Impalement arts - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Impalement arts are a type of performing art in which a performer plays the role of human target for a fellow performer who demonstrates accuracy skills in disciplines such as knife throwing and archery. Impalement

Impalement

Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...

is actually what the performers endeavour to avoid - the thrower or marksman aims around the target rather than at him or her. The objective is to land the throw or shot as close as possible to the assistant's body without causing injury.

Impalement arts are often found in circuses and sideshow

Sideshow

In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction.- Types of attractions :There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:...

s as well as sometimes in variety, cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

or burlesque

Burlesque

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...

shows. In addition, impalement acts have provided subject matter for literature, art, photography and film and television scripts.

There are important distinctions between knife throwing

Knife throwing

Knife throwing is an art, sport, combat skill, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knives, the weapons thrown, and a target.-A throwing knife:...

or archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

practised as competitive sports and similar skills displayed as impalement arts. For example, organising bodies for competitive archery prohibit activity that involves deliberate shooting in the general direction of a human being.

Forms and variations

The human target is the essential distinguishing feature of the impalement arts. It has been asserted by several sources, including well-known knife throwers, that the power and appeal of this type of act lies as much in audience appreciation of the target as in admiration of the skill of the thrower or archer. Various theories have been put forward to explain this, ranging from simple awe at the display of steely nerves and complete trust to more complex psychological and philosophical theories. While some point to overtones of sadomasochistic

BDSM

BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...

eroticism

Eroticism

Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...

, others cite dramaturgical

Dramaturgy

Dramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Dramaturgy is a distinct practice separate from play writing and directing, although a single individual may perform any combination of the three. Some dramatists combine writing and...

works and point to parallels with the story arc of the hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

in classic drama. In particular the assistant's performance is said to mirror the plot device of the hero's ordeal

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers is a popular screenwriting textbook by writer Christopher Vogler, focusing on the theory that most stories can be boiled down to a series of narrative structures and character archetypes, described through mythological allegory.Vogler based this...

, in which the hero proves his or her heroic qualities through self-sacrifice or by facing extreme peril.

The target or assistant role is most often taken by a female performer, sometimes known as a target girl

Target girl

Target girl is a term sometimes used in circus and vaudeville to denote a female assistant in "impalement" acts such as knife throwing, archery or sharpshooting. The assistant stands in front of a target board or is strapped to a moving board and the impalement artist throws knives or shoots...

, who commonly wears a revealing costume, thus adding an element of overt sexuality to the act. While a few contemporary acts feature a male in the target role, and some play upon role reversal, the traditional figure of a female target still prevails.

Generally speaking the assistant, whether male or female, stands in front of a board, made of wood or some similar material, into which the knives or arrows are embedded. For some stunts the assistant is strapped to a moving board. There are several disciplines and a great variety of tricks and stunts that are performed within this basic format. Some tricks are done by performers in all disciplines while others are generally the preserve of one discipline. For example moving target stunts, such as the wheel of death, tend to be done by knife throwers but not by archers.

Impalement artists have adopted a variety of guises, including wild west

Wild West Shows

Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...

figures, "gypsy" characters or tuxedo-wearing cabaret

Cabaret

performers. There have even been efforts to package impalement arts within dramatic productions, such as the play Pin Cushion, which consists of a monologue delivered by an actress as she takes part in a real knifethrowing act (see Theatre).

Disciplines

The impalement arts can be divided into distinct disciplines. While some performers specialise purely in one of the disciplines, others combine disciplines or even mix impalement arts into other types of performance.

Knife throwing
Knife throwing
Knife throwing is an art, sport, combat skill, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knives, the weapons thrown, and a target.-A throwing knife:...

is the most common and well-known discipline within the impalement arts. It includes the throwing of axes, machetes and other sharp implements as well as knives.

Archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

is the other main discipline. An archer might use bows or crossbows or both.

Sharpshooting: It is arguable that some firearms sharpshooting acts fall into the category of impalement arts when they involve a performer holding up targets for a marksman
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...

. Even when sharpshooting is not performed as an impalement art it is sometimes grouped alongside knife throwing as a wild west
Wild West Shows
Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...

art. It also has much in common with crossbow shooting in terms of the accuracy skills involved.

Whips and other disciplines: Disciplines such as bullwhip
Bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country...

displays and trick roping are not strictly impalement arts but are often grouped with impalement art disciplines for a variety of reasons. Bullwhip artists and ropers sometimes employ human "targets" for certain tricks. Furthermore, some impalement arts performers also feature these other disciplines in their acts. In addition, all the above disciplines are sometimes placed within a common context, such as wild west
Wild West Shows
Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...

arts.

Tricks

There are many variations on the simple arrangement of having the assistant stand in front of a target board and remain still while knives, arrows or other objects land about them. Often the first type of variation in a routine is that the assistant will assume different poses. For example:

Profile: This is a classic done by many performers. The assistant stands side-on to the board and then bends backwards. The impalement artist then aims a series of knives, axes or arrows along the line of the front edge of the assistant, beginning around the legs and ending with the last throw or shot coming close to the assistant's throat. One aspect of this pose is that it accentuates the vulnerability of the assistant, particularly with the last impact tantalisingly close to the throat. Another important aspect for knifethrowers is that the upper part of the assistant's body is positioned so that a series of throws can be landed above it - a flexible target girl might be able to place her neck and the upper part of her chest in a horizontal line. A skilled thrower can use the way that a knife turns in flight to land it sloping at a downward angle from the board; thus, the point of the knife can impact safely above the assistant but the rest of the knife can slope down and come very close indeed to the assistant's body, even making contact on some occasions.

