Konrad Thurano; world's oldest acrobat
Hyfler/Rosner
December 22, 2007
Konrad Thurano
Tightwire performer who became the world's oldest acrobat
With a career spanning 83 years, Konrad Thurano became the
world's oldest variety and circus performer. An acrobat and
tightwire expert, he performed to the end, aged 98, with a
career spanning 83 years. Each April he would return to his
native Düsseldorf to appear at the Ronoalli Apollo Variety
Theatre to celebrate his birthday and to prove to the world
that he was still a world-class artiste. Despite a
relentless stint of working non-stop for years, he finally
relented in 2004 and restricted his performances to a few
months each year, dividing his time between the Apollo in
Düsseldorf, the Wintergarten in Berlin and the Tigerpalast
theatre in Frankfurt.
His son, John-John, born in 1946, frequently complained that
he would have retired years ago, had not his father insisted
that "the show must go on".
Born in Düsseldorf in April 1909, Konrad Thurano was the son
of a trussmaker and had no circus ancestry. He was, however,
a keen amateur gymnast and was noticed by a group of circus
artistes, who were performing at the Apollo. After a
three-year apprenticeship he emerged as a pole balancing
artiste, working for 25 years in the act of the Lindners. He
busked with his adopted family in a highwire act. At the
Wintergarten, Berlin, he appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin,
and the great circus clowns Grock and Charlie Rivel in 1930.
With Circus Althoff in Germany in 1932 he met and married
his wife, and they had three children, John-John and Sabrina
later joining him in the tightwire act he created. Spending
the war years in South Africa, he returned to Germany in
1957 and eventually their wire act was seen all over the
world. In London they worked, strangely enough, in Raymond's
Revue Bar strip club in Soho, providing variety between the
grinding routines of the female strippers.
They worked extensively in the Middle East and Asia, in
Scandinavian tivoli parks, and made their eventual home in
Denmark. At home a couple of gymnastic rings hung from the
kitchen ceiling for Konrad to keep himself fit.
It was with the Circus Franz Althoff that the wire act first
gained fame. They developed a freestanding wire apparatus
that could be erected within seconds on the stage of any
theatre, and in later years the act's charm and appeal was
developed by the comedy and interaction between father and
son. "On stage, it's like we are at home. The main thing is
to have fun." He joined his son onstage by making his
entrance on a kid's scooter, exuberant and full of energy,
and nobody would guess his advanced age until the compere
would tell the audience.
He is survived by his daughter, Sabrina, and son, John-John.
Konrad Thurano, acrobat, was born in 1909. He died on
November 20, 2007, aged 98
--
Visit www.aodeadpool.com