Lionel Legare & His Mammoth Spiral Tower Act, where he balances on a rolling sphere while traveling up and down a 110 foot tower. In the evenings, the tower was lit with electric lights, and the show would include fireworks.
He was at Riverside Park between Milton and Watsontown for a week in May of 1910.
While researching Riverside Park in Milton Pa (a park between Milon and Watsontown, built by the trolley line) I came across the above lines in the Lewisburg Journal. Wondering what a "spiral tower" exhibit might be, I did a quick search with no real results. But mention of Legare showed up several more times in local papers, and it was obvious this was an act that appeared frequently at fairs and parks throughout the Susquehanna Valley.. So I searched a bit harder, and finally turned up some photos.
I don't know what I thought a mammoth spiral tower may be, but never in my wildest imagination did I picture this. What an incredible sight! Legare traveled the United States and Europe with this act. His home was in Bethlehem Pa, which may help explain why he appeared so frequently around the small towns of Pennsylvania.
There is no safety harness here, no net, nor cushion. This would have been incredible to see in person, and I do hope that some of my ancestor took the trolley to the park when this show arrived.
Imagine all the lumber that would have to travel with him to each location! I noticed that in all of the advertisements I read in local papers, his show was always free admission. I wonder if the railroad sponsored him, to bring crowds out to ride on their trains to see the show?
======================
For More Local History Tidbits -
======================
"Perhaps the greatest of the free attractions if Lionel Legare who walked upon ball down a 100-foot spiral. This is described as a circus in itself"
Lionel Legare was the stage name for A.L. Rupert, of Bethlehem Pa.
I just found this after searching his last name and the act. My cousin from that era was a loop-the-loop cyclist and performed at an event for orphans with him in 1909.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the name of your cousin? I wonder if I've discovered him in my previous research?
DeleteHere's Will Fussner, The Great Fussner, performing his rolling globe act while in his sixties, shown on the American TV series, You Asked For It.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/mYaq64jDEmo?si=uT7kq25HOS_16jIU
I've researched this type of act before and have information and photos and a video of three performers who did this between 1860s and 1960s.
ReplyDeleteI also know of three and I have photos though no video, sadly. I'd like to see your video though.
Delete1. Signor Ethardo (1825-1911), known as 'The Spiral Ascensionist'. Far from being 'a native of Italy,' he was born in London and his real name was Stephen John Etheridge. He died at his home, 'Spiral Villa' in Peckham, on 24 June 1911 at the age of 75.
2. Achille Philion, who was born in (French) Canada in 1851.
By 1892, Philion was by now a featured performer in an Akron-based circus and was widely reputed to be one of the finest balancing artists of his time, his specialty walking a rubber ball up a spiral tower and then descending at a great speed in a blaze of fireworks at the bottom.
3. Leon LaRoche, a circus veteran who had performed with Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1895 through 1902. LaRoche developed an act called the "Bolla Mysteriosa," a man-sized sphere that a performer, hidden inside, rolled up and down a spiral track almost 30 feet high. He was so famous that a toy of his act was made. LaRoche was the grandfather to the German juggler, Bob Bramson.
There is also The Great Geroku (Peter Gatz), except that he was actually inside the ball. I have photos and videos of this.