Impalement Arts - History

History

The precise origins of the impalement arts remain unknown but its performance may reach back as far as antiquity. The Roman emperor Domitian (1st century AD) was said to entertain guests on his Alban estate with virtuoso displays of marksmanship. The historian Suetonius reported these acts in his biography of the emperor:

There are many who have more than once seen slay a hundred wild beasts of different kinds on his Alban estate, and purposely kill some of them with two successive shots in such a way that the arrows gave the effect of horns. Sometimes he would have a slave stand at a distance and hold out the palm of his right hand for a mark, with the fingers spread; then he directed his arrows with such accuracy that they passed harmlessly between the fingers..

Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Life of Domitian", 19

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 developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in particular by American influences. Buffalo Bill's performances in Europe in 1887 resulted in a wave of popularity for wild west shows 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 sideshows, 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 and burlesque shows. In Britain the equivalent was music hall. And in both America and Europe, 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 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, which featured knifethrowing in its 2007 run.