World's Maker Faire: September 9, 2012

Video shot by the well known juggling entrepreneur Brian Dubé.

Here is the original post:

http://newyorkdailyphoto.com/nydppress/?p=13633
I performed two shows a day at Maker Faire for two days in an outdoor setting, which is not ideal for the show, but worked out okay.






TEXT FROM ORIGINAL POST:

Fleas or Teased

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Brian Dubé

New York City was home to one of the most astonishing things to those unfamiliar – the real flea circus. Most are familiar with the phrase, however, there are only a handful of flea circuses at the time and fewer yet that employ actual fleas, so it is very unlikely that any given individual has seen one of these performances first hand.

Yes, real human fleas, pulex irritans, were trained to pull miniature chariots and perform circus acts, rotate ferris wheels, and kick balls. Minuscule harnesses made from thin gold wire were wrapped around the neck of the flea. The harnesses were then attached to a variety of objects. Fleas are renowned for their incredible strength and are able to pull up to 160,000 times their own weight and jump 150 times their own size. Their lifespan, however is typically only months, and so new recruits must be found and trained. And, they must be provided a diet of human blood. Typically, owners of flea circuses just let fleas feed from their arms.

The flea circus flourished in the Victorian age, however, the harnessing of fleas goes back much further. The first to harness fleas were watch makers who demonstrated their skills in fine metal working skills. Mark Scaliot is 1578 is credited with locking a flea to a chain with “a lock consisting of eleven different pieces of steel, iron, and brass which, together with the key belonging to it, weighed only one grain.”

One of New York City’s great institutions was Hubert’s Dime Museum, which occupied 228-232 West 42nd Street near Times Square from the mid-1920′s until 1965. The building which housed Hubert’s was a schoolhouse, designed in the 1880′s by McKim, Mead & White. Hubert’s was a phantasmagoria of some of the greatest novelty, freak, sideshow, and variety acts and the home of the last working flea circus in the United States – Heckler’s Flea Circus. Heckler’s occupied a section of the basement and required an additional admission. It was here that the Heckler family plied their trade. The circus was started by native Swiss William Hecker circa 1923 and sons William Jr and Leroy (“Roy”). Roy took over the operation in 1933 and continued to operate the flea circus until he retired in 1957.

So, when I attended the World Maker Faire on September 29, 2012 and happened upon the Acme Flea Circus very unexpectedly, you can easily understand why I was stopped in my tracks and jubilant that I would at last be able to see a real flea circus. Adding to the serendipitous encounter was that the performer, Adam Gertsacov, already knew me, having been a previous customer of my business. I stood alone at his booth and it was a good 30 minutes to showtime. However, I was very passionate about seeing a flea circus in person and close up, so I stood and chatted with Adam while he prepared for his show. He told me all the details of the flea circus. I was later to learn that Adam was one of the most educated clowns in America – not only was he an alumnus of Barnum and Bailey’s Clown College, but he was also a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania and held a master’s in theater and communications from Rhode Island College.
Adam assured me that I need not be concerned about having a “front row seat” since his show was designed to insure that all audience members were guaranteed to see all the details of his performers. This perplexed me, since I had learned that flea circuses like Heckler’s typically provided audience members with magnifying glasses. Historical photos showed him surrounded closely by a small number of viewers. How would Adam accomplish this at a distance? Theater.

Adam’s show involves a lot of theater, history, and clever quips and bits, including a “flea market” where small items are sold to the audience, whom he then proclaims has been adequately fleeced. The act consists of his two fleas, Midge and Madge, who engage in a chariot race and a tight-wire act. Children laughed and squealed, however, credulity was strained when the fleas were shot from a cannon through a hoop of fire to land inside a miniature Airstream trailer.
I became intrigued and through a little research learned that a number of flea circuses currently working do not use fleas. At least one, Hans Mathes’s flea circus at Oktoberfest (you can see an actual video below), has real fleas. As to Adam Gerstacov and his Acme Flea Circus, in the end, I just decided to suspend and see it as an enjoyable piece of theater, not worry whether I had seen trained Fleas or had just been Teased 

Travel & Leisure Magazine: July 28, 2011

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-strangest-circuses

 

World's Strangest Circuses

 

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Daniel Boud

Forget any fear of circus clowns. The strangest shows on earth feature backflipping cats, race-car stuntmen, and burlesque puppeteers.

From August 2011 By Danny Deza

At London’s Hoxton Hall, acrobats scamper up each other’s shoulders to form a pyramid—although it hardly looks human. The performers are unrecognizable beneath elaborate ant costumes complete with antennae and googly eyes.

Circuses have always been a bit offbeat, but they’ve morphed well beyond the classic three-ring spectacle of clowns and animal tamers. Today’s strangest circuses are small and innovative. Some, like the Insect Circus, push the boundaries by incorporating burlesque or performance art, while others are reviving near-extinct sideshow traditions for a new generation.

