Nelson Le Follet, stage name of Bartolomeo Viganego, also known as Enrico or Enrichetto (14 May 1859 in San Fruttuoso – 20 September 1943 in

Chiavari Chiavari (; lij, Ciävai ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in Italy. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Entella. History Pre-Roman and Roman Era A pre-Roman necropolis, which dates f ...

), was an

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illusionist Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

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and

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Biography

During Le Follet's youth, he had been an athlete of the Christopher Columbus Gymnastics Society, thus dedicating himself to performing acrobatic acts in famous circuses of the time, such as the Parish Circus, under the name of the "Red Devil". His background as a Viganego

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, allowed him to perform mostly as an antipodean, as an expert of the circus art in

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

various objects with his feet, laying on his back and keeping his legs up in the air, more or less, vertically. He dedicated himself to

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

, transforming and illusionist shows in Italian Theatres (such as the Venetian Malibran), French and Spanish Theatres, with his own company, "Troupe Nelson". In 1898-99, in his shows, he used a projecting machine, made by the brothers

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. At the beginning of the century, mostly, he used names of art such as Nelson Viganego, Nelson Le Follet or Nelson Follet, and, sometimes the Italian version of "Nelson Folletto". After his circus experience, another ideal place for Le Follet's exhibitions was the coffee-concert Paris style kind of show. In April 1902, he staged at the Umberto the first Napolitano Theatre, a show called Arizof, which had been described by those times' newspapers as, " a fantastic and spectacular choreographic act by Nelson Follet (prose, music and dance)". The

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was Elvira Valentini. After this, he had shows in

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(at the Olympia in Paris),

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and

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, being active until the eve of the

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. In the very first years after the war, he worked as a theatre agent, based in

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. Only few photos of Le Follet are left. The only existent photo, from the early 1900s, shows him, dressed with a coat in sea otter fur and beaver fur reverts.

Bibliography

*Carlo Alfredo Clerici, Stefania Acerra. ''Le magiche avventure di Nelson Le Follet. Vita e spettacoli di Enrico Viganego, artista della Belle Époque.'' Dispensa della conferenza tenuta a Milano, 8 settembre 2015. Con testimonianze di Elvira Costa, discendente di Bartolomeo Viganego.

References

External links

Photos
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:le Follet, Nelson 1859 births 1943 deaths Italian gymnasts