Alfio Silvestri

 I recently acquired these pictures of Alfio Silvestri- there's not a lot of information about Alfio available, so I've posted what I know here hoping that somebody might know more. He was, by all accounts I've read, a very skilled juggler. 

In the graveyard of variety artists in England lies Alfio Silvestri, once hailed as ‘the greatest juggler on earth.’

He was born in 1909 and in his early years lived in Milan. When he appeared on the  British variety circuit  he was introduced as a famous continental juggler, and it’s probable that he honed his craft in the theatres of France and Italy.

In 1932 he debuted in the English variety theatres, he was 22, a slim young man with a polished act. He claimed to be the only person in the world who could juggle 10 balls while standing on one foot.

His speciality was ball juggling, he juggled footballs and billiard balls and his finale was catching balls thrown to him by the audience on a stick in his mouth. This audience interaction was much praised by critics.

Between 1932- 1955, he appeared in all the major music halls in England, Scotland and Ireland with this act.

Alfio Silvestri died in 1992 and was buried in Twickenham cemetery England by the Variety Artistes Benevolent fund.

 

 

Ossie Delroy and Jack Delroy- The Delroys.

 With Thanks to Kate Besley and Mark St Leon for their help- Particularly Kate who patiently answered my emails.

In late 1912, a young juggling duo, The Delroys, began appearing in advertisements, in theatre trade magazines and newspapers. They were hoop rollers extraordinaire, comedy artists, brothers in juggling.

They were Jack and Ossie, the Delroys, and both were in their early 20s.  In November 1912 they played the National Amphitheatre and in early 1913 they played with Mysto, the magician. They passed hoops and made comedic remarks, they juggled tennis racquets, Ossie rode a unicycle and juggled, and they offered five pounds to anybody in the audience who could do the same.

After reaching the heights of the Brennan circuit at the National Amphitheatre, their career was sidelined to the fringes of the Australian vaudeville scene. The variety theatres were experimenting with moving pictures, so there was less work, and the pay was declining. The Delroys travelled to New Zealand for a short tour in 1913, and then they sailed to Asia where they joined Harmston’s Circus. In August, Jack wrote to Variety Magazine in Sydney, raving about their good reviews and great houses in China.

The Delroys spent about 3 years with Harmstons and toured through Asia. In 1916 the partners split and Jack left the circus.

 

JACK

 When Jack left, he was not alone. He had started a relationship with the circus owner’s daughter, Nellie Harmston. The couple, with a friend, John Gordon Kerr, and with Nellie’s daughter Jeanette, embarked on a ship in Shanghai for the United States in 1916.

Jack Delroy’s real name was Pierce Alexander McDonald and he was born in Parkes New South Wales in 1893.  He was a slender, handsome man with light brown hair and grey eyes. John Gordon Kerr who accompanied Jack and Nellie to the US, was supposed to be Jack’s new juggling partner. However, in October 1916 Jack was advertising for a new partner who could pass clubs and hoops because Kerr was ill and in 1917 he died in Illonois. 

Jack and Nellie worked with a circus in Pittsburgh in 1917 and Jack also managed a Chinese touring group. In 1920 they decided to return to Australia. On the way they toured the Chinese troupe in Shanghai.

Nellie Harmston McDonald, known by her stage name Nellie Harmston, had developed an act with performing birds. She had over 20 birds, including cockatoos, who performed various tricks including acrobatics, mini trapeze, musical items and tumbling. One cockatoo, The Colonel, was described as almost human. They were enormously popular particularly with children. When the couple arrived in Australia, Nellie and her bird act was almost immediately booked as a headliner for the Tivoli Circuit.

Jack was not in demand as a juggler, it was Nellie who was booked continuously throughout the early 1920s. Jack was referred to as Nellie’s ‘hubby’ who ‘assisted with the birds.’

Denied the opportunity to juggle regularly, Jack branched into business. In 1922 he became part owner of a confectionery store in Sydney called Hills which was later renamed Macs. The store had the exclusive licence to provide sweets to all the theatres in Sydney and was located next to the Theatre Royal. He also obtained the copyright for the ‘sawing a woman in half illusion’ and warned in large advertisements, that magicians in Sydney would have to ask permission before performing the trick in public.

