By Kathy Veth

 

For 25 years Lou Nelson did what most jugglers only dream about. He earned a living doing what he loved - performing.

 

Nelson still juggles the three rubber balls he bought in 1932, but it's been some time since he tried clubs. During an interview, he tried his Van Wyck trio one more time. His first attempt failed. With a little encouragement, though, he tried again and flashed three. On the third try, he kept them spinning for nearly a full minute. A confident smile widened as his skill returned. Nelson was born in Lowell, Mass. in April 1905. Teddy Roosevelt was beginning his second term as President of 45 United States. And Vaudeville actors were treated like kings and queens.

 

One summer the teenaged Nelson met a tumbler/juggler at the local YMCA. Fascinated, he watched intently, trying to memorize what he saw. He tried his best to imitate the performer, Nelson recalled, but the unwilling mentor he had adopted told Nelson he would never succeed. That didn't stop the talented youth. Nelson practiced his tumbles on the soft sand at nearby Crystal Lake, ready to prove the acrobat wrong.

 

Nelson beat the odds. In the early 1930s he became a charter member of the American Federation of Actors, which later became today's American Guild of Variety Artists. AGVA's  codes called for minimum payment of $5 per show in the early years. The days of royal  treatment were over, apparently for good.

 

By "dickering back and forth" with booking agents, (who took 10 percent), Nelson was able to make a living. In fact, he once had 22 straight weeks of work at theaters and nightclubs in his native Lowell!

 

Nelson considered himself lucky - not only to have a job he loved, but to earn as much as $75 a week in such lean years. He knew he wouldn't go broke. "Don't forget, money went far in those days," he said.                                                      .

 

In the early 1930s, Nelson performed at night clubs and theaters up and down the east coast. One entire summer late in the decade he was featured on the "million-dollar" Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. He appeared often in Canada. He headlined at the Gaiety Theater in Montreal, then continued up-country (so far up that wolves would jump on the car when it stopped!), playing in Timmons, Ontario, and then at Kirkland Lake (about 300 miles above Nonh Bay).

 

Throughout the 1930s, Nelson and many other performers participated in the government's Works Project Administration Federal Theater Troupe, performing at state hospitals, jails, prisons and Conservation Corps camps.

 

He could dance tap and other popular steps of the day. When clowns were needed, he cut silk into ragged pieces and sewed them onto his pants, painted his face and donned a sailor hat. He bounce juggled five balls with ease, although he admits he never could master five in the air. Three balls were his specialty. He did all the standard tricks of the day, including bouncing lacrosse balls off of his inner arms.

 

The used balsa-wood Van Wycks he purchased from a fellow juggler in 1935 were constantly in use. Shoulder throws, chops, slap-backs and more were performed with ease to the delight of his audiences. In his spare time, Nelson mended nicks and chips in his precious Van Wyck's with fish glue and cheesecloth and re-covered them in the finest foil of the day.

 

His favorite, and perhaps most infamous trick, involved a cigarette and matches. Nelson flipped the cigarette around his back and caught it in his mouth. Next, he lit a match (Ohio Blue Tips or Bird's Eyes were the best because they had long handles and a well­balanced sulphur end), flipped it around his back and caught the match in his mouth, too.

 

He would tease the audience, telling them the trick was easy - he had a hole in his head between his ears! "I just put a string through it and pull the match and cigarette around," he joked.

 

By the 1950s, audiences began .to realize they didn't have to go out to be entertained - they could watch television right in their own homes.  In 1955, Nelson hung up his traveling shoes and bought an auto body shop in Lowell. In 1977, at age 72, he closed the shop.

 

Today Nelson has little time for retirement - or sleeping, for that matter. He's too busy. He rises JUst before 3 a.m. After some pushups and deep knee bends to keep himself in shape, he talks for ~ while on his amateur radio. By 5:30 a.m. he's outside juggling.

 

His secret to a long life? "Simple," he said. "Keep juggling and keep breathing."

 

In fact, he's looking for a gig. He plans to put an act together to take it on the local nursing home circuit. He said he doesn't need the money, he just wants to continue to make people happy.