Friday, May 13, 2011

Imagine a Circus...with Trapeze

This Sunday night (May 15) on the Santa Monica Pier you can thrill to the daring feats of trapeze artists, in a show called "Imagine A Circus."
This picture is from one of their last rehearsals. The show starts at 6:30 PM. For more info or to reserve your place, go to the LeapsNBoundz FB page and click on the EVENT button on the left.

Leaps ... N ... Boundz is a sports and recreation program for kids with special needs, btw. Gymnastics, swimming, or just palling around and making friends. Money raised by the Imagine a Circus event goes to the Leaps N Boundz Foundation.

When was the first mention of trapeze in the Los Angeles Times? February 12, 1882. On that night, during a masked ball, "the Turner boys did themselves proud by the fine exhibition of their prowess on the trapeze."  The Times also complimented "eccentric characters" as well, but I think the writer was not referring to the Turner boys. The acting of the characters was "quite too utterly, too."

All this took place at Turnverein Hall, a 50 by 50 foot building on Figueroa that may have been the only theater in Los Angeles when it was built in the 1870s. Alternately, some have it as the first athletic club and call it Turn Verein Hale.. USC's archives has an 1885 picture of the two-story building and puts it at 29th and 30th streets.

But go see Imagine A Circus. It'll be quite too utterly, too.

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