Page 5 September 1982
Assisted
by his father, Nick Gatto, the young man ran through a cart of varied
props, picking up at one time or another five balls, four rings, a
jump rope, a rubber soccer ball, a balancing pole topped by a toy
duck, a mouthstick and five clubs. During the past year, both Gatto's
stage presence and juggling skill have improved, and
people are awed to realize the many years of youth and increasing
strength left for further improvement.
His
small hands are already sure and fast, controlling the complex pattern
of motion in a quantity of objects that most nine year aids can only
count. Unable to hold five clubs in his hands at once, Gatto begins
that trick by balancing one on his forehead, juggling four and tipping
the balanced one over into the pattern. He kept five clubs going for
over 75 seconds to take fourth place in that competition the previous
day.
Edward
Jackman and Michael Marlin, two successful comedy jugglers, tied for
third place and elected to conduct a three-minute runoff to decide the
matter. Marlin did comic impersonations using rings, five balls with
a neck catch and clever balance of ten cigar boxes.
Jackman,
unabashed and spontaneous on stage, juggled four rings in one hand and
a devil stick using only one hand stick. "The Amazing Spinning
Edward" capped his three club work with a triple pirouette to
catch one tossed high.
He
also gathered three in one hand, threw them up, spun around once to
catch the first two and again before catching and juggling the third.
As
a foil to his frantic style, Jackman chose Ben Decker to play the part
of a totally deadpan prop assistant.
Even
though they didn't win, the rest of the competitors were generally
entertaining, and at worst brave, for showing their acts to their
fellow jugglers and others in the 1,000 member audience.
Bob
Nickerson, juggling hatchets, taught the audience a plethora of puns
on the word "ax" as he juggled three of them in the day's
first act. Tom Dewart showed some fine four club juggling. Daniel
Holzman bounced three balls around like a pinball machine, using
unexpected puts and odd combinations. His twirling of devil sticks and
clubs was also notable.
Paul
Cohen parodied racism and social problems with a two-white-ball and
one-black-ball routine. He demonstrated fine control. At one point he
extended both arms straight out with balls balanced on the inside of
each elbow. He then passed the third ball over his head from
outstretched hand to outstretched hand flawlessly.
Larry
Merlo performed with four rings, and also tossed a ball high in the
air, flipped backward and caught it. He was the only person to toss
three clubs into the air from one hand and catch them all in the same
hand. Dale Jones introduced himself with some two ball poetry and
proved himself a good entertainer throughout the rest of his act. He
used tennis rackets and a cane for balancing and juggling, and never
dropped once.
Juggling
John performed the unique act of juggling a scarf, a tennis racket and
a bowling ball. Robert York did hat tricks and multiplex work with
five balls. Michael Skocko juggled red, yellow and green glow balls to
live guitar accompaniment.
Steve
Norwood led off after intermission with five ball and five club tricks
to a new wave tune. Tim Kapp performed a more circusy act with a
glittering costume, three club juggling on a unicycle and four rings
while spinning a ball on a mouths tick and spinning a ring on his leg.
Larry
Vaksman began with two basketballs in one hand and a unicycle in the
other. He then cascaded the three. The act got zanier and more
complex, until he amassed and kept in motion five hula hoops, three
balls, a club and a basketball while standing on a rola bola and
balancing a stick on his chin.
Then
followed Marlin, Jackman, Davison, Beckner and Gatto, mentioned
earlier.
Alan Howard and Daniel Menendez finished the three hour event. Howard juggled cigar boxes and three clubs, using dance steps and body motion to good effect. Menendez performed head rolls, six balls and a five club flash. |
![]() Anthony Gatto |