Johnny Fox (performer)

John Robert Fox (November 13, 1953 – December 17, 2017) was an American professional sword swallower and sleight of hand expert.

Early life

Fox was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. He saw his first sword swallower at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, when he was eight or nine years old.Feuer, Alan. "Pickled Piglets and Other Curiosities, in Exile." The New York Times, 2005-06-04, p. B1. At approximately the same age, his father gave him a book about Harry Houdini which inspired Fox—substituting spaghetti—to recreate 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 Saint Petersburg, 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 in order to have "an act people couldn't copy easily". It took him eight months to master the technique, although he injured himself on several occasions learning it. Fox estimated in 1999 he was one of only twenty professional sword swallowers in the United States, noting there were many more than when he began.

Fox could swallow up to 22 inches of steel. Besides swallowing regular swords, his act 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 his liver.

Fox appeared at such venues as comedy clubs, 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."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 was the resident sword-swallower at the annual Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, and performed there from 1981 through 2017. Prior to the festival's 2017 season, the festival's Royal Stage, where Fox performed, was renamed to the Royal Fox Theatre in his honor. He began performing at the Sterling Renaissance Festival in Sterling, New York in 1997.Murphy, Justin
"Fare thee well for 2011."
The Citizen (Auburn), 2011-08-22. He occasionally worked as a consultant for other sideshow artists.

Image:Sword-Swallower Johnny Fox.jpg, Johnny Fox sword swallowing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in 2006
File:Johnny Fox performing at Maryland Renaissance Festival - 08.jpg, Johnny Fox performing cups and balls routine at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in 2016
File:Johnny Fox performing at Maryland Renaissance Festival - 10.jpg, Johnny Fox sword swallowing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in 2016, before his diagnosis

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 of oddities includes narwhal tusks, an elephant's-foot liquor chest, a two-headed turtle, a vest owned by General Tom Thumb, and the glass eye of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Personal life

Fox married his wife, Valeria, an Argentine dancer and photographer, while they were 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 resided in Seymour, Connecticut.

Illness and death

In the fall of 2016, Fox was diagnosed with hepatitis-C and cirrhosis of the liver and tumors. Then, in the winter of 2016, Fox slipped on black ice at his home in Connecticut which, combined with his liver problems, put him in a coma for several days.

After waking up from his coma, he recovered enough to return to performing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival for the fall 2017 season.

Fox died on Sunday, December 17, 2017, of liver cancer, aged 64.

References

External links

Freakatorium – El Museo Loco


Maryland Renaissance Festival

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Johnny
1953 births
2017 deaths
American curators
American magicians
American stunt performers
People from Hartford, Connecticut
People from Minneapolis
Renaissance fair performers
Sideshow performers
Deaths from liver cancer
Deaths from cancer in Connecticut