Cestria or Carlo Cavalli, the Italian acrobatic waiter, was one of many jugglers who came to Australia during World War 1. He was in the country for over 10 years and in that time worked for all the major vaudeville chains and circuses.
The diminutive Carlo was born in Torino Italy in 1883. By 1906 he was working in English music halls as a juggler and acrobat. When he arrived in Australia in 1916, under engagement to Fuller’s vaudeville, he was 33 years old, of medium build standing 5ft 1in tall with black hair and brown eyes.
Carlo, who often travelled under the name ‘Cestria’ was an acrobat and juggler. He was accompanied by his wife Anna, who also performed in the act. Cestria was the star, who began the turn on stilts, performing somersaults. He then juggled with various household items such as potatoes and had the audience throwing potatoes to him from the auditorium. It was an entertaining, humorous and participative turn.
In September 1916, he appeared in Queensland ‘ on stilts throwing all sorts of somersaults with a double on a table.’ In October he travelled to New Zealand and then returned to Australia in February 1917. This was the standard touring route for Fuller’s international performers at the time.
In Melbourne that year he was described as ‘ a diminutive comedy man of exceptional ability’.
By November 1917 he had joined the Tivoli circuit and remained with it until at least October 1918 when he performed at the Tivoli Sydney.
His turn at this time consisted of a 20 minute act, featuring himself and his wife, Anna, as a maid. The turn opened on a drawing room scene with four tables with white table cloths. Upon the tables were plates and fruits and props such as cigar boxes, a top hat, a bucket, a saw and an axe. Anna entered the stage dressed as a maid and dusted the tables, Cestria followed on stilts, dressed as a waiter, and started tumbling. Then he pretended to saw off the wooden stilts with the saw, after which he resumed tumbling and juggling with the fruit on the table. At this, Anna exited the stage. Cestria then proceeded to juggle three china eggs whilst wearing the top hat, which had a hole in it. The eggs passed through the hole to the juggler to produce a comedic effect. He then juggled twelve cigar boxes, dropping and picking them up for more comedy. Anna then returned on stage whilst the juggler placed a fork in his mouth. Anna threw potatoes at him whilst he proceeded to catch them with the fork. Anna and Cestria then threw potatoes at the audience encouraging them to throw the potatoes on stage so that Cestria could catch them. After some time of being pelted with potatoes the juggler put on the bucket and waved a white flag, giving up.
After catching the potatoes, Anna walked off stage and then started to throw various vegetables and fruit at the juggler, with each one getting larger. Cestria, as the waiter, caught them on the fork in his mouth. Finally , a dummy, looking like the waitress, was thrown at him on stage, and he would catch this too on the fork, finishing the act on a comic high note.
After three years of solid employment in Australia, Cestria and Anna took the act to Western Australia. They were preparing to leave for the Northern Hemisphere. Most of Australia had seen their turn and they were not getting much work in the major vaudeville chains. Unfortunately, shipping accommodation at the end of the war was limited due to the need to return troops from Europe to Australia, so Carlo and Anna found themselves stuck in Western Australia. They spent almost two years in WA performing in various vaudeville theatres and in Eroni’s Circus. During this time they received warm reviews from the press which described the act as ‘uproariously funny’ and ‘remarkable for its cleverness.’
By 1921 it seems that the duo had decided to remain in Australia. That year they performed in South Australia, Sydney and Queensland. In March in South Australia the reviewers described Cestria as ‘a wonderful tumbler, juggler and balancer… at his best as a comedian.’
In Sydney, in June, they performed at Fullers as Charles and Anna Cestria, ‘tumbling over and under tables and chairs’ the newspapers described their tricks as ‘some of the best of their kind’.
However, it seems that there were some people in Australia who were imitating the act and in July 1921 Carlo Cavallo copyrighted an act called ‘Cestria the acrobatic waiter’ with the Australian government. He claimed that he had performed it since 1906 in England and asserted dramatic rights to the original work.
However, this did not discourage the imitators. In October 1922 whilst working for Colleano’s Circus in Victoria, Carlo wrote to the government complaining about an imitator called De Car who was performing as the ‘acrobatic waiter’ for Fullers at the Bijou in Melbourne.
Carlo claimed; ‘I advised him personally five or six times to cut it out and he will not take any notice ‘. Carlo added that he had also advised both Musgrove, (who ran the Tivoli) and Fuller, (who managed Fullers) about the issue. Neither man acted on the advice.
Carlo was understandably furious. ‘ I had to join the circus’ he wrote, as he could not gain employment on the vaudeville circuit ‘ because they have this man instead of me and he is working cheaper.’
The Australian government also did not act on his complaints.
Whatever problems Carlo had with Fullers seem to have been resolved by 1924 because he worked with them during that year juggling ‘cigar boxes and soup plates.’ His act was described as ‘twenty minutes of uproariously funny comedy with clever juggling and dare devil acrobatic stunts.’ In July that year, a dog, Prince, was added to the act.
However by 1925 the Great Cestria was not as popular and from this time until he left Australia, his main performances were in minor regional vaudeville chains, circuses and yearly pantomimes. His act was always warmly greeted wherever he went and his ‘true vaudeville touch’ and ‘wide experience of stagecraft ‘ were recognised.
In 1928, Carlo Cavallo, aka The Great Cestria, left Australia for England. He arrived in September 1928 in Liverpool and does not seem to have appeared in Australia again.