This is Will Van Allen- The Musical Tramp in 1908
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Will Van Allen- The Musical Tramp
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Some photos of Jugglers in Australia
My book What Goes Up. Australian Juggling to World War 1 is now available from Amazon for pre-order.
In honour of this momentous occasion I'm posting some photos of jugglers who appear in the book. Regrettably, only the photos that I own could be published in the book, the rest of the photos here come from the newspapers.
Saturday, May 7, 2022
Anita Martell in Australia
Irish born juggler Anita Martell spent most of World War 2
performing in Australia on the Tivoli circuit.
Anita was born in 1916 in Dublin Ireland, her real name was Nita
Janette Davidson, though she appears to have used the name Janette. Her father,
John Davidson, stage name Martell, was a professional juggler and her mother,
Mona Anderson, known as Mona O Leary, was a singer.
The family moved to England when Anita was a child and by
the time she was 14 she was performing on stage as a singer and dancer. One day
her father saw her playing with tennis balls in the backyard and he decided to
train her in his own profession- as a juggler.
John trained her 8 hours a day and she hated it. It took a
long time for her to gain confidence in her abilities. The noise of her training became so
annoying to the neighbours that the Davidson family had to hire a hall to avoid their complaints.
At her first juggling audition she dropped regularly,
however she was hired and made her professional juggling debut at age 17 with
the Windmill theatre in Brixton.
Her career progressed rapidly, and in 1936 and 1937 she
appeared in two films, Cabaret and Windmill Revels.
In 1939 she met future husband, singer and performer Len
Young. Len’s real name was Louis Yenish he was Jewish and born in England. But
the youthful romance did not last and the pair split amicably.
Until the next year when Anita heard Len dedicate a song on
the radio to AM. Anita phoned Len and the two reconciled. In 1940 the pair
married and shortly afterwards travelled to Australia for a working honeymoon.
London, of course was suffering from German air raids, so the
trip to Australia was not only a voyage for work but a bid for safety. Len had
been exempted from service, so was free to join his wife.
They arrived in late 1940 and started working immediately.
They were contracted to the Tivoli circuit which was suffering from a lack of
performers due to war exigencies. Anita’s versatility as a juggler, a singer
and a dancer, meant that she was a valuable addition to the Tivoli’s dwindling
roster.
In 1940 Anita appeared at the Majestic Theatre in Adelaide
in the revue Vogues of Variety as a juggler. She wore long black silk
tights, ‘the briefest’ of cloth black shorts, a tailored white waistcoat and
black jacket, which complemented her slight 160cm frame, hazel eyes and brown
hair.
She juggled tennis balls whilst keeping up a humorous patter
and she also juggled hats. She was fast and dexterous, and claimed to be the
only feminine juggler in the country. The revue travelled to Sydney and Brisbane
where the reviewer said that there ‘was a freshness and vitality to her work
which makes it outstanding.’ Her good looks and skimpy outfit were part of her
attraction, and most reviews concentrated on these aspects of her performance.
Whilst juggling she kept up a humorous patter. One joke revolved around her
father, ‘ My father taught me how to do this trick, he can’t do it himself.’
She followed her appearance in Vogues of Variety with
Black Velvet, a major revue which travelled all around the country. She
was very popular in Brisbane where she gave several interviews to the
newspapers including one where she admitted that juggling was exhausting and
that she ended every show feeling like a ‘wet rag’. Despite this she still had
the energy to take an active interest in fashion and designed most of her own
costumes. She also trained at least 2 hours a day.
During 1940 and well into 1941 Anita played almost
constantly in various revues around the country. One significant show was the
all ladies show, ‘Ladies First’, which was apparently the first all
female vaudeville show ever produced ( according to the Australian newspaper) .
One review said it may have ‘lacked the robustness
provided by a proportion of masculine turns’ but ‘there are still sufficient headliners to make
a good show’ and it was ‘tuneful and colourful’.
Anita’s husband Len was in many of the shows with Anita and performed
vocal impressions and humorous patter. However, Len’s work permit was limited
and he was soon battling immigration authorities to stay in the country.
In late 1941 Len’s working permit expired. Anita had no
desire to return to England, but Len, who had been exempted from military
service, was being forced to leave Australia.
Len had failed the notorious Australian dictation test. The
dictation test, a flimsy cover to preserve Australia’s racist “White Australia
Policy’ meant that any prospective visitor to Australia could be asked to take
a dictation test in any language. If they failed the test they were not allowed
to enter or remain in the country.
British born Len had been asked to take a dictation test in
Romanian, and had, of course, failed. It is probable that his Jewish heritage
played a part in the farcical situation.
Len appealed his proposed deportation and was allowed to remain
in Australia for three months but he had to pay a large bond and report to
Immigration authorities regularly.
That Christmas, Anita displayed her versatility again by
appearing in the annual pantomime Cinderella as ‘Dandini’. In January 1942 Anita
appeared in ‘Laughter Express’ and was described as a ‘dapper
streamlined young lady’ who promoted the ‘bare leg mode’. The newspapers
heartily approved.
