Early life Bologna was born into a performing family. His father, Pietro Bologna, was an Italian clown performer, who became famous for his ability to play the flute through each nostril and to play the drum while
tightrope walking. Bologna's mother was an actress, and his siblings, Louis (d. 1808) and Barbara (1786–1804), performed with the family act. Jack made his debut on the Italian stage at age 11, soon afterwards coming to England in 1787, where he met the ten-year-old
Joseph Grimaldi, who had begun performing in the
pantomimes of his actor father Giuseppe. The two young performers formed a close friendship. From there, Bologna made his first appearance on the English stage with his family's
tumbling act, which initially toured the provincial theatres. The Bolognas became popular in the provinces and took up an engagement at the
Sadler's Wells Theatre in London in 1792 where, among other actors, they appeared in ''Medea's Kettle; or, Harlequin Renovated
and La Tableau Chinois''. The piece was a success, and the theatre's proprietors engaged him in further productions.
Career On 24 November 1797, Bologna opened in the part of Setric in the Christmas pantomime
The Round Tower. In 1798, he returned briefly to Norwich where he starred as Bertrand in
The Knights of Malta. On 3 June 1800, he married Harriet Bath Barnewell, a dancer and vocalist, in
Hanover Square, London. In 1801, Bologna choreographed the production
Rinaldo Rinaldini at London's
Royal Circus, in which he played the . From 1802, he appeared at Sadler's Wells as Harlequin, and, with his brother Louis, starred in the
burletta Edward and Susan which Jack also composed. Also in the cast was Joseph Grimaldi, who played the part of
Clown. Bologna and Grimaldi would often collaborate professionally and would continue a lifelong friendship until Grimaldi's death in 1837. In 1805, Bologna succeeded James Byrne as Harlequin at the Covent Garden theatre and, the following year, along with Grimaldi, he starred in
Thomas Dibdin's Christmas pantomime
Harlequin and Mother Goose; or, the Golden Egg. The show was a success and ran for ninety-two nights, selling 300,000 tickets. So successful was Bologna's partnership with Grimaldi that between 1807 and 1814, they earned £2,000 in various
benefit performances. Between November 1805 and February 1806, he was engaged by
Charles Dibdin to appear at the Amphitheatre in
Dublin, and the following year he choreographed a number of successful pantomimes and plays at the Royal Circus, including
The Cloud King,
The False Friend,
The Mysterious Freebooter,
The Sorceress of Strozzi,
Black Beard,
Moms and Mercury,
Buenos Ayres,
Werter and Charlotte and
Edwin of the Green. On 8 July 1808, Bologna was hired to entertain guests at a
masked ball at
Burlington House. There, he met
Lord Byron, who admitted to being such a fan of pantomime that he based his poem
Don Juan on an
afterpiece given by Delpini, a character from the
harlequinade. So impressed was he at Bologna's performance, that he asked Bologna to reserve him a seat at all of his future benefits. Due to the physical demands of performing as Harlequin, Bologna broke his
collar bone during a performance of
Harlequin and the Swans in 1813. Bologna's wife, Harriet, died in 1814, and he remarried in 1816, to the dancer Louisa Bristow, who was his friend Grimaldi's sister-in-law. Bologna had met Bristow in 1810 while she was playing
Columbine during one of Grimaldi's harlequinades. In 1815–16, Bologna performed at the Covent Garden Theatre, but he left in 1817. After a ten-year absence from Sadler's Wells, Bologna returned in 1819 to appear in the only pantomime that Grimaldi authored, ''The Fates; or, Harlequin's Holy Day'', in which he played harlequin. The piece was a flop, mainly because of its writer's ailing health and sudden departure from the production. While engaged at the Pantheon Theatre in
Edinburgh, Bologna secured himself a lucrative contract with the proprietors of London's
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to appear in the 1819 Christmas pantomime, earning him more than £6 per week. Bologna died penniless in
Glasgow, Scotland, aged 71, of natural causes. ==References==