Torino in Australia 1928- Cinquevalli's only pupil

 Juggler William Campbell, known as Torino, had toured Australia in 1914. He returned in 1928 to a completely different entertainment scene. Moving pictures were challenging the major vaudeville chains for entertainment supremacy and they were winning the fight. Torino recognised this and came to Australia under contract to Union Theatres, a cinema chain. It was a prudent financial decision for the juggler.

 The sea journey to Australia took 6 weeks, and during the voyage Torino attempted to teach some juggling tricks to his fellow passengers. One trick was to kick a match box from his feet and light a match as the box fell. It is unclear how many passengers learnt this trick which Torino called ‘simple.’

He finally arrived in Sydney in late July 1928 . He spent a week there and performed at the Lyceum Theatre supporting the movie, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. Sydney was home to over 90 cinemas at the time and movies had overtaken vaudeville as the entertainment choice of the masses. Torino’s act was squashed between showings of films and his talent, although recognised, was unable to compete with the novelty of the new medium.  It was not until he reached Queensland that he gained some notoriety.

In July, Torino told reporters that Cinquevalli was ‘his teacher’, but when he arrived in Queensland in August he had become ‘Cinquevalli’s only pupil’. The story was to expand with various embellishments as the tour progressed. It was enhanced with huge advertisements stating that he was ‘greater than Cinquevalli’.

Cinquevalli was a well loved and remembered performer in Australia. He toured the country four times in the early 20th Century and was highly regarded as an individual and juggler. Capitalising on his reputation was a logical marketing ploy for Torino and Union Theatres.

In Brisbane,Torino performed at the Wintergarden Theatre between showings of ‘Lures of Love’ which starred Lionel Barrymore. He performed a 20 minute set which included juggling tumblers of water , the matchbox trick, balancing billiard balls and cues and sending letters via a ‘flick of the wrist’. The Brisbane newspapers called it an ‘extremely clever’ turn.

It was in Queensland that Torino’s Cinquevalli story became more intricate. According to the papers, Torino, when a young man, had been a fan of all the famous jugglers and saw all their acts. One day he was attending a Cinquevalli show, and the great juggler asked for volunteers. Torino volunteered and Cinquevalli was so impressed with his talent that he decided to train him as a juggler. Thus Torino became Cinquevalli’s only pupil, and it was with this description that his tour of Australia continued.

In Toowoomba, in rural Queensland, Torino manipulated tennis racquets and whirled a dollar coin on a parasol. He was described as ‘lithe and athletic’ in stature and performed in settings of ‘exquisite beauty’. The way he sealed and posted a letter sent the audience into hysterical laughter.

He was very popular in northern parts of the state, and spent most of September in the area. After a brief return to Sydney, Torino travelled to Western Australia and arrived in the middle of October.

There was little fanfare for his arrival and he was mostly reduced to a footnote in Western Australian reviews. Perth and Fremantle newspapers focused on the moving pictures, Torino was an adjunct to that main event, although the turn was ‘very popular.’

He stayed in Western Australia until early November when he left the country, presumably for Germany.

In later years, Torino toured the world as a juggler with his wife Doris, who died in 1936. His performances dwindled during the 1930s with the decline in vaudeville around the world, but he returned to the stage in England during World War 2. Some of his last performances were at the Golders Green Hippodrome in London where he appeared with his second wife, Eileen Slater, who worked under the name Joyanita Cole.

  Two weeks after this show,  his brother George Latour appeared on the same stage. It’s possible that Torino was suffering some impact from the cancer that would eventually cause his death, and his brother was filling in for him.

Torino died in 1943 in London aged 64. He was survived by his wife Eileen and their daughter, Joy Campbell.

 

 

 

 

Short note....

 I have just added my 18,000 name database of people associated with the Australian theatre to the site. A link is on the right hand side.

This was the main feature of my original website HAT-archive, and I am happy to be able to feature it again,

The link is to a searchable pdf file that I am keeping on my google drive. Access is open to everybody. It's about 700 pages long so I don' t advise downloading it.

I have also added my old articles from the HAT-archive website to another blog- the link is on the right hand side..

Enjoy

Leann

Ossie Delroy...mmmm was that really his name? with Jimmy Wallace.....mmmmm was that really his name?

This amazing two page spread of Ossie Delroy and Jimmy Wallace comes from Everyone's Magazine in 1940. Ossie was a legend in the juggling world and travelled overseas to entertain the troops in World War 2.

I suspect his real name was not Ossie Delroy, and I also suspect that his mate, Jimmy was actually James Bell who lived in Marrickville with his sister Florence...

I will be confirming this in the future- I hope.

And look at those clubs- how clunky are they?

 

Torino in Australia 1914......