Everyones Magazine 1920s

Nellie’s cockatoos were world famous and Nellie was a talented juggler, performer and animal trainer. Her act often included cats, rats and birds. It was constantly booked in theatres in Australia.  Around 1923 Nellie left the country with the bird act and the family remained overseas for three years. When they returned the birds starred as headliners and once again toured the Tivoli Circuit.

In 1927, Jack imported a Chinese acrobatic troupe The Kwong Sing Wah troupe, who played the Tivoli. Later that year Jack created McDonald’s Wonder Show which included the troupe. There was also a juggler, Manelli, in the Wonder Show.  This was Jack’s alter ego. Young Jeanette also performed and sometimes conducted the cockatoo act.  Mc Donald’s Wonder Show did good business. It was ‘comedy, novelty, melody and thrills, delighting both the ear and the eye.’

In 1928 Nellie suddenly passed away in Sydney, and Jeanette and Jack were left alone, with the birds, to make a living.

They travelled to New Zealand, Jack appearing as Manelli the juggler. The reviews said that Manelli ‘appeared to be able to juggle anything light or heavy and his feats with hoops and hats were remarkably clever.’ Jack appeared with a partner called Mack, who dressed as a tramp and performed humorous feats as Jack juggled. The New Zealand papers said that Jack was the heir to Cinquevalli.

Advertisement for Jack and Jeanette's show in New Zealand newspaper

Jean performed a living marionette act. Her mother had died less than 6 months before, yet she continued working with Jack in New Zealand almost continuously through to mid-1929.

Jack Delroy , juggler, reappeared in Australia in 1930 and in the early years of the decade was juggling in regional shows. In 1934 he married Alice Doell in New Zealand. The couple, with Jean, remained there. In 1934 Jack listed his occupation as merchant.  In 1951 he became a New Zealand citizen.

Meanwhile Jean continued performing with her living marionettes, becoming a feature between the movies. She eventually settled in New Zealand and had a family who still lives there.

Jack returned to Australia in old age and died in 1975 in Sydney.

 

OSSIE

The adventures of Ossie Delroy made him a legend in the Australian theatrical and circus communities.

When Jack left Harmston’s circus with Nellie, Ossie remained. He stayed with the circus for almost two decades and became Harmston’s right hand man. Originally, he performed a unicycle/juggling act, but with time he became a jack of all trades, a manager, an advance man, a trainer, an acrobat and a trouble shooter.

When Ossie became Ossie Delroy the juggler, it seems he left his origins behind. Fragmentary evidence suggests that his real name was Oswald Albert Smith and he was born in Newtown in Sydney in 1890. His mother was Mercy Smith and his father, John Thomas, was a brickmaker.

 

Ossie with Harmston's Circus-

Ossie travelled through Asia with Harmston’s Circus for over 10 years. In 1924 he was described as ‘doing a wire act, trick bicycle, comedy juggling, and musical offering. In addition to this he is elephant trainer, transport man and above all he is Willie Harmston’s first lieutenant’.

Ossie did a quick stop in Australia in 1924 to get married, but he soon travelled to Asia to rejoin his boss. The boss died in 1936, and Ossie, perhaps not happy with the new management, returned to Australia and New Zealand with Sole Brothers circus in 1938.

In New Zealand, he was described as the ‘juggling genius and hoop spinner’ direct from India. A review said ‘His wonderful control in juggling five hoops or balls at the one time was greatly appreciated and his club work and every feature of his display was clean and finished.’

Ossie toured with Sole Brothers across Australia in 1939. War was declared in September that year, and Ossie was too old to fight. He remained with the circus until 1941 when he joined the famous Thorpe McConville show.

Ossie with Jimmy Wallace- Pix Magazine (damaged photo in my collection)

In 1940 he featured in a two page photo spread in Pix Magazine with young Jimmy Wallace. They were shown juggling hoops, clubs and balls and passing. Ossie, lying about his age, was too old to fight, and Jimmy too young. Jimmy had been juggling since he was a boy and it’s possible that Ossie was his juggling teacher and mentor as they lived in neighbouring suburbs.

