Recently I have inherited from my old friend and former renowned Australian Circus performer Rudi Mineur (he’s still renowned he just doesn’t perform any more!) almost 200 of these old ‘World Acrobatics’ Zines. They are amazing, they range from 1976 through until early 2000. Each year was a different ‘Volume’ and there are 10 ‘zines’ per volume. They are made up of scanned photos, often with the names of the acrobats and sometimes with a little blurb.
Here’s some examples of the front covers:
They were all curated and edited by one guy, Ralph Samuels and the address on the back was in Sydney in the early editions and then shifted to Bellingen (Mid North Coast NSW). I was fascinated so I went hunting on the internet to see what I could find.
After some searching this is what I found out:
*Ralph Samuels was the founder of The Association of Acrobats, in the UK (pre Circomedia and The Circus Space) and managing editor of ‘Acrobatics’, the official journal for the association.
Born on December 15, 1912. Ralph had a keen interest in gymnastics and acrobatics and although he wasn’t a performer himself he was a gymnastics official at the 1948 Olympic Games and a teacher for the Central Council of Physical Recreation.
In 1954, Ralph formed The Association of Acrobats in Putney, London and produced with his associate George Garrard, the association’s monthly journal ‘Acrobatics‘, which brought readers news and views on both professional stage and circus acrobatic work in the fields of physical recreation, sports, acrobatics and gymnastics. Samuels also contributed articles on gymnastics and acrobatics to other publications including Health and Strength. At some point in the 70’s Ralph moved to Australia and launched a new zine, ‘World Acrobatics‘.
Unfortunately, Ralph ended up suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and passed away in Bellingen on August 28, 2004 at the age of 91. He was survived by a son, Martin Lester Samuels and daughter Carole Janet Samuels.
If anyone has any knowledge of them or a contact, I would love to reach out and connect.
Also if anyone else used to subscribe to this magazine (or the English version Acrobatics) and doesn’t want their old copies, I would happily take them off your hands.
I’ll take more photo’s of the Zines so look out for them on the Carnival Cinema Facebook Page.
Peace,
Hamish
*Most of the info came from an obituaries post on The Stage based in the UK.
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