KITTING AROUND

by Kit Summers

A visit to Lucas & Franco leaves author in high spirits

AFTER A FANTASTIC CONVENTION, I was off to Atlantic City to see Dick Franco and Albert Lucas perform there.

First I saw Lucas at Bally's Grand do an ice skating routine on a small skating area. He came out in a classy black and gold costume, started with seven rings and sustained the pattern for a considerable length of time. Next, Lucas' four tennis racket routine included: a four racket shower, solid shoulder throws with both hands, two in the air and a pirouette, and finishing with a four racket spread.

This was followed by juggling five tennis rackets. It was one to four Frisbees in one hand after that. Then came scarves, which was a nice change in tempo. The four scarf juggling was smooth and slow. Then came a build up from one to three ping pong balls out of the mouth and a three club routine. Still skating, this started with a three club-up pirouette, then head spins, followed by off-the-chins, and, of course, Albert throws. Next he juggled three clubs in one hand and three in the other hand. Double back crosses was next, which looked nice while Lucas skated slowly. After this slow trick Lucas joggled on the ice skates. The routine concluded with a three club pirouette.

LUCAS THEN STRAPPED ON pool table pockets and did some nice skating while juggling seven balls that he eventually threw into the pockets. The final routine of his act was juggling three torches, including chops, off-the-chins, one-up two-up, double back crosses, Albert throws (which look great with torches) and ending with a three-up pirouette.

Lucas' second routine was spinning plates on sticks. He had each of his 20 plates numbered and encouraged the audience to yell out the number of the plate that seemed to be falling. Lucas would be starting one plate on a stick when another started falling off -- usually at the other end of the line! The audience would yell the number and Lucas would skate over to get it spin­ning again. The audience was on the edge of their seats, especially the kids. Finally Lucas got all 20 plates spinning.

AFTER SEEING LUCAS, I went to Trump's Castle to see Dick Franco. I've known Franco since 1977 and have seen him grow as a juggler. He has always done a technical juggling routine to music, but he is now doing a comedy juggling act with his wife, Carlene. Franco doesn't just attempt humor, he is very funny!

I met him in his dressing room as he warmed up. The ceiling was only eight feet high, but he threw up five balls and did a pirouette. Also, he was working on five ball continuous shoulder throws with each hand, which I have never seen done before. I've seen back crosses, but not shoulder throws solid with each hand. It looks great! He hopes to be performing them in his act soon.

The comedy act began with very nice intro music, and included wonderful music throughout. He began with a very fast three ball routine, moved to four balls and had some great facial expressions. He talked throughout the act, was relaxed and comfortable, and had the audience rolling with his humor. His wife, Carlene, played an inept assistant named "Rosie" who didn't quite know what she should be doing.

After the four ball routine, Franco moved from one to seven rings. "Rosie" held the rings by Franco's waist and he grabbed them in sequence. They had some funny bits with this. Once he had the seven, he kept them up for a good run. Next was a build-up from one to three ping pong balls out of the mouth, again with some good comedy.

I'm sure many of you have seen the ping pong ball balance on the nose bit, and Franco does a very funny variation of this routine. He ended by juggling three running chain saws, with some great comedy.

As I said, I've seen Franco do his superb technical juggling routine for years. Seeing him do comedy now is wonderful!

Both he and Carlene have a good sense of comedy timing. If you get a chance to catch Franco's great act, be sure and take it!

(Kit Summers is author of "Juggling With Finesse" and a regular contributor to Juggler' s World.)