Arabian Gun Twirler
Arabian Gun Twirler
Clip: 493655_1_1
Year Shot: 1899
(Actual Year)
Audio: No
Video: B/W
Tape Master: 1149
Original Film: FEC 2487
HD: N/A
Location:
Timecode: -
A bearded man performs a rifle twirling act on a stage with a painted backdrop of a city street corner. He wears a white turban and a dark two-piece costume of tunic and baggy pants that narrow at the knees; perhaps the costume of an Arab infantryman. The tricks he performs include throwing the spinning rifle in the air and catching it; twirling the gun in front of him, above his head, behind his back, to the side of his torso, and under his leg; and twirling the rifle as he switches hands. Hadji Cheriff was apparently a performer on the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, perhaps in the "A Street in Cairo" or Turkish village exhibits.