In August 1941, Ossie enlisted with an Australian Army entertainment unit led by comedian, Jim Gerald. Ossie lied to the army about his age, and entertained the troops on the front line, often unicycling and juggling in dangerous conditions.  He returned to Australia in 1943 and entertained the forces with the Waratah troupe in North and Western Australia, where he and Jimmy were called a ‘perfect juggling team’.  He returned to the front lines in New Guinea with this touring company in 1943.

Ossie on the Unicycle entertaining the troops in the Middle East- Australian War Memorial 

After the war Ossie teamed with Jimmy and they performed at the Brisbane Theatre Royal. He continued working with McConville, and during the 1950s teamed with Jimmy again. He was in his 60s at this time.

In Sydney Ossie loitered in Pitt Street at Poverty Point with all the local performers. They elected a mayor and gossiped about work and lack of it. Ossie was a well known and respected character in the community and continued working well into the 1950s.

Ossie scaring a child - 1951 newspaper

Ossie seems to have stopped the travelling showman life in the 1960s. He passed away in 1978 in his home in Sydney. He is spoken of as a legend in the circus world, and his adventures took him a long way from his humble beginnings as a brick makers son in Newtown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Wallace- The Boy Juggler

 

Jimmy Wallace was born to show business. His father, Jim but known as Professor Wallace, was a children’s entertainer and puppeteer. Unlike many performers, Jim and wife Lil, had a home in Marrickville in Sydney where they raised their three children, George, James and Florence.

The family name was Bell. Jimmy, the middle child was born in 1922 and given the name James Wallace Bell, after his father’s stage name. He had one unusual feature, one grey and one brown eye.

The Bell home in inner city Marrickville in Sydney was not like the other suburban homes. In the early 2000s Florence recalled the family’s trips to the Tivoli Theatre, her father’s late nights and his collection of magic memorabilia. Jimmy senior was a children’s entertainer, a magician, and a well-known character in the small Sydney pre-war theatrical community.

As a young man, Jimmy junior, was sent to somebody, probably Ossie Delroy, to learn to juggle. Ossie lived nearby and was also well known to the local theatrical scene. Young Jimmy liked juggling. He would juggle household items such as apples or cutlery in the family kitchen much to his mother’s dismay.

Jimmy in Pix Magazine 1938

 He began juggling for the public around the age of 12 when he started doing charity shows with his father. He juggled at department stores, including the famous Anthony Hordens, and for a local children’s charity. It seems clear that Jimmy was going to follow in his father’s footsteps, he was sent to the theatrical dentist, and he was given elocution lessons to fix a slight speech impediment. Then when he was 15, he appeared in a two-page photo spread for a local magazine.

 In Pix magazine in 1938, he was described as a young juggler who astonished people when on holidays by juggling knives and forks at the breakfast table. His father was quoted saying that Jimmy was the only boy in the world who could manage 4 balls in the air at the same time and he was pictured juggling axes.

The next year he began juggling professionally and was at the Regent theatre in Adelaide between movie showings. He wore a white satin shirt and navy-blue trousers and juggled balls racquets and hats. The highlight of his turn was juggling three axes, blindfolded.

War was declared in September 1939 and men from Australia enlisted. Jimmy was too young, enlistment age was 21, so he continued with his stage career.

In 1940 he was scaring young women with blind folded axe juggling. He also appeared in another two-page pictorial in Pix Magazine. This time local man Ossie Delroy accompanied him. It is probable that the shoot occurred in the Bell family back yard in Marrickville. The pair juggled hoops, clubs and balls

Jimmy with Ossie Delroy,  Pix Magazine 1940

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From 1941-1942 Jimmy toured the country with various revues on the Tivoli Circuit. He appeared in primarily in Melbourne and Sydney, including an appearance in the revue ‘Applesauce’ with Will Mahoney and Evie Hayes. Also, during this period, he performed on radio, earning the nickname, ‘the radio juggler.’