Headstand: An example from the repertoire of knife acts goes as follows: The assistant does a headstand against the target board; the thrower then throws two knives or axes, one into each of the two top corners of the target board; the assistant moves his or her legs apart until they touch the two implements embedded in the board; the thrower then throws a series of implements into the "V" formed by the assistants legs, progressing threateningly towards the crotch.

More complex stunts and challenges include:

The Wheel of death
Wheel of death (Impalement arts)
The Wheel of Death, in the context of the impalement arts, is a classic moving target stunt sometimes performed by knife throwers. The thrower's assistant or target girl is secured to a large, generally circular, target board that is free to spin about its centre point...

: One of the most difficult and dangerous feats for a knifethrower. The assistant is strapped to a large circular target board which spins about its middle, like a wheel. The thrower must execute a series of rapid, consistent and carefully timed throws to land knives on the segments of the wheel not covered by the assistant's body. There are some variations in the exact configuration of "wheels": in some the assistant is positioned with their arms at their sides while in others the assistant is spreadeagled
Spreadeagle (position)
The spread eagle is the position in which a person has his or her arms outstretched and legs apart, figuratively resembling an eagle with wings spread. It is a style that appears commonly in nature and geometry. In human style it is represented by the letter "X".A spreadeagle is a common position...

. Sometimes the "wheel" might not actually be circular: shield shapes and rectangular rotating boards have been known and all will work as "wheels" as long as they are correctly balanced to rotate smoothly when the assistant is in place. The most challenging version of this stunt is The Veiled Wheel, in which the target is covered with a paper screen so the thrower can't see the assistant. Only four artists are known to have attempted this dangerous trick. It was first performed by The Gibsons in the 1930s; a duo named The Zeros followed them in the 1940s, Fritz Brumbach did it in Monte Carlo in 1978 and The Great Throwdini revived it in New York in October 2010 with Melissa-Anne Ainley acting as his target girl.

The Devil's door: A moving target challenge pioneered by knifethrower Larry Cisewski. This time the assistant is on a door-sized rectangular board that spins about a central vertical axis. Again the thrower must execute a series of rapid, consistent and carefully timed throws to land knives on parts of the board not covered by the assistant's body. Sometimes the aim is to hit the back of the board in the moments that the assistant is turned away from the thrower. Other throwers have placed a vertical row of knives down the sides of the assistant at the moments when the assistant turns to face them.

Balloon bursting: The assistant stands in front of the target board and holds balloons which the thrower or archer then attempts to burst. Balloons can be held in the hand, positioned under arms or between the legs and sometimes an assistant will hold a balloon between his or her teeth.

William Tell: There are various stunts inspired by the story of William Tell
William Tell
William Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle....

, who, according to legend, was forced to shoot an apple off of his son's head with a crossbow. Modern impalement artists have performed similar feats. In some ways the Tell legend can be seen as one of the earliest inspirations for the impalement arts.

Impaling a card or paper plate: The assistant stands in front of the target board and holds out a card, or paper plate which the thrower or archer attempts to pin to the board. The level of danger can be varied to some extent by whether the assistant holds the card at full arms length or keeps it close. The Jasters do a "William Tell" version in which the card is balanced on the head of target girl Elena Busnelli.
Cutting a straw or flower stem: An assistant holds a straw
Drinking straw
A drinking straw is a short tube intended for transferring a beverage from its container to the mouth of the drinker by use of suction. A thin tube of plastic or other material, straight or with an accordion-like living hinge, it is employed by being held with one end in the mouth and another end...

or flower in his or her mouth and the impalement artist attempts to chop the tip of it off. This is mostly associated with knife throwers and bullwhip artists.

Blind: The thrower or archer wears a blindfold
Blindfold
A blindfold is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. It can be worn when the eyes are in a closed state and thus prevents the wearer from opening them...

. Generally the assistant first guides the blindfolded impalement artist into position facing towards the target board. The assistant then stands in place against the board and gives an audible signal to commence the stunt. The implication is that the impalement artist then has to aim on the basis of where they remember the target to be. There is a trick behind this stunt and budding impalement artists are warned not to attempt it unless coached by an experienced professional.

Covered target: The assistant is covered so that the thrower or archer cannot see exactly where they are. The covering is made of paper or some other flimsy material so that knives or arrows will pass through it. The implication is that the thrower or archer must estimate the position of the assistant using memory and other indirect guides and aim on that basis.

Double ladder of death: This involves two knifethrowers simultaneously performing a rapid sequence of throws at the same target board while aiming so that the trajectories of their knives cross. The throwers stand side by side facing the assistant at the board. The knives from the thrower on the right land on the left side of the target board while the knives from the thrower on the left impact to the right. Each thrower aims their next knife vertically above where they placed the preceding one, so that a ladder of knives is formed up each side of the assistant. This stunt was pioneered by The Great Throwdini in partnership with Harry Munroe.
Vegetable slice: A cucumber (or similar vegetable) is held on the bare skin of the assistant's body (usually the inside of her forearm). A series of knives are thrown around the assistant, ending with a knife that slices the cucumber in half without cutting the skin of the assistant. This stunt was performed by Jack Dagger on History channel's More Extreme Marksmen and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

History

The precise origins of the impalement arts remain unknown but its performance may reach back as far as antiquity. The Roman emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

Domitian

Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...

