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001 76741
003 UtSlPG
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006 m
007 cr n
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010 _a81202170
040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aPN
100 1 _aWalker, Whimsical,
_d1851-1934
245 1 0 _aFrom sawdust to Windsor Castle
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2025
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
500 _aRelease date is 2025-08-27
508 _adeaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
520 _aFrom sawdust to Windsor Castle by Whimsical Walker is a memoir written in the early 20th century. It charts the life of a British clown and circus–pantomime performer from a harsh childhood and fairground apprenticeships through international circus circuits to big‑top fame and command performances. Expect bustling backstage anecdotes, animal‑training exploits, and a front‑row view of popular entertainment from the circus ring to Drury Lane. The opening of this memoir follows Walker from a stepmother’s beatings in Hull to running away at nine and hustling for work in fairs and booths—tumbling, touting for a photographer, and posing as a “living head.” He drifts through early pantomime at Whitby and a first taste of London before real training under circus proprietor Pablo Fanque, who makes him a clown and drills him in horses, vaulting, and discipline. A string of itinerant engagements brings pratfalls and peril—stage collapses, a botched double somersault, a slack‑rope scare, a lion‑tamer’s death, and endless practical jokes—alongside abortive stabs at “serious” acting at Astley’s and in mumming booths. We see provincial circuits, rough lodging‑house comedy, and brushes with notoriety, from meeting the executioner Marwood to a farcical day in court. He then sails to America, survives a brutal storm and a spilled jar of whisky, plays New York during the blowing up of Hell Gate, and meets culture clashes that make clowning risky, before trekking by caravan across the prairies with Native guides. After side trips to Java and Australia and witnessing a New York “spiritualist” swindle, he joins Barnum and Bailey, bonds with a newborn elephant, and is dispatched under sealed orders to secure the famed “Jumbo.” This opening section closes with the uproar over Jumbo’s sale, legal wrangles, a canny publicity delay, and the eventual shipment and celebrated American arrival of the beloved beast. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cLondon: Stanley Paul & Co., 1922
653 _aWalker, Whimsical, 1851-1934
653 _aComedians -- Great Britain -- Biography
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/fromsawdusttowin00walkiala
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76741
999 _c117466
_d117466