History of Wire Flight on Stage

[RJBowman]

A while back I read somewhere about a performer at Moulin Rouge who flew on wires circe 1900, and today I searched the web to see it anyone had written a history of this aspect of theater. I didn't find much, but I found a photo of the flight harness worn by actress Nina Boucicault when she originated the role of Peter Pan at the Duke of York Theatre in London, on 27 December 1904.

Does anyone know a source for more information on this subject?

[J. Wilhelm]

A while back I read somewhere about a performer at Moulin Rouge who flew on wires circe 1900, and today I searched the web to see it anyone had written a history of this aspect of theater. I didn't find much, but I found a photo of the flight harness worn by actress Nina Boucicault when she originated the role of Peter Pan at the Duke of York Theatre in London, on 27 December 1904.

Does anyone know a source for more information on this subject?

I hadn't even thought about this, but it's very interesting.  Basically it's a Corset-harness of sorts.  It's very interesting to me, because something similar would be needed as safety equipment for airship crews. 

Without actually solving the issue of how crew would attach themselves to a safety line while walking on the envelope of a rigid airship, I instinctively knew that something like a corset would be needed to protect the wearer, and it's part of my original concept for the Luftschiffengel uniform:

[Justin Time]

A while back I read somewhere about a performer at Moulin Rouge who flew on wires circe 1900, and today I searched the web to see it anyone had written a history of this aspect of theater. I didn't find much,

Did you find this? https://the-artifice.com/theatre-gravity-aeschylus-zivadinov/

JIT

[RJBowman]

A while back I read somewhere about a performer at Moulin Rouge who flew on wires circe 1900, and today I searched the web to see it anyone had written a history of this aspect of theater. I didn't find much,

Did you find this? https://the-artifice.com/theatre-gravity-aeschylus-zivadinov/

JIT

I hadn't seen that. Thanks for the link.

[J. Wilhelm]

A while back I read somewhere about a performer at Moulin Rouge who flew on wires circe 1900, and today I searched the web to see it anyone had written a history of this aspect of theater. I didn't find much,

Did you find this? https://the-artifice.com/theatre-gravity-aeschylus-zivadinov/

JIT

Wow.  That's a brilliant article.  Traces the origin of the "flight" mechanism / pulley rigging to ancient Greek plays where actors represent gods would be hoisted over the stage for a magnificent entrance.  And it even links the mechanism to the phrase "Deus Ex Machina!"

That's insane!

[Justin Time]

I hadn't seen that. Thanks for the link.

Glad to help.  I found the article fascinating.

JIT