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==In The Spotlight==
 
==In The Spotlight==
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[[File:The_Lorch_Family_(c1890).jpeg|right|300px]]
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===THE LORCH FAMILY===
  
===HAROLD ALZANA===
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The Lorch family was a highly respected Jewish circus family that owned a circus in Germany intermittently from the nineteenth century until 1930. Founded by Hirsch Lorch (1817-1901) in the second half of the nineteenth century, Circus Lorch was continued by his sons, Adolf (1845-1918), who was born in Manheim on May 4, 1845, and Louis (1847-1924), born in Lörrach, in Baden-Württemberg, on July 14, 1847. Before the turn of the twentieth century, the brothers worked in partnership, and their Circus Gebrüder Lorch traveled principally in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
[[File:Harold_Alzana_(Cushman).jpg|right|300px]]
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Harold Alzana was, from the late forties to the mid-sixties, a star fixture of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. His daredevil manner—working on the high wire without a balancing pole and at high speed, which contrasted with the traditionally slow, seemingly careful, approach of the great high wire acrobats, such as The Wallendas, that had preceded him—inspired many of the high wire acts that are seen today.
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He was born Harold Davis on September 19, 1917 in Maltby, a small mining town east of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. His father, Charles, worked there as a coal miner, but he was also an amateur acrobat, and he began training his children (Harold, his brother Edgar, and their sisters Hilda and Elsie) in his backyard, where he had installed a tight wire two feet off the ground.
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The family acts presented in the show included horsemanship and a remarkable Risley act performed by Louis’s children, which would acquire a towering reputation on the international circus and variety scene during the first half of the twentieth century. The circus maintained winter quarters in Eschollbrücken (today part of Pfungstadt, in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg) in southern Hessen, where Hirsch Lorch and his family had settled in 1870.
  
Charles’s training got good results: At age six, young Harold made his performing debut in local fairs and festivals. But this was just fun; when he reached fourteen, Harold Davis, like most young men in Maltby, followed in his father’s footsteps and began working as a coal miner. In 1941, he married his sweetheart, Minnie. World War II was raging, but Harold and his siblings never stopped practicing and improving their high wire act.
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At the beginning of the twentieth century, while Adolf continued to manage the circus, Louis and his many children went on their own with their Risley act. (Under the sole management of Adolf, Circus Lorch lasted until the beginning of WWI.) With up to eleven performers (family members and partners or apprentices), and at times, horses, Louis’s Lorch Family act was one of the world’s biggest—and indeed one of the best—Risley acts. A true star attraction and very much sought after, it toured for nearly three decades with considerable success in Europe, the United States and South America.
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The war over, Harold Alzana decided to leave the darkness of Maltby coalmines and tempt his luck in the circus spotlights: It was social climbing in every sense of term! His break came in 1946, when impresario Clem Butson, then producer of Blackpool’s Tower Circus, gave "The Sensational Alzanas" (as Harold and his siblings had named their act) a contract for the summer season. The highlight of the act was Harold crossing the wire on a bicycle with his sisters hanging from a trapeze suspended under it.
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If it was certainly, from the audience point of view, a spectacular finale, it was not in actuality much of a trick since the trapeze provided Harold’s bicycle with a counterweight: The more at risk were actually Hilda and Elsie. But Harold’s solos on the wire were another matter altogether, and this didn’t fail to impress one of John Ringling North’s European talent scouts. Johnny North immediately saw star potential in Harold Alzana, and the act was booked for the 1947 season of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, ''The Greatest Show On Earth''. ([[Harold Alzana|more...]])
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In 1909, the Lorch Family troupe sailed to the New World, where their act was featured with the Ringling Bros. Circus; it remained there until 1912, working in American vaudeville during the winter months. Even after he stopped being an active participant in the act, Louis continued to travel with his family until his death in 1924—after which his eldest son, Julius (1875-1942), born December 11, 1875 in Neuwied-am-Rhein, succeeded him as head of the troupe. The most outstanding feats in the Lorch Family act were a series of three consecutive double somersaults that Julius’s son Egon (1900-1954) turned on his father’s feet, and an extremely rare triple somersault. ([[The Lorch Family|more...]])
  
