His reflections on his career thus far and strong opinions on the business of juggling were taken for "Juggler's World" during his current engagement at Bally's Grand Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J.

 

JW: When you joined the IJA in 1974 was it a help to your career?

DF: It was a help juggling-wise, of course, but that doesn't make you a better entertainer. I really learned my trade in Europe. The IJA was very small time back then. The only real working pro who came to conventions was Jerry Greenberg, and he wasn't working full time. Now at conventions you can meet lots of people who make their living off juggling and get some real insight into the market through them. My insight came through Bobby May and Picasso, and they weren't at conventions.

 

JW: What was Bobby May like and how did he influence your early career?

DF: After I made contact with Bobby in 1971, I started visiting almost every weekend. He was a real jokester, you know. He once walked around a shopping mall in a green wig, and wore a picture of the pope on his face one time to greet a pastor at the door who accompanied me on a visit. He gave me a lot of good ideas. He told me one good gag was to cover your props with a blanket coated in baby powder, then tell the audience you hadn't done the trick in a while and shake the dust out. Things like that.

But more than that he opened my eyes and told me there were still a lot of places a juggler could work. After I worked in the states for a couple of years, he started giving me an international strategy that has taken me all over the world since 1979.

 

JW: What did your family think of you giving up a good job to pursue juggling?

DF: My father, my wife Carlene and all my friends thought I was crazy. My daughter, Noelle, didn't mind because our first job was with a circus and she got to play with the animals all day long. The hardest part for me, though, was selling my two Corvettes and replacing them with a pickup truck! But I was committed to it.

 

It took me almost a week to learn the three ball cascade, but when I finally got it going it was like everything around me stopped. I thought, "Boy! There's really something to this!" I remember that very spot where I learned to this day. After that, I couldn't stop.

 

JW: And you made many friends along the way...

DF: I couldn't have done it without them. One of the first was EI Gran Picasso, who I met in November 1974 as he was winding up his four-year appearance with Ringling Brothers. He was nice enough to practice with me and gave me two key

tricks that are still in my routine - spitting ping-pong balls and four ball shoulder throws while turning in a circle.

 

He told me I could make a lot of money doing the ping pong balls. He had developed it by spitting grapes while he was an orange picker back in Spain . It turned out that Bobby May had been Picasso's juggling inspiration and I was able to introduce them to each other. Picasso was appreciative and told me to call on him if I needed help. With Bobby May and Gran Picasso behind me, it was a pretty easy decision to keep following a professional career.

 

During the winter of 1975-76, Paul Bachman in Chicago got me on the Bozo show and let me watch all of his films, which were a tremendous source of ideas. He also helped me develop a rola-bola juggling routine in which I stacked platforms on the rola bola, stood on it and juggled five balls off Bobby May's drum head.

 

A year later, after I had a bad experience with the American Continental Circus and couldn't find work, Bachman helped me line up a bunch of shopping malls and odd jobs that kept me going until I got on with the Globetrotters in 1977. They gave me a three year contract at $1100 a week, nine months a year!

 

Between Globetrotter tours, I worked in Europe and met Gil Dova. He was a great help in making connections with the right people there. He told me all about the marketplace prices and gave me a sage bit of advice. He said, "Do me a favor and don't work cheap!" He helped me realize that working cheap would only bring the whole market down for everyone.