The history of old-time jugglers in North East England
I’ve just got a short article for you this week – during the week of 3 November 1913 The Gascoignes were at the Sunderland Empire:
They weren’t very high on the bill and I can’t find many references to them elsewhere – but have a look at the detail of their bill matter:
…they’ve got a dog that does double somersaults! Who could ask for more!
The Morton Jewell Troupe “American Novelty Club Jugglers, presenting “An Event in Clubdom”” appeared at Sunderland Empire on 8 December 1913:
There are a couple of references on the web that note that the Morton Jewell troupe were the only act who combined singing with juggling. The Just Juggling Jottings article from the Vaudeville Missouri Breeze of 1 October 1915 is a real gem.
Emerson and Baldwin appeared at the Pavilion Theatre in Newcastle in 1909 as this article from the Newcastle Weekly Journal & Courant, 30 January 1909 shows:
Not only are they considered “clever comedians” but they performed “some wonderfully smart and unique juggling feats”.
There’s some good biography of Eddie Emerson with some description of his act and relationship with Jerry Baldwin in this miracle factory article. It’s not explicit, but it appears that they’re Americans – so their appearances in North East England are obviously part of trips abroad.
It seems that they were no strangers to travel – while there are internet resources that show them in the USA in New York in 1907 (The Evening Telegram article, 16 February 1907), 1912 (New York Times article, 29 December 1912) and 1913 (New York Times, 8 April 1913), they also show up in Perth, Australia in 1912 as this article in The Western Australian from 12 April shows.
After all of that they were back in the UK, at Sunderland Empire on 21 July 1913:
