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Charlie Stron writes
In 1986 Brent Van Rensburg and Charlie Stron worked at the Ringling Brothers
Clown College as teachers. They had lots of free time, so they started working
on a low wire. They then moved onto an 8 foot wire. Charles got some dry wall
stilts and managed to walk over the new wire, with a safety and then without
one. It was quite high up, so a lot of the students came to watch. They had
drawn quite a lot of attention because of Brents grand loops on the wire. This
was done with wire loops under the feet, so he could do 360 degrees around the
wire and come back to balancing. This trick and the stilt walk got them an
audition with the owner of Ringling, Kenneth Feld. He liked the new act and
offered them a job in the Gold Unit in Japan. After 
coming to reality and
getting other offers, they decided to not work in Japan. They did however go on
to Vegas and work on the act. This is where Brent came up with the two man high
on stilts idea. They built a ladder from a RV ladder, the curves fitted
perfectly over Charles 's shoulders. Then they put another ladder on the bottom
to make it long enough. Then cut a small length of pipe in half to make
something that could fit onto the wire and hold the ladder in place. The end
result was that Brent managed to climb up the ladder while Charles, with the
help of a balancing pole stood on stilts. They worked on the trick on a low wire
for about a week and then took it up onto a 12 foot wire without a net or
safety. This was a little gutsey, but got the attention of the local Las Vegas
media. They appeared on two different news programs and were quite the talk of
the town at the time. The photo's were taken by a local with a very cheap
camera, so they are not to clear.
Thanks Charlie, great story, thanks for sharing it with us. Bill
Charles Strachan a.k.a. Charlie Stron
CLOWN, STILT WALKER, JUGGLER, GENIUS
Cell - (702) 324-8501
P.O. Box 7323, Las Vegas, Nevada 89125
www.CharlieTheClown.net
mailto:CharlieTheClown@yahoo.com