 
==New Biographies==
 
==New Biographies==
  
 +
* [[Rudy Horn]], Juggler
 +
* [[Albert Rebla]], Juggler
 
* [[Baptiste Loisset]], Circus Owner and Equestrian
 
* [[Baptiste Loisset]], Circus Owner and Equestrian
 
* [[The Kornilov Dynasty]], Elephant Trainers
 
* [[The Kornilov Dynasty]], Elephant Trainers
 
* [[Sergei Korolev]], Acrobat
 
* [[Sergei Korolev]], Acrobat
* [[Victor Fomine]], Acrobat, Circus Coach
 
* [[Annie Fratellini]], Clown, Circus Director
 
  
 
==New Videos==
 
==New Videos==
  
* [[Florence_Honey_Girls_Video_(1956)|The Florence Honey Girls]] Acrobats (1956)
+
* [[Selyna_Bogino_Video_(2018)|Selyna Bogino]], Foot Juggler (2018)
* [[Kim_Yim_Il_Troupe_Video_(2018)|Kim Yim Il Troupe]], High Wire Act (2018)
+
* [[Eva_Vida_Video_(1983)|Eva Vida]], Juggler (1983)
* [[Saralaev_Video_(2018)|Saralaev Troupe]], Perch-Pole Balancing (2018)
+
* [[Rudy_Horn_Video_(1960)|Rudy Horn]], Juggler (1960)
* [[Desire_Of_Flight_Video_(2014)|Desire Of Flight]], Aerial Straps (2014)
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* [[LunaStorme_Video_(2017)|LunaStorme]], Aerial Hoop (2017)
* [[Kozhevnikov_Video_(1963)|Ivan Kozhevnikov]], Juggler (1963)
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* [[Rebla_Video_(1938)|Rebla]], Comedy Juggling (1938)
  
 
==New Oral Histories==
 
==New Oral Histories==

Revision as of 00:51, 13 December 2018

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Circopedia was originally created with the support of the Big Apple Circus,
and has been inspired and funded by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

In The Spotlight

The Lorch Family (c1890).jpeg

THE LORCH FAMILY

The Lorch family was a highly respected Jewish circus family that owned a circus in Germany intermittently from the nineteenth century until 1930. Founded by Hirsch Lorch (1817-1901) in the second half of the nineteenth century, Circus Lorch was continued by his sons, Adolf (1845-1918), who was born in Manheim on May 4, 1845, and Louis (1847-1924), born in Lörrach, in Baden-Württemberg, on July 14, 1847. Before the turn of the twentieth century, the brothers worked in partnership, and their Circus Gebrüder Lorch traveled principally in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

The family acts presented in the show included horsemanship and a remarkable Risley actAct performed by Icarists, in which one acrobat, lying on his back, juggles another acrobat with his feet. (Named after Richard Risley Carlisle, who developed this type of act.) performed by Louis’s children, which would acquire a towering reputation on the international circus and variety scene during the first half of the twentieth century. The circus maintained winter quarters in Eschollbrücken (today part of Pfungstadt, in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg) in southern Hessen, where Hirsch Lorch and his family had settled in 1870.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, while Adolf continued to manage the circus, Louis and his many children went on their own with their Risley actAct performed by Icarists, in which one acrobat, lying on his back, juggles another acrobat with his feet. (Named after Richard Risley Carlisle, who developed this type of act.). (Under the sole management of Adolf, Circus Lorch lasted until the beginning of WWI.) With up to eleven performers (family members and partners or apprentices), and at times, horses, Louis’s Lorch Family act was one of the world’s biggest—and indeed one of the best—Risley acts. A true star attraction(Russian) A circus act that can occupy up to the entire second half of a circus performance. and very much sought after, it toured for nearly three decades with considerable success in Europe, the United States and South America.

In 1909, the Lorch Family troupe sailed to the New World, where their act was featured with the Ringling Bros. Circus; it remained there until 1912, working in American vaudeville during the winter months. Even after he stopped being an active participant in the act, Louis continued to travel with his family until his death in 1924—after which his eldest son, Julius (1875-1942), born December 11, 1875 in Neuwied-am-Rhein, succeeded him as head of the troupe. The most outstanding feats in the Lorch Family act were a series of three consecutive double somersaults that Julius’s son Egon (1900-1954) turned on his father’s feet, and an extremely rare triple somersault. (more...)

New Biographies

New Videos

New Oral Histories

2018 Circopedia Award

New Circopedia Books

A Message from the Editor

CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly—and sometimes daily—basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to contact us: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.

Dominique Jando
Founder and Curator