The Brothers Hutchinson at Hartlepool Town Hall

This week I’d like to show you a poster from right back in 1849, when the Brothers Hutchinson, “who are justly acknowledged to be the wonders of the age”, appeared at Hartlepool Town Hall for the nights of 31 May and 1 June.

The poster is a masterpiece of mid-Victorian pomp, describing both the luxurious props and crowned heads who’ve seen the act before:

The Brothers Hutchinson poster. From the Tyne and Wear Archives
From the Tyne and Wear Archives

Queen Victoria and most of her court seem to have been there at Drury Lane Theatre in London to see them perform the “Sports of Atlas” which included tossing “three German Silver Globes backwards and forwards to each other with the feet”, and they’re pictured in the background of the illustration while the brothers do their stuff:

The Brothers Hutchinson poster - close up. From the Tyne and Wear Archives
From the Tyne and Wear Archives

The Sports of Atlas are probably derived from the ‘Atlas Games’, which I’ll write more about as soon as I can work out which book I read about them in!

There’s another act to interest us jugglers on the poster. Mr Thompson, Decanter Equilibrist was part of the bill for those two nights. Steve Rawlings eat your heart out!