"All the World's in Paris" is an 1814
comedy song
Comedy music or musical comedy is a genre of music that is comic or humorous in nature. Its history can be traced back to the first century in ancient Greece and Rome, moving forward in time to the Medieval Period, Classical and Romantic eras ...
by the British performer
Joseph Grimaldi
Joseph Grimaldi (18 December 1778 – 31 May 1837) was an English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era.Byrne, Eugene"The patient" Historyextra.com, 13 April 2012 In the early 1800s, ...
. It formed part of the ''Harlequin Whittington''
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...
pantomime first performed at the
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in
London. Sometimes also known as
"All the Word's at Paris" it mocked the fashionable British
upper-class tourists who had flocked to the French capital
Paris following the
defeat of Napoleon. Grimaldi dressed up as an exaggerated
dandy of the
Regency style
Regency architecture encompasses classical buildings built in the United Kingdom during the Regency era
The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer perio ...
as well as traditional
clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
make-up
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
.
A pirated,
parodic play on the song was released under the title "Boney's Return to Paris" in 1815 following
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's escape from
Elba during the
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
, before his defeat at
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
. The original song continued to have relevance during the subsequent post-Waterloo
Allied Occupation of France
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
under the
Duke of Wellington, as the British elite continued to travel to Paris in great numbers. It was the inspiration for a popular print by
George Cruikshank portraying Grimaldi singing the song.
[Findlater p.183]
References
Bibliography
* Buckmster, Jonathon. ''Dickens's Clowns: Charles Dickens, Joseph Grimaldi and the Pantomime of Life''. Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
* Findlater, Richard. ''Joe Grimaldi: His Life and Theatre''. CUP Archive, 1979.
* George, Mary Dorothy. ''Hogarth to Cruickshank: Social Change in Graphic Satire''. Walker, 1967.
* Jensen, Oskar Cox. ''Napoleon and British Song, 1797-1822''. Springer, 2015.
British songs
1814 songs
19th-century songs
Comedy songs
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