HOWTO Make a Victorian flea chariot
Victorian Flea Circus Chariot (Thanks, Wilco!)The mounting is an old victorian era french coin about the size of a 2p, the chariot is secured with a small magnet and a tiny piece of steel glued below the axle (brass is not magnetic). I picked up the glass display case on Ebay for a bargain. A new groove was turned in the base so that the dome can be removed and replaced. The carry case in the background is some fake books made from wood which I got from a junk shop many years ago...
Flea Circuses evolved out of the skills of watch makers and jewellers and were made famous in the 1830s by L.Bertolotto who turned the bias from the construction skills to the performance. They remained popular until the 1960s and many peoples grandparents have seen one. I've been researching this topic for about 4 years now and regularly make new discoveries which I publish along with other flea news on the flea circus research library blog.
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Very cool. I saw a traveling flea circus in Arizona when I was little kid in the early '60s - it was at some local fair, and the fleas themselves were somewhat hard to see. I don't remember the name of the circus, but that same summer I ate some honey ants down in Nogales, so it was a very buggy year for me, and I fondly remember the fleas.
There are still a couple of people travelling flea circuses around the US - limited show dates but they are out there.
I'm glad that the barbaric days of flea exploitation lay behind us.
I do hope that the fleas were given a dignified retirement after being freed from their cruel slave masters.
Perhaps a flea sanctary with tiny trampolines to help them jump in their old age and all the blood they could drink.
I'm not sure most Americans would know the size of a tupence.
(On a side note, the captcha I had to enter for this anonymous comment was "increased climax", and I thank you for it.)
"I'm glad that the barbaric days of flea exploitation lay behind us."
Sad to say but those terrible flea markets where fleas could be bought and sold are still around.
The lucky ones get put out to stud.
But where do I find Victorian fleas?!
On Queen Victoria, clearly.
I'm itchin' for a new flea show.
I still live in hope I'll see the day when all fleas will have their fleadom.
My first and most significant exposure to flea circuses was an episode of the (mostly lost) French-Canadian cartoon Voyages du Tortillard, which I knew as The Secret Railroad!
I was delighted when I found out what they really were, around the same time I started collecting "keychains that do stuff" -- I have a working version of the game Operation!
Ha, some folks take our sport more seriously - full scale chariot racing and saturnalia in Mid-wales. See
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/sport/pages/chariot_cyclingpics.shtml?4
Want to see a new flea show? Check this interactive one out!
http://www.danhero.com/interactive/thefleacircus/thefleacircus.html
Don't try this at home.
Seriously, I had heard somewhere that the decline in flea circuses is partially due to the difficulty in finding "human" fleas (fleas which naturally prey on humans), which are supposed to be stronger than other types of fleas (say, cat or dog). Anyone know if there is any truth behind this? Or is this just disinformation propagated by flea circus owners to prevent us from horning in on their business?
Historically human fleas were used as they were more common, they are also a little bit bigger and hence easier to see. In recent performances e.g. those of Maria Cardoso in the 1990s, cat fleas have been used as the performers. The difference in strength is negligable as the tasks they are being asked to do don't actually get anywhere near the limits they are capable of.
I'd also like to thank the blokes at blokeyshed for their support on this project.