WHAT A FIND!!!
So earlier today I rewatched an old Pathe video from 1940 called, “Tommy Trevor And Partner”, which has been on YouTube for 10 years. I then searched for Tommy Trevor on Google but nothing came up until I had a search through the British Newspaper Archives. Here, I saw lots of references to Trevor Tommy, who was also an acrobat, aerialist, clown and ringmaster. Going on a hunch, I then sent a message to Elvin Bale and asked him to take a look at it as I wondered if this was his father, Edwin Trevor “Tommy” Bale. A few minutes later, I received a message from Elvin to say that it is in fact his parents performing in the video – Edwin Trevor Bale and Irene Beatrice Bale (nee Parsons). Edwin used lots of different names in those days because the family did so many acts. Not only has Elvin confirmed my hunch to be correct but although he knew of his parents' vaudeville act, neither had nor his two sisters, ever seen the video before. Result!
Here's the video of Elvin's parents:
https://youtu.be/c4_ZIzTI49s?si=ceRKJAy12xU3oUvL
Through some more chatting with Elvin, he confirmed that the man who created this trick cycling act is in fact his grandfather, Edwin G. Bale:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jugglingforaliving/permalink/791020155149098/
In addition to all of this, George Bale is Elvin's first cousin, twice removed (Elvin's grandfather's brother's son) and he caught a turnip on a fork, thrown from the top of Clifton Bridge in Bristol, UK in 1896:
https://www.juggle.org/new-findings-on-the-turnip-challenge/
Here's more on the “The Controversial George Bale”:
https://www.juggle.org/the-controversial-george-bale/
I recently chatted with Elvin and neither he nor his two sisters had ever seen the video before. They knew that their parents had performed a rola-bola act on a pedestal but never seen it. He's 79 and his sisters are 67 & 80 years old and this evening, they watched a video of their parents that was filmed 84 years ago. Just let that sink in!