“Circuses were once the biggest shows in town,” says Marc Hartzman, author of American Sideshow. “People didn’t have the same mediums of entertainment that we have today.” As audience interest drifted in the 1970s, circuses began adapting, particularly in the U.K., the U.S., France, Canada, and Australia.

A painter by trade, Mark Copeland founded the U.K.-based Insect Circus in 2002, designing fantastical costumes for the acrobatic “ants,” a winged trapeze duo that go by the names of Baron and Baroness Flutterby, and others. He is especially proud of a stag beetle shell worn by three performers. This lumbering six-legged “insect” takes on a matador in an act that resembles a Spanish bullfight.

Still other circuses get their strange factor from sideshow elements like sword-swallowers and actual insects. Adam G. Gertsacov, creator of Acme Miniature Flea Circus, practices a craft that dates back to the late 1800s. After graduating from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, he wandered from circus to circus until he got some career-changing advice. Legendary clown Avner Eisenberg told him to “focus on the fleas,” and Gertsacov hasn’t wavered since. He trains 12 fleas at a time to perform tricks like being shot out of a mini cannon into a Hula-Hoop dubbed “the hoop of death.”

For truly death-defying stunts, look to Delhi, India, where the Diamond Maruti Car Circus has become infamous for performing while hanging out of speeding vehicles. For 25 cents, you can peer over the edge of a pit and watch performers on motorcycles and in cars zoom in circles as they grab hands and stand up on their seats—an unbelievable performance that also qualifies as one of the world’s strangest sports.

Even in an age of entertainment overload, the world’s strangest circuses share the ability to keep you on the edge of your seat. Here’s a sneak peek at their shows.

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Acme Miniature Flea Circus, New York

Inspired by Hubert’s Flea Circus in Times Square, which closed in 1957, Adam Gertsacov pieced together the tricks of the flea trade from his circus mentors. The Acme Miniature Flea Circus’s bloodsucking insects have tumbled their way through four different countries and 38 states since the mid-1990s. The only thing Gertsacov asks from his audience? No dogs allowed.
Strange Factor: Two fleas race to a finish line while pulling a chariot. Other less fortunate fleas are shot out of a mini cannon into a Hula-Hoop called the “hoop of death.”

Journal News: Wear Your Glasses To This Circus

Cover of the Journal News Weekend Section July 15, 2011

Wear your glasses to this circus
by Paul Bousche

Midge and Madge have performed alongside Adam Gertsacov for over 25 years.
They have joined him on his far-flung travels, which have spanned 38 states and five countries from Canada to Brazil, putting on shows night in and night out. You might be wondering, what's the big deal?
Well, the big deal is that Midge and Madge aren't really that big at all. In fact, they're fleas.
Weighing in at an average of 0.1088 grams each and at only half the length of a fingernail, these "tiny performers" have been pleasing crowds around the world for decades as part of Gertsacov's Acme Miniature Circus.
Gertsacov, Midge, Madge and their circus will be at the Hudson River Museum on Sunday as part of its Victorian Day.
Along with the tiny show, families can play Victorian-era games like nine-wicket croquet, lawn bowling, pick-up-sticks and marbles.
Believe it or not, Gertsacov, the merry ring leader of the spectacularly small Acme circus, actually started out as a clown. And he has the degree to prove it. He graduated from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1989, which was statistically harder to get into than Harvard Law School.
"I never knew how difficult it was to get in when I applied, but I realized my love for performing and gave it a shot," says Gertsacov, a Rhode Island native who now lives in Yonkers.
But how did his attention turn to fleas? Gertsacov realized early in his clown career that circus clowns were not at the top of the three-ring heap.
"I wanted to be the main clown, but the lion tamers were getting all the attention," he says. "So I knew I had to branch out on my own. I began to look for my own unique act."
During his search, Gertsacov became intrigued by the flea circus, which was a big form of entertainment back in the Victorian era. "There was no television or social media, so this was what kept people entertained," he says.
The research wasn't easy as flea circuses of the past weren't very well documented. "I immersed myself in fleas for over a year and a half and figured out the show."
The last popular American flea circus, according to Gertsacov, was Professor Heckler's of Times Square, which left New York in 1957.
Today, Gertsacov's educated insect stars pull chariots, dance on a tightrope, and perform other circus-like stunts.
While he does not reveal his method of training (a proprietary secret, he explains), he assures the curious and the civic minded that he uses only methods of positive reinforcement to teach the insects their routines.
"I treat them as if they are my own flesh and blood," Gertsacov says. "And in some ways, they are."
There is also a pre-show "flea market" in which miniature props are for sale.
"I have mini 'Save The Fleas' bumper stickers. Hey, it worked for the whales," he says.
About Midge and Madge: They are members of the Pulex irritans species — that is, human fleas that can live for 24 months, a long life as fleas go.
And yes, they are females because lady fleas are a little bigger than their male colleagues and easier to train.
Midge and Madge, who arrive in their own mini Airstream trailer, will enjoy careers from 16 to 18 months before retirement.
Gertsacov says his Acme Miniature Circus is great entertainment and all ages are welcome — just don't bring the dog. Gertsacov says he doesn't want them to steal the show — literally.

