Jugglers visiting Australia between 1905-1907

 These jugglers performed at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney between 1905-1907.

All comments from Charles Waller- Magical Nights at the Theatre, pictures from Sydney Tivoli Theatre programmes. 

Kara 1905 

' Kara was always among the few conceded to be in the Cinquevalli class.' (1905)

Les Brunins (1905)

 A billiard table featured. The act consisted largely in driving the balls up against the far cushion and then doing remarkable things by catching them on the rebound

Selbo (1907)

Appearing in a tennis court setting, this young man operated very skillfully with rackets and Indian clubs

The Geraldos (1907)

They were club jugglers and good ones too.The act gained impressiveness from the fact that so many individuals were operating at the one time.

Rhodesia (1907)

It is doubtful whether any form of stagecraft shows a pretty girl to better advantage than does juggling.

Tom and Nellie Lesso- Jugglers

 Tom and Nellie Lesso were successful performers in Australia, the US and England during the World War 1 era.

Tom Lesso was a skilled acrobat and juggler born in Victoria in 1885. His real name was Thomas Burkett Dixon and he had several siblings.

Tom appears as Tom Lesso in newspaper reports in the early 1900s. His first juggling act was as part of a duo with Rexo (Charles Griffith) . In 1909 he married the  fair haired 5 foot 5  tall, Nerida Ridout (born 1884 in Sydney)  in Melbourne. The pair formed a duo act that astonished Australasia and led to a successful run in the United States. 

Nerida took the stage name Nellie, and as The Lessos, the pair appeared on stages in Australia and New Zealand. Nellie was a sharpshooter. On stage, Tom would call for props and Nellie would shoot at a button which activated a spring which propelled the props towards him- he would then juggle them to the delight of the audience. 

Tom also incorporated balancing in the act. He balanced a cannon ball via a stick on his chin and transferred it to a stick perched on his forehead. Inspired by Cinquevalli, he also balanced a wooden table on his forehead, and with a twitch threw it in the air and caught it, on his forehead, on the reverse side. This was perhaps his most popular trick. 

In 1909 the pair travelled to the United States. They began on the Percy Williams circuit then transferred to Keith's circuit. Whilst playing there they were recruited for a tour of England.

Tom Lesso

In 1914 they returned to Australia. Tom, as a relatively young man, must have felt some pressure to enlist. They incorporated a patriotic finale into their act, perhaps to make up for this. Nellie fired her gun at various targets and the whole stage was enveloped with the flags of the allies. At this time Tom told the papers that he had suffered a period of blindness whilst in the US. He blamed a trick where he caught tennis balls thrown by the audience on his forehead. 

In 1916 Tom enlisted with the AIF for service in World War 1. Tom stated that his profession was ‘professional juggler’ and that he was separated from his wife, Nellie. He cited his father William as next of kin.

Whilst waiting to be shipped out, Tom was reprimanded for staying out late and for disobedience. Eventually he arrived in England and subsequently, in October 1916 he arrived at the British staging camp in Etaples, France. On October 29 that year, Australian Jack Braithwaite serving in a New Zealand regiment was executed for helping a fellow soldier defy a British commander. Tom may have witnessed the execution. 

His official mission in France was to reinforce the 23rd Battalion, which was on the front lines. Tom lasted a month in France, there is no record of him being at the front, although it is possible. In November he was shipped back to England via Calais. Finally after treatment in England he was invalided out with ‘disordered action of the heart’, the military euphemism for shell shock. In March 1918 he was sent back to Australia. 

By September he was back on stage performing at the Bijou in Melbourne, and giving colorful descriptions of his antics on the front lines. He claimed he had taken all his props to France and entertained troops whilst waiting to be deployed

He had a new assistant, Miss Duckworth, and they did the old act. They were scheduled to perform in New Zealand and sailed there. But in November Tom contracted Spanish Influenza. He died that month in New Zealand,

Nellie Lesso

Nellie Lesso, Tom’s estranged wife, attempted to revive the act in the 1920s, although it seemed she was quite wealthy. In 1921 she made a police complaint about a missing diamond pendant, with lovers' knots and a single diamond drop attached. In 1923 The Lessos, featuring Nellie, performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre in Western Australia. Later that year she went to the United States, and Theodore the juggler was on the same ship. Perhaps the two had formed a new Lesso partnership.

