Show THE BONELESS GIEL interview shed in the sar san frat francises isco examiner Esa Eza ainer miner f w vaz 11 I 1 mk k cliant undulating of perfect poise nothing ever crawled across a stage with more accomplished si sinuosity thau than this enchanting serpent bertol bertoldi i at the california theatre she has been twisting her little body into graceful folds daringly balancing herself ir anair fairon on tilted chairs spinning at a dizzy height lead bead downward and supported by her teeth and generally comporting comforting com porting herself as if site she a bone in her body oh but I 1 have bones in my body 1 jnet ul t as much as nay woman it she ex it impeded claimed cd when this was suggested im simply a very strong v very ery healthy girl who lias has practiced balancing and bending bendin g ever since since I 1 could remember lots of doctors haye examined me and they haie hae written volumes about my iny condition daddy has it all in a scrapbook daddy is her father ta TC laxton a young englishman w ho has been in the show business in all his bis life as an a ventriloquist rope ropewalker walker alker and other things and who kaepa a careful watch over nis bis talented daughter do you swathe 3 yourself in oiled bandages to keep your body sup supple asked a bystander not a bit of it ic s she lie laughed ever po EO many people have asked me that once a I 1 man in england followed us for miles to buy some of the oil I 1 used ite ife wanted it for his daughter who was training to baft be a contortionist daddy at last sold cold him for ca 1 a bottle of oil which cost coot 6 pence just to get rid of him other people siy 1 I sleep packed in salt but I 1 dont I 1 use bollnng but soap and water lots of them and my bones bonea dont bend either just au aa good bones as any girl has with a shale shake a flirt and a flutter the lissome damsel stepped from her improvised imro pro ro I 1 i ed dressing room a few moments later t r clad in pink tights and a loose blouse of silk bilk and a went ent through her paces just as a preliminary canter she dill did a few single saige handed hand springs which many tumblers are as aa their h ir piece do resistance 1 I want to get a little of the bleep bleed out of me before lm beady for your camera elie ehe sajid bending her apine backward until she formed the letter P after wreath ing bersel jum ell into intha a she jampes jumped upon her pedestal and she elie said ready placing her hands bands upon the pedestal base she turned completely through the space between her arra arm until the sockets were half dislocated nod aud formed a T with her arms as aa the stent stem As it this feat were ere not enough the threw her trunk and limbs into rippling flemions flex ions and smiles as if the great inu muscular cular po power er exerted mere N ere tile the pleas pastime there was a slight whip chording of the fineis in ili the rounded arms but no other evidence of unusual exertion that is ia called tile the kink the elie said aa is she gracefully sprang back to her feet 1 I know of no ot other er woman oman w who does doen it W she continued naively martinelli does it does it tattler rather better than I 1 do hut but lies hes a amadou man I 1 ou know and men ought to todo do those thi nga a better than a girl most of them cant however boever ive hall had any number of tumblers and athletes try some of my acts and give them up you yell ace ive ve been at it so long that it codies conies easy NV lien dill I 1 begin oil oh before I 1 can remember my sister who is older thiis I 1 am is in tile the same line site dehes called bonair and is a great erent hit iu in europe I 1 eted to try try to imitate her aud and atod on oil my houvis dianis before I 1 could talk much tit then I 1 appeared on the blage at Porta portsmouth mouth oh that must have been ni hen 1 I was six years old I 1 lont dont le member exactly because I 1 was so little just to add rest to tile the conversation the girl balanced ou on a bottle her bands on the bottles bot tius neck and lind had all sorts ol of fun with willi herself bending writhing and twisting just as if posing on oil a I 1 bottle head bend do downward inward was the gica test fun in the world when my mv hands bands 1 were I ere smaller I 1 used to put both thumb in tile neck of 0 the bottle and balance on them but ive grown amazingly in the be fast two seasons since I 1 came to america 1 ni erica id been here long before but they wont let children under sixteen appear on oil tho ho t stage in this country barnum wanted bobring to brini me ine over but the ago age limit stopped adut that kept me off the continent too but b lit I 1 can go anywhere now im seventeen when I 1 did reach this country first I 1 was under underage age and one of gedrys officers came acme to see sec roe me the officer of tile the new york boci society fety for prevention of cruelty to children Chil dien you know lie ile insisted on talking to me but the manager blood him off la Is sho she sixteen yet asked the officer 1 I dont know better go and ask I 1 her ter husband what Is she married exclaimed the officer then he be went ment away my husband was only daddy here bere w who cl look very much older than I 1 do dedoes dodoes does he be climbing upon her pedestal again bertoldi Eer sank upon her knees and id brought liar bor graceful head bead slowly back until her back formed a comelate com plate hoop bild her face laughed out front from between her legs that is the closest bend in ill all the world she said eaid no one else does that I 1 dont do it as often as I 1 USE used A to because people do not appreciate it as much us as many other easier poses if I 1 wore tights on the upper portion of my body instead of the blouse ili ouse it would show the bend more clearly early tl but I 1 dont like tile the tights contortion ests are general I 1 v somewhat bomea hat repulsive dont you think they jar on peoples 8 sensibilities the blouse takes away the most disagreeable features ans and then I 1 do ever thing so easily that people are not pained by my illy effort I 1 dont get red in tile the face a and rd the cords dont stand out on my neck as you can see I 1 neer get out of breath so I 1 take all the repulsiveness possible out of my act it really any work or any