 Background information for this article came from this excellent recount of Torino's career.

In July 1914 Melbourne Punch wrote that a London newspaper had ranked the top five jugglers in the world. Cinquevalli was number one, followed by Salerno, Kara, Torino and Hern. Shortly afterwards, number one, Cinquevalli, and number four, Torino, visited Australia.

It was Torino’s first visit to Australia. His real name was William Campbell and he was born in Scotland in 1879. His family moved to the United States when he was young, and it was there that he and his brother George began their juggling careers. In 1914 he told an Australian newspaper that as a child he often practised with his mother’s silverware, and that he spent some of his early career as a club juggler and Indian ball puncher.

After some years working in both the American and English vaudeville circuits as William Campbell, he made a dramatic announcement to the theatrical press in 1911. William Campbell had passed away and Torino was replacing him. Thus it was Mr Torino whose name appeared on the passenger list to Australia in 1914, finally arriving in Adelaide in September that year.

Australia was at war, and Cinquevalli, the world’s number one juggler, was performing around the country.

Torino 1928- from the newspapers

The timing was strange. Torino’s contract was with the Tivoli circuit, the same circuit that employed Cinquevalli. Unlike Cinquevalli, whose wage was 100 pounds a week, Torino earned 40. The two jugglers toured the same theatres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, sometimes within days of each other. Cinquevalli got the headlines, the pictorials and the page long reviews, Torino, who was described as ‘Cinquevalli’s rival’ at least once, got passing mentions. ( a rough comparison of their travels)

Torino’s act was different from that of Cinquevalli. It was called ‘a Japanese Fete’ and had, as the name implied, a Japanese theme.

The curtains opened to the juggler lying in a hammock underneath an umbrella from which hung several lanterns.  He juggled tennis racquets with balls, threw a penholder so that it nestled behind his ear and concluded by making a coin ‘waltz’ around the top of the umbrella. According to an Adelaide reviewer ‘ He seems to have a knack of making everything look remarkably easy and graceful.’

Torino spent about two weeks in Adelaide and received good reviews. By September 28 he was performing in Melbourne. On September 30, Cinquevalli arrived in Adelaide.

In Melbourne Torino made water remain fast in an upturned glass and was praised for his ‘picturesque’ Japanese setting whilst his assistant was described as ‘humorous’.

Meanwhile in Adelaide, a local paper, The Critic, published a full page pictorial on Cinquevalli ‘at home’ and included an interview with the master juggler.

I was not until Torino reached Sydney, later in October, that the press noticed him, and it was in small paragraphs rather than in full length articles. Cinquevalli was performing in Melbourne at the time and promoting his final ever retirement performances.

In Sydney, Torino introduced the flying cue stick to his act. In this trick he triggered a small cannon by foot which propelled a cue stick high in the air. He then caught it on his forehead. The Sydney newspapers also reported Torino’s experiences in battle. Apparently he was on a cycling tour when the United States and Cuba went to war. He joined a regiment and was commended for his service. Unfortunately for the US military, the pull of vaudeville was too strong for the juggler to become a professional soldier.

There was one published comparison between Cinquevalli and Torino. It was an odd comment, Cinquevalli, according to the Brisbane Worker was ‘old school’ because he wore gymnast’s tights in his act, Torino, in contrast, belonged to ‘the ultra modern school’, presumably because he did not wear tights.

Torino finished his 1914 tour in Sydney around November 11. On November 16 Cinquevalli performed his final show. He kissed his cannonball goodbye and left Australia the next day.

Torino left Australia in early December from Sydney. So if the two jugglers met it was probably between Torino’s last show in Sydney on November 11 and Cinquevalli’s last show in Melbourne, on November 16. Did Torino attend this performance? What juggler would miss the opportunity to see Cinquevalli’s last show?  Particularly as both artists worked for the same employer, and the train journey between Sydney and Melbourne was not too arduous.

Torino returned to Australia in 1928 when he regularly mentioned his relationship with Cinquevalli who died in 1918.  The extent of that friendship and when and where they met, was never clarified.

 I'll be writing about Torino's 1928 tour in my next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinquevalli at Home- Adelaide Critic Newspaper October 7 1914

 Just a nice way to start a Sunday

Cinquevalli at Home- October 1914 Adelaide Critic Newspaper

Visiting Jugglers of the 1950s and 1960s

 I've been looking at some programmes and found these lovely pictures of jugglers who visited Australia during the 1950s-1960s

Rudy Horn

From the programme of The Diamond Horseshoe at the Tivoli Melbourne c1958/59

An amazing feature of his act is that he juggles seven balls on a drum in time to music without missing a beat.

