In the period of European Music Hall, that coincide with the American Vaudeville, there are record of 3 company (mainly composed by a duo male/female) and one single performer working with bubble acts. Then there is the "MYSTERY MAN"  Ray J. Fink of which I could not find any information, except that he invented a sensational act with bubbles and leased to a Juggler. Later more about this, now let start with:

HAP HANDY & Co.

(Andrew William Handy 1861 – 1942  and  Emilie Wysler Peare 1863 – 1940)

They billed the act as "Soap Bubble Manipulator" and are considered the first to perform a Bubble act in the USA (1906), from some advertising found in newspaper It seem they were touring earlier also in Europe and UK.

The act was composed of different effects mainly manipulating bubbles and was very theatrical.

Hap Handy was entering the stage with a suitcase, dressed as a soap seller, and, then, when he opened his case he started to produce his effects; his wife, a former popular Vaudeville singer, introduced the act singing, dressed as a maid.

From newspaper we read that "Bubbles are made to run up and down a stick..,.bubbles dance around a tight rope...,Smoke is blown into big bubbles and Handy with a stick cut these bubbles in two." it is also possible to read that after to cut the bubbles he was putting these back in one, an effect still performed today. From the same article it is possible to read that, as a finale, he was blowing a lot of little bubbles on a small table and was playing pool with all, a nice effect that was later replicated by other performers.

Hap Handy real name was Andrew William Handy. He was born 18 Nov 1861 Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana. after retiring in 1920, he opened a florist activity in his hometown Fair Heaven. His wife Emilie passed away in 1940 and he just shortly after, at age 81 in 1942.

This picture of Hap Handy & Co. it is courtesy of  Keith Jonson.

OLLIE YOUNG & APRIL

(Oliver Young 1875-1946 and  Adah Bedford Young  1888 - 1959)

Before to meet and work togehter with his wife Adah, Ollie Young was very well known as Juggler and it is considered still today one of the pioneer of this art: he was one of the first to do complicated tricks with three and four clubs, he also included battle axes juggling in his act and one interesting thing to note is that he invented a special gimmicked axe made in such a way as to protrude a hidden razor blade out of the side of the otherwise blunt blade through a lever on the handle. This way the axe could be shown to be sharp by cutting paper or a string, but was actually completely safe.

In 1908, 33 year old Ollie married Adah Bedford, she began to learn the skills of her husband and in 1909, “Ollie Young and April ” debuted the act which they would do for the next 28 years. 

They billed their act in two different ways, one more oriented to adults/family as “Scientific soap bubbles experts ” and one, more oriented to young kids and school, called “Ten minutes in Toyland  ”

 Their show consisted of a first part with a juggling act with diabolo and boomerang throwing and a second part with the bubble act where they performed dressed as Pierrot and Pierrette. 

The description of their act from the press that I could find are that "They inflate large bubbles with smoke, producing amazing effects", that they made a big bubble, divided in two and put it together as one (this prove to be a classic at that time, as Hap Handy and Co. was doing also it and later Griff too), that they made a bubble to explode on fire and that, at the end of the act, they was playing billiard on miniature billiard table covered with felt. All in all, even if the repertoire was not very different from that of of Hap Handy & Co.,had to be an interesting act  looking the high number of playbill that appeared in newspaper and that demonstrate that they were on high request in the Orpheum and in the Pantages, two of the biggest circuit of the vaudeville.

Ollie and April continued to perform for close to three decades. They toured Europe twice, but mostly stayed in the United States. The couple retired from performing in 1937. Ollie passed away in 1946 and April followed him in 1959.

Below you can see some articles, pictures and billboards of the act

FRANK & CLARA LA TOUR 

also billed as “The Bubble girl” - “The La Tour trio” -  later: “The Brownies”

(Frank La Tour Brown 1885-1955  and Clara Bussing 1881-1945)

FRANK & CLARA LA TOUR, (originally from Decatur and Effingham) had an act mixed with Comedy & pantomime.

Clara Bussing had a solo act which she billed as "The Bubble Girl", in an article from 1915 it appear that she was working with her uncle and doing the bubbles act already 10 years before to perform with Frank.

