Show i ' THE OGDEN SUNDAY MORNING APRIL 5 1931 STANDARD EXAMINER 66 I £4 it if- i 99 P u D for trapeze stunts in general And more than ninety per cent of Me best performers feel this way — argues With an Analysis of the Reaction of a Public After the Tragic I rapeze Fall of Pretty Beloved about it: “Spectators should be the last to decry dangerous acts under the bi£ top It is noteworthy that the more immi- O nent the hazard of death the greater the public interest Men and women go to the circus in droves to see performers come within an inch of certain death A flirtation with death is spectacular in itself That is what the public pays for Perhaps the children do not attend for this reason Let us assume that they prefer the monkey acts ir the cavortings of the clowns Their parents at least very humanly at that g exh enjoy the thrill of And it is our bitions duty to satisfy them We do it gladly knowing all its hazards — but always confidently believing that the law of averages will not hold in our individual f "Sr" r' it s s y Phutu ef Lillian Leitzel “Queen of the Circui’ Taken Short Time Before From a Trapeze in “er Tragic FallDenma-k She Diet1 ' Copenhagen the Next Da i 4 J ' r : " Are there any stunts then the scuttling of i which eliminate would weeks ago when sunny little danger from the circus SOME Leitzel trapeze per-- while preserving Its entertaining Are there any which qualities? former extraordinary whirled are in every sense of the word down forty-fiv- e feet to the floor of a “crazy” and futile? Many people music hall to die a few seem to think thee are and feel Copenhagen that they ought to be eliminated hours later many people shuddered A number of the more dangerous and concluded: ones are pictured on this page “Those stunts are and For instance it is argued foolish-- They serve no dangerous useful purpose what is the advantage of diving They should be stopped” fifty a hundred or a hundred Perhaps that was merely because and fifty feet into a shallow hi iss Leitzel was the best beloved of of water? This trick pool all circus performers Whenever she cost has lives If it is promounted to her trapeze all other acts to retain the height posed stopped And as she flirted with death don’t they feature why through a series of aerial somersaults the That water? deepen she smiled at her watchers It was a would be a matsimple smile of friendliness She showed no minds and ter to the fear Perhaps she! felt none It is an many would make of axiom of the circus that performers the stunt more atare courageous because do not After all think they are going tothey fall they tractive morbid a secthough know that they are They only hope the tion of public can only hope— that they will be no one cares may be ready for it because of their lifeto witness the unlong training death of timely Impartial observers will say that the work of Miss Leitzel did serve a fellow -wehuman know useful purpose Tfiey can point to its And daring its aesthetic appeal Lillian Leitzel fomished entertainment of the highest order! and the fact that she proceeded without serious m i s hap through a long career and came to grief only through an unprecedented accident-the breaking of an iron ring j —-th- f j i — 1 y k 'i' r- Ikf 41 - vs : s W df Wr v r v v t v 4- ' ‘s' ' ‘ - ' ' V 1 ¥ s WiIf ?!i ' j9 V T f - MfB kjl ' -- JA rW ll I ' ' ' ' ' t it f ft ' 4 V’ 7 $ x i t t i' r a V 4 - tS' v £ 1ft 9 Vv 4 'Xi v v vc c $ -- £ —— ey i Leitzel : av ow- - v I'’ cases” t V “"Iro — — : Lillian ''X ' v:K v death-defyin- 7 V - iV irriWi irr ? "to The (and Apparently “Ride of Death” in the Circular Lion’s-De- n Tlie Ferocious Beast Chases the Cyclist About the Sides of the Cage Until Finally the Speed of Wheels Wins Out— Unless the Lion Decides to Turn Back on Ilis Track Suddenly The Man With the Whip in the Center Tries to Prevent Tills So-Call- ed Well-name- d) : W o V ‘lxz£ f ' V ' - ’ V: ! I Mromen” in the Act of the Koch Sisters in lhis Performance Every Detail Must Be Carried Uu for the Stunt Takes Place on Two w ires 50 Feet in the Air With No Net Below that death cannot be cheated forever Then there is the circular lions’! den inside which a performer rides bn a bicycle as a lion chases him ?This trick requires nerve as well as skill but it could hardly feature a performance The crowd does not cling to the name of the cyclist for the act is not one which brings out his personality It is a sheer race with death won by the absence of bad breaks if npt with the aid of good breaks An act which most certainly requires a great deal of skill but which invites disaster with wide-ope- n arms is the balancing act of two sisters in vaudeville who perform fifty feet abovb the stage boards without cnet A pair of tight-rope- s are stjrung across the stage’ and both sisters swing themselves to their feet upon it After a few preliminaries they draw up a ladder On one end of the ladder! is a horizontal platform and also two heavy cords joining in a rubber mouthpiece As one of the sisters