Alcetty- c 1958/59 From Funfiesta Programme Tivoli Sydney

The D'angolys- Tivoli Melbourne Programme 1962

..One of the fastest juggling acts in the world today and consists of Jose...and lovely Gilda

Ugo Garrido- 1965 Sydney Tivoli Programme

He started hand juggling at a very early age and after becoming proficient at it began juggling clubs with his feet and now has become as proficient with his feet as with his hands

Here are your tickets- Enjoy the show!

Frank, Lank and Alice- 'The only juggler in Australia juggling three clubs in one hand..."

 Frank, Lank and Alice was a prominent Australian juggling trio during the First World War. Frank, born David Francis Uren, was the straight man and most skilled juggler, Lank, W .Thompson, was a juggler and comedian, whilst Alice, Alice Johnson, was a contortionist and juggler.

David Francis Uren was born in Victoria in 1894. His father, Thomas, was a miner, who later bought a pub near Melbourne. The Uren family was large, and David, whose stage name was ‘Frank Uren,’ had many siblings and cousins in Victoria.

Frank began his juggling career as a teenager. His first recorded professional engagement was in 1911 with Jones Moving Theatre. He was billed as ‘the London Juggler’ and was 17 years old. Carl Bracken, a strong man and wire walker was also performing with Jones at that time.

Shortly after this, Carl and Frank teamed up and began touring Australia with small variety troupes. Carl walked the wire, juggled and re-enacted Cinquevalli’s cannon ball trick, catching a cannon ball on his shoulders, whilst Frank juggled clubs, plates and balls.

Carl Bracken- Frank's first partner

In March 1912, Frank juggled lighted torches, plates and clubs in Devonport Tasmania with Coronation Circus. In July that year, he and Carl were in South Australia en route to Western Australia. In August, they appeared at the Shaftesbury theatre in Perth. They used different names, Carl and Frank Brackens, or The Urens. As The Brackens they incorporated a loop the loop turn with a bicycle and as The Urens they were ‘the greatest juggling act ever seen.’

They were still in Western Australia in October 1912 and advertised as The Urens. They were ‘Australia’s Comedy Jugglers’, manipulating, ‘balls, plates, racquets, clubs, hats etc with perfect ease' and finishing with a grand finale of juggling 6 fiery torches. This later became one of Frank’s specialties.

Frank and Carl parted ways after a year, and by 1913 Frank was working as a solo act at Her Majesty’s in Geelong, Victoria. He was with another small variety company, Coles Vaudeville, and advertised as an ‘expert sensational juggler.’

However, the next year, Frank was again part of a duo. He had met his future wife, Alice Johnson, a contortionist. They appeared in October 1914 as Frank and Alice, in Townsville Queensland, between movie showings. Alice was born in 1899 in Balmain, Sydney, and was thus 15 when she and Frank teamed up.

Life on the vaudeville circuit in Australia was difficult. Performers commonly complained about the    quality of the food , they were often underpaid or refused wages, accommodation was basic, and the constant travelling was uncomfortable. It may have been an exciting adventure for two young performers such as Frank and Alice, but they were also inexperienced and open to exploitation. A duo was less vulnerable than a solo performer, and the comfort of a partner would have helped when dealing with unscrupulous employers.

When war was declared in 1914, many young male performers immediately enlisted to support ‘Mother England’. This created vacancies and opportunities in Australia’s larger vaudeville circuits, the Tivoli and Fullers, for acts that were languishing with smaller troupes.

In 1915, Frank and Alice added another member to their team, Lank. He was later identified as W (perhaps William) Thompson and was a comedian. Together they became Frank, Lank and Alice, a combined juggling, contortionist, comedy trio.

Thompson’s real name was rarely used in descriptions of their performances. Perhaps he relished the anonymity. A William Thompson occasionally appeared on the same bill as Frank, Lank and Alice, and it’s possible that this was Lank, supplementing his pay with another comedic turn.

In Queensland, in 1915, the threesome appeared between movies in a performance which included acrobatics. Lank was ‘droll and witty’, and they were described as ‘expert jugglers’

In March that year Lank was being praised for his Chaplin impression which was part of the act. The newspaper said that ‘In addition to his makeup- his walk, actions, and impressions are Chaplin to the life.’ In December, in Broken Hill, Alice also received plaudits, with the local paper noting that ‘Miss Alice contributed some graceful and clever contortionist work’

 They had perfected their 10-minute turn. Frank was the straight man and Lank the clown. Lank casually walked across the stage as Chaplin and stole Frank’s clubs to much applause and laughter. Then Alice joined the men for juggling and the trio juggled up to a ‘dozen’ clubs from one side of the stage to the other. Frank then juggled lighted torches as a finale.