The American Scholar: A Speck of Showmanship

The American Scholar has an article about flea circuses entitled

A Speck of Showmanship

Is that Pulix irritans pulling that carriage, or is someone just pulling our leg? By Ernest B. Furgurson 

It is a long article about different flea circuses and the long history of flea circus. Acme Miniature Circus is featured towards the end. The full article is here:

https://theamericanscholar.org/a-speck-of-showmanship/#

Excerpt of the relevant parts about the Acme Miniature Circus:

Adam Gertsacov, of Providence, Rhode Island, and Yonkers, New York, wants to give his Acme Miniature Flea Circus performances “the aura of a sideshow in the 1890s,” a feeling that many flea managers share. They like being part of the long, romantic tradition of show business. Though they typically operate out of a handy suitcase that opens into a midway with flags, carousel and Ferris wheel, they consider themselves colleagues of the great sword swallowers and prestidigitators of the past, part of the fabled world of “learned pigs and fireproof women.”

Gertsacov delves into flea circus history; indeed, he has helped make it. He studied acting and matriculated at the Ringling Brothers clown college before an old trouper told him to “get rid of that clown stuff; get yourself some fleas.” He could picture the act: “You’re so big, they’re so little.” This was not advice that Gertsacov wanted to hear, but he followed it, and eventually presided over the “triumphant return of the flea circus to Times Square” in 2001. He performed there for several months before taking his attraction back on the road.

Show people tend to loosen up under friendly questioning. Jim Frank, who lives in Laurel, Maryland, puts flea circuses in three categories: “One, dress ’em up as familiar people—Lincoln, Napoleon—see how small I can make a costume; two, hook ’em up with brass wire to pull chariots and such; and three, present fleas that cause things to happen, cause reactions—imagine the expressions on Benny Hill’s face. That’s my bracket, the illusion bracket. People tune their shows to their own skill level. Some use gearing, clockwork, small motors. . . . But if I’m outside, any speck of dust can be a flea. A puff of breath and it moves, and they’ve seen the flea. There are many ways to influence kids to see an illusion.”

Gertsacov agrees. Without putting the conversation off the record or even on deep background, he admits that “part of the fun is the secrecy. Obviously it’s hard to see fleas. People watching say, ‘What am I really seeing?’ I like that. You haven’t really been to a flea circus unless you’ve been bamboozled by the flea-circus guy. It would be interesting to watch real trained fleas, but only for three or four minutes. That’s not enough these days when you can Google insects and see them mating, up close and personal. My show is about showmanship.”

He enriches it with an illustrated history of the flea, reciting classics of the flea canon and ending with the shortest poem of all:

Adam/Had ’em.

It’s a rare showman who can squeeze a living out of a flea circus. But if it paid off for enthusiasm, Jim Alberti of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, would be chartering his own jet instead of piloting his pickup from bluegrass concert to school fundraiser to county fair, handily supplementing his Social Security check. His father and grandfather before him ran flea circuses, and Jim is blessed with a spouse who understands that the bug is in his blood. He was teaching at the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1988 when he told her he’d like to quit and do his show full-time. “We could do that,” she said. “I’ve seldom loved her more,” Jim told me.

After failing to catch him at the Merlefest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and the James Riverfest in Lynchburg, Virginia, I finally met him on a sweltering day at the annual Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was setting up his show on a sunbaked concrete walkway far out on the fringe of the festival; as I helped him erect signs, I thought he could never draw a crowd there. But a couple of passersby slowed down out of curiosity, and a few more stopped when he donned his derby and red vest, signs that the show was about to begin. He has a line of patter to accompany his chores. His fleas go south for the winter, he says. “They have a condo in Florida. It’s a French poodle.” By the time he introduced his star performer, Captain Spalding, to do his daring double flip into the tank, dozens of kids had appeared, snaggle-toothed, freckle-faced, like the resurrected cast of an old Our Gang movie. They listened open-mouthed to his patter and seemed mesmerized as he wove his hands to illustrate what was happening.

As Jim says, “It’s not easy to make something out of their imagination—a little like James Joyce taking a thought and making a book out of it.” His performance may or may not have equaled Ulysses. But as I watched the kids watch him, it was clear that Jim, like Scalliot, Boverick, Bertolotto, and Heckler—not to mention Adam—had ’em. 