Attempts by the army to contact her in 1923 regarding Tom’s war medals received no response and in 1924 Nellie was in Paris with her mother.

There is some indication that Nellie travelled quite often over the following years and did not seek to further her stage career. 

Nellie’s primary address was in eastern Sydney and it was there that she passed away in 1954.

( I found Tom’s real name in The Age newspaper death notice. His war record is available through the National archives.) 

Herbert (Bert) Beaver - Sydney's Jesting Juggler of the 1920s

 Juggler Bert Beaver began as a vaudeville performer and became one of the most influential radio personalities of the early broadcasting age.

Herbert Edward Beaver was born in Broken Hill in outback New South Wales in 1897 to Ada and Edward. However, his father died when he was young, and his mother remarried when he was 12. Her second husband, Bert’s stepfather, was Gilbert Sinclair, a union man who later became secretary of the State Boilermakers Union. Sinclair, a prominent and vocal member of the labour movement, later became a member of parliament and a founder of a radio station.

How Bert became involved in juggling is a mystery, but his first press notices date to the early 1920s when he was appearing with Dix and Baker in regional Newcastle. He was known as the ‘talking’ or ‘jesting’ juggler who told humorous anecdotes and made smart remarks while juggling sticks, balls, and hats. His act also included balancing two billiard balls on a stick.

Bert- (left) 1926 Wireless Weekly

Bert became quite popular when the Fuller's circuit employed him between 1922-23. In Queensland he caused ‘considerable laughter’ while balancing two balls on a cue and in Adelaide he ‘delighted’ the audience. That year he also toured New Zealand with Fullers.

Meanwhile, he had met juggler George Campbell, an old-time passing juggler who started juggling in Australia in 1906. The pair joined up and formed the Campbell – Beaver - (Fred) White Company and toured regional areas of Australia. This company morphed into the Cockatoo Farm Company which became a legendary touring group in country Australia. One member of the ensemble was singer Vera (Peggy) Cornock.

Cockatoo Farm was an early form of vaudeville revue with a simple humorous story interspersed with specialty turns. The story was stereotypically country Australian with Dad played by George and his son Willie played by Bert. The plot revolved around farm shenanigans and corny Australian jokes- it was tremendously well-received.

The show included a juggling turn from George and Bert which probably involved club passing, and it can probably be assumed that the pair exchanged ideas and juggling techniques with George representing an older generation of jugglers and Bert the new.

In later years Bert claimed that he could juggle three or four lacrosse balls, hats, cigars or clubs and that he invented the trick of passing soap bubbles up and down a stick or string. He was also a keen magician and member of the Australian Society of Magicians and sometimes performed at their annual soirees in Sydney.

After almost two years with George Campbell and the Cockatoo Farm Company, Bert left and formed his own touring group. They were well-regarded but relegated to smaller regional towns. In 1923 he married Vera Cornock , and in 1924 they had their first child, Shirley.

Bert was increasingly interested in management, and fortunately in 1925, just as radio and the movies were beginning to encroach on vaudeville he was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The chance to be on the ground floor with a radio station.

His stepfather Gilbert Sinclair was one of the founders of the new station 2KY, which was owned by the labour movement. Gilbert persuaded the other directors to employ his stepson as the manager, and by 1925, as 2Ky hit the airwaves, Bert was one of the few permanent staff members.

Bert in 1935 Wireless Weekly

He became well known in Sydney as Uncle Bert and had a versatile career that mingled calling boxing matches with children’s stories. Through the depression years, he maintained his role and mentored young talent through community concerts and talent quests. It was through one of these that he encountered young juggler Jimmy Wallace. Jimmy later said that he was lucky that Bert was a juggler because their shared profession ensured encouragement and reinforcement for his later career. Presumably, the pair swapped tricks and ideas, just as George Campbell and Bert had done many years earlier.

