The Brookhaven leader., 1883-05-03

IeSSlOnalS, VINO, lnueeu, aver Jney WOulL
rather be without band-clatterr'
Salariesaa enormously, of course.
OF late years, there has been demand
for female gymnaSts, and some have
been forthcoming; but, as might be ex-
pected, they rarely excel. Still, they
draw good houses, and the morbid taste
of the public enables some of them to
command fifty or hundred pounds a
week. Troupe salaries run even higher
than this in exceptional cases; but man
ayers always want something that no
other company has presented, and the
art is therefore a progressive one. All
manner of things are introduced to
impart spice of novelty to old
tricks in every department. Aero
bats juggle with balls, knives,
hoops, fans, bells and burning torches
while tumbling; or throw somersaults
while playing the violin or tambourine;
or mount themselves on roller-skates
and bicycles. 0ymnasts are "fired"
from spring boards concealed within a
gigantic cannon, let off pistols in their
flight through the air, or 90 through
their evOlutions amid blaze of squibs
and rockets. The various "linesn of
business, too, while more numerous and
diversified, are not so distinct and sepa-
rate as they used to be. Trapeze, fly
ing rings and horizontal bar work are
now combined; poles and ladders still
hold their ground; but tight-rOpe and
slack-wire walking-feats more easily
acquired than any others-bottle-per-
formers, ceiling-steppers pedestal aero
hot
in the market. Qt is denied, blythe
way, that the ceiling-walking, which at
one time created such a sensation, was
ever really performed by atmospheric
pressure or by magnetism, as was
alleged, springs or hooks having been
always emplOyed.)
Equilibrists are rather in the ascend
ant just now 1t seems incredible that
any one should be able to sit in chair
and maintain it balanced on two legs
upon an Oscillating bar, or stand upon
one leg on globe resting on the same
unstable foundations; nevertheless, those
and other similar marvels are executed
nightly for fifty shillings week. Roll
ing-globe and barrel performers are at
u discount; but French comic acrobats,
with their tumbling, are looking up.
Circus troupes include every variety,
and have their own specialists as well.
Clown and harlequin may be developed
from any of these; many of the famous
old clowns were accomplished spade
dancers. But it is the mode now to
take new departures altogether, and we
find acrobatc ballet-troupeS, dualo-
gusts, and comedy companies, niggeI
minstrels and step-dancers who accent
uate their hornpipes with somcrsaults
and hand-springs.
Although most of those who follow
this calling assume foreign names, they
are nearly all English; and English ac-
robats, like American circuses, French
actresses, Italian singers and German
musicians, are noted all over the world.
In many parts they are much more
highly esteemed than they are here; in
South American countries, for instance,
the arrival of a clever gymnast causes
as great a sensation as a new prima dom
ma at the opera. They frequently trav
el in connection with circus companies,
which on foreign tour are of more eX-
tensive proportions than they are at
home; and it is strange sometimes, in
remote corners of the earth, to find the
walls all afame with some name that
was familiar in the Christmas panto-
mines for Crystal Palace entertain
ments of long ago at home. When they
have any talking to do, they crack their
jokes in English as usual, wherever they
may be, and it appears to 90 down just
as well with the audience. who, more
over, applaud vehemently, as an ex-
quisite witticism, and single word of
the native language which a performer
may have picked up. If you talk to
any acrobat of ten years standing, you
will frequently discover that he has
been in every quarter of the globe
Chambers Journal