In 1943 Jimmy enlisted. His friend Ossie had already toured the Middle East with an army entertainment troupe. Jimmy had just turned twenty-one and was now eligible for service. He had been touring the north of Australia with the Waratah entertainment troupe which performed in army camps in Australia, and in 1943 the troupe travelled to New Guinea to entertain there. Jimmy remained on the front lines until he was discharged in 1946.

Jimmy in New Guinea

He continued his juggling career when he returned. In 1947 he played at the Tivoli and performed in Sydney Melbourne and Perth. That year, at the Wingham Diggers Dance (Diggers is Australian for soldiers) he entertained a crowd with ‘the usual’ juggling props and caused much laughter with his humorous quips. The audience applauded him loudly and refused to let him leave the stage. Jimmy was travelling through on his way to Brisbane for a stint at the Cremorne Gardens.

Jimmy spent much of the late 1940s in Brisbane where he became the co-director of the Brisbane Royal with George Wallace jnr (not related), and Laurie Smith. In 1949 he married Joan Ashton, a singer in the show,  in Brisbane. It was a typical day for Jimmy with his wedding squeezed in between business. His routine that day was described as. 3pm- married, 5pm- attended business for the Brisbane Royal, 8.30pm- on stage with juggling act.

Jimmy marries Joan- Newspaper photo

In 1949 Ossie Delroy teamed with Jimmy for a duo juggling act which was well received. However, it seems that the management of the Brisbane Royal was not very profitable. By 1951, Wallace jnr, Jimmy and Joan were on the road in the north of Queensland, and in 1952 Jimmy was back in Sydney producing the ‘Wentworth Cabaret’ in Katoomba. One reason for returning to Sydney was the death of his father that year.

Jimmy’s career was slowing down by then, but he was getting involved in television. Television reached Australian homes in 1956 and it seems Jimmy was one of the early stars of the medium. In 1962 he juggled at a shopping mall in Parramatta (suburban Sydney) and was advertised as a TV star.

Jimmy died in Sydney in 1987 after a lengthy career in vaudeville, radio and TV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jugglers during World War 2 ( ANZAC Day Edition)

 Australian jugglers played a large role in the entertainment and fighting units in the Middle East and New Guinea during World War 2.

Jim Collins- Major Jim Collins, a juggler known as Collino, or J J Collins, organised performances in New Guinea. He also designed a portable stage for the shows.

The Testro brothers, part of the famous Testro juggling family, performed for the troops, and there is an urban legend that either in World War 1 or WW2, one of them juggled live grenades. 

 Jimmy Wallace in New Guinea- State Library of Victoria.

Jimmy Wallace, barely of conscription age, juggled in the entertainment unit in New Guinea for several years. Jimmy was a Sydney boy whose family lived in Petersham in inner city Sydney.

Ossie Delroy, a circus legend, lied about his age to join up. Ossie told the government he was born in 1900 when he was actually born in 1890, so he was 50 when he toured the Middle East with the Australian entertainment troop in 1941. Ossie came home and then returned to entertaining the troops in New Guinea several years later. Born in Newtown in inner Sydney, he lived in Marrickville and trained Jimmy Wallace in juggling.  

Ossie Delroy in Tel Aviv, 1941. From the Australian War Memorial. 

Let's hope no more jugglers need to visit war zones or fight in wars.

Lest we forget....

Fifteen Year Old Jimmy Wallace- Juggler from Marrickville (Sydney) 1938.

 From Pix Magazine- May 1938

George Campbell's letter to Everyones Magazine about Vaudeville conditions in the United States 1922

 Vaudeville conditions bad in America

George Campbell- Juggler writes to Everyones Magazine about his experiences in the United States. An amazing recount of the conditions for a juggler in the early 1920s. 

