We may never uncover the truth from the past, but hopefully future record holders will realize the importance of documenting their claims on film or videotape.

 

Considering the millenniums during which juggling has apparently been practiced, it is interesting to note that it was practiced at a relatively low level of difficulty until this century. In 1819, Ramo Samee attracted publicity as the first master of juggling in Europe, though he juggled a mere four hollow brass balls. He also performed tricks of magic and sword swallowing.

 

The explanation may be contained in the observation by Marcello Truzzi in the December 1979 issue of "Natural History" magazine that juggling did not become conceptually separated from legerdemain and other types of entertainment until the turn of this century.

 

Unaware of the trends of history in the Western World, however, women on the South Pacific island of Tonga were showering tui-tui nuts around the kava bowl. Five seems to have been routine. A photograph of a Tongan woman showering eight objects was included in Adm. H.B.T. Somerville's narrative Will Mariner. If authentic, it documents a long-standing world record for that style of ball juggling.

 

"The Juggler's Bulletin," published by Roger Montandon between 1944 and 1949, contains many interesting accounts of the first numbers jugglers in the United States, and a couple of possible world records. In it we read that the first three club jugglers did not surface until the late 1800s, as an off­shoot of club swinging. At that time, a $1,000 prize was offered to, but not collected by, anyone who could match Charles Hoey's four club juggle.

 

Five club juggling appeared about the turn of the century, with Joe Cook claiming to be the first to perform it. John Breen, who lived from 1891­1912, allegedly showered five and juggled six and seven clubs before his early death. Truzzi says in his article that Rastelli juggled eight sticks, which would mean that if sticks and clubs can be considered the same prop, today's club jugglers haven't caught up to the world record yet.

 

Roger Dollarhide, a 25 year IJA member, confirmed that IJA members have been juggling five clubs for the entire time of his membership. "A lot of the old-timers did five using the fat-bodied Harry Lind clubs," he said. "Bill Dietrich, Eddie Tierney, Stu Raynolds and Bobby May were all sensational five club jugglers. But those old clubs weighted 13 - 15 ounces, whereas you get them today that only weigh 7 - 9 ounces. It makes a difference in how many you can get into the air. "

 

Dietrich noted that Bill Talent from Hollywood, CA, a participant at the first convention in Jamestown, could do seven balls, and did six in three different patterns. Johnny Lux of Cleveland, OH, who was also in Jamestown, agreed that five ball jugglers were not unique then. "But no one was interested in more than that," he said. "We were all pros and semi-pros, and the big attraction then was a very entertaining act with low numbers of objects. "

 

Lux pointed out that the IJA itself has helped inspire numbers juggling through its sponsorship of five club and seven object timed competitions at the annual convention.

 

It seems inevitable that the existing records, whatever they be, will someday fall. The growing popularity of juggling and increased participation will eventually prevail.

 

But record seekers must overcome tremendous problems of physics. The exponential difficulty of adding more props to a pattern was explained in an article in the January/February issue of "Science '82" magazine.

 

The writer, Joseph Menosky, stated, "An 11 ring cascade stretches to the limit the juggler's duel with gravity... the higher an object is thrown, the faster it is traveling when it hits the ground. In practical juggling terms this means that even if the height of a thrown object is doubled, the object will fall faster through the extra distance, and the time gained by the juggler will increase only about 40 percent.

 

"A ring thrown 15 feet high, for example, takes 3 1/2 seconds to leave the hand and return again. By throwing a ring 30 feet in the air, as Ignatov must do to juggle 11 of them , produces only five seconds of flight time. So the net time gain from doubling the height of a 3 1/2 second throw is only about one and a half seconds.

 

"This imposes severe restrictions on the number of objects that can actually be juggled at one time. The addition of more objects demands an increase in the height of the throw, and the lack of a proportional increase in the available time between throws demands nearly incredible precision on the part of the juggler... "