(1st century AD) was said to entertain guests on his Alba

Alba

Alba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is cognate to Alba in Irish and Nalbin in Manx, the two other Goidelic Insular Celtic languages, as well as similar words in the Brythonic Insular Celtic languages of Cornish and Welsh also meaning Scotland.- Etymology :The term first appears in...

n estate with virtuoso displays of marksmanship. The historian Suetonius

Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....

reported these acts in his biography of the emperor:

Knife throwing performers are known to have performed in Europe and America in the 19th century, with recorded uses of the term "impalement" to describe this type of act as early as 1871. The growth of the impalement arts was greatly facilitated by the way that circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in particular by American influences. Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

's performances in Europe in 1887 resulted in a wave of popularity for wild west shows

Wild West Shows

Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...

and the "western arts" they involved, including knife throwing, archery, whip cracking and sharp shooting. In the circus world, the success of large-scale tented touring shows pioneered in America led to the introduction of more acts of skill and daring as well as the inclusion of sideshow

Sideshow

s, in which impalement acts sometimes featured. Among the most significant events were Barnum & Bailey's tours of Europe from 1897 to 1902, which made a huge impact on European circus owners and led them to adopt similar formats. As well as providing a friendly stage where impalement acts could rely on finding an audience, circus was a competitive environment in which shows and performers sought to out do each other and thus there were incentives to develop new stunts. Moving targets were an innovation used by European artists in the 1930s. A notable example is the Wheel of Death, which is recorded as having been introduced into the USA in 1938 by The Gibsons, from Germany.

Another trend in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was that acts from circuses began to find work in permanent venues that were developing in rapidly growing towns and cities. In the USA they found a place in vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

and burlesque shows

Burlesque

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...

. In Britain the equivalent was music hall

Music hall

Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

. And in both America and Europe, cabaret

Cabaret

was another format that sometimes embraced impalement artists. The advent of cinema and later television in the 20th century eventually led to a gradual decline in the venues in which the impalement arts had previously thrived, but a new home was created in the form of television variety shows. A knife throwing act was one of the first pieces of entertainment ever broadcast on television. When the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

started the world's first practical television service with experimental transmissions in 1936 one of the types of programmes it produced were variety shows with circus artists. Those acts, which included the knife throwing Denvers, were thought to be very visual and thus suited to the new medium. Variety later became an important part of primetime schedules and remained so for decades.

Although television variety shows are no longer the central feature of network television that they once were, the acts they harboured have found new outlets. The impalement arts live on in modern versions of circus and burlesque and still manage to find an occasional broadcast showcase. An example of this is the recent trend for talent competitions styled on a "reality TV" format, such as America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...

, which featured knifethrowing in its 2007 run.

Myths

It is occasionally alleged that knife throwing acts are actually a trick in which the thrower palms the knife as he pretends to throw it and a knife springs out from the target, giving the illusion of perfect aim. Although this technique has been used by at least one magician to emulate knife throwing, the great majority of knife throwers perform genuine acts. There are secret tricks behind certain stunts, such as throwing while blindfolded, but they do not involve fake knives springing from the target board.

Injuries suffered by performers provide evidence of the genuine nature of the impalement acts in question. Examples include the cases of Yana Rodionova, injured in a televised stunt with knife thrower Jayde Hanson, and French target girl Catherine Jamet, of Duo Grey Arrow, who suffered a near fatal wound during a crossbow act at the World Circus Festival in Paris in 2001. Testimonials to the genuineness of knife acts are also to be found in the autobiographical writings of several former target girl

Target girl

Noted impalement artists

The impalement arts have evolved as the product of a history of performance dating back to at least the 19th century. That heritage, and especially the collective achievements of notable performers, helps to define the subject. As with other performance arts, judgements about who might be the most notable are highly subjective and clouded by the hyperbole of publicity. For similar reasons it is also sometimes difficult to resolve debates about who originated particular stunts. Nevertheless some names recur frequently in historical records and current news. Some are recognised for pioneering achievements, some for bringing the arts to widespread audiences and some as distinctive characters who, although less famous, have had significant influence on their peers. Because this is not a league table of merit and because overlaps make a chronological presentation awkward they are presented here in alphabetic order under the two main disciplines.

Knife throwing

Sylvester and Barbara Braun This husband and wife began performing their "Wizards of the West" act in the early 1940s. Sixty years later they were honoured by the International Knifethrowers Hall of Fame with the "Knife Throwing Pioneer Award" and the title "Wild West Duo of the 20th Century".
The Brumbachs/Los Alamos A renowned German family act now in its second generation. They began with Fritz Brumbach as thrower and his wife Helga as target girl. Later daughter Sylvia joined the act as a second target girl and then son Patrick became a thrower. They have made many television appearances. Fritz appeared on Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...

in 1986 with Britt Ekland
Britt Ekland
Britt-Marie Ekland is a Swedish actress and singer, and a long time resident of the United Kingdom. She is best known for her roles as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man, as well as her marriage to actor Peter Sellers, and her...

as his target girl. Fritz and Helga have since retired but Patrick and Sylvia continue the act. Fritz is a Guinness World Record
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

holder for rapid throwing around a live target.
Larry Cisewski Cisewski has made numerous film and television appearances. He provided knife throwing skills for the film The Fan. His television work includes The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...

, Real People
Real People
Real People is an NBC reality television series that aired from 1979 to 1984, on Wednesday and then Sunday nights. Its initial episodes aired live in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.-Synopsis:...