Frank was a comedian, a good Juggler and pantomime artist with a with a stage look popular in the early 1900s that included a monocle, top hat and big, long boots.

If at the beginning of their career Frank & Clara billed their act as “ Scientific Soap Bubble manipulators” already from 1914 they changed name to “Funny capers, novelties & Bubbles” (adding, sometime, the “Original Bubble Girl”) probably to differentiate from other bubble acts. It was a mixed act where they performed different stunts, even dancing waltz on roller skates! They are both remembered as well for having originated and copyrighted the employment of a dummy in devil stick work.

Fran & Clara where the only bubble artists that performed as well some magic in their act.

(In several advertising and articles we read: "Frank & Clara Latour MUSIC - MAGIC - BUBBLES")

It is very hard to find more description of their repertoire with bubbles, the only thing that I found interesting appear in one article of the Oregon News ( Oct. 6 - 1919) where it is written that Frank produce a bubble with a pipe that Clara balance that on her parasol. A very unique bubble effect for that time.

In another interesting article of 1923 it is possible to read that Frank was not only a pantomime artist but also, originally, a Juggler and that by 1923 they had already toured the world, including New Zealand and Australia and that they wanted to work for a year or a bit more, then to retire, however, something did not go as planned as from 1925 the group expanded and became a trio including the 16 year old daughter MARGUERITTE, now a trained acrobat and contortionist. They added burlesque to their act along with acrobatics and magic.

Shortly after Margueritte's wedding in 1930, the trio broke up and Frank and Clara returned to being a duo, but it was time for changes and so, after a brief return as La Tour (1933-1936), they decided to adopt a new style and a new name and by 1937 the "Clowns Brownies" were filling the scene with clowning, juggling, magic  and soap bubbles.

They continued to perform for many years, but in 1944 Clara was hospitalized. Sadly, she died of breast cancer the following year.

Frank keep doing, occasionally, some gigs while retired, in the last article found where his name appear we read that he was performing in his hometown Decatur, Illinois, in 1950, at age 65, just five years before to pass away in 1955.

Her daughter Margueritte after the wedding retired from performing and passed away in 2002, at age 94, 

GRIFF The Bubble King

 (Henry Hadden Griffiths 1864-1935)

Interested in the Circus arts since childhood, Henry Griffiths worked as a cabin boy when he met a variety artist that gives him the chance to appear on stage.

Before to become the King of Bubbles he was as comedian, ventriloquist and, GUESS WHAT? A juggler!  This fact say how big was the interest for bubbles between jugglers at the time.

His early career as juggler and comedian start in 1893, the first articles about his bubble act appear in 1917, it may be possible that, already in his ’50 GRIFF was looking for something less physically demanding than juggling and soap bubble was the right choice. His choice of performing soap bubbles boosted his career allowing him to perform on important circuits both in England and in the United States (Pantages, Hyppodrome, Maskelynes…)

We can consider GRIFF a very avant-garde advertiser. Combining a typically British sense of humor with a caustic yet moderate tone he published often very amusing self-promoting ads on newspapers and one of the funniest concerns the famous lawsuit between illusionists Selbit and Goldin over the copyright to the illusion of the woman cut in half. Griff pokes fun at the situation and claims to be the inventor of the BUBBLE CUT IN HALF effect and that he will sue anyone who uses it.

It was something the public eagerly awaited, and it worked.

In one article about a lawsuit to an agent that did not pay him, we can understand that he was getting 300 English Pounds per week (1921), roughly the equivalent of 5.000 Euro of today, maybe more, as it is not easy to convert value from the past; this tell us that the Music hall / Vaudeville was a very profitable circuit for some performers. 

Interestingly, the British company Pathe’ Co. released a video of GRIFF performing his show in 1931. This is the only video we have of a bubble artist from that era. From his repertoire, we can see him perform effects such as cutting a bubble in two, merging two bubbles into one with a bubble filled with smoke, and the caterpillar effect with a bubble filled with smoke, all effects still popular today. It's also interesting to see him use foam and interact with his puppet. Interestingly, large bubbles, as we see them today, only appeared in the late 1940s, when the chemical composition of soap changed so none of the Vaudeville bubble performers  could put a person inside a giant bubble, an effect that is very standard nowadays but which still aroused great wonder until the early 2000s. 

