Felovis

Felovis was a juggler from Neuchatel, Switzerland, born Georges Henri Marti in 1891. His family moved to Geneva when he was 9 years old. As a young teenager, while still a student and hobbyist, he performed his first show, which was a big success. He worked as an architect, but his hobby of juggling led him to pursue performing as a full time profession. In 1913, he went to Paris to juggle professionally and found almost immediate success. In 1917, he debuted in the UK. He was a sensation when he performed throughout Australia in 1926 and across the USA that same year. He continued to perform around the world throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s. He worked most of the top theaters around the world during his career.

Felovis was highly regarded everywhere he went, with glowing reviews being the norm. He was called “The Continental Juggler” and, quite often, “The Second Cinquevalli.” In fact, almost every review of Felovis compared him favorably to Cinquevalli, who was the most famed juggler of all time. Some later reviews also compared his skill to that of Rastelli.

Felovis worked mostly in the Gentleman Juggler style, using plates, hats, glass lamp, cigar, gloves, billiard cues, and a cane. He also did Japanese-style ball and sticks work, juggled clubs (including kick up work), bounced a ball on his head while playing accordion, and finished his act by doing back crosses with three flaming torches.

One of his tricks was described as follows:

“He balanced the lamp on top of a billiard cue, the tip of which rested on his chin. When the cue was removed, he caught the falling lamp on the thin edge of a plate and maintained its equilibrium at very hazardous angles.”

Felovis was described as nervous, high strung, fast moving, and short in stature. He never talked during his act, but performed to music.

Felovis married English singer (contralto) Jennie Allen, but eventually they divorced. He later married Margaret Cummings, a professional dancer and former Tiller girl. The couple had 2 girls. He eventually retired to Manchester, England before passing away in 1982 in Cheadle, Cheshire, England.

Below you can see some additional photos and illustrations of Felovis.

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).

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