FITZGERALD’S CIRCUS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XXIV, 14 December 1895, Page 748

FITZGERALD’S CIRCUS.

After a season of seven nights and three matinees in Auckland Messrs Fitzgerald drew the pegs of their huge tent and departed with their whole caravan for the South. From every point of view the season must be pronounced a success. Financially the genial proprietors have very good reasons for satisfaction. The houses were packed at every performance day and night, and the gentlemen from the National Bank, whose duty led them to be in attendance every evening, must have found their task of carrying away the ‘ filthy lucre ’ no sinecure. For rather more than a week that part of Custom-street adjacent to the flour mills which is usually pervaded by the severest tone of commercialism, was given over to frivolity, and became the haunt of the small boy. The roar of the lion and the snarl of the tiger rose above the whir of the wheels, and roused the intensest excitement in the juvenile breast. From the point of view of the audience also the show left nothing to be desired. The quantity was generous, and the quality much higher aud more seusational than Aucklanders have been lately accustomed to. The great feature of the entertainment was unquestionably the diving of Professor Peart. From a small stage at the top of the tent—probably forty or fifty feet up—he plunges into a tank eight feet across and six feet deep. The apparent confidence and ease with which this astonishing feat is performed tend to diminish iu the minds of the audience the real risk of the performance. From a height of fifty feet an object eight feet across does not appear a very large target, but when it is remembered that the target has to be hit, with the alternative of instant death in the event of failure, once, and sometimes twice a day, an idea will be formed of the nerve or lack of sensibility

essential to the achievement of so perilous a business. Mdlle. Adelina Antonio’s double backward somersault from the trapeze is risky enough, but compared with Peart’s performance it is like having breakfast in bed. This lady also throws a triple somersault from a swinging trapeze, but her most graceful acts are done on a single rope, and are of such a nature that a description of them would read like the impossible. Scarcely less wonderful than either Mdlle or the Professor are the brothers Eclair, or the Demon and the Crocodile. The extraordinary contortions of these two would lead one to suppose that they were either entirely boneless, or else provided with whale-bone. The Crocodile writhes about like a hideous green slug, while the Demon, after crawling backwards through his own arms, and turning himself generally inside out, ends up by balancing the whole weight of his body on a bar of iron held between his teeth. In some ways the most remarkable feature of the show is the * talking ’ horse Mahomet. Whatever be the method by which the horse is made to answer yes or no and to do sums correctly, the exhibition at least speaks of long patience on the part of the trainer, and miraculous sagacity on that of the horse. Tberest of the entertainment ison an equally high level. The acrobatic featsand the riding by men and boys are excellent, but as these are the stock acts ot a circus, they usually attract less notice than they deserve. We hope and have little fear that Messrs Fitzgerald will meet with equal success in the other New Zealand cities, and if so it will be no more than their enterprise deserves.