Considering how many readers of the Bulletin are also interested in Magic, I dreamed up this routine of combining juggling with magic.
1. Juggle opera hat, cane, and glove. Set hat and gloves on table- vanish cane a la Walsh Cane. With Walsh cane you have a handkerchief left in hands. Drop hank and cane in hat with right hand (right side to audience) Left hand steals a hollow egg with hole. Right hand picks up gloves.
2. Vanish of gloves into egg. As left hand sets egg on table, right steals egg and shell, then into the 1 to 4 egg multiplication trick.
3. Eggs are set on dowels on tray over four glasses, tray is knocked away and the eggs drold into glasses.
4. One egg is real- so you break it in glass, pour it into a newspaper and vanish.
5. Card fans and catches. Jean Hugard and Victor Farelli books on cards give many different flashy catches. Hummer's Boomerang card etc.
6. Balance of burning cone which has been previously filled with liquid from a Magic pitcher.
7. Three ball juggling routine. (see Bulletin p. 137, Stanyon) After running amok with all your three ball moves, balls are switched (a la Joe Marsh, p. 93) for 3 pieces of fruit, one an apple.
8. Eating apple while juggling fruit.
9. Spinning a ball, plate or coin on an umbrella. Umbrella set in a stand inverted. Production of several hundred spring flowers from a paper cone is made, with flowers being poured from cone into umbrella.
JUG JUGGLESON'S LETTER by DOUG COUDEN illustrated by JOE MARSH
Dear Roger. We was rolling along down south through Va and Marie says Now when we get
in to Fla dont start no fights as a thousand smackers per week aint hay. Theres no argument
so I says I'll reform for a while anyways, ha, ha. We finally pulls up at the address in the
add in Miami and I found Mr. Peerless who run the add and I said Here I am Jug Juggleson in
person. Wheres the lad who wants a canon juggling partner. He looks at me funny and said
What do you mean, this here is a canon act. You get shot out of a canon right over them 2
ferris wheels. Well, Roger the ferris wheels is a mile high. I said I have tried everything
but this here is the limit. Well, he says Take it or leave it. I goes back to the trailer and
told Marie and said lets scram back to the Waldorf. No, she says remember its a Grand per week. So I goes
back and signs the contract which says if I get hurt it aint their fault. I takes a gander at the net I'm
supposed to land in and Roger it looks like a 10 year old fish net. Then old man Peerless of the Peerless Flyers
shows me how to stand when I get sprung out of the canon. He says the spring shoots me out and they let off
a big blast of powder at the same time. He asks do I want to rehearse before the night show and I says No,
when I do it I want to get big dough for it and no fooling. O.K. he says but remember before you land turn
over in the air and come down on your back or you'll wind up in the hospital. Roger this is a heck of a job
for a juggler but anyways they pay a G. irregardless. I nearly croaked waiting around the first night. I sweat
blood for an hour but when I got in the canon I was cool as a cucumber. Peerless said Get ready so I bent my
knees, theres a big blast and I'm sailing out over the ferris wheels then I ducks my head down and turned
over in the air and lit on my back in the net as nice as pie. So long, pal. Jug.
THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY JUGGLERS by VI CARLSON
Two of our younger members, Bud Carlson and Stuart Raynolds, both students at Cornell University, were inspired by the Jugglers Convention last summer (where they first became acquainted) to get together a juggling act. They practiced together through the month of July while they were both at Cornell for the summer course, and became proficient enough to try out for the Savage Club, a club in Ithaca devoted to entertainment of various kinds, whose members have included Adolphe Menjou, Louis Wolheim, Kenneth Roberts, Franchot Tone and various other famed artists, writers, and musicians. The boys put together a skit in which Bud is the professor, in mortar-board and horned rimmed spectacles, and Stuart is the pupil, with red freshman cap. This act gained them acceptance to the club by unanimous vote of the Savage Club members, so now this noted group has its first two juggler members.
The boys juggled in the Annual Show put on by the Savage Club, and were the hit of the show, both evenings it was given. They worked with balls and clubs with the smoothness of a professional team. Their little bits of comedy kept the audience entertained and they received a tremendous hand for their work. Prior to this show Bud and Stuart juggled at a Veterans Hospital at Bath, N.Y., with a Cornell group of entertainers and at a reception given by the American Students at Cornell for the foreign students. The only limit on their ability to grant requests for performance of their juggling act will be their tough courses, which require all their available time. Stuart is a Chemistry major and Bud's course is Engineering Physics. Both boys really got their incentive for going forward in juggling at the convention, and it is to be hoped that our next year's convention will prove just as inspiring to all those who attend.
THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY JUGGLERS
Buford A. Carlson Stuart Raynolds
SCHOOL SKETCH IDEAS by DOUG COUDEN page 4
A different twist can be achieved by presenting the show as a dress rehearsal. In this plot the actor goes to book another school, gets the date and is back by the time the actress has finished her first act. Still another angle for this type of simple plot- One leaves to wire a circus, theatre, night club, gets wire to join immediately and they rehearse for the type of show they are to join.
