Target girl


In circus and vaudeville acts, a target girl is a female assistant in "impalement" acts such as knife throwing, archery or sharpshooting. The assistant stands in front of a target board or is strapped to a moving board and the impalement artist throws knives or shoots projectiles so as to hit the board and miss the assistant. The image or character of the target girl has become an icon in fiction and visual media.

Introduction

Although some assistants are male, there is no common equivalent term for a male assistant. This reflects the fact that, historically at least, female assistants have predominated in the acts in question. The presence of an assistant as a human target provides a powerful element of risk. Without assistants placing themselves in danger these acts would be simple demonstrations of accuracy, but with the potential for injury or death the show is much more dramatic. Target girls often wear revealing costumes, thus adding an element of overt sexuality to an act. In this respect there is some similarity to magicians' assistants, although there is a distinct difference in that any apparent danger to an assistant in a magic act is mostly an illusion, whereas impalement acts are demonstrations of accuracy, nerve and calculated risk and the danger is real.
Various theories have been put forward to explain the enduring appeal of the target girl. These range from simple awe at the display of steely nerves and complete trust to more complex psychological and philosophical theories. While some point to overtones of sadomasochistic eroticism, others cite dramaturgical works and point to parallels with the story arc of the hero in classic drama. In particular the assistant's performance is said to mirror the plot device of the hero's ordeal, in which the hero proves his or her heroic qualities through self-sacrifice or by facing extreme peril. Jim Steinmeyer, a noted illusion designer who has written well-regarded books on the history of magic, has identified a fashion for female peril as entertainment in the post-First World War period. Steinmeyer has written that P. T. Selbit's stage debut of the Sawing Through A Woman illusion in 1921 marked the beginning of a trend for women as the victims of choice for acts simulating danger or torture. While Steinmeyer focuses on stage magic and attributes some of the trend to practical factors, he also points to a broader pattern in entertainment generally, which he links to social trends. He concludes that: "...beyond practical concerns, the image of the woman in peril became a specific fashion in entertainment". A further view on historical trends is provided by performer and blogger Ula the Painproof Rubbergirl, who has acted as a target girl for New York-based knife thrower The Great Throwdini. In an extensive article on her experiences and philosophical approach to the art she notes: "Knife throwing is an old act. So is high wire. And rodeo. And stone throwing, witch burning, beheading, Roman gladiators, jousting, dog fights, you name it - we, humans, love it. And we love a vulnerable woman. Isn't there something oddly attractive about the woman in danger? I remember seeing lots of soundless black and white movies with a girl tied to the railroad tracks or a girl tied to a sawmill by some evil perverted landlord."