strain for roe me to do what I 1 do after dancing a few steps on oil her hands to the rhythm of a tune whistled by herself bertoldi grasped tile the back ot of two chairs and threw her heels up until they twinkled over lier her head then than her father drew one chair out while the other ir a held in place by an assistant in ili a moment both arms were extended at full length supporting lier her up e tided ended body as if on a steel rod even in this there was as little apparent exertion dr agnew of philadelphia sid said I 1 had the finest chest development of any woman lie he ever saw site she on as she prepared a pyramid of chairs im absolutely healthy never lost but bu t one night bjorn sickness sick and that was on oft account of a cold 1 icart cant remember ever being really ill people say contortion ests are short nonsense lomeii e what kills contortionists is not their performances but lite late hours and iric inc gular living with this the young lady climbed to tile top of the chair pyramid got a balance instantly aud and blent her body until lier her hipa rested on the b back ack of lier her head before I 1 got the steel chairs I 1 used to make a big pyramid of ordin ordinary ary chairs and balance on them you could fid bee tile the pyramid bend and abway but 1 I the least bit frightened frighten cd I 1 have a perfect balance I 1 never I 1 never fell from the lie chairs mid and it if I 1 halt had it have hurt tile me any if I 1 fall I 1 always put my hands down and I 1 had justas just as soon strike on rny my hands h inels as on oil my illy feet I 1 om not as much at home on oil one oae as on the other 11 swinging herself on her hands again bertoldi gave her apine a double curve and then brousha lier her feet over the back of her head then she pu put t those same feet on an lier her hands making another h hoop p and just to show how much omer closer she bhe could bend without breaking luched her toes under her armpits ar mio be curled cur led bent entwined twined eu find and wound heiselt beesel I 1 in and out for the camera arid and for the sport of the tiling thing oil oh ill pose as much as you wish elie ehe 1 I like it more mor than you do on to keep yourself in condition anything light and no nourishing C chicken and meats with aith a little litte e wine vine and wo two bottles of guinness stout overy every day I 1 keel aw av ay from the fatt fattening ell thing it never would do to get fat I 1 you know do you practice much 7 it only nit hen im learning new things lings ti I 1 0 other tiler the ibis my illy m work ork on the stage is ia all the practice a C tic e I 1 require im getting acts acts ready for next par walting wait king down don stairs 1 on my illy hands bisone isone is one of them and 1 put in ili a fe fc hours every day on them now lieros heres something ive been working on for seven years and I 1 really perfected it until year climbing to a tar far height at at the lit top I 1 of two 0 pedestals she tool took between I 1 lier ler teeth a mouthpiece projecting front from a steel rod throb ing her heels into the air ail again bhe poised herself graceful iv folded her arms and supported her ber cut cuiling I 1 body by her teeth then tier her aither turned a crank that set her spinning like a top 1 I fell once or twice last year in doing that but landed on my handa anti and went right on with 1 I ith my work n arko orko 1 she said it took a long time to school tile the muscles of my illy face and jaw so that they lioy would support the N weight eight of my revolving body hut but I 1 have myself under perfect control now I 1 hake hae no thought thu tight of falling again im a fairly good performer on till the too though I 1 dont do that now its getting old and I 1 must provide something new diew all the time I 1 used also aleo to bend over and feed myself with knives alid forks stuck in tile the hel beli of my slippers slip lippe but so many contortionists did chit eliat t eliat its i at it became stale kunning up and down donin a ladder and dancing on my hands fiands seem to please the public mort more than ban lots of other more mere difficult feats lo ine 10 given up some of tile the hardest ha adest acts belluto tn caubo people realize that they were nere lots of little thin things that are merely tricks get a great deal ol of applause ip if I 1 had my blocks here id show you ou how I 1 stand on wy my hands bands on tiso piles ailes of them and take them off one after the other all this is OR on high pedestal ae destal mind you higher than we me rould could lix fix up in this room 1 I can bend myself so BO I 1 could go through a small cracker box bos the doctors who have examined exo mined me dont seem to know how liow I 1 do it but it is all a matter of practice though of course my lay joint are tilted tor for the work nork heres something that requires a half dislocation of my shoulders you can feel the joint spring out as I 1 do it the girl here locked a linger finger of her ri right hand band into onon the I 1 lell eit arid and used tier aims as a skipping rope jumping lu them backward and forward as its easily as though hough she had no such thing as joints in ili england ft a n woman oman once asked me if f I 1 took out my bones and ive had me dozens dozen of questions ions ailed irae me almost e equally 1 bally as foolish but the secret of it a all 1 is that I 1 began b as a child worked hard and took to ura care of ruyE elf 1 I have two other daughters who do the same work said the father but they cant compain e with this one e she took to it na naturally and d when NN site she was a 1 mere tot used i to run around on her lands hands after me playing hide and seek I 1 never it have ave seen her equal and ashes a poll good girl in in every way come co iceon on daddy said tile the young boull lady iv abo bo had puta ut on oer her street attire we must g get of sat thai apparatus back to the thea theatre tre or well have trouble with the property man mail I 1 the ithe above is taker taken from tile the san fransisco francisco examiner anil and is republished as a matter of 0 interest this girl is the most remarkable kable contortionist that ever lived ived and should lie be seen by all 01 who is ho are ible able at the opera house next wednes lay jay evening |