reaches the top of the ladder the! two lower points of which are balanced on the tight-rope- s two chairs are passed up to her The other sister grips! the rubber mouthpiece in her teeth land Illustrating the Act of Con Col lea no Tight-Wir- e Forward Somersault in Which lie Must Reach the Turning Over If He Misses JIe Is Lucky to Cashes and a Collection of Painful Artist IBs Finale Is a Wire With His Feet Upon Escape With Severe Bruises t As he started to come down he has since related it suddenly dawned on him that he was lost His eyes were dim and the wire was not visible His power of orientation usually close to infallible was entirely absent These two elements missing his sense of equilibrium was gone! He lifted bak his head to save it from the wire for his performer’s told him that he was headed for the wire face downward danger The story has been told of Con He landed on the wire on his chest the great that in felt a burning pain and a moment his American debut ha was troubled later made a fall to the by the lighting system of the theatre floor He wasperfect rolling Blood wa3 dripin which he was appearing in New' ping from a hurt wound above his long York City The footlights glared up breast-bon- e his costume wa3 and into his face rapidly becoming damp heavy and red leans backward on the ropes The bladHis act began with simple feats But he tried again— three times — and der is by this time upright with one which he might have been able to do failed By thi3 time he was nearly sister holding two chairs and standing blindfolded But there was serious unconscious and in his desperation he on the platform on the top of the lad- - business ahead of him and he noted to the yelled stage manager to turn off der which m turn is standing upright to his dismay that his eyes were the footlights Then weak and painby' virtue of its support on! the ing to burn and' water He was faced fully injured he climbed to the wire swaying wires combined with the prac- - with the necessity of making a good somersaulted and landed perfectly It tised mouth-gri- p of the girl below— but showing on his initial appearance so was a great feat but it meant for also on the swaying wires he went ahead with his act a in a long stay hospital The girl on top se£s the two firont The climax was to be a forward the agitation to eliminate Perhaps legs of each chair in niches on the open was to leave his perch the more dangerous circus and vaude somersault He near the edge dip his body forward in the air and ville stunts is only ’an indication of a Elatform precariously the backs of them together land again on his feet on the wire I transient public hysteria Perhaps it leans on them a little to test their balIf he had complained about the is something more serious The death — ance then throws her weight on! her lights nothing amiss would have oc- of Gillian Leitzel had somehands and her feet into the air curred in all probability But the to do with itcertainly thing The crowd applauds There is no fidence which had driven him to the The performers themselves may net below If ohe detail were to go top of the vaudeville world in Europe modify their Where An acts Not all scape Accidental wrong both girls might be killed For- - convinced him that he could succeed 'and they know it tunately at this writing there !has anyway here Slip Means The obstacle is that the defying of I Crave been no such mishap 'Hie audience was silent as he death is the of the The point is that although this I act walked out on the rope for the finale living ones It is their life and if Injury— the Big gives audiences undeniable thrills ft is Somehow or other the tension which should step down youmrer and lesi Moment ill he felt the concentration which had timid men and women would potentially dangerous It must be perthe Head- fectly executed to succeed And no begun to hamper his best efforts was immediately into their shoes “The step act human beings can go on day after day to the crowd Balancing must go on” — and if death comes so apparent Act of the He leaped into the air He turned be it That 13 the fatalistic registering perfection all the time i philosophy The number of persons who have the somersault jTarfani of the circus Brothers as They Climb a Steep Ladder Newspaper feature Service It SI I S it ifH £ been thrilled by tight-rop- e acrobats and dancers is almost beyond computation Some tight-rop- e act3 are comparatively safe But there are times when the the invaluable assets of a tight-wir- eeyes lerformer lose their sharpness Faulty ighting illness of the performer and other considerations enter into the case When the eyes fail to do their full duty even the most expert are in Col-lea- wire-walk- in-stin- Col-lea- - v - U i fail A 1'1ii n ft v j I V v szr !& Diver in the Air in the Death Leap in Luna Park Berlin Here Definite Steps Have Been Taken to “Clamp Down the Lid” for After One Casualty Police Slopped the Act j ct no start-mere- ly :ij 1 er -- V & p -- bread-and-butt- er 1 no - - |