Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-25
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
When the middle-aged men Of today were
| boys they sat with amazed faces on the
wooden seats around the sawdust ring and
saw men and women defy death by dane
ing and standing upside down on the small
round platforms attached to the backs OF
prancing horses. More daring still, they
even jumped through paper hoops. At last
some wildly reckless spirits leaped through
hoops that famed with fire.
Before long, this, which seemed to all
of us that day the limit Of human daring,
was replaced by the feat of doing all these
things, and more, from the bare back of the
/ horse.
These fat-backed horses, 'rosin backs"
as they are called In circus language, still
amble around the rings of every Well-con-
Quoted show; but the children of today
would be finely indignant II they were
asked to accept the feats as real thrillers.
They have taken their proper place as In
teresting feats of skill
The first persons to Guido the horse
back rider in deeds of daring We're the
aerial gymnasts. They began to throw
somersaults from trapeZe to trapeZe, then
to throw themselves toward one another
headlong, to catch one another in midalr,
finally to catch each other while their heads
were wrapped in blindfoldng cloths.
The business of skirting close as posi-
BILE to the hem of death twice day IN order
to attract crowds remained. confined to the
trapeze people for quite time. They had
the peculiar advantage of doing their Work
high in the air so that every one who
looked at them waited with tense breath to
see one fall headlong to the ground ana
die in the modern arena as the performers
did in the ancient ones.
rivalry was fierce among the trapeze per-
formers We got the human flies who
walked on the ceilings with thelr heaos s
hanging down, holding fast with snoes
that crippled by means of suction. men
came the people who dived head first from
the tent tops, no matter how high, INTO
nets spread below. They learned TO TWIST
in the air; fly from trapeze, apparenu ~
change their minds in midair, turn ana
catch the wildly swinging thing that they
had just left at the very moment When II
seemed that they must fall to the GROUND;
Others found out that they could nold
fellow performers with their. teeth They
made leaps for life by soaring along thlh
wires at vast speed.
"Real" Feats
Most of these feats, and scores of others,
are nracticed today. They thrill still, for
thew are real The men and women VINO 90
them have no hidden safeguards. They
stake their lives on their skill. But as
| "attractions' in a big sense the trapeze
nerformers have been crowded INTO the
background by the inventors of feats that
depend on physical science, on the laws VI
gravity momentum and centrifugal force.
One of the earliest of this kind was that
of a Young woman who had herself fired
from a cannon, which shot her across the
arena to trapeze; ms ola act was as dIv
feats that press thick and fast on each
others heels now. $3.50 90
The fascination and drawing power OF
them all are due to the elementary 1act
that the performer really risks his or her
life There Is no trick about 1t. 1t is a
simn,e case of succeed or die" with them
all. 49,. enc. IN
pearance Of the human cannon pan the
demand on nerve and skill increased. BY
the time the imitators OF the cannon-paIl
lady had perfected themselves sufnclently
In the trick to exhibit they found that
the public did not care so much about it,
for it was ripe for something else
The principles of all these spectacular
feats crystalized into this: they mus.
roaring dash. There must be none OF the
cumbersome preparation that accompanied
the old tricks of the ring. The thing must
be done with lightning speed 1t must De
highly spectacular 1t must be plainly a
deadly thing to do. That last condltlon Is
really the leading one 1t mas peeh the
basis of all the feats presented to the
world through the medium OF the circus IN
the past twenty years.
The Wheel and the Sphere.
| Almost as soon as the minds OF the
| 'thrill-makers" were turned away from the
trapeze they began to work on the wheel
In one form or another. Presently they
were riding down and up spiral staircases
and whirls, rushing down steep inclines
and going through the air in mad leaps on
all forms of round things, from a simple
cart wheel to a great sphere.
One man who has retained his popularity
| sufficiently to hold his public still, works
a great sphere up and down hign ~n .iIo
way There was a time when the entire
gathering in circus watched him breath
| lessly and dared not utter SOUND; put now
| he is only a good attraction. Ihe real
thrillers have left him behind, hidden In
| their dust.
The real thrillers of today are rarely true
circus people. who live and die with the cir
| Gus and develop tricks year after year in
the course of their regular work
The modern thriller is freak. General
ly his or her idea amazes circus people
nearly as much as it does the public. Many
of these freaks emerge full blown from
/ life of obscurity They are village geniuses
lacks -aIl-trades, cranks. They get a
weird idea and stick to it until they either
kill themselves trying to work 1t out, In
which case the world never hears of them,
except perhaps through humorous para
graph; or they succeed in making it, go,
and presently blossom forth as vaulting
demons or flying deaths with salaries rang
ing from $500 to several thousand dollars
Those big salaries aren't fables. The
circus people probably wish they were.
The freak ill-makers originate the feats
risk their lives each time they perform,
and knock their nerves and their consti-
tutions to pieces. knowing all the time that
no matter how good their act is In one
season. the chances are that it will be
discounted by something else the next
year, SO they demand lots Of money, and
get 1t.
The arrangement that the circus makes
with them is simple enough. Produce your
trick We will pay you so much. You
take all the risks. If your act isn't satis-
factory of 1t goes, and the contract ceases
that moment.
Those are hard terms, but IL the trick
does succeed and is real thriller, the cir
Gus pays its thousands Of dollars week
In cash and never "squeals till the feat
Is beaten.
BICYCLES Pleased Them.
The bicycle was seized on eagerly by these
queer members Of the human family. who
for the sake of money study to see how
nearly they can touch death and stu
escape.
The enormous speed which the unaided
vr,o.yo aId aaxraIoyS IN kfa machine