Edward Van Wyck

The name Van Wyck has become synonymous with the beginning of the modem juggling era, and has come to symbolize quality in juggling props.

 

Born in St. Louis, this son of a druggist was an active performer in the days before vaudeville. He performed for about to years under the name of Eddie Evans in Primrose and West's Minstrels, Hopkin's Trans-Oceanic Co., Albini's Entertainers, and others before marrying and settling into the insurance business.

 

He was one of the best club jugglers of his era and originated many tricks, including the "running trick" in which he would face the wings of the stage, throw a club over his head, turn around and run to recover the club in his pattern.

 

He established his manufacturing business in Cincinnati in 1895, with perfect timing to catch the decades of vaudeville juggling that was to follow.

 

Van Wyck had always made his own apparatus and his skill had caught the attention of fellow performers. He said that he "just drifted" into the production of props for others. Eventually, however, he made props for circuses around the world in his small 25x28-foot shop. His motto was "Everything for the juggler, anything for the circus. "

 

He made juggling and aerial items for over 800 truck shows, and invented over 200 types of "spectaculars." They included the loop-the-loop trapeze and and a trapeze that revolved in one direction while the performer, doing a headstand on a ball, revolved in the opposite direction. He made everything from battle-axes to tight­wire apparatus, throwing knives to swallowing scissors and even bronze balls for the tips of elephant tusks.