Kitty Traney is most definitely an obscure name in juggling history, despite being a talented and successful performer. Not much is known about her other than what can be gleaned from newspaper clippings. Despite sometimes being billed as English or French, she was actually a German whose real name was Katrina Tolcsmitt-Kilhauer. She was originally a ballet dancer, and then became a trapeze performer in The Great German Circus. She toured Europe with the circus for around six years. However, after a bad fall in St. Petersburg, Russia, she gave up the trapeze and learned the arts of juggling and animal training, creating an act that merged the two together. She became a music hall star in London and Paris before coming to the United States to appear on Vaudeville stages.
Kitty would enter the stage riding a cart pulled by a horse with her three dogs jumping through hoops attached the horse’s front legs.
She would then unhook the horse from the cart and balance the cart on her chin.
Traney would then perform various juggling routines using plates, kitchenware, bottles, and flower baskets.
Next, she would disrobe, juggling her dress, hat, and parasol as she did so.
She then did more juggling tricks, including juggling three wagon wheels.
Finally, she performed various tricks with her dogs and horse.
Let’s take a look at some photos, reviews, articles, and advertisements for Kitty Traney.
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It is not known when Kitty Traney was born or when she died, nor anything about her personal life. If you know anything about Kitty, please let us 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).