By David Cain
Tux (real name Victor Kopelky) was the son of the German tightrope walker and musical clown Willko. He was the brother of Michael, the juggling waiter.
The 2 Willkos, Tux’s parents
After his sons were born, Willko taught them music and juggling. The two boys were hailed as musical prodigies, playing accordion, violin, and their specialty, the xylophone.
Michael and Victor (Tux)
Performing in circuses and variety theaters, the boys combined juggling with their musical skills, as you can see in the following photos. You can see a young Tux in the montage below.
Tux 1930
During the 1940s, Willko stopped performing and managed his sons’ performing careers.
Victor began performing as a juggling chef in 1952, taking the stage name of Tux. Prior to this, he had been performing mostly as a dancing accordion player. Instead of appearing as a waiter like his brother, Tux was dressed as a chef and had a slightly different act, juggling ladles, whisks, pots, and pans.
Tux also juggled potatoes using a ladle in place of one of his hands.
Another interesting routine he did involved manipulating a pancake and a pan in some amazing ways.
Tux ended his act with more or less the same routine as Michael, flipping a line of plates, bowls, and other dinner ware onto a tray balanced on his head from another tray held in his hands.
Below are two videos showing Tux’s amazing skills. Much thanks to Tom Kellett for locating these online.
Tux stopped performing in 1975 to become an agent for variety performers in Hamburg, Germany.
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).