Johnny Fox (performer)

Johnny Fox (born 1953) is a professional sword swallower and sleight of hand expert.Feuer, Alan. "Pickled Piglets and Other Curiosities, in Exile." The New York Times, 2005-06-04, p. B1.]

Early life

Fox grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, and saw his first sword swallower when he was eight or nine at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts.Louie, Elaine. "A Man Who Lives by the Sword." The New York Times, 1999-06-06, The City Weekly Desk.] At around the same age, his father gave him a book about Harry Houdini that inspired Fox to recreate, using spaghetti, the magician's trick of swallowing a key on a string and then regurgitating it.

Performance career

Fox began performing magic and comedy while working as a waiter in Florida.Montgomery, David. "Strange Attraction: As Sideshows Vanish from the Midway, a Film Recalls Their Glory Days." The Washington Post, 2003-10-24, p. C1.] He learned sleight-of-hand in the 1970s from Tony Slydini, an Italian magician known as the Master of Misdirection. In his early twenties, Fox was performing in Boulder, Colorado when he heard that his act had been stolen by a competing magician. He was inspired to begin swallowing swords for "an act people couldn't copy easily." It took him eight months to master the technique, although he has injured himself on a few occasions. Fox estimated in 1999 that he was one of twenty professional sword swallowers in the United States, many more than when he began.

Fox can swallow up to 22 inches of steel. Besides regular swords, his act has included swallowing a retractable tape measure, a giant screwdriver, and a neon glowing sword plugged into an outlet. His act also included eating fire until he learned that the chemicals used in the trick could seep into the liver.

Fox has appeared at venues including comedy clubs (such as Caroline's), casinos, and tattoo conventions, as well as special events such as an Aerosmith album release party. His television appearances include the Late Show with David Letterman, a 1992 Jonathan Winters television special and a Maalox commercial in which he swallowed light bulbs. [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/03/lt.16.html "Open Up and Say AHHH!"] CNN Live Today. 2002-09-03] He was featured in the 2003 documentary "Traveling Sideshow: Shocked and Amazed" by Jeff Krulik.

Fox is the resident sword-swallower at the annual Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville. He occasionally works as a consultant for other sideshow artists.

Freakatorium

In June 1999, Fox opened the Freakatorium, El Museo Loco, a museum of side show curiosities, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the face of low numbers of visitors and rising rent, the museum was closed in January 2005. Fox was partly inspired to open the museum by his childhood visits to Hubert's Museum and Flea Circus in Times Square. His collection includes narwhal tusks, an elephant's-foot liquor chest, a two-headed turtle, a vest owned by General Tom Thumb and Sammy Davis, Jr.'s glass eye.

Personal life

Fox married his wife Valeria, an Argentine dancer and photographer, atop elephants in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2002.Lee, Jennifer. "A Sword-Swallowing Collector Closes an Odd Little Museum." The New York Times, 2005-01-01, p. B6.] They reside in Connecticut.

References

External links

* [http://www.johnnyfox.com/ The Johnny Fox Official Homepage]
* [http://www.freakatorium.com/ Freakatorium - El Museo Loco]
* [http://rennfest.com/ Maryland Renaissance Festival]