All in the family
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Young Chang
After 35 years of performing 15 fairs a year and jumping out to a
crowd three times a day for two-thirds of every year, Edward Russell has
perfected his circus announcer voice, his dove tricks and the illusion --
or is it reality -- that two men can carry a circus.
He says things such as “Show time is just two minutes, folks! We’ll
see you then!”
The 66-year-old even promises that at the end of the show, “all” of
the performers will come out to greet the guests.
By “all,” Russell means himself and his son, Stephen. And it doesn’t
matter to this veteran entertainer that the tent in which they’re
performing is about the size of a living room and that when he says
“we’ll see you then,” it’s only a matter of seconds before he reappears
from behind a thin tent wall with a new prop or two.
But the show of it all -- the sheen of grandeur and the old-school
circus ambience -- is what it’s all about. Which explains the circus’
name: The Russell Bros. Family Fun Circus.
“Russell Bros. was a big circus in the ‘30s and ‘40s,” Russell said.
“Everything in the circus is Brothers.”
For that reason, Russell and his son decided to borrow the “Bros.”
The pair will hold shows at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa
through July 29, offering audiences everything from tricks that make
doves disappear to juggling acts with knives.
Stephen Russell does all the juggling -- balls, bowling pins, large
knives. He does all the hand-balancing tricks, plate spinning and
acrobatics.
“He has his own hobbies and things,” Edward Russell said of his son.
“But this is our united front.”
Russell, from Torrance, handles the magic and the tricks with trained
animals.
His birds appear and disappear at the beckoning of his sleights of
hand. Some balance on a tipsy horizontal ladder. One even shoots out of a
cannon. The rooster shows off on a raised platform.
It’s not a huge show, and every seat in the house is arguably the best
one, but that’s what draws the crowds, fair organizers say.
“They’re kind of that part of the fair we keep the same because I
think kids come back to see that every year,” said Steve Beazley, deputy
general manager of the fair. “It’s a circus on a very small scale and a
very intimate setting, and I think it’s intimate because it’s not the big
pomp and ‘stance circus.”
Edward Russell says it’s the little thrills that have kept him in the
business so long.
“There’s nothing more fun than watching people’s faces when you do the
magic and illusions,” he said.
He remembers his first circus as a boy. It was the original Russell
Bros. show, and the young Russell had somewhat of an epiphany.
“At that time, I knew I would have a circus,” he said.
It hasn’t always been easy, and the commitment to travel with his work
has made him choose the circus over a former marriage, but Russell
insists that entertaining is what he does best -- something he’ll never
tire of.
Straight-faced and earnest, he adds, “I’ll die in the tent.”
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