The Novellos in Australia

Information about Fredrico's early years comes from the great book The Grand Gypsy. Ottavio Gesmundo,  Fredrico's grand nephew, has been kind enough to exchange emails with me which helped greatly. Thank you Ottavio. 

 In early 1940 a pair of jugglers, The Novellos, toured Melbourne and Sydney for a brief 12 week engagement. They supported famous vaudeville performer Marie Burke at the Tivoli theatre in both cities. However, there was more to the story of the Novellos than appeared on the surface.

The Novellos were actually members of the famous Italian circus family, The Canestrellis. Their real names were Fredrico and Herma Canestrelli. The Canestrelli’s or more precisely, Fredrico’s older brother, Ottavio, were famous for a terrible accident that occurred at Ringling Brothers circus in 1932 when a very large serpent called Satana embedded its teeth into Ottavio’s arm during a performance in full view of the audience. The incident made front page news across the world

 Fredrico was born in Italy in 1899, the son of Ottavio and Geoffra Canestrelli. The family was already involved in circus and Fredrico was a circus child, trained in all the arts of the craft from his earliest years. After World War 1, Fredrico joined his older brother and the pair toured the world, going to the Middle East and to Asia with travelling circuses and shows. In the 1930s they joined Ringlings and the famous incident with the serpent occurred. In 1931 Fredrico married Herma Renner, who joined the family at Ringlings later in the decade. In 1934 the pair performed a free ladder act with a dog, which was very similar to the act they took to Australia 6 years later. 

In 1939 the Commonwealth, including Australia, declared war on Germany. Many Australians, including vaudevillians,  volunteered to join the fight in Europe. Just as in World War 1, the variety stage started to suffer for the lack of local acts. The United States had not entered the war as yet and therefore it was a good  place to scout for performers. Herma and Fredrico, were, by Australian newspaper accounts, happy to make the long trip to Australia.

The pair arrived in Sydney on February 24th 1940 and on their entry documents Fredrico who declared his Italian, and Herma’s, Austrian, nationalities,  asked for permission to stay for a year. 

The Novellos made their first appearance at the  Melbourne Tivoli on March 4 1940. Fredrico was 41 and Herma 31. The dog, who appeared in the act seemed to have accompanied them on the journey., The fox terrier’s name was Jeddy and it was placed in quarantine after every performance.  The papers recognised that Fredrico and Herma were part of the famous ‘Canestrelly’ family, but according to the press release, they originated from Denmark, not Italy and certainly not from Austria.  

In Melbourne they appeared with Marie Burke in a revue called Lucky Stars. Marie was a famous English artist who had already visited Australia. She was the star, the Novellos were one of many support acts. 

They ‘took great liberties with ladders and gravity ‘in their act. Fredrico marched across the stage on an unsupported ladder, balanced Jeddy on his head whilst on top of the ladder, and juggled three clubs, whilst Herma swung on a trapeze and provided assistance.  

The newspapers ensured that the public knew that the  Novellos were proud that they had appeared at a Royal Command Performance for the King and Queen in Canada the year before. This of course could have been hype to demonstrate their loyalties. 

On Friday April 12th they moved to Sydney, where they were previewed as presenting an act which ‘electrified audiences.’ Fredrico’s walk across the stage balancing on a 12 foot ladder impressed Sydney reviewers. 

The pair performed in Sydney until mid May then they departed from Australia on the 24th of that month. The short 12 week tour was strange in light of their permission to stay in the country for a year

Although the papers claimed the couple came from Copenhagen, they had entered Australia with their real names and nationalities. Fredrico as Italian and Herma as Austrian. Australia had a policy of internment for enemy aliens, and although Italy was not yet an enemy, Mussolini was already meeting with the Germans on a friendly basis. 

On June 10th Italy entered the war and a wave of anti Italian sentiment swept Australia. Almost 2000 Italians were rounded up.  There were violent scenes in Sydney where shops belonging to Italians were vandalised and one thousand Italians were arrested as angry crowds lined the streets. Almost all of those arrested were interned for the rest of the war. 

If Fredrico and Herma had stayed for another few weeks they may have suffered the same fate.

On June 11 the couple arrived in the United States. They continued freely defying the laws of gravity in theatres around the world for decades afterwards.