, The Dick Clark Special, and a performance on the December 1981 edition of Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...

with actress Sally Kellerman
Sally Kellerman
Sally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...

as his target girl. He is also noted for developing the "Devil's door" rotating target stunt.
Steve Clemente
Steve Clemente
Steve Clemente was a Mexican actor known for his many villainous roles. He began acting in his teens, signing up for his first movie, The Secret Man, in 1917. His later, numerous roles were usually bit parts...

(born Esteban Clemento Morro) was a Mexican actor known for playing villains in movies and serials in the 1930s. Clemente developed a passion for knife throwing when he was a child. This skill later helped win him acting and stunt work in Hollywood and he was trusted to throw knives around movie stars. He appeared in more than 60 movies and threw knives in about ten of them, including The Sideshow (1928), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), The Gallant Fool (1933), Fighting Through (1934), Under Two Flags (1936), Mad Youth (1940), Sing Your Worries Away (1942), and Perils of Nyoka
Perils of Nyoka
Perils of Nyoka is a 1942 Republic Movie serial directed by William Witney. It starred Kay Aldridge as Nyoka the Jungle Girl, a character who first appeared in the Edgar Rice Burroughs-inspired serial "Jungle Girl."-Plot:...

(1942).
Elizabeth and Collins Hungarian thrower Martin Collins had travelled Europe as a circus performer in the 1930s. He met and married Elizabeth around the time of the outbreak of World War 2 after spotting her as a potential performing partner. They spent the war years in neutral Sweden and later settled in Britain. Collins developed a signature trick that involved doing the wheel of death
Wheel of death
Wheel of death may refer to:* Wheel of death , a large rotating apparatus on which acrobatic and balancing feats are performed* Wheel of death , a stunt performed by knife throwers...

stunt while he balanced on a tightrope. Their act took them to nightclubs and vaudeville theaters around the world and they were one of the first impalement acts to break into television. Elizabeth retired from performing in the early 1960s and was replaced by their daughter who was also named Elizabeth (although additionally known as Agnes). Elizabeth and Collins performed on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....

three times and appeared as themselves in an episode of the 1960s spy series The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

.
Joe "Brokenfeather" Darrah Joseph Darrah was born in 1957 and began throwing knives at the age of five under the tuition of his father, an ex-Ranger
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...

. At 19 he was hired by a traveling circus as a knife thrower and bullwhip artist. He later became a highly successful tournament thrower.
Jack Dagger is the knife throwing stage persona of Todd Abrams, who styles himself as "The King of Fling". His signature stunt is cutting a cucumber or similar vegetable held on his assistant's arm. Abrams is also an actor, whip artist, and juggler and performed as Adam Sandler's "stunt hands" in the motion picture You Don't Mess with the Zohan
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
You Don't Mess with the Zohan is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Carlito Cabardo, and produced by and starring Adam Sandler. This is the fourth film which has starred Sandler and has been directed by Dugan...

. He was inducted into the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame in 2005 as "Impalement Artist of the Year" and was honoured as "National Knife Throwing Performer of the Year" in 2006.
The Denvers were the first knife throwing act ever to appear on television. They were chosen as one of a number of variety acts to appear in test broadcasts from the pioneering BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

studio at Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...

in London prior to the second world war. Their first documented appearance was in a test transmission on 24 October 1936. They also appeared in a programme transmitted in 1946 following the post-war resumption of broadcasts. A film record of the 1946 performance exists and there is a recording of a radio broadcast made at the time of their 1936 performance.
Paul "Judge" Desmuke (1876–1949) was a sideshow performer, justice of the peace and sometime actor who was remarkable for the fact that he had no arms. Desmuke gained his nickname Judge because he became a justice of the peace in Jourdanton, Texas. He later learned to throw knives and worked with the A. G. Barnes Circus and Sideshow and with Zack Miller's Wild West Show. He worked as a double for Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...

in the 1927 silent film The Unknown, in which Chaney played an armless knife thrower. Desmuke married a woman called Mae Dixon in 1926 and she worked with him as his target girl in an impalement act which featured in the Ripley's Odditorium at the "Century of Progress
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...

" International Exposition in Chicago in 1933. He is sometimes credited as Peter Dismuki.
The Gibsons Joe and Hannah Gibson came originally from Germany but later performed in the United States and have been credited with bringing the wheel of death
Wheel of death
Wheel of death may refer to:* Wheel of death , a large rotating apparatus on which acrobatic and balancing feats are performed* Wheel of death , a stunt performed by knife throwers...

stunt to America. They featured in Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's shows at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

in 1938.
Caroline Haerdi is a Swiss knife thrower who stands out as a woman in a trade that seems to be almost exclusively male. In the past she performed under the name Risk Ladies with a target girl called Claude Chantal Blanc, who is an experienced aerial and tight wire artist. Caroline Haerdi currently works in partnership with a male thrower named Arno Black; she as the thrower and he as the target.
Dick Haines Richard Haines began throwing knives at an early age and became part of The Haines Family Circus. The show included high wire, a magic act, fire eating, and whips, as well as knife throwing. He has taught a number of other noted throwers.
Jayde Hanson is a British knifethrower who achieved a degree of notoriety as a result of a number of incidents in which he injured his partner Yana Rodionova during performances. Those incidents included an accident in which a knife struck Miss Rodionova in the head while the couple were attempting a world record feat live on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

