British Pathe

C/U of a clown, Cocotina, carefully putting a false moustache on under a putty nose; another clown, Coco, is checking his make-up in the background. M/S of the two clowns in their dressing room as Coco puts his jacket on. We are told they are from Bertram Mills Circus (at Olympia at this time).

L/S...

C/U of a clown, Cocotina, carefully putting a false moustache on under a putty nose; another clown, Coco, is checking his make-up in the background. M/S of the two clowns in their dressing room as Coco puts his jacket on. We are told they are from Bertram Mills Circus (at Olympia at this time).

L/S in the circus ring as we see a clown leaping over two bending midgets and doing a forward roll on a mat; he runs back and kicks one of the midgets in the pants, getting a sock round the ear in return. Our two clowns enter the ring in outsize suits; Coco wears huge shoes and Cocotina wears large flipper feet; commentator tells us Coco is Cocotina's grandfather. They join the others and newcomer Cocotina shows us a trick of balancing a bottle on the end of a piece of wood; then spoils the effect by turning the piece of wood upside down, thus revealing the bottle is stuck on. Various funny business follows; kicks in the pants, socks round the ears etc.

A man by the side of the ring is drizzling food colouring over a big creamy cake (actually made of shaving soap). He gives it to Coco, who passes it to the other clown, Jimmy Scott. He then gets into a tug of war with Cocotina over it, and lets go of the cake so it flies into Cocotina's face. As Cocotina wipes the cream off, Coco's hair stands on end.

C/U back in the dressing room we see Cocotina wiping the cream off with a towel and taking off the false nose as Coco watches. Cocotina then takes off the baldy-wig to reveal that, yes! Cocotina is a girl! (Guess you figured it out from the clue in the title.) Her real name is Valentina and she shakes out her hair and rubs some liquid from a bottle onto her face to remove her makeup. Coco reads through his fan mail as Valentina powders her face. She then puts her coat on over her dress, waves goodbye to Coco and walks out. Coco waves and goes back to reading his letters.

Note: the midgets are Little Billy and Little Niki (or Viki). On file is an article from Woman's Mirror about Valentina Rowland; she was 16 at the time. Cuts exist - see separate record.