FUN IN A BOOKING OFFICE
This is the ideal act idea for the man and wife team wherein the fem is not a performer. In this one she is an actress, though, playing the part of manager of a booking office.
Curtain: Manager seated at desk (teacher's desk, available in schools) writing. In answer to knock on door she crosses stage, opens door with request to come in. Enter performer with large bag. He places bag near desk and tells booker what kind of act (type of act is immaterial) he does and how he wows them. Booker states she has several acts of that type and is not interested. He tells how he knocked them off the seats at - - - School. She still says nix but he insists that he do his act right there in the office. She still objects but he opens his bag, removes a make-up box, places it on the end of her desk and proceeds to make-up. She says he does not have to make-up but he goes right ahead with grotesque, comedy wig, mustache, grease- paint, etc. He then removes his coat and takes wardrobe coat from bag and puts it on. Manager says he does not have to dress for the act but he then takes comedy pants from bag. She OBJECTS STRENUOUSLY but performer slips the large, baggy pants over his street trousers!
From the bag he takes a straw hat and cane. These he quickly transforms into a prop table (obtainable at Magic dealers). By now the manager is resigned to her fate. She sits back and watches while he does his act, giving it everything. He nearly knocks himself out trying to please, working hard and furiously, getting a good hand from audience at close. After taking a bow he crosses to desk and asks how she liked it. She tells him audiences don't go for that old hokum any more. What they want these days is a --- act (one not so popular in that territory). She emphatically states that she can't use his act. He sinks exhausted into a chair. The chair collapses. Curtain.
RECAP.
For shriek reaction from kids, the pants business has it, also the pratt-fall finish. For this idea an active type act is best so that performer can work himself into a lather, get a good reaction from the audience only to find the answer to all his efforts is No Soap. The making up angle has good sales possibilities to the principal while booking as well as creating audience interest in schools.
At this point it might be well to suggest other "Fun in---" acts. The use of the word FUN in the title of the school show is good business as kids go to school shows for two important (?) reasons. The first is to get out of class and the second is to laugh. So other acts of this type appeal if the sketch has a simple plot,
SCHOOL SKETCH IDEAS by DOUG COUDEN page 5
a twist with laugh elements. There are many ideas, such as Fun in a Kitchen, Living Room, Gym (for acros), Hotel Lobby, Restaurant, etc. To have just the set and do a dumb act is not the idea. Lines are the thing. These bring out the simple plot and transform the performer into an actor, thus making him doubly appealing.
WESTERN
Western atmosphere has a very strong appeal to kids. In this act idea will be found one of the strongest, sock finishes in the entire realm of show business - for school kids, of course. This is for a trio, working in western wardrobe. The pay-off close is action galore. Announcement is made that a scene will be enacted from a western picture, mentioning the name of a well-known cowboy star. The scene should be one of those knock-down, drag-out fights to a finish, preceeded by banging of six- guns. The action knocks tables and chairs over, real punches are thrown and a general good time melee is had by two cowboys with the fem assisting occasionally with a tap over the konk with a chair, dishes, etc.
The announcement builds it up. The scene should be taken from an actual picture with a name western star. It goes without saying that to see such action in the flesh the kids would go wild. Not all performers could take it but if you can it's a sure-fire money maker. Those most likely to survive such an act are knock-about acros, roller skaters, adagio dancers and the like.
TIPS
To build the sketch idea around your act is pioneering a little prospected field. It means that the performer must not only turn actor but he must also turn playwright. But don't let this stump you, The most practical method of working up lines is to start from scratch. Decide on the plot idea, then ad-lib the lines. Go through the lines and business several times, before setting it down on paper. When you feel that the sketch sounds natural, forceful, and authentic, write it all down and learn the lines dead-letter perfect. Also be sure of the business. With this system the reader will find a simplified method of reaching his goal; becoming an actor-performer.
Of course, many sketches are available. One firm, T.S. Denison & Co., 623 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, issues a catalog of many vaudeville sketches. However, very few of these would be suitable for the purpose, although ideas could be gleaned from them. What the performer should do is arrive at the idea of his sketch which would fit in with the type of act he performs and go on from there, working out a simple theme wherein his acts can be presented logically in the sketch. A good pattern is that of the Behind the Scenes outline. Open with the first half of the sketch, the main body of the show being used to present the acts and closing with last half of sketch.
- THE END -
Jugglers' Junction by BETTY GORHAM
If Clyde Bros. Circus comes your way, be sure to visit it, as any jug would have a field day on the show. Nearly everyone juggles! Peggy, Lew, and Billie Henderson do some of the fastest club and hoop passing I've ever seen. Many of their tricks are original and all are very flashy. The Connors, the Hartleys, Hap Henry, and Frank LeMoind, clown jug, also do their share of tossing. Had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth Hanneford, head of the famous Hanneford family of riders. Six generations ago, in 1777, Ned Hanneford and John Scott competed as jugglers before George III; they started a family rivalry which went on for 113 years until Nana Scott married Ned Hanneford IV. They then produced the famous bareback riding act.
