Kara at Sunderland Empire

By 22 March of 1909 Kara was already so known that he could be highly billed without any flourish simply as a “juggler” when he appeared at the Sunderland Empire:

Kara at the Sunderland Empire Poster, March 22 1909
From the Tyne & Wear Archives

 As one of the originators of the Gentleman Juggler style he’s a hero of mine. Check out these links for more information on the great man: the JIS hall of fame entry has some good biography, the IJA newsletter of January 1957 had description of the routine by Horace Lerrette, who saw him live around the time of the poster above. No one who cares about the history of juggling should skip Francisco Alvarez’s book ‘Juggling – its history and greatest performers’ – check out parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 for Kara.  Finally there’s the article about the Salerno Ring from Juggle magazine that I linked from a previous entry of this blog about Salerno, which has the story of great rivals coperating in the aftermath of the Great War.

One Reply to “Kara at Sunderland Empire”

  1. I would love to see a video of Kara, reading his act really brings home just how much of the Gentleman Juggler style we have lost.

    Also, reading your blog I have really started to appreciate just how much of a big thing variety theatre was.

    Regards,
    Colin E.