Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-01
THE FROG MAN.
How q Contortionist Traius-He Found
Bicycle Riding Hard Work.

There was man at one Of the local theaters
last week named Delhauer-William Delhauer,
put down on the program as 1.-The human
frog" Mr.. Delhauer was fully able to tie
himself into lovely bow knot and then add a
little safety hitch to make everything secure
STAR reporter saw the performance one
evening and was much struck by what might
be called the fexiblity of the gentleman. If
there were any bones in his anatomy he
possessed the trick of carefully concealing the
fact. and 1t was the general opinion that these
commonly useful portions Of the body had
been left in the dressing room.
A BATRAcHIAN ACROBAT.
MIR. Delhauer was gotten up to represent a
good old marsh frog, and in every movement
his imitation was excellent. The entire head
was covered with a frog mask, while the toes
on the costume were padded out SO as to give
the feet very froggy appearance. Mr.. Del
hauer's main act was to seat himself on the
sharp edge OF a common tin can which was
placed on table and then. while balancing
into 80 many intricate shapes that q Chinese
god would have taken one look and died OF
envy.
Mr.. Delhsuer. after he had shed his frog skin
In his dressing room and arrayed himself in
street costume, turned out to be a good looking
from him that good contortionist is a combi-
nation of being born to it and raised to it
YEARS OF HARD WORK.
"You cannot take every boy, no matter how
young you begin, and make an acrobat or con-
tortionist of him" said the metamorphosed
frog. "A certain suppleness Of the joints is nee
essary. Even then with the necessary require
ments it takes years of hard training and con-
slant practice to rise above the mere rudi-
ments. Take my case, for instance. began
work as q tumbler at the age Of twelve and for
twenty years I have been working con-
of he hna I'M at mr. N
something new to study every day. Yes, con-
stant answering daily practice is the main
secret. For years have taken no other special
training except daily practice ON the several
tricks was using at the time. OF course it is
necessary for contortionist to keep himself in
perfect condition by using great care in his
diet No, thanks, / don't smoke cigarettes
They would by the last resort. Constant
training seems to have had kind Of stretching
influence on every muscle, and can throw my
foot up o.er my head with almost as much
ease as you lift yours a foot from the ground.
LEARNED IT FROM THE FROGS
81 got the idea of impersonating a frog by
observing some of these animals in n store
window one day. / watched their curious
antics for some time and the though. struck
me that an act could be made out of it. Since
then have closely studied every action of his
frogship. No. il is not much exertion and tires
me little; but, talking about exercise took a
short ride on one OF these bicycles the other
night and my arms and shoulders have been
aching ever since Yes, q man to become a
contornoniss has got to commence mighty
| early in life and keep in constant practice and
training for years to make any success. After
q tine 1t becomes q sort Of second nature, and
at present am as much at home sitting on
that tin can with my legs up around my head
% would be ON chair and much more 90
than l was on bicycle
mo- 1 don't believe You could be able to
kick man over your shoulder by an hour
training day for two weeks" And the re-
porter came sadly away.