Our cover pictures Massimiliano Truzzi juggling six plates while at the same time bouncing a ball up and down on his forehead.The picture is not just a publicity picture, we know, because we had the pleasure of seeing him perform this difficult feat, when he appeared with the Polack Bros. Circus in Tulsa last week.
Truzzi - Russian born - has been presenting his skillful juggling in this country for the past four years. Previous to his engagement with Polack Bros., he appeared with the Folies Bergere Unit.
Truzzi was brought to this country by Ringling North. At that time a juggling act performing alone in a circus was an unheard of occurrence - There were always at least three or four jugglers performing at the same time. Truzzi claims the honor of being the first juggler to perform in Madison Square Garden with the Ringling Bros. Circus and present his act alone.
Truzzi is a real juggling enthusiast - you'll enjoy meeting him, if he comes your way. He does juggling, because he likes it, and his skillful act reflects the many hours of practice required for an act of this type.
One of the high-lights of his act for us, was the pop-corn gag. Truzzi throws a ball into the audience for someone to throw back, he, in turn catching the returned ball on a knife held in his mouth. After repeating this a couple of times, he throws the ball to a man, who in attempting to catch it upsets a box of pop-corn held by a passing pop-corn vendor, pop-corn flying over everyone in the vicinity. We remarked to Truzzi how well we liked the gag and he said, "That's the trouble - people like the pop-corn gag, and it takes no practice - I do six plates and bounce the ball on forehead after ten years of practice and people just say, it's good."
Another stunt that Truzzi gets a lot out of, is the spinning ball on the fingertip. "Child's play" said Truzzi when we mentioned it and proceeded to demonstrate in our basement with our ball - we're still working on it.
In his act, which is one of the fastest we've seen for some time, he includes clubs, sticks, plates, balls, and finishes with fire sticks.
Truzzi's two ambitions are to someday conduct a school for jugglers in Sarasota, Florida, his home, and to write a book on juggling in Russian. We hope he does both, and that we can attend the school - the book in Russian, we'll get translated.