The Circus Report is a international weekly trade magizine serving the Circus and Entertainment industry. WHIRLIGIG is a weekly column in the Circus Report by Walt Hudson. The following stories are copywritten and appear courtesy of Walt Hudson. (Thanks!)
WHIRLIGIG by Walt Hudson
James Taylor and I attended a highly entertaining show the other night. Three entertainers kept the audience laughing with their humor and sitting on the edge of their seats with the daring feats presented.
Mike Rossman emceed and his comedy juggling and off-beat skits were crowd pleasers.
Brian Rudo proved his versatility by performing illusions, fire eating, whips and rolling globes. His escape from a 55 gal. drum filled with water was one of the highlights of the evening.
I was particularly impressed by Dai Andrews, sword swallower. We ran a three part series on his experiences as a street performer in this column a few months ago. Andrews is a skillful magician but it is his excellent sword swallowing routines that impressed his audience the most.
This appealing young performer progressed from the easy to the most difficult. With a, flourish he announced the assortment of swords to be used were “all real, all steel, all the way down the throat” and began with a 12 in. dagger. A 24 in. sword was next. Like the dagger, Andrews accepted the blade's entire length and he bowed with the sword still inside.
The Kris, or wavy blade required him to shift his Adams apple to the side. He even moved his Adams apple back and forth to music as the serpentine blade descended into his stomach.
After several increasingly difficult feats he brought out a scythe-looking blade. It was almost 90 degrees in its curve. The master showman starred at the blade, possibly wondering if he might fail. He requested the audience to remain silent as he began. He carefully and slowly plunged it down his throat to explore the pit of his stomach. The routine required that he bend his body slightly forward and to the side. Once the blade was removed the audience shouted its approval of his highly unlikely feat. He also astounded the spectators when he swallowed 10 swords at one time.
A wonderful finale for an amazingly impressive act.
Andrews informs me he has several college engagements booked for the spring months. Dai Andrews is a hard act to swallow!
WHIRLIGIG by Walt Hudson I met Dai Andrews a few months ago when I was the talker on a side show. This multi-talented young man was presenting his sword swallowing, fire eating and whip act. We chatted after the show and I found that even though he was from the Baltimore area, most of his performing dates have been in Europe. Andrews started out doing magic, then added escapes to his act. Next he learned several other side show acts ... human blockhead, nail board, iron tongue, etc. After he learned sword swallowing at age 18, he headed for Europe and became a street performer. He found this venue very profitable. He appeared on TV in several countries and performed at the prestigious Comedia Del Arte in Italy. I asked Dai to share some of his performing experiences with CR readers. He agreed, so our next few Whirligig columns will do just that. "I was street performing In Barcelona, Spain early in my career as a sword swallower. I had just finished a show and was cleaning off my blades when I noticed my longest blade had a coating of something that had dried a reddish brown color. "Panic immediately filled my head, as I believed that I must have somehow punctured the lining of my stomach, and that my blade was coated with a layer of my own dried blood. "What have I done to myself?" I wondered. Then came other worries such as, how do I explain this to a doctor, how do I explain this to anyone (I don't speak Spanish very well!). I don't even know where a hospital is or who to call for help, or what number to dial to call them! "And then my head cleared and I thought back about half an hour to when I had been sitting quietly in a coffee shop ... drinking hot chocolate. "My relief was instantaneous and I began to laugh." (To be continued) WHIRLIGIG by Walt Hudson Dai Andrews, teenage street performer and Renaissance Faire entertainer, shares with us another experience. "I had just finished my street performance in Lyon, France. I was passing the hat when I noticed a Frenchman in his late twenties had taken it upon himself to rummage thru my props! I watched him pick up one of, my swords and test the sharpness of the blade by trying to cut one of his shoelaces in half! "This is Bull ... I" He screamed at me. "This is not sharp." "I never said it was sharp, only that it is solid and that I'm gonna