Coal Powered Performance

Did you know...

That in the early part of the 20th century there was a very strange ventriloquism act named Count Lorenzo The Great & Napoleon that performed on the vaudeville circuit? Yes, the odd twist in this one was that instead of having a small dummy sitting on his leg, Count Lorenzo (originally Lionel Katzburg, from New Jersey) had a giant-sized dummy, and he sat on the dummy's leg! Napoleon (the "Big Corporal") was constructed of iron and brass and his various moving parts were powered by steam pistons. Throughout the performance, it was necessary to have stage hands periodically shovel coal into Napoleon's mouth to keep him running.

On August 12th of 1917 at Portland's Orpheum theater, disaster struck when Napoleon's head exploded during an oncore of Camp Town Races (Lorenzo had been warned by engineers that the song was way too dangerous). Pieces of Napoleon were found as far away as Seattle. Count Lorenzo was never found.

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Here are some pics from Monday (was going to post some more from Sunday, but I changed my mind -- I can do that! -- I'll post those on Wednesday)