BOOKS

THE SUPER ATHLETES  pp.328-329

Juggling

Probably the two most famous European jugglers of the last hundred years were Paul Spadoni of Germany and Enrico Rastelli of Italy. Spadoni was born in 1870, and reached the peak of his skill in the early 1900s. While he did a great deal of his balancing and juggling with heavy paraphernalia, he was equally capable in handling small, light objects with speed and agility. He could either balance a small automobile (!) on a perch on one shoulder, or juggle at one time six fresh eggs. In order to show that the eggs were not hard-boiled, Spadoni, after juggling them, would break them in a plate. This six-egg feat has never been duplicated. After retiring from his exhibitions, Spadoni became one of the foremost European theatrical agents and producers.

The best feats of the versatile Italian juggler, Enrico Rastelli (1896-1931), were to juggle at one time either 12 balls or 8 plates! In these feats he is said to have been without an equal. While standing on his hands and spinning a hoop on one of his legs, he could cause a ball to "climb" from his head up his back to the sale of his other foot. All his feats were performed with "inimitable ease,"

Another topnotch juggler and equilibrist of the 1890s was Paul Cinquevalli. One of his feats was to spin a heavy tub high above him on the point of a pole which he balanced, then knock the pole away and catch the tub squarely on the spike of a helmet that he wore. He also performed the "iron jaw" feat of holding by his teeth the rung of a chair in which a man was sitting. He made the feat look very easy by meanwhile sitting himself in a chair at a table, apparently reading a newspaper! He would conclude this part of his act by arising, still holding the chair and man, and strolling off the stage while he juggled three or four "cannonballs."

During recent years one of the greatest jugglers has been and is Francis Brunn. The way he is able to throw and catch spinning balls unerringly on any part of his body is simply fantastic.

But there were, and are, Oriental jugglers as well; and in their specialties they appear every bit as wonderful as their European contemporaries. One of these "Oriental" specialties is the juggling of knives. In India and China may he seen jugglers who keep in motion many pointed knives, always catching them by the handles. By throwing these knives from a distance, they can "pin" their partner against a soft board, completely surrounding his body with the daggers but never injuring his skin. In India also is performed the so-called "Dance of the eggs." The dancer, usually a woman, places on her head a large wheel made of light wood. Around the edge of the wheel, at regular intervals, are strings with loose knots at their ends, into which the dancer places the eggs as she causes the wheel to revolve. Finally, all the eggs are on the strings and are revolving so rapidly that they swing out horizontally from the wheel. The same phenomenal speed and skill that was required in putting the eggs on the strings without having one smash into another is then exhibited in removing the eggs one by one.

In 1967, in the Moscow Circus, which that year toured the United States, there was a Cossack riding act called The Iristons. One of the riders was Nicolai Olkhovikov, a sixth-generation circus performer and former opera singer. Standing on the croup of a cantering horse, Olkhovikov balanced four filled water-glasses on a plate atop an 8-foot pole, while he sang!