Managing the station left Bert with little time to juggle, but he continued to do so at the community concerts and public radio Xmas parties. He is recorded as juggling occasionally until the 1940s.

He also took a risk in the mid-1930s when he travelled to England for radio business and briefly appeared as a juggler in the London music halls. Upon his return to Australia, he said he just wanted to find out if he was still capable. On that trip, he also witnessed an early version of Baird’s television and reported to the Australian press on his experience.

Bert was a pioneer of radio and a mentor for Sydney jugglers. He provided a bridge from the old generation, such as George Campbell, to a new generation, such as Jimmy Wallace, who had to adapt the art of juggling to the demands of new technology.

Bert and his family eventually settled on the Northern Beaches in Sydney and he passed away there in 1958. He still has descendants living in the area.

Professor Wallace- or the continuing adventures of the Bell Family in Sydney. (Jimmy Wallace's dad.....)

 This is a small advertising pamphlet for Professor Wallace who was a travelling entertainer in Sydney up to the 1950s/60s.

Professor Wallace was the father of juggler Jimmy Wallace and the family lived for some time in Marrickville in Sydney's inner west, and just around the corner from where I live. So this pamphlet is very interesting for me.

As you can see, Professor Wallace did not work alone and had a few friends who helped him out. I'd really like to know the identity of Harry the Comedy Juggler.

 Professor Wallace and his Punch and Judy show were a feature of children's parties in Sydney for many years. His daughter Florence, gave an interview to the City of Sydney Council archives which details the family's adventures - you can access that here.

The letters in the phone number date this to the 1950s -  60s in Sydney. 

James or Jimmy Wallace- Professor Wallace's son, was a famous juggler in Sydney and Brisbane. I have written about him here. 

Some updates

 

Just some small updates; 

I am currently trying to write about W C Fields' tour of Australia. Neil Litchfield of Stage Whispers Magazine sent this photo of Fields to me.

This photo was taken in Australia and shows Fields in the costume he wore on stage. He toured in 1903 and in 1914, and, according to Variety Magazine, was supposed to tour in 1918, but broke his contract with the Tivoli to continue performing with the Follies in the USA.

I have also recently found a postcard of Clara Braatz, aunt of Selma Braatz, a juggler who toured Australia in 1914. Clara accompanied Selma on her tour.

And in news that belongs to the category of 'humble brag', I was able to identify some photos of Jimmy Wallace held in the State Library of NSW. They agreed with my ID and have labelled the photos accordingly.

The link to the photos is here 

 

Jugglers ( and others) at the Sydney Tivoli 1901-1903

 Once upon a time, Sydney had wonderful buildings like this;

Harry Rickards' Tivoli Theatre in Castlereagh Street.

Between the years 1901-1903 Rickards imported the best of the world's vaudeville talent, and supported the best of Australian Vaudeville talent too.

Amongst his amazing performers during those years were;

Lennon, Hyman and Lennon- Australian club jugglers and passers who were the main local exponents of the art. They had a long career as a partnership and Bert Lennon went on to manage the Tivoli in Adelaide. Bert was a legendary member of the South Australian theatrical community all his life.

The above is the group in 1906 when they were performing for William Anderson in Sydney.

However, back to 1901-1903 and the  Tivoli.

Another legendary group of local juggers were the Lentons. They were hat jugglers.

The two male Lentons started juggling as children. The name Lenton was associated with hat juggling in Australia for over a decade.

But it was Rickards' ability to import the best performers in the world to Australia that made the Tivoli legendary.

Derenda and Breen were high class club jugglers from the US and allegedly introduced the game of netball to Australia.

The Harbecks were some of the only hoop jugglers and rollers in the world. 

Of course the best juggler in the world was this guy who came to the Tivoli in 1902 for the second time.

The incomparable Cinquevalli.

However, this guy who came in 1903 was pretty highly regarded too.

W C Fields. By the time Fields got to Sydney his wife, Hattie, had joined him. She apparently added a lot to the humour of his totally silent act. 

 It wasn't only jugglers that Rickards imported.

Sandow was a huge draw for the Tivoli.

And these performers, French, look like fun.

