Back in the Day - June 2, 1966: West Milford Egg wouldn't crack
Sunday, June 12, 2011
By BRYAN LAPLACA
COLUMNIST
FROM: www.northjersey.com
A husband’s dare led a West Milford woman to become a daredevil high wire circus artist who performed 75 feet in the air without a net, she recalled at 78 years old.
Mrs. Lena Egg said it all began when she married husband Charles Egg when she was 22.
"Mr. Egg was a member of an acrobatic team called ‘The Spauldings’ and he was having trouble keeping partners. I thought I could fill the gap and told him so. He didn’t believe I could do it. So just to prove it, that’s how I got into show business," she said.
Before trying the high wire, she performed on the rings, T-bars and trapeze. She feared the height of the wire but practiced it just to show her husband what was up.
"I never got the stunt right in practice, but when appearing before an audience, the ham in me came out, and I did the act right," she said.
The Spauldings were well-known in the circus and vaudeville world "many years ago," we said.
When daughter Eleanor joined the act at age 3, she was billed as "The Youngest Acrobat in the Country."
Even though she was 78, Lena Egg could still stand on her head as long as most people could stand on their feet.
Egg said that during her show business career she fell only twice and both times she wasn’t hurt because "we learn how to fall."
Sunday, June 12, 2011
By BRYAN LAPLACA
COLUMNIST
FROM: www.northjersey.com
A husband’s dare led a West Milford woman to become a daredevil high wire circus artist who performed 75 feet in the air without a net, she recalled at 78 years old.
Mrs. Lena Egg said it all began when she married husband Charles Egg when she was 22.
"Mr. Egg was a member of an acrobatic team called ‘The Spauldings’ and he was having trouble keeping partners. I thought I could fill the gap and told him so. He didn’t believe I could do it. So just to prove it, that’s how I got into show business," she said.
Before trying the high wire, she performed on the rings, T-bars and trapeze. She feared the height of the wire but practiced it just to show her husband what was up.
"I never got the stunt right in practice, but when appearing before an audience, the ham in me came out, and I did the act right," she said.
The Spauldings were well-known in the circus and vaudeville world "many years ago," we said.
When daughter Eleanor joined the act at age 3, she was billed as "The Youngest Acrobat in the Country."
Even though she was 78, Lena Egg could still stand on her head as long as most people could stand on their feet.
Egg said that during her show business career she fell only twice and both times she wasn’t hurt because "we learn how to fall."
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