No more Christmas circus for Joop Teuteberg this year. After more than half a century, ‘the best musical clown in the Netherlands’ thinks it’s over. Joop (76) performed as clown Gino with world-famous artists in renowned circuses. He is now enjoying his retirement in his luxurious chalet in Rucphen during Christmas.
Joop has now been living in the area of the Rucphen forest for fifteen years. “With my wife, two dogs, a jacuzzi and a sauna,” he says with a generous laugh. “Not bad for an old clown like me.”
Last year Joop played his last Christmas performance in Circus Royal by his son Toni. He would ideally like to shine in the arena again in the coming days as ‘Gino’.
His fragile health is a spoilsport: “I suffer from heart rhythm disorders and diabetes. I can only walk a short distance and then I have to gasp for oxygen again. It’s not possible anymore.”
“I ran away from home twice to my uncle Toni Boltini’s circus.”
Joop grew up in the circus of his parents, who later exchanged their artistic lives for running a successful café in Dordrecht. “My father didn’t want me to go back to the circus. I had talent and that’s why he made me go to the conservatory to become a musician. I didn’t care for those classical works because I loved circus and jazz music.”
“I ran away from home twice to my uncle Toni Boltini’s circus. I was always brought back by my father. The third time I went to Belgium with another uncle and I still managed to start clowning. And now I can enjoy Brahms’ music for hours,” he says, laughing.
The retired clown has had an impressive career in which he performed for Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Prince Bernard, among others.
He did TV recordings with international stars such as Freddy Quinn and Catarina Valente. In the Netherlands he shared the stage with Jos Brink, Lee Towers, Anita Meyer, the theater duo Mini & Maxi and the Brabant and Limburg Symphony Orchestra.
“There are those artists who keep everything and hang it up. I don’t mind that.”
In addition, the Rucphen resident had his own circus for 25 years, in which he gave performances with his first wife and later with his son Toni. 53 years of history of this career are stored in the wooden shed next to his chalet.
“Look, these are my floppy shoes. My wife didn’t want me to get rid of them so I still have them. I actually never come here because what do I do with that old junk. There are those artists who keep everything and hang it up. That doesn’t bother me. All the memories are in my head.”
Joop is not attached to things, but he is attached to his musical instruments that are prominently displayed in the corner of the living room. During the conversation, he habitually takes his trumpet in hand.
“Now you definitely want me to play a piece?” To ask the question is to answer it and so he puts his trumpet to his lips. ‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas‘ reverberates through the room, cautious and brittle at first. A few bars later, clear and virtuosic, goosebumps.
“Enabling people to enjoy themselves with a laugh or a tear is wonderful.”
“You know what?” he continues. “Making people enjoy themselves with a laugh or a tear is wonderful. That they can take their mind off things for a while and not have to think about war or misery. But make no mistake. This is a profession that you have to work hard for. If you do it from your heart, you can become a good clown.”
After some hesitation, Joop decides to get in the car for a trip to Dordrecht where his son’s Christmas circus is set up. Preparations for the premiere this Friday are in full swing in the Circus Royal tent. “Now that I walk into the tent here, I miss it. That’s why I didn’t want to do this to myself. But I am very proud of what Toni has achieved here.”
“He was just a clown and now he is Joop who lives like a god in Brabant.”
“I wish I was twenty years younger because then I would just be standing here. This was my place,” says Joop as he walks to the middle of the track with tears in his eyes. “Circus is a disease that you can never get rid of. It was nice, he was just a clown and now he is Joop who lives like a god in Brabant.”