Of course it cost a bit to get to the Tivoli.

And some audience members might have had to forget about buying dainty footwear from Grace Brothers.

But it would have been worth every penny.!

All this material comes from programmes held at the State Library of NSW. The programmes are bound in a book format and they are getting very fragile now.

I'm not sure how long they will last, but I hope the library takes steps to preserve these lovely souvenirs of our cultural (and juggling) heritage.

Paula Coutts- Australian Juggler

 The Southern suburbs of Sydney was an unusual place to find a female juggler in 1948, but that was the home of one of Australia’s most successful exports, Pauline Coutts.

Pauline, known professionally as Paula, was born in Sydney in 1930. Her father Arthur (b1904)  was a balancer and had appeared as a minor player on the Australian variety circuits before she was born. He encouraged his daughter in his profession and Paula’s first appearance was at 9 years old, in a picture taken at Bondi Beach. In the picture,  Arthur balances on one hand whilst Paula has her body wrapped around him. Thus began a successful vaudeville partnership- Paul and Pauline.

Before they got their professional start, both Pauline and Arthur worked for some time for the local post office in Kogarah. But fame was too enticing and when Pauline turned 18, father and daughter left Australia for the bright lights of England.

As Paul and Pauline, the pair toured the English provinces , Wales and Scotland for about 3 years.  Sometimes Pauline would perform twice, once with her father and once as Paula Coutts , lady juggler. In 1949 Paul and Pauline were presenting head and other balancing , feats of endurance and dental work. Paula was also juggling on the same bill. Advertisements from the time call her ‘cute and clever.’

In 1951 they returned to Australia. A picture was published in the local newspaper of Paula, doing the splits, balancing her father. It was an odd counterpoint to their original visual debut on Bondi Beach.  

At this time, Arthur seems to have returned to the post office, but Paula, in her unusual occupation as lady juggler, revisited  England. She was described as ‘a dainty Australian juggler’ ‘attractive’, and as presenting some unusual feats in her ball juggling specialty. Paula mainly juggled with balls, and was a skilful snooker player. 

Another performance during this time, was a spot in the Gene Kelly film, Invitation to the Dance. Paula appears in the circus segment, dressed as a clown, juggling balls and clubs. In a later interview Paula said ‘ Gene Kelly’s got what it takes.’

In celebration of her celluloid debut, her dad gave a brief interview to a local Sydney paper. He dismissed her juggling skills saying, ‘she was the worst of the lot’ , but ‘ she has the personality’. According to the proud father, Gene Kelly had wanted a boy juggler for the role, but was so impressed with Pauline that he offered her the part.  Arthur’s attitude towards Paula’s juggling was fairly typical at a time when female jugglers were rare. Unfortunately, her skills were often disregarded in favour of comments on her physique or personality.

In 1952 Paula joined other entertainers on a tour to the Middle East to entertain the troops.

In 1953 she returned home for a brief visit and was greeted by newspaper reports. She was quoted as being a smog refugee travelling home  for her health. The report was accompanied by Paula juggling three balls in a bikini. She was described as ‘small and shapely with a mass of red curls’. Her plan was to reunite with her father as Paul and Pauline. 

In 1954 the pair performed together  for the Hot Ice spectacular as the only non-skating act. Off stage, they gave the skating star, Pat Gregory, juggling lessons between performances. Hot Ice toured Australia for six months visiting Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. 

Paula’s appearances in Australia were sporadic over the next few years, She appeared in RSL clubs and for charity galas in the suburbs. In 1961 she joined a large cast in a show called Yellzapoppin. The show successfully toured New Zealand and Paula was pictured tossing tennis racquets in a photo spread. 

By 1963 she was back in England. She appeared in TV shows such as The Good Ol Days for the BBC and joined and performed for the CAA ( Creative Artists Association.) In 1964 she was described as ‘ that rarity, a girl juggler, not only efficient but dauntingly attractive.’  By 1973 she was back in Australia appearing on the Bert Newton Show.

From this date references to Paula juggling are quite rare. There is some evidence that she may, in later life, have taken to TV acting. It seems she passed away in 2022.