On the cover of Variety

In February 1916, 17-year-old Alice Johnson married 22-year-old David Francis Uren in Balmain in Sydney. At that time they were sporadically employed by the second most important vaudeville company in the country, Fullers. A week after the wedding, Frank, Lank and Alice were on the cover of Australia’s Variety Magazine.

The accompanying article described the trio as youthful and attentive to their work. It said that they had improved greatly over the last twelve months and the ‘excellence’ of their act meant it was ‘fit to take a prominent place on any bill.’ It was high praise from an influential publication.

In August 1916, Frank did a brief solo run in Newcastle for Smith’s vaudeville. He was advertised as juggling five clubs and as the only juggler in Australia who could juggle three clubs in one hand.

War was raging overseas, and the population was suffering. It is likely that Frank was exempted from war service due to ill health and Lank may also have had an exemption. There was no conscription during World War 1, but social pressure to enlist was immense. The previous April had seen the disaster at Gallipoli, and society was tense and angry with those who did not serve.

Considering the times, it seemed appropriate for Fullers to present a pantomime to cheer the home crowd and stir up nationalist fervour. The result was The Bunyip, one of the biggest pantomimes ever staged and Frank, Lank and Alice were an integral part of the show.

Bunyip concerned the adventures of a Fairy Princess, Wattle Blossom, her paramour Arthur, the son of a squatter, and the evil gnome king who turned Wattle into a Bunyip. Included in the show were several sumptuous Australian themed scenes, including ‘The Corroboree.’ Frank, Lank, and Alice appeared in a transition scene which led to the corroboree extravaganza. In ‘black disguise,’ presumably black face, they threw boomerangs over the heads of the audience and caught them as they returned. They also juggled Nulla, Nullas, Aboriginal throwing sticks, fire sticks (torches) and spears. In preparation for the role, they were also, according to the press, watching news reels of authentic Corroborees.

When the pantomime opened in Sydney, Alice was heavily pregnant. In December 1916, during the run, she gave birth to Virginia Wattle Blossom Uren.

The panto toured the country and Frank, Lank and Alice and Virginia toured with it.  It was usually produced at Christmas and Easter in Sydney and Melbourne. Between performances, the trio appeared in Fuller’s theatres in Australia and New Zealand. In June 1917 they were at the Bijou in Melbourne and had added plate spinning to the act.

They stayed with Fullers until the end of the war, mixing pantomime performances with individual shows. By 1919 they were back on the suburban and country circuit performing between movies.

In 1920 they went to New Zealand for a brief tour. They were warmly received, and their club spinning was described as ‘highly spectacular’.  The ‘interlude,’ when Frank spun lighted torches,  was also popular.

Later that year they returned to Australia and performed in Rockhampton Queensland.

‘The vaudeville turn provided by Frank, Lank and Alice is fully entitled to be labelled delightful. The artists manipulate brightly ornamented clubs with the ease and grace of born entertainers. Lank walks unconcernedly across the stage, and off it, with a club or two collected from Frank’s performance, en passant, so to speak, which is most amusingly clever. Frank does most of the real work- that with torches being unique- and the lady appears to be as gracefully clever as the other two altogether. The turn won unstinted applause.’

This was one of their last performances. Frank was ill with tuberculosis. In 1921, he, Alice and daughter Virginia were living with his family at their hotel, the Great Western near Melbourne. In October, Frank’s cousin, Tommy, was in a prize fight, and Frank went to the event. The next day, he went out ‘motoring’ returned home, and then, unexpectedly, died in his sleep. He was 27 years old.

Frank was eulogised as ‘a clean-living husband who was a credit to the vaudeville profession’ and as ‘Australia’s greatest club juggler.’ He left Alice a widow with a young daughter.

The Uren family was large and supportive, and Fullers also provided support for the young woman. She was almost immediately employed as a ballet mistress with the vaudeville chain and from that experience she created a ballet school in Melbourne which had a long and distinguished history. Alice remarried in 1924 but maintained her professional name as Alice Uren. Her daughter Virginia appeared in a Fullers pantomime as a child and in later life worked in radio. She had a society marriage in 1939 and had at least one child.

Virginia's wedding in The Age newspaper society pages

W Thompson, Lank, is more difficult to trace. He was apparently in Queensland when news of Frank’s death broke. He praised Frank as a good man. Thompson may have continued his career with Fullers.

Alice died in 1979 after a long and distinguished career as a contortionist, juggler, ballet and dance teacher.

Frank. Lank and Alice did not become international superstars, but they were part of the backbone of Australian vaudeville during the First World War, when many performers were absent. As such, their short career played a significant role in ensuring the visibility of juggling during a difficult time for vaudeville in Australia.

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