This Morning television programme in April 2003. The couple work with the Cottle and Austen Circus and on a number of occasions the circus achieved significant media coverage by advertising for a replacement target girl because Yana was supposedly quitting the act. However she continued to work with Hanson and the couple were married in 2004.
Jonny King A Dutch thrower who specialised in cabaret work. Among other things he is notable for working with German artist Timm Ulrichs to create a performance video piece titled Messerwurf-Porträt 1978/91. King is also noted for stunts in which he planted knives particularly close to and even touching his assistants, a skill he demonstrated on the final episode of the UK television show Secret Cabaret
Secret Cabaret
Secret Cabaret was a magic-based television programme that ran for two series, of six episodes each, on Channel 4 in the UK during the early 1990s. It was conceived and fronted by British magician Simon Drake and was praised for giving a new and shocking twist to the presentation of illusions...

in 1992.
Paul Lacross Paul LaCross was billed as the "World's Fastest, Fanciest Gunslinger, Knife and Tomahawk Thrower." His interest in throwing and sharp shooting began in the Boy Scouts and he became set on a performing career after seeing a cowboy demonstrating skills with guns and knives at a sportsmen's show. His television credits include The Merv Griffin Show, Thrill Seekers with Chuck Connors, The Mike Douglas Show, What's My Line, To Tell The Truth, and an appearance on Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...

in 1983, in which movie actress Linda Blair was his target girl. He performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and Massy Hall in Toronto, Canada. His major foreign performances included a tour of Russia with the United States Circus under the Cultural Exchange Program, Expo 70 in Japan and the 1977 Auckland, New Zealand Easter show. He was also known for writing and other activity encouraging others to take up throwing. He died in August 1993 at the age of 78.
Harry Munroe Munroe is best known as a maker of throwing knives used by other noted performers. As a thrower he has performed alongside The Great Throwdini as well as with his own act, Xtreme Behaviour. In 2005 he was honoured by the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame as "International Knife Maker of the Year".
Texas Slim and Montana Nell These were the performing aliases of Robert and Pearl Collins. Robert Collins began performing as a knifethrower around 1900 and by 1910 was working for Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. He married Pearl, a skilled horse rider, in 1929 and they formed a travelling act featuring a selection of western arts. They retired in 1950. They were posthumously honoured by the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Great Throwdini (aka Rev Dr David Adamovich). He started throwing later in life than many other top performers, following multiple careers that included exercise physiology, pool hall management and ordained minister. He is noted for fast throwing and for reviving the impalement arts amid the modern burlesque and cabaret scene in New York. He holds a number of world records. Together with target girl Tina Nagy he appeared in the 2007 series of the NBC television show America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...

, succeeding in the first round but dropping out before the final. Other television appearances include Late Night with Conan O'Brien and NBC's Guinness World Records Live: The Top 100. He is a co-author of one of the few books on the subject of the impalement arts.
Two Tornados Irene and Rolf Stey are members of an old Swiss circus family who did a knife act between 1965 and 1985 and made various television appearances, including a performance at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo
International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo
The International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, known as Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo in French, is an annual festival held since 1974 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The festival includes the awarding of the Clown d'Or award as well as awards for other circus skills...

. They are one of only two acts other than Elizabeth and Collins to have done the simultaneous combination of throwing from a tightrope and the wheel of death
Wheel of death (Impalement arts)
The Wheel of Death, in the context of the impalement arts, is a classic moving target stunt sometimes performed by knife throwers. The thrower's assistant or target girl is secured to a large, generally circular, target board that is free to spin about its centre point...

.
George "Skeeter" Vaughan (aka Grey Otter) was a Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

who served in the US Army in the second world war and worked at various times as a lumberjack, Hollywood stunt man and impalement artist. He made numerous national television appearances including Truth or Consequences, Thrillseekers, a minor role in Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....

and performances on Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...

in 1977 with actress Ann Turkel
Ann Turkel
Ann Kathryn Turkel is an American actress and model.Turkel studied at the Musical Theatre Academy.She was photographed for American Vogue...

as his target girl and again in 1979 with Charlene Tilton
Charlene Tilton
Charlene L. Tilton is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Lucy Ewing in the television series Dallas.-Career:...

braving the knives. He died in 1989 and was posthumously honoured by the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame in 2006.
Che Che Whitecloud (aka Kenneth Lawrence Pierce). Whitecloud is a native American whose father Lawrence Pierce (aka Chief Whitecloud) and great-grandfather Willett Pierce were also knife throwers. Che Che is noted among his peers for his ability to throw knives rapidly one after another. In 2004 he was honoured by the International Knife Throwers' Hall of Fame as the "Outstanding Knife Thrower of the 20th Century".
Sandra and Tommy Thompson had a "Wheel of Death" act with many circuses, including Hagen Brothers, Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers, and King Brothers. Tommy was also a sword swallower who is in the Sword Swallowers Hall of Fame. Sandra was stuck twice during their career; once in the thigh and once in the ear. When she was stuck in the ear, six women in the audience fainted. The next night their performance was to standing room only.
The Great Cindini (aka Cynthia Morrison
Cynthia Morrison
Cynthia Morrison aka "Cindini" is an escapologist and strongwoman who is based in Palm Beach, Florida, USA. She has competed in powerlifting, Scottish highland games and track & field events. In addition she has competed in a modern form of medieval jousting...

) performs in her sideshow "Lethal Injection" at festivals, fairs and theatres. She was inspired to become a knife thrower by her mentor the Great Throwdini. She was an extra in the 1981 movie Body Heat
Body Heat
Body Heat is a 1981 American neo-noir film written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It stars William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston, and Mickey Rourke. The film is inspired by Double Indemnity....

and has also been directed in plays by actor Burt Reynolds. She was featured as the Knife Thrower in the independent film The Big Top (2009), which had its premier at the historic Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

.
Lash and Steel are a knife throwing and whip cracking act consisting of American Baptist evangelist John Bailey and his wife Monika. Bailey has won numerous titles in knife throwing competitions and has also set world records. He is president and founder of the World Knife Throwers Guild Inc., a board member of the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame and a charter member of the American Knife Throwers Association. He also designs throwing knives and other types of implements for the Boker company in Germany.

