Jakob Andreff

Jakob "Jean" Andreff (born July 5, 1919 in Paris , † between May 17 and May 21, 1976 in Zurich ), maiden name Jacques Romeo Andreff , was a Swiss circus clown .

Jakob Andreff was born in a hotel on Rue des Martyrs in Paris as the son of the Russian artist Ferdinand and the Swiss Lydia Hänni. His father worked for eight years in Circus Medrano as a single clown (August). The mother came from a family of artists from Circus Knie .

As a toddler, Jakob Andreff was trained in artistry and classical dance by his father and a ballet master. Jakob Andreff describes his father in the rehearsals as a tough and unyielding person who dealt punches. Sometimes with such violence that outsiders intervened spontaneously to end the excess of punishment.

When Jakob Andreff was two years old, the family moved to Germany. There he met his uncle, the clown and artist Fred Enders at Circus Hagenbeck . His uncle inspired him to play the violin and so he learned to use this instrument as a small child. His mother gave him a mini violin for Christmas, which he also learned to master fairly quickly. Jakob Andreff performed the violin in front of an audience a year later.

In 1925 he started school and his free time melted away, because in addition to training as an artist, he now also had to do homework. The family had low incomes and high expenses during this period and suffered frequent poverty. In particular, the fact that their horses had to be housed in expensive private stables in winter and that the grandfather was an alcoholic and gambler who squandered a lot of money meant that the family often couldn't buy anything more to eat.

With the Circus direct from his uncle Julius DC Andreffs toured family through Europe. Jakob Andreff learned various foreign languages. Around the time Jakob Andreff was 10 years old, the family moved back to France and first lived in a hotel near Montmartre . The father was hired some time later by Circus Paurtier and they were allowed to perform as pause filler clowns. One season later, they were also allowed to perform as entrée clowns. Ferdinand Andreff played the white clown and Jakob Andreff played August . As the youngest clown and an accomplished violin player, Jakob Andreff became a crowd favorite, which also earned him envy and resentment from his colleagues.

In the following years he went on a tour of France until 1940 and had various individual and partner appearances in circuses (for example in Cirque Amar , Cirque Rancy , Cirque Joseph Bouglione ). In Paris he had a gala performance with Josephine Baker and Fernandel .

From 1941 to 1944 he was involved in Circus Knie and performed with the brothers Cavallini and Polo Rivel . In 1943 he married Luzia Bezençon. From 1945 he gave guest appearances in circuses in various European countries: in the Netherlands in the circuses Circustheater Carré , Cirque Strassburger and Zirkus Boldini ; in England at Blackpool Tower Circus ; in Germany at the Hansa Theater in Hamburg ; 1946 in Denmark in the Schumann Circus in Copenhagen and in 1949 in the Belli Circus ; 1950 in Switzerland in the City Circus Zurich and together with Pipo Sosmann in the Knie Circus; finally in 1951 again at the Belli circus in Denmark.

After a stroke, he retired to a campsite in the Altstetten district in Zurich and lived in a caravan. He died of a heart condition between May 17 and May 21, 1976.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Clown Andreff died . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 121. May 25, 1976
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Hansruedi Lerch: Andreff, Jean. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Charly Fritzsche, Jakob Andreff: I. Pariser Luft . In: Die Tat , No. 126, May 30, 1976
4. ↑ Charly Fritzsche, Jakob Andreff: II. The first steps as a clown . In: Die Tat , No. 127, May 31, 1976