Today in Comics History, April 23: Happy birthday, Ruggero Leoncavallo!

Born on this day in 1857, so sing loud if you're gonna do that birthday melody: Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian opera composer and librettist, and composer of the famous clown opera Pagliacci, which we all know from 1940s cartoons and memes on Twitter. Oh: and from Batman comics:



from "The Grand Opera Murders!" in Batman (1940 series) #40 (DC, April 1947), script by Don C. Cameron (?), pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Gene McDonald, letters by Joe Letterese (?)
A rare opportunity for the Joker to dress up as a clown, and he didn't! What's this world coming to?!?



from "The Joker's Crime Costumes!" in Batman (1940 series) #63 (DC, February 1951), script by Bill Finger, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris, letters by Ira Schnapp
Altho' you can usually fit the entire plot of this opera into 280 characters, why not read more about it at your local library in an old comic book?


"Pagliacci" from Classics Illustrated #62 [Western Stories] (Gilberton, August 1949), creator unknown
So please jouously salute Ruggero Leoncavallo and wish him a happy, fun-filled birthday, and if you don't feel quite up to it, why not head down to your friendly neighborhood opera house and see Pagliacci, which ought to cheer you right up...oh, I'm so sorry, Signore Canio, I didn't know it was you.