Archery and crossbow acts

Aldebaran He is part of the troupe "Velocity Circus" and performs with a target girl who is also a contortion and balance artist. He shoots apples, balloons and other objects which she holds while performing acrobatic balances.
Duo Grey Arrow Catherine Jamet, the 39-year-old target girl in this experienced French husband-and-wife act, suffered a serious injury in 2001 when she was hit under her eye while her husband was trying to perform a "William Tell" stunt at the World Circus Festival in Paris. The couple were reported to be planning to continue performing the act once she had recovered.
The Hartzells Ross and Elisa Hartzell are a US-based married couple who both descend from long established circus families. They perform a variety of crossbow stunts including a multiple ricochet trick similar to that done by Duo Varanne (see below). The Hartzells have been credited with setting a world record for the largest number of arrows triggered by a single crossbow shot.
The Jasters Elena Busnelli and Giacomo Sterza, who feature knife throwing as well as archery, are both from old circus families. They have worked in various major circuses in Europe.
Guy Tell A French crossbow performer who, along with his partner Regina Bouglione, has worked with Circus Knie
Circus Knie
Circus Knie is the largest circus of Switzerland, based in Rapperswil.The circus was founded in 1803 by the Knie family and has existed in its present form since 1919 when it changed from an open arena to a covered tent. The circus has been long famous for its animals and now operates a zoo and a...

in Europe and with Barnum's Kaleidoscape
Barnum's Kaleidoscape
Barnum's Kaleidoscape was an American circus staged by Feld Entertainment, the owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, at a start-up cost of $10 million...

in the United States.

Duo Varanne are a crossbow act who work in circuses across Europe and are noted for a "multiple ricochet" trick in which a series of crossbows are triggered in sequence, each by the shot from the one before. They are part of a circus family that also includes a motorcycle "globe of death" act.
Mr & Mrs G - Ottavio Gesmundo and Naomi Brenkman-Gesmundo are a married couple who perform a show called The Crossbow Tango, which combines tango dancing, adagio, and martial arts with crossbow marksmanship. There is no assistant as they take turns shooting small objects out of hands and mouths. They have performed in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

and Laughlin, Nevada
Laughlin, Nevada
Laughlin is a census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States, and a port located on the Colorado River. Laughlin is south of Las Vegas, located in the far southern tip of Nevada. It is best known for its gaming, entertainment, and water recreation. As of the 2010 census, the...

.

Fictional or artistic representations

The impalement arts have been featured in movies, television, literature and art. These representations, rather than real acts, will have provided many people with the main basis of their ideas about the impalement arts. Impalement acts have proved to be useful plot devices and have provided iconic images. The following sections provide some examples by way of illustration.

Movies and television

Perhaps the most notable movie example is the French film Girl on the Bridge (1999), in which a knife throwing act is at the centre of the plot and serves as a powerful erotic metaphor. Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa Chantal Paradis is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi"...

stars as Adele, a girl who attempts suicide by jumping from a bridge but is saved by knife thrower Gabor , played by Daniel Auteuil

Daniel Auteuil

Daniel Auteuil is a French film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Algiers, French Algeria.-Career:...

, who persuades her to become his target girl.
Other examples include:

The fourth season of the television series Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...

, featured an episode (first aired in 2009) in which title character Temperance "Bones" Brennan goes undercover as a target girl with Special Agent Seeley Booth
Seeley Booth
FBI Special Agent "In charge" Seeley Joseph Booth is a fictional character in the US television series, Bones , portrayed by David Boreanaz. Agent Booth is a co-protagonist of the series alongside Dr...

as a knife-thrower.
The film Gangs of New York
Gangs of New York
Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...

(2002) features a confrontation between the main protagonists in which Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...

's character Jenny Everdeane acts as a target girl in an impromptu knifethrowing act with the villain, Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting, played by Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...

.
In the television series Nikki
Nikki
Nikki may refer to:*Nikki , a given name In music:*"Nikki", orchestral composition by Burt Bacharach dedicated to his daughter*Nikki , a Japanese-American singer*Nikki, an album by Japanese rock band Quruli...

, the episode titled "The Jupiter and Mary Chain", first aired in 2001, featured the characters played by Nikki Cox
Nikki Cox
Nicole Avery "Nikki" Cox is an American actress known mostly for her roles on the television series Unhappily Ever After, Las Vegas, and Nikki.-Early life:...

and Susan Egan
Susan Egan
Susan Egan is an American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage.-Early life and career:Egan was born in Seal Beach, California. She attended Orange County High School of the Arts and UCLA. In the meantime she started her career touring with the performance group The Young...

taking jobs as target girls.
The television play The Act (1987) revolved around a knife throwing act. It was made for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

and was a co-production involving the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

. It starred Caroline Embling and Bill Rourke. Real life knife thrower Jay Ruffley provided throwing skills in one scene and also appeared as the owner of a club.
The 1987 television movie If It's Tuesday It Still Must Be Belgium features Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....

as a character who becomes a target girl in a circus knife throwing act.
The James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

film Octopussy
Octopussy
Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights...

