160 YEARS AGO IN GEELONG
(From the pages of the Geelong Chronicle)
SWORD SWALLOWER PERFORMANCE
An advertisement in July 1863 announced that Signor Franconi, ‘the celebrated sword swallower and stone eater’, would appear at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Market Square, Geelong, for two nights only. Admission was one shilling. Described as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’, he appeared a third night at the Theatre Royal, Geelong.
We first catch a glimpse of the Signor when he performed in Sydney in April 1863. As Signor Franco, he performed his sword swallowing act on Manly Beach. He travelled to Melbourne the following month, where he changed his stage name to Signor Franconi. He performed regularly at Madame Sohier’s Waxworks in Bourke Street, Melbourne. Called the ‘latest sensation’, in his act he would swallow a sword 19 inches in length.
Another part of his act was to eat a quantity of stones. Several years later, when performing his act with the Great World Circus in Hamilton, he gave an interview to a reporter from the Hamilton Spectator: “In addition to the ring performance, the proprietors exhibit a most extraordinary man, who besides being able to put a sword nineteen inches long down his throat, has the extraordinary habit of swallowing stones in considerable quantity. This individual, who styles himself Signor Franconi, tells us that he commenced this peculiar description of a diet when he was eight years of age, and that he is never in good health if he leaves it off for a little time. There is no deception about the matter, as we could, on examination, distinctly hear the swallowed stones rattling in his inside on stroking the stomach. The stones averaged in size from that of a French bean to a nutmeg.”
In 1866, a Signor Franconi, presumably the same man, was performing an act at the Canterbury Casino, in Melbourne, with live boa constrictors.
The following year, he was in America, at San Francisco, performing his sword swallowing act. It is at this point we lose sight of an astonishing performer, Signor Franconi – without ever knowing his real name.
This article was provided by the Geelong Historical Society. For enquiries, email admin@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au or write C/- P.O. Box 7129, Geelong West, 3218.
