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Club juggling is a relatively recent development, first
appearing in the late 19th century. While jugglers had already been performing
with other linear objects such as sticks, torches, and long knives;
Club Juggling, with the now familiar "Indian Club" design, did not
come about until very recently. Similarly, duo acts and club passing, often
assumed to have existed for as long as juggling, are also recent
styles. The following is from The Juggler's Bulletin,
Number 20, May 1946
by Tom Breen
But they were not the first to do double club juggling, as that honor could be claimed by either the Devine Bros. of Lawrence, Mass. or Rogers and Rourke of Lowell, Mass. They were the first teams to pass six clubs and they were working about the same time and lived in cities only ten miles apart. I met one of the Devine Bros. and explaining, he said, "we did not know if it was possible to pass six clubs, and thought the best way for the audience to get a good view of the throws would be to stand side by side and face the audience (The man on the right side throws a high double to partners left hand; man on left throws a low club to partners left hand)". After getting it down they stood back to back and threw the clubs over their head to the other man. (Both of these tricks are difficult and don't get as much reaction from the audience as facing each other). Although I've tried hard to get a trace of them, I've never heard of the Modoc Bros. or Murdock Bros. who an English Variety agent by the name of Fred Higham brought to England between 1885 - 1890 from St. Louis. Their lithograph that Higham had hanging on his wall showed two men on pedestals passing four clubs between them. My father saw this lithograph but never heard of the jugglers here in America and they were Americans. Charles Hoey of Natick, Mass. was the first man to juggle four clubs. He could not finish with them and so they would close in the scenery and he would drop them on the floor. He worked with the Gus Hill show and his club juggling was quite a contrast to Gus Hill's club swinging. Hill, who owned the show, had a standing offer of one thousand dollars to anyone who could duplicate Hoey's feat with the four clubs. The first to juggle five clubs was Ben Mowatt. He is the son of the man I mentioned before as having created the three and four club routines for troupes. I thought for quite awhile that Pat McBonn was the first with five, but a few of the old timers that knew both the boys corrected me on that and said Ben handled the five before John Whitfield put his newphew, Pat, in the Five Johnson's act. The McBann name is a contraction of the two names - Pat McGreevey and Tommy Bannahan. They were the original McBanns and afterward Pat put his brother Henry in the act and the act really made a big name for itself. They were known as the fastest double act of their time (1908 - 1912). When Pat died in Lucerne, Switzerland, Henry continued the act with Jerry Buckley. Pat McBann was the first juggler to attempt six clubs. I've been told he juggled four in one hand and two in the other but he passed away before he could get it perfected to put on the stage. Johb Breen juggled the six clubs on the stage and also threw them over both shoulders. He was the only one I've ever heard of that juggled seven clubs. He practiced a lot with the seven and could do them about five times around and finish with them. Five times around would be about thirty-five throws from the right hand. Another trick he accomplished that no other juggler has done is a five club routine ending with a five club shower and he also balanced one club on his forehead and juggled five. he died in Brussels, Belgium on Nov. 30, 1912, at the age of twenty-one. Harry and Joe Barrett were the first to do a six club shower. They saw the Tennis Trio pass six clubs, throwing every second club, and after copying it they asked the other act over to see them do it. Both acts were amazed as they were throwing every club instead of every second club. Mistakes often make new tricks. One man catching all the clubs thrown by his partners was created by Alburtus who would always make mistakes on counting. If they were to throw six clubs Alburtus would stop on five or throw seven so he decided to catch all the clubs to finish without a drop. Alburtus also created the back hand catch that all jugglers use when catching shoulder throws. Years ago club swinging and sliding and spinning was very popular and Rawson was the only juggler that did an act of this kind, and I don't believe it has ever been duplicated. Derenda and Breen was the first act to do comedy with clubs back in 1897. Every one tried to tell them that club juggling was too pretty to get any comedy out of them. But McIntyre & Heath saw the possibilities and made them do the comedy and gave them many gags that jugglers are still using today. This act (Derenda and Breen) was also the first act to throw fast shoulder throws with clubs (most acts call them "slap-overs" now) Breen claimed he saw a European act called the Juggling Johnstons that did a restaurant act and they threw oranges over their shoulders very fast, so he tried it with clubs. During a trip to Australia in 1902, they introduced Basket Ball in that country. They put it on the Tivoli in Melbourne and called it Net Ball and it was a sensational hit. Another first that could be credited to this act is that they were among the first to do talking while juggling. They were the first double act to talk but they gave Jim Harrigan the credit for being the first talking juggler. They did a talking act until they worked the Dewey Theatre in New York and one night while they were talking, Leo Derenda, the straight man, laughed and his false teeth fell out on the stage and he would never talk on the stage after that. Jim Harrigan was also the first man to do the tramp juggler style that W.C. Fields later brought to great popularity. They both used practically the same props--cigar boxes and balls. Ben Mowatt senior should be credited with doing more than any one else for club juggling. His main worry was getting a light club for his son to juggle and his search helped not only his boy but every club juggler since. If he only had the clubs in those days that Harry Lind is putting out he would have been more than satisfied. Remember in those days a twenty-two ounce club was light. Old Ben Mowatt was also the first man to figure out tricks for a three and four people act and the tricks that troupe acts are doing today are the same tricks that Mowatt created for his three-act back in 1895-6 when he worked with his son and John Whitfield. Mowatt, Whitfield, and Ben, Jr. were figuring out a four-people act when Whitfield left them. John Whitfield then put on the first four-act called the Juggling Johnsons. He also put on the first five-act. So the Three Mowatts were the first three-act, and Johnsons were the first four and five act. Whitfield later tried to put on an eight people act but did not use all jugglers. He had singers and comedians in the act but ended by doing the five-act. Jean Bedini put out an eleven person juggling act called the Juggling Jays but it did not last long enough for many to remember it. Mike Fitzgerald had about the only successful "big" act of over five people. (Willys had six people in their act for a time). The act was called Mike Fitzgerald and his Eight club juggling girls. He had the act together for about ten years. Passing six clubs is not the limit in passing clubs as seven and eight clubs have been passed successfully on the stage. Seven clubs have been passed by many jugglers. First woman to pass seven was Rose Sheldon of the Tossing Tabors. She gives credit for the seven club routine to Kenyon Bros. (Cal & George) and Tom Allen. The Kenyons afterward taught the Jewels (Winnie and Bonnie Tucker) to juggle seven clubs. The first to pass eight clubs were Jack Greene and Joe Piche. Cal Kenyon and George Dewey both did the trick on the stage, each with Ian Mahoney as partner. George Kenyon is perhaps the easiest juggler I've ever seen and he was the first I ever saw do the three club kick-up. He has been doing it for thirty years. I also saw Kenyon Bros. and Allen pass ten and eleven clubs between the three people. I believe Arthur Ward was the first person to juggle six hoops, but now Howard Nichols really holds the record by juggling seven hoops on the stage. In ball juggling, Fielding was the first to juggle six balls and I believe Frank LeDent still has all jugglers stopped by juggling eleven balls. Some jugglers claim he only "flashed" them - that means throwing them all up just once and catching them, but any one knows that jugglers have to be able to do a trick better in practice before trying it on the stage before a critical audience. Kathie Gulitini is the only person I ever heard of bouncing eight balls. She used a drum and stood on the stage. Ball bouncers claim that to do over five you must stand on a chair or table, but Kathie stood right on the floor with a drum about four inches high in front of her and she really juggles them.
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