Anita and Len disappeared from the Tivoli circuit around
April 1942 and Anita returned to prominence in October the next year. They
probably temporarily left Australia to sort out Len’s work permit problems. His
three month extension expired in April.
From October 1943 to the beginning of 1944 Anita appeared
regularly in Tivoli vaudeville revues. She juggled, she sang, she danced, and
she supported names like Ethel Formby, sister of George, and Roy Rene-
Australia’s superstar comedian.
War time shortages were beginning to hit stage props by 1944
and Anita was having difficulty getting silk to line her hats. This was
considered a minor inconvenience in the latter stages of the conflict.
In February 1944 Anita left Australia and travelled to
California. She travelled under two names, Janette Yenish and Anita Martell.
She gave her last permanent residence as ‘Tivoli Theatres Australia.’ She had
been in the country for most of the last 4 years.
In 1946 Anita performed in a USO show in Guam, but she returned
to the mainland US regularly. She travelled to France and back to the US and in 1951
married Californian humourist Roger Taylor Price. Anita and Price worked on the
TV show ‘How to’ for CBS together. The
marriage lasted a year, and mentions of Anita are rare from that date.
She is said to have died in the United States in 2000.
Friday, May 6, 2022
Updates and such
I've had some time recently, so I'm trying to reorganise all my theatre history information and update my original website, hat-archive.com, to make it more user friendly. I've started with a landing page that I hope will do that.
You can visit the new, improved HAT easily.
I have incorporated a new mascot- Hattie to motivate me.
Hattie comes from the front page of Fuller News- a Fuller theatre magazine programme from the 1920s- I'm particularly fond of her dog.
I'm also trying to organise my ridiculously large number of theatre programmes into a database. It's a big job that will probably take years. There's a link in the side panel if you'd like to take a look..
I'm also trying to keep the blog updated regularly.
Naturally it's unlikely that I'll manage to do all this...but I can only try...
Saturday, April 30, 2022
The Kremo Family in Australia.
Between June and October 1910 the most accomplished Risley
act in the world, The Kremo family, visited Australia.
It was Harry Rickards, the legendary owner of the Tivoli who
brought them to Australia, and it was Cinquevalli, the equally legendary juggler,
who persuaded him to do so.
Rickards was in Blackpool England, chatting to his good
friend and reliable money maker, Paul Cinquevalli when the juggler introduced
him to Silvester Kremo. Rickards checked out the act and invited Silvester and
his family to Australia. It took 5 years for them to get here, because they
were so popular.
10 members of the Kremo family arrived in Sydney in June
1910 including Silvester, the leader, his wife, Victor and Leon, who were twins, Eugenie, Ella, Emma, Frances
and an infant.
The Kremos were experts in Risley work, acrobatics with the feet. Their specialty was
tossing a human being from one person lying on their back to another lying on
their back . The youngster who was tossed like a football during the Australian
tour was not a relative, because, as Silvester told a reporter, ‘even the most
obliging of parents cannot be expected to keep up a supply of light youngsters.’
The four sisters were interviewed in Sydney, and were full
participants in the show. They practised every day, but they told reporters that
practice was like play to them. Eugenie, the eldest, was the only woman in the
world who laid on the cushion and juggled people
They played in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and were greeted
with wild applause in every city.
In Melbourne the performance was described as;
A stage filled with
whirling, bounding, spinning figures whose gold spangled vestments are a blaze
of light
The turn included a bit where three Kremos laid on their
back and tossed three other Kremos from one to the other. A small boy, dressed
in a checkered costume was a highlight, as he was thrown from Kremo to Kremo
like a rubber ball .
The Kremos stayed in Australia until October when they
sailed away for another 6 years of solid bookings.
The poor quality photos are from contemporary newspapers.
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Australian Juggling History- The Book, Arnold Jarvis- the Boy Cinquevalli, and Mills Mess
A few bits and pieces
Recently I bought this beauty- I've always wanted one....why?
Joseph (Joe) Jalvan - Juggler
Minstrel troupes were always popular in Australia, and none were more popular than those brought to the country by the remarkable and amazing Orpheus McAdoo.
McAdoo was born a slave in North Carolina, began performing with Loudin's minstrels, and finally became an entrepreneur, touring African American minstrel troupes around the world.
In the 1890s he took his team to South Africa, and on a scouting trip to the US for more talent, he found juggler, Joseph Jalvan.
Joseph was reportedly born in Pensylvania, and worked with McCabes minstrels in Philadephia and Cuba in the early 1890s. In the latter country he was so popular that a fan gave him a diamond pin.
In 1897 he joined McAdoo in South Africa and was very popular there too. However, the prospect of war led McAdoo to decide to take the troupe to Australia and they arrived in 1898.
Jalvan was a juggler, balancer and magician. He juggled plates, spun tops and balanced pipes, and a live pigeon.
During his tour of Australia, Jalvan seems to have had a falling out with his boss and with some other performers started his own touring group, He married a local woman, Catherine Webb and left Australia to continue his juggling career in the United States. He was juggling up to 1929, where he seems to disappear from the records.