‘She is lovely, she is divine and as shapely in form as
she is classical of feature…. He is by no means beautiful’
Such was the description of Les Brunins, French billiard
ball jugglers, during their tour of Australia in 1905. The pair returned to the
country in 1910 to repeat their success on the Tivoli Stage.
Les Brunins were Jeanne and Maurice Brunin, French natives
who came to Australia after touring the English provinces. Jeanne, born Julie
Jeanne Joubaud around 1882 was 10 years younger than her husband. According to
a 1902 English newspaper, Maurice, originally trained as a circus performer,
had known her since she was 9 years old and the two had never parted since being
married in Paris in 1901. They had at least two children by the time they
arrived in Australia, Marcel and Jeanne.
When they arrived , Jeanne was 23 years old and Maurice 33.
One of his first pronouncements upon setting foot in Australia was a declaration
that their act was unique and that the billiard balls they used were real. These were claims he continued to assert
aggressively for 20 years.
They were engaged to the Tivoli circuit and began their tour
in Sydney in September. They played an unusual kind of billiards using a small
table and regular billiard balls. Maurice, taking a cue, bounced balls off the
cushion of the table into nets that he carried on various parts of his body.
Then Jeanne, in a beautiful orange dress donned a mask and Maurice shot the
balls from the table to pockets attached to her head and shoulders.
Maurice blew out a
candle with a well struck ball and even played a tune on bells with them. He
was said to have a ‘sure aim and remarkable power over his cue.’
Jeanne also juggled the billiard balls.
Finally, she removed her elaborate dress, and in tight
fleshings rode a bicycle around the stage while Maurice bounced balls from the
table onto nets attached to her body. To conclude the act, he lifted wife,
bicycle and table onto his back and carried the three off stage.
Their costumes were elaborate, with Jeanne’s dresses said to
be so beautiful that they ‘ took away
the feminine breath’. Their French style made their turn a popular one with
Tivoli audiences in Australia.
The pair stayed in the country for three months and then
departed for the United States. Their reception there was less enthusiastic.
Variety’s review was luke warm, saying
Juggling. Hammerstein's. For the first appearance in this
country Monday afternoon Les Brunins did very well with billiard ball juggling.
A man and woman attend to the work and the woman is attractive through her good
looks, splendid proportions and the hand- some dress worn at the opening.
……….The juggling is not novel, having been shown by W. C. Fields and Aszra.
Several new tricks are shown, and the finish where the woman in fleshings and
pantalettes rides a bicycle catching the billiard balls thrown by the man from
the table gives a showy close. With fewer misses the act will do easily. The
style about it wins.
Editor Variety:
In Sime’s review of our act last week at Hammerstein’s,
he mentioned W. C. Fields and Asra. I wish to let you know that we are the
originators of this act. I took an affidavit to that effect in Toledo in
1901. I can prove I was doing this act long before Fields. He will tell you so
himself. As for Asra, everyone knows that he has a poor copy of our act. The
only difference is that Asra uses rubber balls, while we have real ones. I am
absolutely certain if he sees my act now he will try to copy the bicycle trick
also. Of course I do not claim to be the
originator of the “jumping ball” Any good billiard player can do that with a
little practice, but I do claim to be the originator of every way we catch the
balls and of everything we do with them. M. Brunin,
Titled ‘ In a billiard Saloon’ Maurice and ‘Liane’ performed feats with billiard balls that
‘displayed remarkable dexterity’
In Adelaide, Maurice ‘ bounced a billiard ball off
the cushion of the table, causing it to rebound off a pad which he bore affixed
to his forehead. From there a sudden lurch forward on the part of the performer
sent the ball spinning back across the stage into a net arranged on the head of
the lady artist who was cycling around the floor’
Liane De Lyle’s toilette and costumes were a
highlight of the act, and her beauty was much admired by newspaper reporters. However,
one point bothered them. The Parisians insisted that the billiard balls they
used were ‘real’, an assertion that the reporters found baffling because it
seemed unnecessary,
Maurice, again leapt to defend their originality by
responding promptly to this review.
In Variety’s notice today of the Two Kervilles, it said
we do much the same as W. C. Fields has done, etc. We are the Brunins, the
originators of the billiard table acts and W. C. Fields copied his act from us,
as may be easily found out at the United Booking Offices, or my agent, H. B.
Marinelli. I took out my papers for this act in Toledo in 1900, some years
before we returned to France.
M. Kerviile. 26/9/17