"Monsieur Gouffe", Man-Monkey: An Early Icon of the Illegitimate Theatre

In the pantheon of illegitimate performers of the early nineteenth-century entertainment landscape in Britain, the artist whose sobriquet was "Monsieur Gouffe" deserves to figure more prominently alongside the better-known personages of the genre. Over an active career span of two decades from 1825 until 1845 (at home and abroad), Gouffe was widely regarded as an incomparable impersonator of the so-called "monkey tribe", a versatile artist whose slight physical appearance belied his strength and agility. Based on numerous reports, it is clear that Gouffe's astonishing exhibitions contributed significantly to the popular culture of the period and consequently, he justifies more thorough investigation. Accordingly, this paper presents a critical reassessment (not a strict career biography) of the Gouffe phenomenon primarily from a performance perspective, informed from disparate sources. These include contemporary accounts, newspaper reviews, playbills, original playtexts, and more recent scholarship. Although Gouffe's displays were grounded upon a simple template, they nevertheless transpired as more nuanced and original than that offered by many of his contemporaries and imitators, with few exceptions. His career must however be considered within the historical context of the origins and development of simian impersonations acts in general, a topic introduced in brief outline in the following section.

Genesis of Man-Monkey Acts

The somewhat bizarre visual spectacle of simian impersonation in the British entertainment context, be it on stage, at fairs, in circuses, or music halls, has a surprisingly long and complex history that has only recently been seriously addressed (Stockwell; Ince). Commonly referred to as "The Monkey Drama", it was E. L. Blanchard, the author of Drury Lane pantomimes, who first suggested the phenomenon warranted more attention (Era, 7 October 1882: 5). The spectacle of famous Regency actors such as Joe Grimaldi and Edmund Kean in simian garb, referred to by Jane Moody as "illegitimate celebrities" (208-41), have origins in English drama as far back as the Renaissance. According to Anita Feinberg, these early displays were more commonly found in the masque and anti-masque to exclusive audiences, than on stage. Acts involving artists disguised in monkey suits that appeared in early nineteen-century Britain are thought however to have more directly originated in France in the mideighteenth century (like melodrama itself), as inferred by Diana Snigurowicz.¹ Well before the Theatres Act of 1843, and the polemics of the Darwinian debate (following release of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1859) and the "missing link" trope, the early 1800s saw the beginning of the man-monkey vogue proper in Britain. This emerged in musical form (as burletta, a verbal form that encompassed melodrama) in the patent and minor theatres, and often juxtaposed on the same bill with the more legitimate drama (Figure 1).

In a recent study I trace this largely unexplored entertainment genre from the early nineteenth century up to the 1920s in Britain from the perspective of the key melodramas that not only defined such acts, but also of the artists who pioneered them (Ince). An alternative account directed more at the general reader is given by Alan Stockwell who devotes useful individual chapters to narrative chronologies of the careers of certain of the better-known artists, Gouffe included (64-91). Although approaching the subject from different perspectives, these original contributions have revealed a multitude of artists of differing specialisms (acrobats, gymnasts, pantomimists, equilibrists, contortionists etc.) who acted man-monkey roles, some specialising wholly in this form of entertainment (as did Gouffe), others found only occasionally in such roles. Of all the early pioneers in the man-monkey business, Gouffe has attracted greater comment than other performers, not only on account of the extraordinary nature and originality of his exhibitions, but also on account of his persona. Consequently, an air of mystery has surrounded this performer, and been responsible for much speculation as to his true identity, a topic briefly reviewed in the following section.

A Question of Identity

Earlier academic interest in Gouffe may be traced back to successive brief notes by Laurence Senelick and Derek Forbes. The former concluded that