COLLEANO, CON, Australian tightwire wizard (USA, c.1939)

CON COLLEANO (born Cornelius Sullivan) was one of Australia's greatest contributions to the annals of international circus. Born at Lismore NSW of an Irish father and an Aboriginal mother from Narrabri in 1899, he patiently developed his unique act on the tightwire in the family circus - known as Colleano's All-Star Circus - as it travelled the eastern states of Australia in the early 1900s.

It took Con several years of arduous practice to bring off his most fabulous trick, the forward somersault, and then several more years to refine that most difficult feat for public exhibition.

Con's sister, 'Little' Winnie, specialised in a solo trapeze act, while their eight Colleano siblings developed a combined acrobatic act. The family circus closed up in 1922 and the Colleano family worked the Australian vaudeville circuits before heading off to the more lucrative world of European and American show business. In London, an admiring journalist dubbed Con 'The Wizard of the Wire' and the appelation stuck.

In 1925, Con Colleano joined Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey's Circus as one of its star 'center ring' attractions as 'the Australian Wizard of the Wire'. He regularly performed before audiences of many thousands under the huge Ringling big top. In the winter off-seasons he played the indoor circuses and vaudeville halls of North America, England and Continental Europe. One of his ardent fans was Adolf Hitler, before whom he performed several times.

Between tours, Colleano spent time at his home at Allentown, Pennsylvania. In this footage, taken in the backyard, Colleano goes through his routines, beginning with the cape dance, the dancing on the tightwire, the first somersault to enable him to remove his outer layer of clothing, leading onto the backward and then the forward somersault. As is apparent, it is late autumn or early winter, and it is about 1939.

The forward somersault is regarded as the most difficult trick on the tightwire as the performer, in turning his somersault, loses sight of the wire and the performer's feet must find the wire unaided and he has to regain his balance.

Colleano was a keen home movie buff but, in this case, the camera was probably held by his wife, Winnie ('Big Winnie').

Colleano made return visits to Australia in 1937 and 1951. He finally retired from active performing in 1960. He died in Miami, Florida, of a heart attack in 1973.

I have posted footage on You Tube of Winnie Colleano's solo trapeze act and of the Colleano acrobats in action.

For more information on Con Colleano, you can consult the full biography I wrote entitled The Wizard of the Wire: The Story of Con Colleano (Aboriginal Studies Press, 1993) or see the biographical entry I wrote for the Australian Dictionary of Biography. - MARK ST LEON, PhD