(1983) features two henchmen called Mischka and Grischka (played by David and Anthony Meyer) who are knife throwing performers in the circus run by the title character.
The movie Bronco Billy (1980) features Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

as a sharpshooter and knife thrower who runs a travelling circus. A key plot element involves Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke is an American actress, singer and film director.She made her film debut in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress...

as a character who becomes a target girl.
In the television series Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...

, Cheryl Ladd
Cheryl Ladd
Cheryl Ladd is an American actress, singer and author. Ladd is best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the television series Charlie's Angels, hired amid a swirl of publicity prior to its second season in 1977 to replace the departing Farrah Fawcett-Majors...

's character Kris Munroe
Kris Munroe
Kristine "Kris" Munroe is one of six female fictional private detectives in the 1976-1981 television series Charlie's Angels. She was portrayed by Cheryl Ladd. She worked for the Townsend Agency for four seasons of the show's entire five season run, taking the place of her big sister Jill when she...

goes undercover as a target girl in an episode titled "Circus of Terror" (1977).
"Conspiracy of Silence" (1963), an episode of the television spy series The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

, featured a knife throwing act played by real artists Elizabeth and Collins.
In the 1960s, knife throwing acts provided iconic scenes in several horror or suspense films set in circuses. These include the following three films, which all used Billy Smart's Circus
Billy Smart, Jr
Billy Smart, Jr was widely known in Britain as a circus performer and impresario.Smart, whose real name was Stanley, was the tenth child and third son of Billy Smart, Sr. His father was a showman and fairground proprietor, who bought a circus in 1946. The first appearance of the Billy Smart circus...

for location filming:
- Circus of Horrors
  Circus of Horrors
  Circus of Horrors is a 1960 British horror film directed by Sidney Hayers. It starred Anton Diffring, Yvonne Monlaur, Erika Remberg, Kenneth Griffith, Jane Hylton, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Romain and Donald Pleasence....
  
  (1960), in which Vanda Hudson played a target girl called Magda von Meck.
- Circus of Fear (1966), which features British actress Margaret Lee as an assistant facing danger in a knife act.
- Berserk! (1967), in which Judy Geeson
  Judy Geeson
  Judith Amanda "Judy" Geeson is an English actor.-Early life:Geeson was born in Arundel, Sussex, England on 10 September 1948. She came from a middle class family; her father edited the National Coal Board magazine. Her sister, Sally Geeson, is also an actress and is known for her roles in British...
  
  played a target girl in a circus knife act.
The film Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) has an early scene featuring a knife throwing act. The movie was shot using a 3-D system, which was used to give audiences the impression that knives were flying at them.
In "Lucy Tells the Truth" (1953), an episode of the television series I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

, a white lie leads to Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...

's character taking a job as the assistant in a knife act.
The movie Egypt by Three (1953) comprises three stories, the first of which is about a knife throwing act. The thrower and his target girl have an affair but the thrower is married to another woman. When the wife finds out about the affair it leads to a potentially deadly situation.
The 1951 movie The Knife Thrower is based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....

about a circus knife thrower with an unfaithful wife. The thrower's wife, who is also his target girl, is having an affair with a magician.
The movie The Sideshow (1928) features a knife throwing act in the climactic scene. The knife thrower was played by Steve Clemente and his assistant by Janet Ford.
The movie The Unknown (1927) stars Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...

as an armless man who throws knives in a circus act. It also stars Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

as the target girl who becomes the focus of his crazed love. Chaney's performance is cited by actors and critics as one of the greatest ever captured on film. In some shots, including parts of the knife throwing scenes, Chaney is doubled by real armless knife thrower Paul "Judge" Desmuke.

Theatre and opera

The play Pin Cushion, by Clay McLeod Chapman, is based on a husband and wife knife throwing act and consists of the target girl delivering a monologue while her husband throws knives around her. It was performed as part of Chapman's Pumpkin Pie Show at The Red Room Theatre, New York, in May and June 2002. The performance involved a genuine knife throwing act, with actress Niabi Caldwell as the target girl and professional knife thrower David Adamovich (aka The Great Throwdini) playing her husband.
Queen of Knives, by American composer Eric Stern, is a full-length opera which tells the story of a brother and sister knife-throwing act in the midst of student protests in the early 1960s. It was first performed in a joint production by Vagabond Opera and Wanderlust Circus at the Interstate Cultural Firehouse Center in Portland, Oregon, in May 2010.

Literature

Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauser is an American novelist and short story writer. He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Martin Dressler. The prize brought many of his older books back into print.-Life and career:...

's short story The Knife Thrower features a thrower who specialises in nicking or marking those who stand at the target board for him. It was published in 1998 as part of a collection that bears the same title.
The novel Knives of Desire by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series. Many critics have noted a feminist perspective in her writing. Her first child, David R...

(writing under the pen name Morgan Ives) is about a woman who becomes involved in a lesbian relationship after joining a circus to be the target girl
Target girl
Target girl is a term sometimes used in circus and vaudeville to denote a female assistant in "impalement" acts such as knife throwing, archery or sharpshooting. The assistant stands in front of a target board or is strapped to a moving board and the impalement artist throws knives or shoots...

for a female knife thrower. The cover of the original edition, published in 1966, shows two women in skimpy bikinis, one standing against a target board and the other throwing a knife.
The short story The Artist by Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....

