Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

Rafael Padilla

Rafael Padilla, known professionally as Chocolat, was a clown who performed in a Paris circus around the 1900s. Rafael was of Afro-Cuban descent and was one of the earliest successful black entertainers in modern France. He was the first black clown to play a lead role in a circus pantomime act, and with his longtime partner George Foottit, they revolutionized the art of clowning by pairing the sophisticated white clown with the foolish auguste clown.