Japanese Acrobats

This early Edison film is extremely impressive. We've all seen acrobats in circuses and on stage and, over time, their acts grow more and more elaborate, but this is very basic stuff in the sense that all we see is two young men using each other's bodies as devices for performing a number of imaginatively choreographed acrobatic moves. In front of a painted backdrop, the older acrobat lies on his back with his legs together in the air. The second acrobat, a young boy, then balances on the soles of the man's upturned feet before performing a number of breathtaking manoeuvres. The act looks flawless, but one winces to think of the pain involved when the moves went wrong, as they sometimes surely must have done at some point.

Richard Risley Carlisle (1814-1874) was a circus performer from New Jersey who developed a type of acrobatic act which was such a clear innovation that, ever since, performers of similar acts have been known -- in arenas as diverse as circuses, American vaudeville and the British music-halls -- as 'Risley acrobats' or 'a risley act' (not always upper-cased). Risley assembled a troupe billed as the Risley Family Acrobats, although it's likely that most (or even all) of his troupers were no relation to him. At least three of his apprentices went on to form their own risley troupes, each of them claiming the surname 'Risley' as his own name.

Professor Risley (as he billed himself) apparently achieved the peak of his fame in the early 1860s when he performed for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. However, in 1864 he and his troupe performed in Yokohama, to great acclaim and the intense interest of his Japanese audiences. I've known about Professor Risley for decades ... but, until I saw this film 'Japanese Acrobats', I'd no idea of precisely how great Risley's success in Japan was.

Basically, a risley act -- I'm sure you've seen them -- begins with one man lying on his back with his legs upright. At appropriate moments, his arms are also upright. A smaller performer (often a child) performs various acrobatic manoeuvres while balancing on one or more of the 'anchor' man's upraised feet and palms. It looks as if the tumbler up top is doing all the hard work: however, the man underneath is taking considerable risk (if the tumbler falls on him), and -- more importantly -- the man underneath is expending quite a lot of energy himself, using the strength of his legs at strategic moments to propel the tumbler into the next handspring or aerial. In Frank Capra's film 'Rain or Shine', Joe Cook's dazzling display of circus skills includes a brief sample of risley acrobatics. I've seen several risley acts with a woman or a girl as the 'flyer' (up top), but the anchor beneath is traditionally a man.

'Japanese Acrobats' is a 1904 Edison film preserved in the Library of Congress. I'm hugely interested in circus acts in general, and not least in 'foreign' acts from cultures outside my own experience. I was expecting to see these acrobats performing some ancient Oriental balancing routine, utterly alien to my Occidental eyes. I was astounded to discover that this Edison film records a risley act, of precisely the sort which American and British acrobats of this same period were also performing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the risley act in this 1904 movie is a very, VERY good risley act: one of the best I've ever seen. Professor Risley must have made a very big impression in Japan indeed.

In front of an elaborately painted backdrop, two performers enter and bow. The man looks about 20 years old, the boy about 12. The man lies supine, and raises his legs ... atop which the boy then performs some dazzling acrobatics. The man is not merely providing a platform for the boy: on several occasions their movements are carefully co-ordinated, such as when the boy lies flat on his back while the man pedals his feet rapidly to spin the boy horizontally. The boy is not passive here; he must constantly shift his centre of gravity at the same speed as the man's foot movements. At another point, while the boy is still airborne, the man suddenly lowers one leg ... forcing the boy to use only one of his own feet to land (perfectly!) on the man's sole remaining sole, and to balance one-footed before springing into the next manoeuvre. I shudder to think of how many hours these two must have rehearsed together.

I spotted only one slip-up, a minor one. Early in the film, the boy briefly shifts off balance, and the man instantly raises his arms to adjust him. This is done so swiftly and gracefully that most audiences would assume it was part of the act.

At the successful conclusion, the two acrobats stand, bow and exit ... then return to steal one more bow. Further proof that people are alike all over: Japanese vaudevillains are just as eager to steal a bow as their western counterparts.

It was fairly common in vaudeville and in British and American circuses for Occidental (white) artistes to perform under Oriental names in exotic costumes: this was especially true for magicians and acrobats, so I would normally be suspicious if an allegedly Oriental act consisted solely of the very American risley repertory of acrobatics ... even more so because there's an entire tradition of Chinese and Japanese acrobatics which owes nothing to western techniques. However, the two performers in this film do seem to be genuine Issei, or maybe Japanese-Americans.

Sadly, acrobats have short careers. One advantage of risley acrobatics over the other techniques is that the performers tend to have longer careers. A boy starts out as the tumbler up top; as he grows older and heavier, and attains more muscle mass, he moves down to the lower position, taking advantage of his increasing strength while using his experience to train a new 'flyer' up top.

'Japanese Acrobats' is a fascinating record of a classic circus technique; ironically, these Oriental performers are documenting their discipline and skill in a circus art that was born and raised in America. My rating for this one: a perfect 10 out of 10.

This brief 1904 film does indeed show two exceptionally dexterous performers from Japan. However, I do question the commenter above in his assertion that Professor Risley was the originator of these moves and showed them to Japan. It is far more likely that the events occurred the other way around, that Risley learned these moves *from* the Japanese, and brought these performers to the West, including the UK and America. And this is how his name came to be associated with these moves, because he was the producer and presenter, not the creator. This is the order of events explained on the web site of the National Museum of Japanese History, at http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/e-rekihaku/118

"The Japanese Acrobats" is not to be confused by the film "Kiri-Kis"-- trick film by Segundo de Chomón with fake Japanese acrobats. "The Japanese Acrobats" is stars two very talented REAL Asian acrobats--and it is simply amazing. And, it is still amazing after more than 100 years.

The film consists of a taller acrobat twirling the smaller one on his feet--just as if the smaller guy was a ball. I have seen some Chinese acrobats in person--and even they weren't THIS impressive.

While I normally don't score these older films because they are so short and there is really little to score, I'm giving this one a 9. It's fabulously entertaining and a nice look into our past.