Selma
Braatz sneaks a dollar through hard times from the
U.S.
zone of occupied
Germany
:
Many
thanks for your lovely letter and new membership card, and if
possible I would like to pay the dollar for it myself (which she
did through indirect channels) as it makes me feel better. We are
in Hamburg
now, still with the Musical. Revue. We spent quite a nice
Christmas. Food is plentiful and not too high. Salaries are not
big, and there is always something to get for the stage, new
shoes, costumes, etc.
(Newsletter,
February 1950)
Sobbing
in the Auld Sod:
Since
I joined the IJA I've been putting my whole heart into the business.
My one ambition is to do the head bouncing. It's spectacular and
showy and has a great effect on an audience. Practicing two hours
every day, I can bounce it fast and down low, but the duration of
the bouncing is brief. I'm not satisfied. I've come to the
conclusion that there is a knack of throwing the ball to the head at
the start. It will break my heart if I cannot do it - I hope I'm not
going about it in the wrong way. If only I knew the secret! I want
the IJA to help me. All of us need counsel and help at some time. I
need it now, because I've reached a very difficult stage of juggling
and my happiness is at stake. I'm very
lonesome, have nobody to take into my confidence or make my road
easier. You people have your conventions, gettogethers, books and
movies. I have nothing - only my hands and brains. I've exhausted
all my own ideas."
(Newsletter,
October 1952)
Even
the strippers are losing their shirts:
IJAers
Billy Gray and Olive Austin, who keep us informed of doings across
the sea, send us this clipping, headlined: Six top variety theatres
close, some temporarily, others indefinitely. "With operating
costs soaring and attendance dropping, theatres cannot show a
profit. Rock and roll shows have lost their lure, strip-tease shows
have skidded down, and pop singers now have a pull only when they
have a record hit. Theatre managers complain that nearly all the top
liners go into seaside shows for the summer."
(Newsletter, August 1958)
Max Koch, whether reporting on the latest feats of circus
jugglers, cabaret performers, or dipping into his wealth of historical
knowledge, was the premier foreign correspondent for the IJA. Witness
this "Newsletter" entry from March 1959:
Today
I have not to announce a new juggler, but looking through my scrapbook
I think one or the other of you is interesting in the old time. And so
I am thinking we will have a little chat perhaps about some of the old
heavyweight jugglers.
A
copy of an old program of Aug. 21, 1841, tells of a juggling act with
25, 30 and 40 pound cannon balls. The juggler was Karl Rappo (born May
14, 1800, in
Innsbruck, Austria; died 1854 in Moscow,
Russia). He toured
Germany
and Russia
and I read that he tossed the shower with six five-pound cannon balls.
His son, Francois (born Aug. 22, 1826 in
Luebeck,
Germany; died Oct. 31, 1874 in
Hamburg
Germany), was also a heavyweight juggler.
Paul Conchas (Paul Huett, died July 19. 1916, in New York) wore
the uniformof a German Imperial Guard officer. He balanced a cannon on
his forehead. His very comic assistant was Julius Newmann. the brother
of our dear Selma Braatz. I think about 1905 - he had a feud in the
U.S.
with his great competitor, Paul Spadoni (born Oct. 3, 1870, in
Berlin
; died July 1959 in Rome).
Spadoni
balanced a dog cart on his forehead. He began his act as a gentleman
juggler and in the second part he was the "Inimitable
Hercules." A beam fitted with sharp knives was caught with the
neck. Also a torpedo of two-hundredweight.
Alfredo
Marschall (Alfred Pieper, born 1877 in Berlin) showed a navy act. A
manof-war shot with its cannons and Alfredo caught the iron
balls with his neck. His most attractive trick was catching a real
cannon which was rolling down a four meter long road with his hands
and neck (the cannon weighed 3-1/2 hundredweight). I regret very
much that today these heavyweight acts are very rare or not at all to
see.
Kindest
regards, Max Koch
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