By David Cain
Gus Hill is arguably the most famous club swinging performer of all time. Before Indian clubs were toss juggled, they were used for both physical training and eventually as a form of entertainment. Hill became a well-known star of Vaudeville stages in the late 1800s. Another one of the top club swingers at the same time was Charles Hoey. The following newspaper clipping from 1918 lists Hill and Hoey as two of the top club swingers of the previous era, along with Morris Cronin and James Dewitt Cook, two well-known jugglers about whom I’ve written about before.
1918
Gus Hill
Gus Hill
Gus Hill, originally Gustave Metz, was born on February 22, 1858, in New York City to German immigrant parents, Gustave Metz and Martha E. Baecht Metz. As the eldest of three surviving boys, he grew up in a family where his father owned a sawmill and furniture factory. Developing into an amateur athlete, Hill ventured into wrestling and later embraced club swinging with Indian clubs. He adopted the name “Hill” from the sporting resort “Harry Hill’s” located at Broadway and Crosby Street in Manhattan.
Gus Hill
At the age of eighteen, Hill appeared as a club swinger in a vaudeville show at Tony Pastor’s theater in New York. Hill’s unique strategy involved touring the country, challenging local club swingers, initially letting them win, and then returning for a rematch to secure a full house. This cunning approach earned him the title of the “Champion Clubman of the World,” enhancing his billing in variety acts.
Gus Hill
During his USA tour, while performing with Indian clubs, Hill engaged the audience by challenging them to lift his clubs, which were on display in the theater lobby. However, the feat was impossible as the clubs, filled with lead for display, were emptied backstage before Hill’s performance. Although considered deceptive today, the clubs needed to be robust to contain the lead shot and challenging enough for swinging even when empty.
Transitioning into show business management, Hill continued performing for over ten years. He produced shows like Gus Hill’s Mammoth Novelty Company (1885–86) and Gus Hill’s World of Novelties (1886–87). Known for cost-cutting measures, Hill designed foldable scenery and hired performers at reasonable rates. In 1892, he expanded with Gus Hill’s New York Vaudeville Stars, organizing shows throughout the week and managing travel arrangements. By 1896, Hill emerged as one of the wealthiest variety show promoters, utilizing efficient yet economical practices in the entertainment industry. He continued to produced vaudeville and burlesque shows, African-American shows, and even silent films. He died of a heart attack in New York City in 1937 at the age of 79.
Charles Hoey
Much less is known about Charles Hoey. He was born in 1859 in Natick, Massachusetts. He is best remembered as the first juggler to perform 4 clubs. He performed this unique skill as the finale of his act. However, he was unable to collect the four clubs without dropping, so the curtain would close on him while he kept the clubs aloft. Then, with the band or orchestra playing loudly enough to hopefully cover the sound, he would let some clubs clatter to the stage. He passed away in 1931.
Charles Hoey
You can read Charles Hoey’s obituary below.
The Challenge
In 1881, Hoey issued a public challenge, inviting individuals to participate in a juggling and club-swinging competition with the opportunity to win a cash prize. He stated the following challenge:
“I hereby challenge any man in America to swing and juggle single, double, triple and quadruple Indian clubs for from $100 to $500 a side, in New York or Boston.”
Gus Hill, recognized as the club swinging champion of America at the time, accepted the challenge. However, Hill publicly ridiculed Charles Hoey’s juggling skills with small, light clubs, labeling them as “ten-pins” in newspapers. He asserted that juggling had no relevance in the realm of Indian club-swinging. Past competitions had seen judges struggle with the question of whether juggling qualified as legitimate club-swinging, leading to separate awards for each skill.
Nevertheless, Hoey purportedly asserted that club-swinging represented merely the fundamental “ABCs” of swinging, in contrast to the elevated and more challenging art of juggling. In reply, Gus Hill proposed a club-juggling competition against Hoey, setting forth the following conditions:
“If Hoey wants to juggle Indian Clubs with me I will, on condition that he uses a pair of 20-pound clubs, they are to measure 32 inches long. For style, strength and execution; or I will swing Indian Clubs against him, he to do juggling with Indian Clubs and I to do swinging, the one doing the most movements and showing the best style to be declared the winner. I will bet $300 that I can do more swinging movements than Hoey’s juggling and swinging combined. Now. I will leave it to any athlete in America, that if a man wants to swing clubs that he can swing hours and do different movements, and a man juggling clubs has not got brains enough to learn the complicated movements, and throws up swinging and learns to juggle or fake up an act. I am always open to juggling heavy clubs from 20 to 40 pounds with any man in the world; also open to swing Indian Clubs against any man for from $500 to $1,000 a side…I will meet him at any time to arrange a match. If he is afraid of swinging against me, I will back a female pupil of mine against him.”
1881
1882
An encounter was eventually scheduled for February 16, 1882, in front of a crowded audience in New York City. Hoey took the stage first, delivering an impressive twelve-minute performance. Gus Hill followed, skillfully swinging 8-pound clubs. After sixteen minutes, Hill gracefully retired amidst cheers, showcasing far more motions than Hoey. The judges declared Hill the victor, praising his swinging as “the most scientific and graceful ever witnessed.”
1882
The Partnership
Interestingly, despite the apparent rivalry between the two men, Hill and Hoey joined forces 8 years later in 1890. They embarked on a nationwide tour, collaborating on a captivating juggling and club-swinging act.
1890
1891
By this point, they had come to agree that Hill was the champion with heavy clubs and Hoey the champion with light clubs and with toss juggling them. The partnership only last around a year, but it’s nice to see that such fierce rivals could put their feud aside and work together for a while.
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).