Joseph Jalvan, who was born Joseph O’Bryan in Clear Spring, Maryland (USA) on Dec. 15th, 1856. He was an African-American juggler who was a star of minstrel shows in the USA and of international stage shows, especially in Australia, starting at least as early as 1890.
He was a very talented juggler, performing complex balancing tricks with pipes (and pigeons), bowl spinning, top spinning, the bow and balls trick, rug spinning, the whip balance trick, parasol spinning, and other common juggling tricks of the time.
Jalvan got his start in black minstrel shows, which were very popular in the 1890s. He was partnered with two other jugglers, John Pamplin and Denton.
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At some point, Denton left the group, leaving Jalvan and Pamplin to perform as a duo.
1891
To learn more about John Pamplin, click here to read a short biography of him by Australian juggling historian Leann Richards. By 1892, John Jalvan was performing as a solo act.
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As you’ll see throughout this article, John Jalvan moved out of minstrel shows and onto vaudeville and music hall stages. In order to do this, he had to bill himself as some type of “exotic” ethnicity. At various times, he was advertised as being “West Indian”, “Oriental,” “Japanese”, “Eastern,” “Javanese”, “Maori”, “Hindoo,” and “Arab”.
In 1897, he performed in Cuba and was popular enough that he was given a diamond pin by a fan. This was just the start of his international travels, as he would soon go to South Africa in 1897 and then to Australia in 1898, where he was a bit hit. It was in Australia that he met and married Catherine Webb, who would become his assistant and performing partner.
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Joseph Jalvan was talented enough to be billed as the king of jugglers.
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Joseph Jalvan, courtesy of Leann Richards
This is the earliest known photo of a juggler performing with pipes. In addition to the pipes and pigeon trick, he also performed a trick where he balanced a lamp on a stick on a bottle on a pipe, all of which were balanced on a pipe held in his mouth. You can see this trick below.
Joseph Jalvan
Joseph Jalvan and his famous pipes and pigeon trick
Joseph Jalvan
Joseph Jalvan and the whip balance trick
The Jalvans 1905
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As you can see, the Jalvans received wonderful reviews. They performed until 1931. Joseph Jalvan passed away on July 19th, 1955 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania at the age of 98.
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).