on the scene as we all sought our place in the wide
world.
I first met him at the Mime Troupe's studio on Hillside Avenue
in Salt Lake City. He'd been a teacher in Seattle, but was searching
for something else, and found it in Katie's movement classes.
A few months later he was one of the brighter lights of the International
Mime Festival, learning some of Dimiti's harder juggling tricks
while Katie and Matt showed the whole darn world that America
had mimetic talent too -- opening the door towards Europe. He
joined our group, and sharpened his skills by accepting a previously
under-used invitation from the Trolley Square mall to perform
street theater for their movie patrons. He bought a tour bus when
we needed to go on the road, and helped keep us sane, or failing
that, employed. A year after we met, he and the rest of us Mime
Troupers were in Europe after trekking from the Midwest to the
West Coast and around Utah, and the Western USA. He had talent
that continued to deepen, and curiosity that never slackened.
He visited me when I lived in England, and helped me out when
I suffered hard times in Amsterdam. The last time I saw George,
he recruited Pete Wear into the Mime Troupe for a season, rehearsing
in Salt Lake one more time before permanently moving across the
Atlantic. |
George
as his Third Base clown, along with Katie as Stubby
in 1976. Two years later Third Base was playing on
the Moon with Pete Wear's Batman. |
Altered digitized images Copyright© by Michael Evans 2007
-- Acknowledgements to Jan Jaap Dekker, John Brandon, Pat Eddington,
De Melkweg, and our friendly, but unknown, photographers in Ireland
and Southern California.
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