Francis Brunn, Circus Juggler Extraordinaire
Bill Schenley
Francis Brunn, who cared little that he was often described
as one of the half-dozen best jugglers of the 20th century,
because his art, he said, transcended mere juggling, died on
May 28 at a hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. He was 81.
The cause was complications of heart surgery, said his
sister Lottie Chirrick, herself a famous juggler.
Mr. Brunn, who lived in Manhattan, brought new twists, often
quite literally, to an art that goes back at least to
ancient Egypt and Greece, and showed them off to audiences
from the Palace Theater to the White House. After he
performed before the queen of England in 1963, The Evening
Standard called his show "almost painfully exciting."
When the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
brought him to America in 1948, he became the first juggler
ever to work the center ring as a solo headliner.
At the beginning of his career, Mr. Brunn, a former gymnast,
was celebrated for lightning speed in juggling a dozen
objects simultaneously. But later, he perfected an austere
but demanding minimalism. He was fascinated by controlling
just one ball, and virtually compelled audiences to share
this fascination.
"It sounds like nothing," he said, "but it is quite
difficult to do properly."
Especially if the one-ball trick was to defy gravity by
making the ball travel from his toe up his entire body by
moving only his legs and torso.
In another dazzling trick, Mr. Brunn would spin a ball on
his right hand and hold another ball on the back of his
neck. He rolled the ball down his back and kicked it with
his heel over his head to a dead-on balance with the
spinning ball.
Large numbers of objects posed scant problem. He was
believed to be the first juggler in the world to put up 10
hoops.
"Trying to describe Brunn's act is like trying to describe
the flight of a swallow," Francisco Alvarez wrote in
"Juggling: Its History and Greatest Performers."
Mr. Brunn added to the effect by dancing a snappy flamenco,
heel clicks and all, as he contended with what the audience
could only perceive as aerial chaos.
Mr. Brunn did not hope for applause.
"I do not consider myself doing tricks," he said in an
interview with The New York Times in 1983. "There is one
movement for eight minutes. It's supposed to be, let's say,
like a ballet. It would be impossible for me to start in the
middle. I would love if the audience is so fascinated that
nobody applauds in the end."
Francis Brunn was born on Nov. 15, 1922, in Aschaffenburg,
near Frankfurt. His father, Michael, had been in a French
prison camp during World War I and from behind the barbed
wire had seen a circus juggler warming up. He took three
stones and copied him, later using oranges to show the trick
to Francis and Lottie.
As a boy at the Performing Arts School in Berlin, Francis
added juggling to his acrobatics and wrestling training.
Playing soccer helped him learn to balance the ball.
When a small stage show visited the village of Rossdorf,
where the family lived, in 1939, the juggling siblings were
asked to join in. Soon, they were playing circuses, variety
halls and clubs around Europe. In 1947, John Ringling North
saw them in Spain and invited them to join his circus.
When the circus visited Manhattan in 1950, Brooks Atkinson,
the chief theater critic of The Times, wrote that he could
not quibble with Ringling's assertion that Mr. Brunn was
"the greatest juggler of the ages."
The review continued: "Not many people in the world are as
perfectly adjusted as Mr. Brunn is. He will never have to
visit a psychiatrist."
Lottie Brunn left show business to marry in 1951, after
which her brother became a regular on "The Ed Sullivan
Show," played the Palace with Judy Garland and went twice to
the White House, where President Dwight D. Eisenhower
proclaimed him the best juggler he had ever seen.
In addition to his sister Lottie, of Milton, Pa., Mr. Brunn
is survived by his companion and stage assistant, Nathalie
Enterline; a son, Raphael, of Brooklyn; a daughter,
Christina Price of Englewood, N.J.; two sisters, Jutta
Merkado of Huntington, Conn., and Anni Weisshaupt of Elmwood
Park, N.J.; and a grandson.
Mr. Brunn's meticulousness was legendary. When he became
interested in flamenco, he went to 30 straight dance
performances. He had his juggling sticks made by a cousin
who made ball bearings for Mercedes-Benz steering wheels.
His practice schedule was so rigid that he pulled over on
highways to juggle at the appointed hour.
"I know he's up there now rehearsing," Ms. Enterline said.