Published 14 June 1922

Eleven months ago, George Campbell, an English juggler, who had been in this country for over ten years, left for another trip to America, accompanied by Bert Western, a young equilibrist. (his wife Ella went too, she is in the shipping records.) Two weeks ago, Mr Campbell returned here, thoroughly fed up with present variety conditions in the United States, and also firmly convinced that, after all, there was no place nearly as good as Australia, the land of his adoption.Mr Campbell summarises his experience thusly-

We landed in ‘Frisco and started work right away for Levy, playing in and around the capital. It took us five weeks to work three, but conditions were congenial even though the salary was not much to enthuse over. This section of the tour gives one the impression that he is going to have a very enjoyable route, but here is where he gets it in the neck, for you are routed over the south, the portion of the circuit known as the ‘death trail’, and consisting of sixteen towns many of them with very long jumps. Although sixteen are scheduled , you are lucky if you play more than nine. The houses are pictures and vaudeville, four are on each bill comprising the latter.

No signed contract is given you for this tour, and it often happens that when you reach a particular town the house manager does not need your act and you have to go to the next circuit theatre. This is a plain statement of fact and is one of the greatest injustices done to an artist. When you play the last house at Amarillo (Texas) you have a fifty dollar trip to reach Chicago- if you hold the cash.

Getting to Chicago, you are soon forced to realise that you are up against a dead end- that is you are one of the great rank and file of artists. You see, there are many thousand acts, not working, and these unfortunates will tell you that the agents do not need novelty (specialty) acts.

When you are lucky enough to do a try-out, you will know what a scream this means. At certain nights of the week, in small houses, the whole programme is given by try-outs, at a cost of nothing to the management. They will tell you that the house will be well filled with booking agents and, after the show, you get to know that there has not been one on the premises.

 

Later on, I worked with Rosie Stifle? and her husband at the Empire Theatre Chicago, a Western Vaudeville house. We played three days at a cut salary in order to get in. The act went over very big at all performances and the manager reported to headquarters that it was the finest show of its kind that had ever played this house. This meant nothing, for the W V A had lost most of its houses. The rest of the circuit was not worth working owing to the very long jumps and you have to pay your own fare. At all places, too, you are supposed to pay 10 per cent to the agent, but it is always 15, and generally more. If you don’t cough up to these parasites, you don’t work. Therefore we found it impossible to get going in Chicago.

On to New York, we again realised our hopelessness, being an unknown quantity. If you haven’t a few hundred dollars to see you over the first few months, you will starve. It is well known that you get nothing unless you tip the agent, or else bet him 200 dollars he can’t book you.

Speaking of agents, their method of procedure is well known . As they are finishing talking to you, they pull out a drawer in their desk. This drawer is left open sufficiently long enough for you to take the hint that you are to drop your donations in. If you overlook this , it is a case of goodnight.

All the Australians are battling, except Mysto, who is making good money at the various clubs and private entertainments. The Kelso boys have split up and both are working, one with a partner. 

….. ( various bits about Australians he met on the circuit)

Now that is my opinion of America, as a country for vaudeville . It is absolutely rotten at the present time and I defy any of the smaller fry (and many of the big acts) to prove it otherwise.

Personally I found most of the people very fine, but the weather dull, and one missed the sunshine. America is the place for big money, if you have the luck to get in ..if not….

I was in the United States some years ago, when it was really God’s own country as they called it. Personally I doubt the Deity would care to live there now, as America is a nation of cranks and high brows, in the main, with the more citizen of other days gradually losing their rights.

George concludes with some remarks about the availability of alcohol in the US. 

George Campbell- Juggler, mentor to jugglers....

 

George Gordon Campbell, a juggler and mentor to other jugglers, came to Australia in 1906 and despite several forays overseas, always came back.

George was born in Leeds in England in 1881. He probably started juggling on the provincial circuit. Neither of his parents were performers, so it’s possible he ran away to juggle.  By 1906 he was with a circus and with a partner- Jarvis. The pair, Charlie Jarvis and Campbell were the featured jugglers in the Bostock and Wombwell’s circus and menagerie which arrived in Australia that year.

Amongst the menagerie of lions, tigers and bears, the jugglers contributed to a variety show which included Japanese acrobats and twirlers, eccentric clowns and of course, the human ostrich. They appeared in Perth together, but Jarvis did not follow the circus to the east coast. He and George split up. Jarvis took a new partner, young Victor Martyn ( Father of Topper) and Campbell went to the east coast with the circus, pairing up with another Jarvis, a member of the circus band.

