November 8, 2010
In 1927, Pepito the Spanish Clown purchased a one-of-a-kind miniature car to use in his vaudeville act. He also used this unique theatrical automobile on the city streets everywhere he traveled, as a rolling advertisement for his upcoming appearances. In 1928, the California license plate number was 1-681-904, and would have been registered under one of these names: Jose Escobar Perez; Jose Escobar; Jose Escobar Pepito; Jose E. Perez; or Pepito Perez. The whereabouts of this unique theatrical automobile remain a mystery …
Insurance papers in Pepito & Joanne’s archive state the car was a 1925 Monroe Pezel roadster. Based on intensive research, I had originally thought that The Monroe Body Works in Michigan was the automaker, and Oliver Pezel was the Los Angeles-area auto dealer who miniaturized the body and frame to Pepito’s specifications.
However, a 1948 newspaper interview with Pepito and Joanne reveals that “The car they shipped abroad on their European tours reposes in the garage, a memento of the past. And we were not surprised to learn that it is ‘the smallest car in the world.’ Especially made by the Packard people in Detroit for Pepito, it is four feet long and two feet high — and the veteran clown doesn’t have to be encouraged to show it. He and Joanne used it for advance publicity, touring the cities they played outfitted for the act.” This newspaper item proves that Pepito and Joanne owned the car up to 1948, but offers no clues as to its final fate. It is possible that they sold the car when they moved from Corona Del Mar to Santa Ana in 1949. But to whom???
After hours of research into old Monroes on the internet, and emailing the webmaster of the internet’s only Monroe website, I have had little hope of learning anything new about this fascinating little car.
But then I received a special email from 99-year-old Muriel Combes and her daughter Marilyn, who read last month’s article about Pepito & Joanne in The Orange County Register. Muriel has a special memory of riding in this very car with Pepito on a summer day in 1928. They drove together on the surface streets of Los Angeles, from the Athens district, all the way down to the docks in Wilmington. Muriel’s big brother, Clifford Combes, was a clown acrobat with Pepito & Co. from 1927 into the 1930s. On that momentous day in 1928, Pepito, Joanne and Clifford were departing for a six month tour of Australia with the Tivoli vaudeville circuit. Upon arrival at the docks, the unusual little car was loaded onto the boat; it was part of Pepito’s stage act. Muriel told me in a recent phone interview that Pepito would actually drive the car onto the theater stage and do a routine with it. Muriel recalls that at the conclusion of her amazing ride in the miniature roadster, her legs were numb from being cramped in the tiny passenger compartment, and she could barely get out of the car or stand up. Muriel confirms that Pepito’s little car resembled a miniature Packard.
In 1927, Pepito the Spanish Clown purchased a one-of-a-kind miniature car to use in his vaudeville act. He also used this unique theatrical automobile on the city streets everywhere he traveled, as a rolling advertisement for his upcoming appearances. In 1928, the California license plate number was 1-681-904, and would have been registered under one of these names: Jose Escobar Perez; Jose Escobar; Jose Escobar Pepito; Jose E. Perez; or Pepito Perez. The whereabouts of this unique theatrical automobile remain a mystery…
Insurance papers in Pepito & Joanne’s archive state the car was a 1925 Monroe Pezel roadster. Based on intensive research, I had originally thought that The Monroe Body Works in Michigan was the automaker, and Oliver Pezel was the Los Angeles-area auto dealer who miniaturized the body and frame to Pepito’s specifications.
However, a 1948 newspaper interview with Pepito and Joanne reveals that “The car they shipped abroad on their European tours reposes in the garage, a memento of the past. And we were not surprised to learn that it is ‘the smallest car in the world.’ Especially made by the Packard people in Detroit for Pepito, it is four feet long and two feet high — and the veteran clown doesn’t have to be encouraged to show it. He and Joanne used it for advance publicity, touring the cities they played outfitted for the act.” This newspaper item proves that Pepito and Joanne owned the car up to 1948, but offers no clues as to its final fate. It is possible that they sold the car when they moved from Corona Del Mar to Santa Ana in 1949. But to whom???
After hours of research into old Monroes on the internet, and emailing the webmaster of the internet’s only Monroe website, I have had little hope of learning anything new about this fascinating little car.
But then I received a special email from 99-year-old Muriel Combes and her daughter Marilyn, who read last month’s article about Pepito & Joanne in The Orange County Register. Muriel has a special memory of riding in this very car with Pepito on a summer day in 1928. They drove together on the surface streets of Los Angeles, from the Athens district, all the way down to the docks in Wilmington. Muriel’s big brother, Clifford Combes, was a clown acrobat with Pepito & Co. from 1927 into the 1930s. On that momentous day in 1928, Pepito, Joanne and Clifford were departing for a six month tour of Australia with the Tivoli vaudeville circuit. Upon arrival at the docks, the unusual little car was loaded onto the boat; it was part of Pepito’s stage act. Muriel told me in a recent phone interview that Pepito would actually drive the car onto the theater stage and do a routine with it. Muriel recalls that at the conclusion of her amazing ride in the miniature roadster, her legs were numb from being cramped in the tiny passenger compartment, and she could barely get out of the car or stand up. Muriel confirms that Pepito’s little car resembled a miniature Packard.
And just this morning, I found a new clue! With a magnifying glass, one can see on the front tire of Pepito’s car, imprinted directly into the rubber of the tire’s sidewall, “Landon’s Midget Balloon, 21 x 440, Made for Jack Landon, Los Angeles, California, Designer and Builder of America’s Smallest Car.” And on the rear tire it reads, “The Gates Rubber Company, Denver, Co., Aeroplane Type.”
Pepito & Joanne 