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| The Three Jacksons, 1935 |
These daredevils, The Three Jacksons, were inspired by Harry Houdini, their vaudeville idol. Gene Waddell, Jimmy Kirigin and Jarly Jackson were unknowns when they opened with their acrobat act for Houdini the headliner. They watched with awe as he became the biggest star in the world. After Harry died, they followed his lead as a self-promoting daredevil and overnight became world-famous for this stunt on the 86th floor deck of the newly-built Empire State Building. As Harry would have done, they made sure a Fox Movietone newsreel crew was nearby.
Waddell continued performing with wife and friend, as Jean, Jack & Judy, seen here tumbling with bandleader Eddie Duchin.
Waddell gave up acrobatics after he discovered martial arts, becoming one of the first American black belts in aikido and inspiring a whole generation of martial artists in his own right. Harry, an excellent boxer and wrestler, would have been proud.
I read your post about “HOUDINI'S DAREDEVILS”It is very informative. I want to read more information about Russian systema.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot about Systema on the Internet. It's similar to aikido and Chinese pa kua chang.
ReplyDeleteMy mother dated Jarly Jackson in the 30's while she travelled with the Chicago Folies de Paree in the band. I have pictures of Jarly when he performed with the band.
ReplyDeleteGene Waddell was my first Aikido Sensei in Wyckoff NJ. He taught my brother and I Judo before that. I had picked up Judo in Hawaii before we moved back to NJ. Gene was a fantastic human being, well loved by many. He was one of the first to practice Aikido in the US. Now of course there are hundreds of thousands of people that have practiced at one time or another. His adopted son Tom was an Olympian... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waddell
ReplyDeleteJarly was married to my grandmas aunt. The man could still handstand at 90 years old and lived to ripe old 97.
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