KING OF THE TRAINED FLEAS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 148, 10 July 1937, Page 11

KING OF THE TRAINED FLEAS

A Showman's Methods

A LTHOUGH hewas not one ihe great ones of the earth, "William .Hechter, who has just passed away^ covered with years, honours and rich.es, nevertheless rmhk# among the crawned heads of the world— that is, crowned symbolically in th# sease applied across the Atlantic, whara oil kings hobnob with. the of the xail and smoked ham, writes Jean Dorsenne in a French newspaper. William Hechter, who has just died at Basle, Switzerland, his nativO town, was the King of Trained Elea Showmen. He got his start 50 years ago in this profession which was to bring hira f ortune. It was chance — as is of ten the caee— which was the artisan of his brilliant destiny. He was twenty years. old and rich in nothing but hope and confidence when he hear abont America and xesolved to try his. luck in .the land of the* dollair. Although his resources were slight he embarked for New York on an. imnugrant ship; The crossing was" frightful; he found himself among poor jolk who were alive with vermin and ■he suffered all the more acutely sinco he had always been accustomed to the grcatest of cleanliness. ........ He spent his time -on board ship chasihg those parasites which nearly drove hira mad and he-aetually eaused a terrible holocaust of fleas right in his own. head. Suddenly^ though, he got an idea; instead 'Of killing the beasties, why not tame them?. Certainly the source of raw materials was abundant, to say the least. The ingenious and patient William Hechter leisurely began to familiarize with. these intelligent apaniptera and soon ha had got together a complete troupe of trained fleas. The result was that when he landed at New York, he was no poor immigrant searehing for work. He had the means of making inbney right with him in a cardboard box. So immediately he got •Fiimsp.lf a job With a circus that was touring the United States, later setting up business at Coney Island whpre his shop, from the day it opened, quickly became a Trained Flea Theatre. For forty years, thereafter, William Hechter travelled the roads exhibiting his fleas, until he, sold out some time ago and xeturned to his native land. Admirers of the aft claiin that William Heehter was the first person to train fleas but actually nothing is farther from the truth. While we actually don't know if the ancients knew about trained fleas, there is no reason why they should not have done, since fleas are as old as the .world itself. It is certain, though, .that trained fleas existed in France and Germany during the Revolution, and that everywhere they enjoyed Tenown, especially in Italy. • There are disreputable p'arasites, Of

course. but' the flea is not of these. On the contrary, in old France, it seemed quite natural for people to have fleas, and these insects wero made the object of jokes, both crude and fatuous, which the best society laughed over. Trained fleas which became a rage during the Revolution continued in popularity till 1804 anyway when the German writer Kotzebue in his ' 'Travel Memories,' ' tells how he saw at the Paiais Eoyal in Paris, a sail exhibiting some remarkable fleas undor a microscope. Oqo was dragging a miniaturo elephant; another, whose leg "was attached to a metal ball by means of a littlo gold chain, was driving, a coach with six horses (the horses, of course, wero fieas too), the coach was filled with still tinier ones and the leader jurnped calmly and colleCtedly. on his. on his way, in spite of his burde'n. Sometimes it* would happen that iu the middle of a show, one of - the artists would stago a sit-down strike and refuse to work. The sailor then signalled to his wife, a big ruddy girl; who would. lift her sleeves, lay the staxving insect delicately on her arm and thus give him a good meal. When the fl'ea. was revived it would xesume its work with ronewed ardour. The difficulty of training such minute creatures must be almost overwhelming. A flea is so tiny that it seems almost impossiblo to imagine the skill of the fingers necessary to dress theso insects, tio them up and haraess them. An old flea trainer, however, told me a few tricks of the trade. He said that the muscular strengfch of a flea was prodigious since it eould drag a weight twenty-four times that of itself. Since a flea jumps about incessantly, this energy must be harnessed. Accord-^ ing to the old trainer, it is quite simple — -theoretieally. But just try to do it. Merely attaeh the flea for a certain length of time by a hair to a stationary object. The hair, fixed in a slip knot, is passed over the flea's neck and around its waist, but so as not to strangle it. (Evidently it is necessary -io work with a inagnifying glass) When the flea, after many attempts to jump, nndexstands that it is wasting its time, it changes its leaps into a rcgular walk. It is then xeady to be harnessed. Such is the principle of tho matter, but putting it into practice is an entirely different and diffieult affair. With the passing of William Hechter, the King of Trained Flea Showmen, who will next wear the crownfc