Sugar lor the Science Pill
A «roup at Camp Adventure. Haywood County, watching the Science Circus.
Л
\orlh C arolinian started messing
will* an old battery — now Bob
Brown's Science Circus is nationally
known.
By BILL SIIABPE
No clowns, elephants nor spangled
ladies inspired Bob Brown to get into
the circus business. It was just an old
telephone battery, from which the
young Tar Heel was stealing a little
power for his home-made telegraph
instrument. The phone repairman took
out the battery and gave it to Bob for
his very own.
It was a long time later that
North Carolina's only circus — a one-
man circus, of course — came to na¬
tional fame. But in the interim, while
the young meddler was in university,
then later as a reporter, photographer
and editor, he kept fooling around with
electricity. The darned stuff was funny
and tricky, and would do all sorts of
things besides its work-a-day chores.
Six years ago. Bob wrapped all those
things up into a package and set out
to share his enthusiasm for electricity
with the world.
On L\ceum Tours
It started when Asheville civic clubs
asked that the electrical stunts be pre¬
sented on their Ladies' Night programs.
12
Then, one night. N. P. Patton, who
operates the Carolina Assemblies, a
group supplying educational features
to schools, saw a performance in Eto¬
wah School, and invited Brown to per¬
form before the International Platform
Association in its Ohio convention. It
was a break for the circus. Fourteen
lyccum managers there offered tours,
and Bob accepted three of them, one
with the University of Minnesota. He
has been running all over the United
States and Canada ever since, trying
to catch up with the demand.
TV scouts in Chicago visited a per¬
formance in 1949. and booked Brown
for a 13-week series of shows. Jean
Kennickell, of the Brushy Creek sec¬
tion of Buncombe, who had just
finished Brevard College, was employed
as an assistant.
The show was broadcast over the
entire TV' network, and the Tar Heel
meddler achieved wide popularity. This
year. North Carolinians are seeing the
show for the first time, principally in
schools and at civic club meetings.
While the "circus" includes demon¬
strations in atomic energy, light, ultra¬
violet light, sound, radio and cosmic
rays, the heart of it lies in use of high
voltage power. Electricity is sent
through the body of the assistant,
coming out in spectacular displays or
performing unexpected feats.
Daughter Is Live Wire
When performing near Asheville.
Brown uses his daughter Betty, who
has been accustomed to high voltages
since she was eight. But on the road
he recruits high school students, and
it is a tribute to his persuasiveness that
with an hour's rehearsal, he always has
a subject willing to let electricity pop
out her finger tips in lightning flashes,
light cigarettes from a spark sent across
from a transformer, and do other ap¬
parently dangerous stunts.
In rehearsing a "subject," voltage is
gradually built up to determine how
much she can take without discomfort,
and this limit is used in the actual show.
Although power is obtained from an
ordinary 115-volt outlet, it produces
high voltage at high frequency by use
of a spark oscillator. A million volts
is often used.
When high power is used on Betty,
Bob wets the aluminum square upon
which she stands to avoid burning her
feel. Once in a while, she may get a
hurt — such as one time when he let
a spark jump from her nose instead
of a piece of metal on her tongue. The
sensation was something like stings
from a dozen bees, but it is soon gone
and does not leave a sore place. When
pure high frequency is obtainable,
there is no sensation to the subject, but
usually there is enough low frequency
mixed with it to make the girl’s muscles
draw slightly.
If the assistant holds her hands at
her sides, the sparks might be emitted
from her head, shoulders and other
parts of her body, instead of her
fingers. If she allows her fingers to
bend, the sparks would jump from her
knuckles, possibly causing bums there.
The high frequency stays on the sur¬
face of the body and jumps from the
highest and widest points.
But these things don't happen in
the circus. Its equipment and its use
has been thoroughly tested by under¬
writers, and Brown’s liability insurance
premium is no higher than it would be
for a regular magician's show.
THE STATE, January 12. 1952