shove it down my throat. Several members of the audience examined it before the show," I said. "This is Bull ... !" he screamed again in his nasty French accent, as he pointed my own sword at me. Not wanting to be the only one unarmed I quickly grabbed a sword of my own to defend myself if need be (thankful that I had several years of fencing experience). Seeing that I was armed, two friends of his stepped up behind him in a silent show of force. "I can't believe this. I'm gonna get into a sword fight on the streets of France," I thought, while attempting to get some sort of grasp on the situation. Once again I explained to him that I never made any claim that the swords were sharp. He responded by attempting to cut his shoelace in half again with my sword. "You are crazy!" he shouted at me. "Only an idiot would do this!" referring now to the danger of sword swallowing. I began to wonder why he was so upset a minute ago that the swords were not sharp, and in his opinion obviously not dangerous and now he was angry because I was an idiot for doing something so dangerous as sword swallowing? Luckily, some of the crowd from my last show was still mulling about and noticed the two of us with swords and screaming at each other. They came to my defense and began to yell at the crazy French guy. I am not sure what was said as Street audiences are so unpredictable! (To be continued) WHIRLIGIG by Walt Hudson Dai Andrews relates one of his experiences while performing a straitjacket escape. Our escape artist readers will be able to empathize with him. At the Ohio Renaissance Festival, I headlined a stage. I came to the part where I performed my straitjacket escape. I chose a volunteer from the audience to strap me in. I always pick the biggest, guy I can. It looks great if the guy putting me in the jacket towers over me. I asked the guy if he had ever seen a straitjacket before and he said he had. I asked him if he had ever put anybody into one and he said, "All the time." He told me he worked at a mental institution. The audience loved that but I started to wonder. I use an ungimmicked jacket and I have never been strapped, in by anyone who really knew what he was doing. I handed him the jacket. Immediately I knew this guy wasn't fooling around. I used every trick I knew to get a little slack in the straps while he was putting the jacket on me, but he countered my every move. Eventually I found myself with the jacket on and tighter than I ever thought possible. Even on the crotch strap, which most people are reluctant to tighten, he showed me no mercy. I began my egress. I got my arms (albeit with much difficulty) over my head. Then I saw where my real problem was as I looked at the arm buckle which was now in front of me. In addition to tightening the jacket he had tied all the buckle straps in knots to prevent me from undoing them! As soon as I saw this I looked at him, and a smile of supreme satisfaction crossed his face. I undid the first knot with my teeth and moved on to the crotch strap which was buckled behind my back. Here was where I had my biggest problem, the success of the escape depended on undoing this strap. The only thought that drove me on was that since I was at a renaissance faire I was wearing several sharp knives as part of my costume. I was sure that if I needed to I could manipulate one of those knives well enough through the jacket sleeve to cut my way free rather than admit defeat. However, I certainly didn't want to destroy my jacket, so I continued to struggle with the accursed knot that prevented me from escape. I tried to bypass the crotch strap and get out of the jacket without unbuckling it but all hope of that was removed by how tight the volunteer had pulled the other straps. I was on the brink of defeat when suddenly the audience shouted words of encouragement to spur me on. Then a great breakthrough happened. By luck or skill I finally untied the strap. From here the buckle gave me almost no problem. A huge smile formed on my face as the strap fell loose. The crowd cheered me on and on the face of my nemesis, the volunteer, a frown replaced his smug smile. The last strap I needed to undo, the uppermost of the three across my back, proved to be difficult as well, but nothing compared to the strap before it. With a small "clink" the buckle came undone and I wiggled free of my bonds! My victory was greeted with a standing ovation as. I cast the jacket triumphantly across the stage! Readers can reach Dai Andrews at his website: No.13 – Vol. 29, March 26, 2001No. 38 - Vol. 28, September 18, 2000
No. 39 - Vol. 28, September 25, 2000
No. 40 - Vol. 28, October 2, 2000
