By David Cain
Author’s Note: In 2015, I introduced the juggling world to Ollie Young, an important and innovative juggler who had been almost completely forgotten. In 2025, I was contacted by an attorney who lived in Columbus, Ohio, Ollie Young’s hometown. He told me that his great uncle had been a very close friend to Ollie’s widow and that she had left him all of Ollie’s scrapbooks from throughout his career. The attorney was now in possession of these scrapbooks and wanted to know if I would want them. I obviously said that I was very interested. I took possession of them in September of 2025 and was amazed at all of the information and all the photos they held. So, this will be the second of several articles detailing the information I’ve discovered about this important juggling innovator.
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In Part 1 of this series on Ollie Young, we examined the first nine years of his career, during which he established himself as one of the first jugglers to do complex tricks with clubs, including kickups, which he invented. We also looked at his partnership with William Everhart, during which Everhart accidentally invented the art of hoop rolling. Today, we’ll learn about the next stages of his career.
In 1901, Young began performing with his younger brother Dewitt as “Ollie Young and Brother.” Dewitt had previously performed as Kansas, the King of Roman Axes.
Advertisements, photos, and reviews for “Ollie Young and Brother” can be found from 1901 to 1907. This pairing marked a major change for Ollie Young, for it started a shift away from club juggling. The majority of the act now consisted of hoop rolling, with some boomerang throwing, club passing and diabolo work included as well. Ollie Young and Brother was one of the earliest acts to perform with boomerangs on the vaudeville stage. The were possibly the first hoop rolling act after Everhart. They were also the only hoop rolling act that performed the skill with Everhart’s blessing, as they paid Everhart for the right to do so.
Ollie and Dewitt Young
In 1906, Ollie Young and Brother toured with Ringling Brothers.
Ollie Young And Brother- Ringling Brothers 1906
Ollie Young and Brother 1904
In 1907, the first of several major changes occurred in Ollie Young’s life and career. Dewitt left the duo to perform with a female assistant as Dewitt Young and Sister. A future article will examine his career more closely. Ollie hired three assistants, not related to him, to form “Ollie Young and Three Brothers.” This quartet continued to perform hoop rolling, diabolo, and boomerang throwing. As far as I can find, Ollie never performed with clubs after Dewitt left, despite club juggling being Ollie’s original claim to fame. A review from San Francisco, CA in 1909 states: “Ollie Young and his brothers are a unit in intention and fact. They do hoop rolling daily with diabolos and toss boomerangs about with consummate ease and certainty. They roll hoops from the broad stage up slender threads, and toy with the laws of inertia and gravitation as though they made them. Their act is not sensational, but it is neat, clean and without a quiver of uncertainty.”
1909
In 1908, 33-year-old Ollie married Adah Bedford, by all accounts a stunningly beautiful and charming young woman 13 years younger than her groom. She began to learn the skills of her husband right away but did not immediately join the act. Ollie Young and Brothers continued to perform, during which time Ollie developed a new act with Adah, now known as April. In 1909, “Ollie Young and April” debuted the act that would set them apart from others and which they would do for the next 38 years. It was the blowing, manipulating, and juggling of soap bubbles. While the couple continued to perform hoop rolling, diabolo, and boomerang throwing, it was their work with soap bubbles that mesmerized audiences and brought them true fame. By 1910, Ollie and his brothers finished up their contracts and from that point on, it was Ollie and April as a duo. We will examine this stage of his career in the final article of the series.
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).