THE AUSTRALIAN BLONDIN

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3353, 2 January 1884, Page 2

THE AUSTRALIAN BLONDIN

The Australian Blond jn,Mr Alexander, gave his opening performance in ropewalking on Monday evening. A largo space had been enclosed with canvas on the Market Keserve, and a rope some 40 feet long was stretched at about 30 feet from the ground, between two fixtures, each of which seemed, distantly, a ship’s lower mast and top. The enclosure is lighted by numerous flares and occasional colored fires, and the performer, who arrays himself in various costumes —those of a Homan warrior, an athlete, and a Highland chief, being the principal—goes through a variety of feats of strength and agility, all tending to exhibit his powers as a tight-rope walker. He shows himself to be very proficient and a capital imitator of his great prototype. He has not yet acquired that absolute confidence in him' self, that dash and careless, yet finished, grace of the chevalier, and probably no one ever will—bnt he certainly is a wonderful performer, and his show ought to be visited. The audience on Monday night was at first thin, but it afterwards became considerable, and last night there was a very good attendance. The Artillery Band supplied excellent music on both occasions.