It was this version of Jarvis and Campbell that toured the east coast of Australia. Their turn was described as clever and amusing, and from an early advertisement, it seemed to involve hoops, balls and passing half a dozen juggling clubs from one to the other. They were described as ‘princes of juggling’ and direct from the ‘London Hippodrome’.

Jarvis and Campbell left the circus and started performing on the Tivoli circuit around 1907/08. They spent almost a year with the Tivoli and on one memorable occasion lost their luggage in Western Australia and were unable to perform. In 1908 they were in Tasmania spellbinding the audience by passing clubs, hoops and balls, and then reducing them to hysterical laughter by presenting ludicrous situations. They were a bit hit in the island State.

 By 1910 they were so familiar to Australian audiences that they were described as ‘the well known jugglers, equilibrists and comedians.’

In July that year they were performing with ‘Godfrey’s concert company’ and one of their fellow performers was Ella Airlie, the stage name of Ella Palzier Ogilvy. Ella, a mimic and instrumentalist was, from 1908, Mrs George Campbell.

Ella and George as Airlie and Campbell toured New Zealand with the Fuller’s Circuit in 1913. They were a refined instrumental act, playing xylophones and piano.

In 1914, they travelled to England via the United States, but they returned to Australia by 1915. That year George was a solo and applauded for the originality of his turn, which marked ‘ a bold departure from the orthodox style.’ His finished it with an ‘original and entertaining spectacle’ using dinner plates.

Ella was a talented writer and musician and during the war she gained fame as the author of the sensational Australian pantomime, The Bunyip. The pantomime ran for years on the Fuller Circuit and was a smash hit. Ella was billed as the musical directress of the show, and both she and George probably took small roles.

By 1921, George had played all the circuits and all the theatres in the capital cities and regional areas of Australia. It was time for something new. So he, with Ella, travelled to San Francisco and Chicago to try their luck on the giant vaudeville circuits of the United States. Upon arrival, 40 year old George was described as 5 foot 10 inches tall, of  dark complexion with brown hair and grey eyes.

They started in San Francisco, on the ‘death trail’. Sometimes George appeared at theatres under appointment and found they had no work and he had to pay his own fares between venues which were often long distances apart. The wages were low and 15 percent went to the agents.

In Chicago he played to houses that were full, but the performers were all ‘trying out’ and unpaid, the acts were lured with promises that the watching agents would employ them.  Although he received ‘eulogistic’ reviews, the managers were still ‘shifty’, and work was scarce. He travelled to New York, paying his own way there after a short season in Chicago where he took a cut in pay to ‘get in’, but to no avail. The agents were ‘parasites.’

George wrote that in New York,  ‘it is well known that you get nothing unless you ‘tip’ the agent or bet him 200 dollars he can’t book you.’ According to George, the agents in New York left a drawer half open expecting tips as you spoke to them in the office. Overall he found the state of vaudeville ‘rotten’, the people ‘fine’ the weather ‘dull’, George ‘missed the sunshine’ and returned to Australia.

 When he returned, he formed his own show, and in 1923, the Campbell- Beaver- White company was touring regional Australia. Beaver was Herbert Beaver, who became a well known juggler and later a personality in Sydney radio. He was another performer who was probably trained by George.

Ella was with George for most of these years and had suffered through the disastrous tour of the United States with her husband. In 1923 the two divorced in a  high-profile case, where Ella was accused of adultery. She remained in Sydney working for Fullers and writing songs.

From around 1925, George created another company called the Cockatoo Farm company. They travelled through all the country areas of Australia producing pantomimes, burlesques and variety shows.  They were tremendously successful and popular. The company continued through the depression and into 1930s, at times employing up to 16 people. Their band, the cockies jazz band, was highly regarded in the industry.

In 1935, George passed away in Sydney aged 54. He was a mentor to young jugglers and was involved in the training of at least two who had solid careers. He was a man of staunch business principles with a dedication to vaudeville. There are few photos of him, and few reminiscences, but he was a pioneer of juggling and rural entertainment during some lean and lonely times in Australia.