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Best Thrill in Wire Acts. The Great Swing. A Feature, “The Man Whom Put-S In Swing So-Different.”

Hamburg: Adolph Friedlander lith., [ca. 1900]. Chromolithographic broadside, 17” x 10”, plus margins.

This colorful broadside promotes a tight-rope act performed by an unnamed gentleman pictured in numerous illustrations here. He is shown in three different vignettes performing the “sensational drop high to low wire,” the “sensational drop with ladder,” and “nerve tantalizing tricks wire swinging.” Arrows in the illustrations indicate the motion and direction in which the wire moves. An vignette at bottom bearing the text “swinging into public favor” humorously suggests that the performer walked on a high wire from New York City to San Francisco. Also featured is an example of the “original scenic stage setting” used in his act—a cottage set against a mountain backdrop. The text notes that the performer has appeared twelve times at the famous London Pavilion Piccadilly in Westminster. The gentleman’s “most exacting showmanship,” it is noted, “puts this akt over.”

CONDITION: Very good, old horizontal folds, light wear at bottom margin.

Item #5747

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