Page 12 - Oundle Life October 2023

CIRCUS
LIFE
Coco the Clown
Many funny men have tragic pasts, but few could match the trauma endured by Nikolai
was Truzzi who nicknamed Polyakov ‘Koschka’ or ‘Kokishka’, which means ‘cat’ in Russian. That
Petrovich Polyakov – the original Coco the Clown.
Born in 1900, in what is now Latvia
but was then part of the Russian
Empire, Polyakov’s family was
desperately poor and, at just five years
old, he would sing for food around
cafes and bars, as his father had been conscripted into the Russo-Japanese war and young Polyakov was on the brink of starvation.
Despite the tragic circumstances, it was this begging/performing that would inspire Polyakov’s later career.
Living the cliché, Polyakov ran away to join the circus when he was eight years old and trained under the legendary Russian clown and acrobat, Vitaly Lazarenko. He also trained under Rudolfo Truzzi, learning the trapeze, further acrobatics, and how to ride a horse. It
nickname soon evolved into ‘Coco’ and a legend was born.
His horse-riding skills led to Polyakov joining the Russian cavalry during WWI and serving in the trenches. He later described being crouched at the bottom of a trench, fearing for his life, while the earth was
dissolving into smoke and fire around him. After WWI Polyakov was then variously
captured and enlisted by both sides of the Russian Revolution, before escaping, dressed as a girl, amongst a troupe of Mongolian travelling entertainers.
By the early 1920s, Polyakov was married (he eventually had six children with Valentina Novikova), and worked for the Russian State Circus, before travelling to Germany in the middle part of the decade and establishing
Polyakov as Coco was an instant success
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