John Phillips Thomas – Mysterious Early Numbers Juggler

John P. Thomas   John P. Thomas was born in 1876 in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). He was a self-taught juggler, as well as being a competitive boxer. In 1895, he opened an athletic school to train others in juggling and boxing. In 1898, John was offered a contract to tour with Ringling Brothers Circus as a juggler. While …

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Eric Philmore

Eric Philmore Eric Philmore’s real name was Erich Phillips. He began performing with his brothers Max and Karl as the Three Phillips, doing juggling, acrobatics, barrel walking, and antipodism.  Erich was drafted into the army in 1915 and his wife took his place in the trio. In 1919, after the war had ended, Erich formed his own company, the Original …

Bobby May Videos from the Bobby Jule Collection

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Bobby Jule (real name Joe Pegnato) was there at the beginning of the IJA. He was a charter member of the organization and was the 2015 recipient of the IJA 2015 Historical Achievement Award. Bobby took home movies of jugglers from the 1940s to the 1970s. He has agreed to allow the IJA to release these videos through eJuggle. The first of these are two videos that Bobby Jule filmed of the great Bobby May. One is on stage and the other is on roller skates. If you’d like to see even more rare video of Bobby May, be sure to attend the Juggling History Show at the 2017 IJA Festival. We’ll be showing Bobby May’s last known television appearance, some footage of him practicing, as well as videos of Trixie, Adanos, and others that have never been seen my the juggling community. Until then, enjoy the following video, courtesy of Bobby Jule.

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This exclusive article is for IJA members only. Click Join the IJA at the top of the site to find out how to gain access to members only content on eJuggle as well as other benefits.

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The Art Of Juggling by William De Lisle – A Juggling Book from 1910

William De Lisle I have a very good library of juggling books, including many volumes that are quite old. Recently I acquired a copy of an extremely rare book that was published by Edward Van Wyck in 1910. It is The Art of Juggling by William De Lisle. The book serves as both an instructional guide as well as an …

Videos From the Vault # 3 – The Three Swifts

I have one of the largest, if not the largest, juggling video collections in the world. Therefore, I’ve established a series that I call Videos From The Vault to share videos that haven’t been online before, paired with other videos of the same acts. This installment features the Three Swifts. The Three Swifts were one of the top American club …

The Laziest Juggler – Tom Hearn

As I’ve stated in the past, many of my research projects, which in turn become articles for eJuggle, are initiated purely out of curiosity.  I see something that is interesting about a long ago juggler that I’ve never heard of, and I want to learn more.  This was the case with I saw the following postcard available on an online …

King Repp

The comedy juggler King Repp was born Alfred Wolf in Berlin, Germany in 1898. He grew up fairly poor, with his father working as the head waiter in a restaurant that had a variety stage. Young Alfred was exposed to performing artists through his father’s work and also due to the fact that his uncle was well-known billiard juggler Asra …

Dream Tricks Challenge # 4 – More Old School Juggling Tricks

The two first Dream Tricks Challenge articles challenged jugglers to attempt tricks that had never been done, at least on video. The results were quite amazing. The third DTC article provided readers with 12 old school or Gentleman juggler tricks or routines to attempt. This edition of DTC includes 12 more tricks that come from the era of Gentleman jugglers …

The Growing Candlestick Trick

The Growing Candle Stick is an amazing juggling trick / routine that hasn’t been performed for quite a while, to the best of my knowledge. It was invented by Ferry Mader, who was born Ferry Xaver on May 29th, 1884 in Augsburg, Germany, where he lived his entire life. Against his parents’ wishes, he left home at the age of …