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Water spouting is a
sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...
regurgitation act, in which a performance artist drinks a large amount of fluid, such as water, and regurgitates it in a controlled manner with muscle control. Typically, the act includes an element of
stage magic A stage illusion is a large-scale magic trick. As the name implies, stage illusions are distinct from other types of magic in that they are performed a considerable distance away from the audience, usually on a stage, in order to maintain the illu ...
in the transformation of the fluid; for example, ingesting water and regurgitating it as a stream of red wine or milk.


History

Water spouting has been performed since the 17th century. During this time, performance artists such as
Jean Royer Jean Royer (31 October 1920 – 25 March 2011) was a French Catholic conservative politician who was a minister and mayor of Tours. Biography Mayor of Tours Born in Nevers, Nièvre, Royer was at first a teacher. In 1958 he was elected as a r ...
() and Blaise Manfre were known for their spouting technique. Floram Marchand performed a "water to wine" trick, where he would drink 30 glasses of water on stage, then spout glasses of red "wine". He had actually swallowed red dye in advance, in order to give the appearance of wine. The act was revived by
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
artist
Hadji Ali Hadji Ali (;  – November 5, 1937) was a vaudeville performance artist, thought to be of Egyptian descent, who was famous for acts of controlled regurgitation. His best-known feats included water spouting, smoke swallowing, and sw ...
( 1937). Ali was known to drink water and then kerosene which he would use to start a fire and then extinguish it. Other performers during this time include
Mac Norton Claude Louis Delair (1876 – 1953) was a French vaudeville performance artist and magician known as Mac Norton. He was called "The Human Aquarium" for his Professional regurgitation, controlled regurgitation of live animals including fish, turtl ...
, who was billed as the "Human Aquarium" due to his swallowing and regurgitating of goldfish and frogs. The German performer Dagomarr Rochmann, known as the "Great Waldo", swallowed and regurgitated jewellery, coins, lemons, and mice. Waldo performed at
Robert Ripley LeRoy Robert Ripley (February 22, 1890 – May 27, 1949) was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist, who is known for creating the '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' newspaper panel series, television show, and radio sho ...
's Odditorium in New York City.
David Blaine David Blaine (born David Blaine White; April 4, 1973) is an American magician, mentalist, and Endurance art, endurance performer. Born in New York City, Blaine became interested in magic at a very young age. He gained prominence in 1997, when h ...
performed Ali's water and kerosene act on
Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...
in November 2013. Blaine explained the process he took to emulate Ali on the show David Blaine: Real or Magic. A British magician Kieron Johnson, also known as the "human fountain" has been performing this act on his TikTok and YouTube account. In 2018 he performed it on German talent show where he was water spouting over judges. He can also swallow and regurgitate small objects, like coins and bring them up on either heads or tails, chosen by the audience.


See also

*
Rumination syndrome Rumination syndrome, or merycism, is a chronic motility disorder characterized by effortless regurgitation of most meals following consumption, due to the involuntary contraction of the muscles around the abdomen. There is no retching, nausea, ...
* Md. Ahasan Habib


References


Further reading

* *{{cite book, author=Bart King, title=The Pocket Guide to Magic, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qEdCmMAiv8QC&pg=PA162, date=September 2009, publisher=Gibbs Smith, isbn=978-1-4236-1272-8, pages=162– Street performance Performing arts Sideshow attractions