Frank LeMoind tells of an unusual incident which happened when he was in an army camp. One day a sergeant said to him, "The major wants to see you, LeMoind" Thinking that someone was playing a joke on him, he ignored the remark and forgot about it. But soon a lieutenant approached him and repeated that the major had been wanting to see him. Frank still thought it a practical joke until a few days later, when he happened to be in a room adjacent to the major's office. A lieutenant glanced up at him and remarked, "Say the major has been wanting to see you for several days." Finally Frank decided to find out if they were "on the level". He entered the major's office. A red-faced, stern-looking officer greeted him. "LeMoind" he shouted, then paused. "I've watched you juggle, and I've been trying to juggle three oranges. Tell me, which one do you throw first?"
FLASH! It is reported from authoratative sources that Jug Juggleson was killed performing his cannon act in Noshus, Fla.
Ed's Note: Certainly sorry to hear of the untimely death of Jug Juggleson who has certainly led a colorful and active career. On another page appears the last letter we received just as he was breaking into the cannon act. We're trying to contact Marie for further details.
About European Juggling by DICK HARRIS
In my first article I gave you some names of jugglers of the so-called school of Rastelli. Now we shall see how variations of the strict classic themes have grown. All classic jugglers work on terra firma. Some jugglers make their act more difficult by balancing themselves on a unicycle. The most famous of these was the German, Fredy Zay, who could flash eight rings on the unicycle. Another very highly developed unicyclist is Charly Wood. And the name of Jack Gordon should also be mentioned. Another group works on slack wire. The Reverhos who started pre war as amateurs, are the best wire jugglers. Another is Jacky Lupescu who performs some stunts on wire in dark with luminous rings whizzing all around his body. A third group, deviating from the classic rules is the comic group. Some of Europes leading Jug....... are Bela Kremo, Rostando, and above all the inimitable Gaston Palmer. The latter was one of the first if not first of Europeans to speak while juggling. His idea, undoubtedly original, was to miss on every trick he tried to perform. His act seems to fail entirely, but suddenly the true inspiration
comes and in tempo he repeats all his failure stunts - but now good! One feat after the other perfectly. With this idea Gaston Palmer has become world-famous and has obtained fees equal in magnitude to Rastelli himself.
Of course, there are many jugglers who walked off the beaten path and some of them found very clever novelties indeed. There is for instance Towa who juggles 3, 4, 5, and 6 balls to the bottom perfectly and has a little dog on the stage which catches each last ball! There is Jack Meyand who forms a whole act with juggling, spinning and balancing tennis-rackets, all unicycling. Or Bert Holt who hangs with his teeth from a moon while spinning a ring around each leg and juggling six rings with his hands. In next letter, something about the principal groups.
Shootin' The Breeze with ROGER
During the couple of months of suspended publication quite a great deal of news accumulated much of which is out of date. One thing is certain, though, and that is if you want to sit back and eventually see all the jugglers in the world perform, better find a shack somewhere in Baltimore for from Vin Carey's monthly report of the Baltimore Scene it looks like those that haven't been through, will be. Take for example in November if you would have followed Vin closely you would have contacted Eddie Tierney, Alf Loyal, Charlie Riano, and The Elgins all of which ended up in some grand get together with juggling, music and eats- - what more is there! And then in December there was the Lind party with 3 Swifts, Pielert & Schofield, Regester, Lou Meyer, Thumser, Gus Clark, Bill Adamson, Tierney, Doris Hall, Phinney Indritz, Ida Kriminger, the Walter O'Dells, Ed Heyl, Elsa Phillips, Harry and Clara Lind and Vi Carlson, and of course the Careys. Then it seems everything was quiet for a couple of weeks until the Peiro Brothers showed up and things started flying again. All this activity points out one thing. Jugglers can have fun and mutually beneficial meetings- all it takes is at least one guy like Vin to make the arrangements and get the ball started.
Vin recently signed up Will Wright (who also played Baltimore in Dec.) for IJA and a Bulletin subscription. Will's permanent address is Lawton, Okla. and Vin knifes me with, "Note the address, by the way are there any jugglers in Tulsa? I will be glad to sign them up also, yak, yak, yak." Knife me again Vin, I like it!
Roy Henderson reminds all collectors about the Fred Allen spread in January 29 Colliers; Nelson Eddie juggling 3 light bulbs in Feb. Modern Screen.
We recently heard from Hammatt & Sons, 11356 Orangewood, Anaheim 5, Calif, who are making and selling the Diabolo top made of rubber and it ocurred to us that this might be an item that could be promoted in schools by jugglers that play schools. A little diabolo spinning could be indulged in by the act and then a contest announced together with a tie in with the local candy or drug store. You'd sell the tops to the store together with the contest plan. Contest award could be made by store or contest winner could be picked on your return to the school the following season.