By the late 1920s, he was trying to sell his show and the rights to it in the United States and Canada, likely because he intended to retire soon. One of the last articles found about him in the United States dates back to 1931, when he performed at a charity event at a children's hospital, which brought him good publicity, as reported by many newspapers. In January 1933, Griff gave what appears to be his last show in the United States in La Crosse. In 1934, he was still performing, but this time in Tamworth, UK. He had returned to his homeland and seemed unwilling to retire, but he died suddenly in 1935 at the age of 71. Many newspapers reported his passing. One article even noted that he had been to the United States 26 times.

One last curiosity is the discovery of an advertisement for a 1918 juggling-only event/festival, featuring Griff, Frank & Clara La Tour, and Ollie Young... who knows, maybe they were also discussing soap bubbles as well as juggling!

Below a rare footage of Griff doing part of his act, from the Pathe studio:

        RAY J. FINK - The MYSTERY MAN

Read well the article on the side, this it is the only that I could find about him, and it tell a lot: names, dates, even some rough description of the act (and a note regarding Ollie Young)... but, except that, there is nothing else on the press. I searched for 2 years, then I let it, because he seem to vanish...in a bubble !

I try to make a quick research also about the juggler to which he seem to have leased the show "J.P. Randolph, a Philadelfia Juggler" as written in the article, but I could not find any news.

The fact that he describe his bubbles as "without water and without soap" and, later, that " any colored bubble that it is desired" make me to think that he created a product very similar to the modern "plastic bubbles" the bubbles that kid can blow with a special tube and a special paste (very popular in the '70, recently they come back to the toys market), but it is just an idea.

Should any reader of this fact have or find any information regarding this little mystery, just let me know and I will be happy to ad here everything !!

Happy research :-)

ROBERT WARHAM and the bubble record

Warham was not a professional bubble performers, he was a passionate hobbyist that after many years of experimenting with bubbles made a world record in the 1939 blowing a bubble with 7 to 9 feet circumference (some article say 7, others report 9 feet).

That's around 70-80 cm in diameter, pretty big for the times. On the picture on the left, you can see him blowing the bubbles and with his automaton bubble machine: he was the inventor of a machine with many little mechanical puppet / bubble blower.

There are not many other information about him, also it is difficult to say if he decided to work full time later, or he continued it as a hobby: the Vaudeville circuit was dead and the war was at the door, most probably the second option was the choice.

One thing that must be noted it is that in one article he say that he knew about a performer from Australia that had a bubble act and become rich working in Music Halls in Austria. I try to search about this performer, but I could not find any information about him, it may be possible that the performers working with bubbles was even more than those who I list here.

 WALLACE BLOCK

There are not many information about him, just some articles writing more or less the same things. 

It is not possible to understand if he was a professional bubble performers (in the meaning that was his full time job) but for sure he knew something about it, just look at the pictures on the article on the left and remember that it is 1936 !

It is interesting to see the big bubble in the hands.

  EIFFEL PLASTERER and his "Bubble Concerto"

- The Jedi Master of modern bubble performers -

Plasterer is recognized today as the first big bubble performer of modern days.

He was a retired teacher that discovered the joy of performing bubbles when making experiments for his student. The hobby become so strong that when he retired from his job as teacher, started to perform full time his "bubble Concerto" a 2 hours (!) show filled with many effects, assisted by his daughter. There are so many innovative effects in his show that we could call him the "father" of modern bubble art.

There is plenty of information on the web (fortunately) about him, including videos and interview, that it become too long to list everything here.

As you can see in the picture on the right, he was using extensively Helium but also Hydrogen for his exploding bubbles.

Although there are earlier record of the effect known today as "Kid in Bubble" (look the section CLASSIC EFFECTS OF PUBLIC DOMAIN and the beautiful draw and notes from the book of M. Nugent, at the beginning of 1900) he is the first we know that was able to put a person inside a bubble (and there is a beautiful video where he put David Letterman inside it, in the '80).

He created also a special bubble solution that helped him to keep bubbles lasting not only for days but even for years !

Too may words could be spent around him, I suggest you watch (and enjoy) the video and interview from the link on youtube, here below, and look on the web for more:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_mtg8PFDII