Minnesota Public Radio: Whatever Happened to the Flea Circus?

What ever happened to the flea circus?

Posted at 2:24 PM on May 22, 2009 by Sanden Totten

Professor A.G. Gertsacov Photo by Dennis Hlynsky

A few weeks back a visitor to this blog found our Skribit page and asked this question: "Are there still flea circuses?"
The flea circus is an act where real human fleas (Pulex irritans) are harnessed and trained to perform tricks. At one time the flea circus was pretty common, say around the late 1800's and early 1900's. But today, you can go your whole life without running across a single human flea . . . let alone a flea circus full of them.
But that doesn't mean the art of training fleas is dead! It's just a bit harder to catch these days. We spoke with one seasoned "flea-man", Adam Gertsacov, also known as Professor A.G. Gertsacov, the leader of the ACME Miniature Flea Circus. He told us about his show, what to feed a flea circus performer and why vacuums may have been partly responsible for the decline of the great flea circus side show.

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sponsor:

Have to see it to believe it? Check out the ACME Miniature Flea Circus website for dates and locations.
Come see (or squint to see) the circus!
Photo by Jaime Murphy

ChicagoLand Television- Metromix

FLAMINGO HOUSE BLOG POST

reprinted from http://flamingohouse.net/?p=2257

The Acme Flea Circus

By denise | March 7, 2009

I know, I know, it’s been a whole week since we went to the flea circus and y’all have been dying to hear about it. I’m sorry. I’m a busy woman. And, I felt a little uncomfortable about blogging something like the Acme Flea Circus after hearing about Chuck’s family. So, it’s been a week and I’m still too darn busy but I have had a bit of blogging fever so… yea, the Acme Flea Circus…. omg… awesomeness.

Consider this a public service announcement. The following post contains use of the word freak in a way that might make some people uncomfortable. Your uncomfortableness is not my goal. In my household, the use of the word freak is not a negative or derogatory thing. We, the Flamingo House inhabitants, have embraced all things freaky and all people who society currently or has been known to label as freaks. We like the freak. More freaks should exist. Everyone should embrace their inner and outer freak and strive to become more freak-like. If this makes you uncomfortable, you might simply choose to stop reading. Or you may continue reading at your own risk.

Before I tell you why the Acme Flea circus gets an “omg…awesome!” from me, I have to tell you a couple of little stories. First, the story of TW and the fleas.

(SOME PORTIONS OMITTED)

So yea. We have the woman who invented fleas and her daughter the circus freak. God or some higher power was paying attention when he influenced me to open a Daily Candy newsletter (something I never ever do) to discover the Acme Flea Circus would be performing in the Intuit, just a few short miles from our home. Fate! Cosmic something or other. I purchased six tickets.

At this point, I have to say that not all Flamingo House inhabitants were thrilled with the idea of the Flea Circus. RJ was not unhappy about the idea, she just wasn’t enthusiastic. Prince J, however, was downright bitchy about the idea and there was much “it’s not fair! why do I have to go!” all of which lasted right up until the moment we took our seats at the Flea Circus.

Prince J and RJ sat in the second row with me. TW, Liz and TW’s mother sat in the front row in front of us. As people came in and found their seats (sold out show with people turned away who thought they could buy their tickets at the door!) the ringmaster wandered around with a little tray selling the tiniest programs for a dime a piece. TW bought six and we all sat down to read them. But the print was incredibly small and it was a little dark. Luckily, the ringmaster had thought of that and he had tiny little magnifying glasses for sale, and he walked around selling those too.

Which of course led him to sell flea tattoos, postcards, photographs and the much coveted bumper sticker. The “flea market” before the “flea circus”. It was incredibly amusing and both of the previously disgruntled teens were fascinated by the showmanship of the ringmaster.

And then the show began - with Midge and Madge, the most brilliant and talented fleas ever. They even have their own Airstream! (sweet!) Midge and Madge had a race - our side of the room rooted for Midge, the other side for Madge. There was much cheering and jeering and in the end…Midge! The winner!

There was a brief stop in the flea action for the ringmaster to read us a very informative book about the history of fleas.

And then Midge walked the tightwire, something our little circus freak enjoys (though not as much as she enjoys the Spanish Web.)

Another brief stop for some “Flea Verse” and uh oh… Madge escaped from the Airstream or was flea-napped! Thankfully, the ringmaster found poor Madge hiding in a woman’s hair.

Did I mention both teens were amused by this performance and could not keep from smiling, even though they tried - when they realized both their mother and I had noticed them actually enjoying themselves.

Then, the finale - Midge and Madge would be shot from a cannon, through a ring of fire, into their Airstream!

Ohhhh scaryyyyyy! Very tense moment…. they made it! Much cheering ensued.


We all, and I do mean all, had a fabulous time.