Page 16 March 1984
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Regarding
Adam Frey's letter last issue...
While I don't believe Juggler's World is the appropriate
place for controversial subjects, it is gratifying to see that its
publishers recognize the fact that jugglers
are also human beings with a right to express political conscience.
To
carry Mr. Frey's philosophy a little further, may I add that what
was once our Good Neighbor policy is now sheer political perversion.
The U.S. has a policy of fighting foreign ideologies in Latin
America without stopping to think that these ideologies have been
spawned by years of extreme poverty and suffering.
Where
a cultural exchange with these countries was once possible, we now
send guns and military advisers. These countries have sent us some
of their finest juggling talent - Meneses, Tatali, the Pierro Bros.,
and Rudy Cardenas, to name but a few. They, in turn, would love to
see some of our own talent, not our military muscle. Perhaps
Teddy Roosevelt's old dictum should now read, "Speak softly,
but carry a
big trick." Francisco
Alvarez - Albuquerque, New Mexico (Sue
Hunt helped organize the 1983 European Convention in Laval, France
last September.)
Here
it is November. People here in Laval are still talking "Convention
des Jongleurs," and talking now about a charter bus to next
summer's European convention in Frankfurt. I feel great about the
whole thing, and was especially pleased with the casual atmosphere.
The Public Show was a surprising and greatly appreciated mixture of
skill, comedy, music, and professionalism, very likely one of the best
to have come to Laval in years, according to local opinion.
The
quality of juggling has risen, as well as the number of jugglers
attending (250!). Propmakers showed up from the US, Germany and
Belgium, to the delight of prop-starved jugglers. The competitions
were held as games rather than events, and I hope this will continue.
This was my third European convention, and I'm looking forward to
juggling in the next one. In fact, the juggling part is almost
secondary; I'm looking forward to just being there! Salut
a tous et pour tous.
Sue Hunt - Angers,
France
Performers
should take advantage of the listing of routes in the Entertainers
column. I for one have been able to catch some great talent in the
routines of some recent shows. The No Elephant Circus accompanied by
the 90-piece Houston Symphony Orchestra. Balls, clubs, devil sticks,
plates, fire eating, and a great finish - a five person feed with the
orchestra conductor standing in the middle.
The
Foan Family Troupe (6) is another group I enjoyed. Individual seven
balls and five clubs and other good stuff. Thjey are out of Denver.
It's been a couple of years since I've seen them but read a recent
review. Bob
Blau, Pearland, Texas I
found this interesting passage in a book called Vaudeville, from
the Honkey Tonks
to the Palace, by Joe Laurre, Jr. published in 1953.
For
the sake of an argument, assume that Max could juggle 16 balls. I
assume he'd
fountain them, eight per hand. Ignatov cascades seven at about 12
feet, twice his height, and his 11 rings rise about 18 feet. I
calculate that 16 balls would have to be thrown about 24 feet high.
Some
arguments against the possibility that Max juggled 16... Where would
you find a theatre high enough for a 24-foot pattern? The acceleration
on a ball falling 24 feet is very nasty. Even if he multiplexed, how
did he hold and individually control 8 balls per hand? Why is there no
other evidence to support this feat? If Rastelli had a nervous
breakdown working on 10, maybe Max was lobotomized!
Also,
the most successful vaudeville acts were the comedy jugglers. Why
would a professional mess with a huge array of numbers when he could
kill a crowd by catching a turnip in his mouth? The only reason to do
16 would be to present it as a bona-fide world record, and that would
have resulted in massive documentation. There's no way you could do 16
and not tell people its significance.
I'd
like to hear from anyone who knows anything about Max Wesseley or
Amerous Werner (He's the guy who did 10 - one ball at a time.
Shucks, even I could do that!) Steve
Westren - Toronto, Canada
After
looking at "The Physics of
Juggling's Ups and Downs" in the May '82 issue of Juggler's
World, and a few other articles in other magazines, I decided I
needed to get a multi-exposure photograph of my juggling so I could see
where the balls were at different times and calculate velocity.
To
do this I found you must juggle under some of the most difficult of
conditions. The photos must be taken outdoors in the dark, so I went out
one dark, windy, winter night. My fingers were stiff as sticks, and my
glasses fogged up because of the ski mask I was wearing to cut down on
reflected light.
Worst
of all, I had a strobe flashing my eyes ten times a second. Besides the
glare, the strobe made the balls seem to move in slow motion. Even a
simple three ball cascade became quite difficult.
After
getting the pictures, I found a sufficient formula for finding initial
velocity in a high school physics text. The results I got were pretty
much as expected. For a three ball cascade, the initial velocity of a
ball when released from the hand is about 2.41 meters per second. When
the ball is about one-third of the way up the arc, it has slowed down to
2.08 meters per second.
For
such a simple-minded project, I got a lot of mileage out of it. First,
an A + in school, then off to the city science fair. The judges there
were so impressed with my five ball cascade that they hardly asked me
about my project.
I
won second place in the physics category, and qualified for the regional
fair in Las Cruces. I only won a "commendable" ribbon there,
but I had a lot of time to show off my juggling. Dozens of scientists
and junior scientists asked me to "throw those bowling pin dealies
behind your back again!" Lots of fun! Mike
Draney - Alamogordo, New Mexico "Nothing is impossible for a juggler, for with practice he makes the impossible look easy" - T.K. DuBois |