Hal Brash was a prominent juggler in Australia in the early 20th Century. Everybody knew Hal, said the papers,but they never printed his picture. Hal used several names and travelled widely, he had many juggler friends but died unmourned at an early age.
Hal’s mother named him Almond, but his nickname was Hal. Almond Magor was born to Marie and William Magor in Ballarat Victoria in 1890. He had a brother, William and a sister, Blanche.
He started juggling in the local area, but when he was 19, according to Hal, he had a terrible accident while attempting Cinquevalli’s cannon ball trick.
Hal tried to catch a cannonball falling from above, on the back of his neck, but it fell in the wrong place, knocking him unconscious. He was stupefied for 14 days, but eventually recovered. Cinquevalli had popularised this trick using a fake cannonball, but perhaps the local jugglers did not realise this in 1909. Hal performed the trick throughout his career and had several mishaps, but he never gave it up..
Hal’s first notices are dated around 1913 when he performed under the name Hal Brash, or Hal Brasch, with the Swifts Company, a small troupe that toured regional areas. Before 1913 there are references to juggling brothers called Brasche, but there is no evidence that Hal was one of them.
Hal Brasch was the main attraction of the Swifst company. He was a very good juggler, who performed with ‘tennis rackets billiard balls and cues with graceful nonchalance.’ He also balanced ‘a 38 pound cannon ball on the end of a rod … afterwards catching it on his shoulders from a height.’ Hal was a hit with the audiences in country New South Wales, and soon The Swifts company was too small for a man with his recognized talent.
Hal could, at times, be a bit of a hot head. One night, he and the comedian of the company, Will Dyson argued with one of the locals whilst visiting the pub. One of the theatricals allegedly knocked an old man off his seat and then Hal threatened another using foul language. The victim drew a pistol and pointed it at Hal and Will. Both of the visitors were charged with menancing but the charges were dismissed.
Sometime in 1913 Hal met Alice Abrahams, a pianist from Queensland. The two fell in love and in April that year they married in Brisbane. Hal used the name ‘Alexander’ Magor. It was a quiet wedding as Alice was pregnant with their child, despite this the local papers recorded the event in their social pages.
Meanwhile Hal’s juggling career in Queensland continued. He left the Swifts and began performing in various regional areas . That year he was with the American Vaudeville company performing in a café setting, the climax of his act was when cannon balls rolled down the roof of the café and Hal caught them on the back of his neck. According to the papers, he caught five cannonballs in seven seconds.
In August 1914, Hal’s son, Alva Clarence Brasch Magor was born. Hal did not visit Alice that month and it soon became clear that he had no intention of living with her, or their son, again.
Later in 1914 Hal was touring the regions with a comedy singing and patter act and seemed to be actively avoiding Alice.
Alice, however, knew her rights, and in January 1915 she sued Hal for child support. The case was covered by the newspapers. Alice claimed that she and Hal married in April 1914, lived together in May and July that year, and then he disappeared. She estimated Hal’s income as 7 pounds a week. The court awarded Alice 1 pound a week maintenance and 7 shillings a week for Alva.
In 1915 there are few references to Hal Brasch the juggler. Throughout 1916 several jugglers with variations on the name Hal appeared in the theatres, primarily in Victoria, Hal’s home state. Hal Browne or Brown a ‘versatile fellow’ and comedy juggler appeared with the ‘Merry Madcaps’ in March, in June Hal the ‘pattering juggler’ popped up, and in July Hal Brasch, Australia’s only talking juggler reappeared. Hal Magor, also briefly performed on the circuit. These variously named jugglers were almost certainly Hal Brasch/Magor, and he maintained a steady career at this time performing with regional touring groups, Clay’s theatres and Fullers.
Whilst Hal was dexterously juggling names and locations throughout Victoria, Alice was working as a clerk in Queensland to support herself and her son. In May 1916 Alice took her employer to court regarding wages. Alice claimed that the employer was paying below award rates. She won the case.
In 1917 Hal travelled to New Zealand. It was there that he gained the name ‘Hal the jesting juggler’. By this time he was juggling clubs, tennis balls, racquets and concluding the act with the cannonball trick. In Hal’s version of the trick he dropped the cannon ball from a pole onto the upper part of his back. Hal was very successful and popular in New Zealand and it was his ‘quiet humour’ which made him so. He ‘gets there every time with his asides what time he is whirling his clubs in the air.’
After New Zealand Hal travelled for five years. He visited South Africa and India amongst other places. Traces of Hal’s travels are difficult to find as it seems he was attempting to avoid detection and may have travelled the world under various aliases.
Alice moved to Sydney, she worked as a clerk during the day and as a pianist during the evenings. She continued to search for Hal. She asked his friends, she asked the theatre managers, she wrote to his mother, looking for her wayward husband. The friends said they had not seen him, the theatre managers denied knowing his location, and his mother refused to answer the letter. Alice was alone, earning three pounds a week and paying one pound 10 for rent, and 15 shillings a week for boarding school for her son. Alice said she had no assets except her clothes.
In 1920 she co organized a musical evening in the city and in June that year, finally giving up on Hal, she filed for divorce. For the case to progress, Alice and her lawyer had to make an attempt to find Hal. They spent three months searching for him. Alice visited Fuller's Theatre office in Sydney and the clerk there told her they had not seen Hal for years, she met one of his friends and received the same answer. Alice’s lawyer wrote to Hal’s mother in Melbourne and received a response . According to Mrs Magor, her son had disappeared two and a half years prior, around the time he went to New Zealand, and had told her that he was going to India. Alice made depositions, her lawyer swore oaths and finally in July 1921 the divorce was granted. She gained full custody of her son and Hal was gone from her life forever.
Soon afterwards, her negligent husband returned to Sydney. In September 1921 the trade newspaper announced that Hal Brasch, known as Hal the jesting juggler, was returning after a 5 year absence. His act, according to the announcement, was better than ever. In October he was performing for Fullers in Sydney
Between November 1921 to February in New Zealand. During this tour he was praised for combining amusing patter with very skilled juggling. The finale of his act continued to be his variation of the Cinquevalli cannonball trick.
In 1922 the Magor divorce was finalized. Hal with Tom Newall, known as Zeno the juggler, teamed up to form a duo called Kale and Coyle. They performed in South Australia, Victoria and Perth. In August that year, Hal had another accident while performing the cannonball trick. This time he injured his left arm, which was hanging limply in a sling as he wandered around Sydney. By September he was back at work and joined Percy Abbot, a magician, for an international tour. Abbott took Hal, Tom and a lady called Ivy Norton, amongst other Australians to India from Perth.
In India, according to Abbott, there was trouble in the combination and Tom and Hal with Ivy left the troupe. The trio formed their own show. They were still in India in 1923 and Hal wrote a letter to the trade paper saying ‘ I am doing comic songs in addition to my regular work and find that the English people over here take to them very kindly.’
They were doing well, but trouble was on the horizon.Percy Abbott, a regular corespondent to the trades, advised that Ivy had split from Hal and Tom and was promoting a show for ‘distressed lady artists’. Ivy claimed that she was left stranded by Hal Brasch and Tom Newall in India. Percy Abbott suggested politely that the lady was fabricating her tale..
Hal remained in India until 1925 but returned to Melbourne in November that year. Perhaps he had yet another accident with the cannonball. In 1927 he died at his mother’s house in Melbourne, the cause of death was general paralysis and exhaustion, he was 37 years old.
Alice remarried in 1924 and moved to England. Her son and her descendants remained there. Alice peacefully passed away in 1943, her son Alva married and had children and died in England in 1985.
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