Vertelli, or Professor Vertelli (stage name of John Morcom,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, June 12, 1840 –

West Berkeley, Berkeley, California West Berkeley is generally the area of Berkeley, California, that lies west of San Pablo Avenue (though sometimes it may also refer to the larger area west of Sacramento Street though this includes Westbrae), abutting San Francisco Bay. It incl ...

, January 8, 1914), was a British-Australian

tightrope walker Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

and

stage magician Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

, and the brother of cricketer Samuel Morcom.

Biography

John Morcom was born on June 12, 1840, in a family of impoverished Cornwall miners. His father emigrated to Australia in 1848, and the family followed him one year later. His brother Samuel became a leading Australian cricketer.A.V.M. "Sporting Families: Morcoms and Goodfellows". ''The South Australian Register'', 14 December 1923, p. 3. In 1863, he debuted as a

trapeze artist A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...

, and by 1866 he decided to focus on tightrope walking. Australian media nicknamed him ̎the Australian Blondin ̎, a reference to the well-known French tightrope walker

Charles Blondin Charles Blondin (born Jean François Gravelet, 28 February 182422 February 1897) was a French tightrope walker and acrobat. He toured the United States and was known for crossing the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope. During an event in Dublin i ...

. He entertained his audiences by walking on a tightrope without pole and blindfolded, and even with heavy ladies from the audience who accepted to be carried by him on the rope. His most important shows were at the

Theatre Royal, Melbourne The Theatre Royal was one of the premier theatres for nearly 80 years in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 1855 to 1932. It was located at what is now 236 Bourke Street, once the heart of the city's theatre and entertainment distr ...

where, according to Australian media, he was paid £ 100 per week. As other tightrope walkers of his time, he also performed outdoors, including by crossing the river below

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

on a wire, and walking from the top of a building to the one opposite it by crossing a street in

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

, Canada, at night and without lights. When he got older, he abandoned tightrope walking and performed as a stage magician and

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

. He formed his own troupe and toured China, Japan and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

for more than twenty years, after settling in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He was among the first Western magicians to perform in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, where he was very successful. In his later years, he suffered with a paralysis of both feet, and continued his career as a professional

astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

and

Tarot card reader Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck con ...

, until his death in West Berkeley, California, on January 8, 1914, at age 73.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vertelli 1840 births 1914 deaths Australian magicians Tightrope walkers People from Cornwall British emigrants to Australia Australian emigrants to the United States