Time for members to renew membership

 

Stapled in the center of this magazine, members will find a dues renewal envelope. Please renew your membership by January 1, and sign up a 'new member or give a gift membership while you're at it!

 

Dues for all members are $10 for the year, with additional fees noted to cover air mail and first class mail expenses for members outside the United States. For the first time, American members may now also pay an additional mailing fee to receive JUGGLER'S WORLD via first class mail, which guarantees that it will be forwarded to their current addresses.

 

Call for nominations; invite to winter meeting

 

The IJA will hold its Winter Business Meeting February 11 in Kenmore, New York. New election procedures call for review by the board of directors of all nominations for 1984-85 officers at this Winter Meeting.

 

Anyone wishing to run for an office should therefore submit a short position statement, biography and a picture to the IJA by that time. All nominees so doing will be included on the 1984-85 absentee ballot to be mailed to all members this spring. The election will be held at the summer convention in Las Vegas, at which time further nominations will be accepted.

 

Also, any person or group wishing to host the 1985 IJA convention must submit its proposal to the board at the Winter Meeting.

 

For more information on either procedure or the meeting in general, contact Rich Chamberlin, IJA secretary.

 

World record setters' convention prop picks

 

Some interesting data was gathered during the IJA's establishment of a Guinness World Record for the most number of objects juggled in one place at one time. The event took place Saturday morning of the convention, and 477 people signed in on the spot to participate. They juggled a total of 1,870 objects, which means that everyone did an average of 3.935 objects.

 

The average was brought down some by two single object jugglers (a cane and a balloon). 5 people juggled two objects, and 205 juggled 3 objects (almost evenly split between balls and clubs, including three American flags!)

 

Of the 116 four-object jugglers, 104 did balls. Of the 128 five-object jugglers, 116 did balls and 11 did clubs. Six people did six balls, 12 people did 7 balls and 2 peo­ple said they did 8 balls!

 

The event was arranged by last year's IJA president Gene Jones. It has been published in the 1984 edition of the "Guinness Book of World Records," which is now available in most bookstores.

 

Baltimore Jugglers Assn. sets party precedent

 

The Baltimore Jugglers Association hopes it started a long-lasting tradition by using money earned in public performances to sponsor a party following the U.S. Nationals competition at the summer convention. Many people stopped by to toast the evening. The party finally broke up when the beer ran out.

 

"We are planning on doing this after every U.S. Nationals event, and hope that other affiliates will join with us in the future so we can make throw one hell of a party," said Ro Lutz-Nagy, spokesman for the group.

 

Juggling film buffs got an eyeful at convention

 

Film Night was an especially well received part of the convention this year, thanks to Karl-Heinz Zeithen of Berlin, Germany. Zeithen, author of 4,000 Years of Juggling, assembled two hours of footage of jugglers from 1903 to the present and carefully chose music to accompany each act. There was a printed list of acts for the audience. The event was held with more than 500 viewers seated on bleachers and on the floor of a hot gymnasium.

 

Zeithen has the largest juggling collection known. For more than 25 years he has diligently begged, bought and collected juggling literature, films, props, books and posters. He joined the IJA in 1963 on a trip to Brazil, when he met performer and former IJA president Tommy Curtin.

 

Everheart, in a 1901 clip demonstrated the fine art of hoop rolling, which has not been seen at IJA conventions recently. Viewers saw Enrico Rastelli in slow motion juggling four batons. Bobby May skated across the screen... The Six Willys performed an eye-pleasing juggle of hats down a line of up to six people, and passed clubs from free-standing ladders. Another little-seen manipulation that showed up on film was ball and mouthstick work by Rastelli and Francisco Alvarez, an Arizona IJA member. Chinese vase manipulation interested many viewers as well.

 

One show-stopping scene impressive enough to humble most IJA champions was Ernest Montego's performance. Mounted on a 6-foot unicycle, Montego spun three rings around one leg, balanced two ball-and-pedestal setups on his head, spun a ball on his finger and juggled three rings in the other hand!

Other highlights in the 40-act film included:

Sorin Muntineanus, Rumania, 1979 - 5 clubs while bouncing a ball on his head.

Fudi, Hungary, 1978 - 8 rings.

George Sollveno, Switzerland, 1974 ­ 3 clubs juggled at his side, reaching one hand around his back (as many people do with balls).

Eva Vida, Hungary, 1973 - 3 parasol juggle.

Rudi Horn, Germany, 1973 - 7 ball bounce on drum. 9 rings with pole balanc­ed on forehead. Tossing cups and saucers from foot to top of head while riding a unicycle.

Two Bramsons, Germany, 1980 ­Sombrero juggling, passing and takeaways.

Rudi Schweizer, Germany, 1979 ­ Ball, hat and cigar manipulation.

Serge Ignatov, Russia, 1982 - 7 balls, 5 ring pirouette, 5 club back crosses, 9 ring pulldown over his head.

Kris Kremo, Switzerland, 1973 - Double pirouette to catch three released cigar boxes. Triple pirouette to catch one box with two held boxes.