By David Cain
As I stated in Part 1 of this series, I have a very broad definition of juggling. Not only do I include toss juggling, but also ball spinning, trick roping, plate spinning, object balancing, cigar boxes, devil stick, poi, diabolo, boomerang throwing, and numerous other types of object manipulation. But from 1900 until at least 1960, the art of bag punching was also included under the umbrella of juggling, or at least closely associated with it. If you didn’t see Part 1, you can watch the following video of what performative bag punching was like.
So, what is the connection between bag punching and juggling? Well, many of the early bag punching acts were done by jugglers or those who considered themselves jugglers. Let’s take a look at some of these.
Milo Vagge
Milo Vagge was a champion bag puncher who also performed as a juggler under the name of Jerry Jerome. Milo, sometimes partnered with his wife, had a very long performing career that lasted from at least 1906 to 1947. He was a featured performer in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1941.
Note that the couple performed hoop rolling as well as bag punching.
The Lockos
John and Mary Lockos were a married couple who did bag punching. They advertised themselves in Edward Van Wyck’s book America and Europe’s Greatest Jugglers in 1903.
Courtesy of Nathan Wakefield
Eddie Gillen
Another bag puncher that advertised in an earlier version of America and Europe’s Greatest Jugglers from 1900 was Eddie Gillen. As you can see below, he was also a club juggler.
Edward Van Wyck Catalog
Not only did Van Wyck’s books included bag punching acts, but he even sold punching bags. You can see this advertised near the bottom of the following page from a Van Wyck catalog.
Courtesy of Nathan Wakefield
Otto Haines
Another juggler who also did bag punching was Otto G. Trumpoldt, a Vaudeville performer who performed under the name Otto Haines in the first decade of the 1900s.
George Olson
All of the bag punchers I’ve talked about in this and the previous article were active during the early 1900s, but George Olson is an outlier. He performed a bag punching act at the 1960 IJA Convention. Below are some photos of him doing so.
George Olson, 1960 IJA Convention
George Olson, 1960 IJA Convention
George Olson is the most recent bag punching performer that I was able to find in my research.
One Last Act
In Part 1 of this series, I stated that Belle Gordon was the most famous bag punching act. The act that was possibly the second most famous was Mannie, the pit bull. This dog was owned by Laura Comstock and was a Vaudeville act, as well as the star of several early silent films. Below is a film from 1901 of Mannie “punching” a bag. It’s pretty amazing what passed as entertainment long ago.
If you know any more bag punching jugglers, please let me know.
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 16 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-six books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).