Wednesday, August 1, 1928
The caricature of Pepito the Spanish Clown, above, was drawn by Australian caricaturist and journalist Kerwin Maegraith. He was a true Aussie larrikin who encountered the most famous people of his time from the 1920s to the 1960s. He knew and drew Picasso in Paris, Einstein and Lawrence of Arabia in London, Hemingway in Hawaii, and lived with Errol Flynn in Sydney.
Mr. Maegraith’s grandson has created a delightful blog about the life of Kerwin Maegraith, posting excerpts from his grandfather’s autobiography. One entry mentions Pepito! It is reasonable to assume that Kerwin Maegraith and Pepito were friends, because Pepito and Joanne toured Australia with the Tivoli vaudeville circuit in 1928, and Mr. Maegraith visited California in the 1930s.
The caricature above was sold at auction after the death of Pepito’s widow, Joanne Perez. It is my hope that the current owner of the Pepito caricature by Kerwin Maegraith will contact me using the email link at the bottom of this page.
Here is the excerpt from Maegraith’s autobiography, about Pepito:
“Pepito used to tell the story of JoJo, his fellow Spanish clown. JoJo had a performing duck. Out of a job, broke and hungry the circus called and said, ‘When we can put you on we’ll wire you’. Six weeks later, the circus wired Jo Jo, ‘Can place your act for Madrid season.’ Replied JoJo, ‘Sorry, I’ve eaten it.’”
Excerpt from http://kerwinmaegraith.blogspot.com/2007/07/kerwin-and-picasso.html
Reprinted by permission from the estate of Kerwin Maegraith
All Rights Reserved
Contact maegraith@gmail.com
Pepito & Joanne 