(1850–1893) concerns a circus knife thrower who wants to kill his wife. It is hinted that he might do this by feigning an accident while she acts as his target girl. The twist is that he finds this impossible because he has trained himself so well that his reflexes prevent it.
The relationship between a target girl and a circus knifethrower is the central motif in the poem cycle Das Mädchen und der Messerwerfer published in 1997 by noted German poet Wolf Wondratschek
Wolf Wondratschek
Wolf Wondratschek is a German author. He was born in Rudolstadt in Thuringia.-Life:Wondratschek grew up in Karlsruhe. From 1962 through 1967, he studied literature, philosophy and sociology at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Georg-August University of Göttingen, and the Johann Wolfgang...

.

Art (including photography)

Model Karen Elson
Karen Elson
Karen Elson is a British model, singer-songwriter and guitarist.As a child, Elson attended North Chadderton School in Chadderton with her twin sister, filmmaker Kate Elson. She began working as a model as a teenager....

is seen spinning on a "wheel of death" target in a picture by photographer Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...

that formed part of a series titled "The Greatest Show on Earth" in the April 2007 issue of the Italian edition of Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

magazine.
Model Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...

appeared on a "wheel of death" target in two of a series of fashion photos by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott in the April 2006 issue of W magazine.
Actress Jennifer Ellison
Jennifer Ellison
Jennifer Lesley Ellison is an English actress, glamour model, television personality, dancer and singer...

appeared strapped to a "wheel of death" target and surrounded by knives in the UK edition of Maxim magazine in 2005. The picture was reproduced in the Daily Star newspaper on 1 December 2005.
Rock group The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...

appeared as a knife throwing act in a photo by Annie Leibovitz in 2003 that was part of a series which appeared in a book and an exhibition, both titled Annie Leibovitz: American Music.
Singer and musician Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...

appeared standing against a target with knives around her in a photo in the April 2002 issue of FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...

magazine (UK edition).
In 2002 the channel island
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...

of Guernsey
Guernsey Post
Guernsey Post is the postal service for the island of Guernsey, Channel Islands. It includes a Philatelic Bureau, and regularly issues both definitive and commemorative stamps...

issued a 40p postage stamp featuring a picture of a knifethrower. It was part of a set titled "Europa: The Circus".
Actress Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...

appeared in a circus costume strapped to a "wheel of death" target for a magazine photoshoot in the 1990s.
The cover of Stick It to Ya
Stick It to Ya
Stick It To Ya is the debut album from hard rock band Slaughter. It was released in 1990 by Chrysalis Records. It sold over 2 million copies...

, the debut album by heavy metal band Slaughter
Slaughter (band)
Slaughter is an American heavy metal band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada by lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum. The band reached stardom in 1990 with their first album, Stick It to Ya which spawned several hit singles including "Up All Night", "Spend My Life", "Mad...

, was infamous for a picture by photographer Glen Wexler
Glen Wexler
Glen Wexler is an American photographer who is best known for his elaborately staged digital photocompositions of improbable situations.-Biography:Wexler was born in Palm Springs, CA...

of former Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

playmate Laurie Carr wearing a swimsuit, strapped to a target board and surrounded by knives. The cover of a subsequent release, Stick It Live
Stick It Live
Stick It Live is a live EP released by hard rock band Slaughter. The EP was released by Chrysalis Records shortly after the release of the band's debut album...

, featured an image apparently from the same shoot as the first but this time showing the target girl walking towards the board hand-in-hand with a knife thrower.
The picture Le Lanceur De Couteaux ("The Knife Thrower") painted in 1943 by Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

(1869–1954) is an abstract image in which it is possible to discern representations of a thrower and an assistant.
German artist Timm Ulrichs worked with knife thrower Jonny King to produce the performance video piece Messerwurf-Porträt 1978/91.
The work of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

post-modern painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

and photographer Sigmar Polke
Sigmar Polke
Sigmar Polke was a German painter and photographer.Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matter and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s, when he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint...

includes a piece titled Messerwerfer (1975), which shows a target girl spinning on a wheel of death and a man preparing to throw a knife.

There are a plethora of cartoon or comic strip images featuring impalement arts acts, often in a humorous context.

Other

The well-known Playmobil
Playmobil
Playmobil is a line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group , headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany.New products and product lines developed by a 50-strong development team are frequently introduced by Brandstätter. Some of these, such as promotional products, are only produced in limited quantities...

range of toys, marketed at children aged between six and twelve, once included two different sets featuring figures of a knife thrower and assistant. The Knifethrowing circus act set, which was retailed from 1978 until 1982, consisted of a target girl on a rotating "wheel of death
Wheel of death (Impalement arts)
The Wheel of Death, in the context of the impalement arts, is a classic moving target stunt sometimes performed by knife throwers. The thrower's assistant or target girl is secured to a large, generally circular, target board that is free to spin about its centre point...

" and a knife thrower, both dressed in "wild west" type costumes. The Circus Performers set, released in June 1982 and discontinued in 1987, also contained a similar knife thrower and assistant with a wheel of death target, but their costumes were different and there were three other figures in the set.

External links

International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame
The Wild West Arts Club
Knife throwing and other dangerous acts at Sideshow World
Impalement arts overview
Book A Day On Broadway: The Art of being a knife thrower's assistant
List of German artists
Knife Throwing.info: The sport of throwing knives
"Knife Throwing Family": Universal Newsreel, c. 1950s
The Girl on the Bridge (aka. La Fille sur le pont
La fille sur le pont
Girl on the Bridge is a 1999 French film shot in black and white and directed by Patrice Leconte, starring Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis.- Plot :...

)

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Forms and variations

Disciplines

Tricks

History

Myths

Noted impalement artists

Knife throwing

Archery and crossbow acts

Fictional or artistic representations

Movies and television

Theatre and opera

Literature

Art (including photography)

Other

See also

External links