The Washington times., 1901-09-29
WHERE ACRoBATs PRACTICE.
A Famous Resort in London for
Strange Specialists.

Strange Specialists.
There are very few Londoners whC
know that down in the unsavory New
Cut. on the right hand side as one goe:
toward Waterloo Road, is a little, grimy
windowed coffee shop.
Above the door is the legend-familial
enough hereabouts-"Beds sixpence a
night" 1t is obviously poor mans ''ho-
tel" Yet any weekday. from 10 or II in
the morning up till 1 or in the after
| noon, the curious in such matters may
observe passing in and out never ceas-
ing stream of well-dressed and well-set-
| up men, clean shaven, spruce and alert,
the very last sort of individuals one would
imagine to patronize for its board or lodg-
Ing an establishment such as this.
| Nor, as a matter of fact, do they do so.
| Follow any one of them. and you will find
| that he passed straight through the lit
| tie shop, down dark passage, to emerge
eventually into a lofty hall, round the
wall of which are rarged all kinds of
gymnastic apparatus.
And on the floor. suspended from rings
in midair, dangling from trapezes near
the ceiling, are men-and momentum
bling flying, swinging walking on their
hands. standing on their heads throwing
somersaults by the score, and twisting
themselves into every conceivable contor-
tion to which the human form divine is
capable of lending itself For this is a
PROFESSIONAL acrobats practice room,
and its name and fame are known from
end to end of Europe, and. indeed all over
the world wherever gymnasts and such
like folk travel, and they travel far. They
are largely foreigners, these people Lis
10 IN l1a hph hal 49,
various types. Yon little dark-eyed lassie,
who is turning catherine wheels with
such zest, is a Neapolitan and debu-
tante. apprenticed to troupe by parents
who were too poor to keep her. Like it?
Ask her. She knows today, poor child, for
almost the first time in her hitherto sad
young life, what it means to go to bed
unhungry.
Here is an Austrian 1addy. training un-
der Mr. Harry Ara He has only been a
few months with the troupe. and already
The tells you proudly he can turn forty
'hip-fiaps" without pausing for breath
A child woman. with black elf locks and
Jewish cast of countenance, is soIemnIy
engaged in throwing her arms and legs
about and around, now like the sails of a
windmill. anon like the tentacles of some
strange species of octopus. She is an Ar
menian. the sole survivor of her village,
at the time it was raided by band of
Kurds early last winter.
OF the inanimate things that are ranged
round the walls, the most are not what
they Seem. A billiard table, for instance,
which looks as solid one of the best 50
guinea match ones. proves on investiga-
ton to be fitted with a dummy bed of
green baize covered canvas. upon which
the performer can fall headforemost, IL
need be. from almost any height without
hurting himself.
Originally, one of the habitues of the
place informs us, this curiosly situated
practice hall was penny gan'' of the
old approved type. On the little stage at
the back. blood and thunder melcdramas
Were presented night after night to ad-
miring audiences of boys and girls.
This was forty years and more ago.
but by degrees the patrons fell away,
and, at the same time awkward en-
luiries began to BE- instituted concerning |
It's license. So ''oid Mother Potter" the |
oroprietress. who superintended the pro- |
iuction Of dramas" galore, aye, and |
played them too, on occasion-found like |
)thello, her occupation gone, and inconti- |
lentIy died.
For the better part of a couple of |
iecades afterward the bare, gaunt hail. |
masked by the grimy coffee-shop. remain |
ID closed and weiI-nigh forgotten until |
me day an enterprising pro" acrobat |
n search of a place wherein to practice |
discovered it. and made 1t know to his |
brother and sister pros; since when it |
las taken on a new lease of life and |
prosperity. Every day acrobats pass in |
md out, bent upon learning new tricks !
Which they have conceived. but which
hey are not as yet perfect in. The little
Dom is in fact training college, and it
leVer lacks full complement of adult
'upils and learners. No public audience
ees the tricks before they are presented
N the stage, but critics in the shape of
'rother pros" are plentiful.-London |
dail