Notable target girls

Like magicians' assistants, target girls often receive little to no formal recognition or billing. The notable exception is for husband and wife acts, common in this field, where both performers are billed together. This hinders making a name for one's self specifically as a target girl, but it's not unusual for performers who are known for their overall careers to have served as target girls at one time or another.
  • Elizabeth Collins is almost unique in having effectively ended up with top billing in the knife throwing act she formed with her husband Martin Collins. The couple met and married in their native Hungary at around the time of the outbreak of World War II and began performing together as "Elizabeth and Collins". For their signature stunt they developed an extremely demanding trick that involved Elizabeth spinning on a "wheel of death" target while her husband balanced on a tightrope and threw knives at her. After the war they settled in Britain and toured clubs and theatres around the world. They were one of the first impalement acts to break into television. Elizabeth retired from performing in the early 1960s and was replaced by their daughter who was also named Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Collins performed on The Ed Sullivan Show three times and appeared as themselves in an episode of the 1960s spy series The Avengers.
  • Helga and Sylvia Brumbach are a mother and daughter who have both been part of a family act that is regarded by many other artists as setting the standard in their field. The Brumbachs, also known as Los Alamos, began with Fritz Brumbach as a knife thrower and whip cracker and his wife Helga as target girl. Later daughter Sylvia joined the act as a second target girl and then son Patrick became a thrower. Fritz and Helga have since retired but Patrick and Sylvia continue the act. Fritz is a Guinness World Record holder for rapid throwing around a live target.
  • Irene Stey married into an old established Swiss circus family when she wed Rolf Stey. The couple worked as a knife act called "Two Tornados" between 1965 and 1985 and are notable for being one of only two acts to repeat the combined "wheel of death" and tightrope stunt developed by Elizabeth and Collins. After retiring as a target girl Irene continued in the circus business with an equestrian act.
  • Barbara Braun began performing with her husband Sylvester as the "Wizards of the West" in the early 1940s. Sixty years later the couple were honoured by the International Knifethrowers Hall of Fame with the "Knife Throwing Pioneer Award" and the title "Wild West Duo of the 20th Century".
  • Montana Nell was the performing name of Pearl Collins who, between 1929 and 1950, toured with her husband Robert Collins in a western arts act under the billing of "Texas Slim and Montana Nell". She was born Pearl Miller and grew up on a farm, which helped her become a highly proficient horse rider. In 1923 she married a man called Seamor Russell with whom she had a daughter named Doris. Seamor died of an illness in 1925 and Pearl went on to marry Collins in 1929. When Doris was 16 she joined her parents' show as a trick rider and sharp shooter named "Little Miss Peggy". Pearl and Robert Collins were posthumously honoured by the International Knifethrowers Hall of Fame in 2006.
  • Claude Chantal Blanc is an experienced Swiss aerial and tight wire artist who is unusual for working as part of an all-female knife throwing act named Risk Ladies. The thrower was Caroline Haerdi, who currently works in partnership with a male thrower named Arno Black; she as the thrower and he as the target.
  • Tina Nagy Is a dancer and aerial artist who featured as a target girl in the 2007 season of the NBC television series America's Got Talent. Nagy, who is of Hungarian descent but grew up in Connecticut, performed with knife thrower The Great Throwdini. Her interest in the impalement arts began through working as a target girl for bullwhip artist Robert Dante. She has sought to produce a performance artform that combines dance and whip cracking.
  • Ekaterina Sknarina is a model, actress, contortionist, aerial artist and former international gymnast. She was born in Russia and competed at world championship level for the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team. She later trained as an aerial artist with Cirque du Soleil. After re-locating to New York she began working as a contortionist in the burgeoning new burlesque scene. She also began working as a model and appeared in magazines including FHM, One World, and GQ. She added the role of target girl to her portfolio after meeting knife thrower The Great Throwdini. In 2005 she was one of the stars of the off-Broadway show Maximum Risk, during which she helped set two world records for the number of knives thrown around a human target in a minute. She was Miss Coney Island 2007. She appears in the movie Across the Universe and was featured in promotional posters for it.

    Books by target girls

A very small and select group of women are notable for having used personal experience to write about the impalement arts from the point of view of the target girl. They include:
  • Astrid Schollenberger a middle-aged German single mother with a master's degree in philosophy and a regular job who, at the suggestion of her boyfriend Dr Joachim Heil, volunteered as a target girl for knife thrower Dr David Adamovich. Schollenberger worked with Adamovich for a show in New York in 2002 where he first publicly performed the "Wheel of death" stunt. Later Schollenberger, Adamovich and Heil wrote a book about the experience titled A Day on Broadway: The art of being a knife thrower's assistant.
  • Ronnie Claire Edwards is an American actress born in 1933. She is best known for the role of "Corabeth Walton Godsey" in the series The Waltons. Her substantial and often quirky career is recalled in an autobiography titled The Knife Thrower's Assistant: Memoirs of a Human Target.
  • Ula the Painproof Rubbergirl started as one half of a duo called The Painproof Rubbergirls who did contortion and various sideshow-type stunts, such as the Bed of nails. After her partner left for other work, Ula continued as a solo performer doing various aerial acts as well as a signature routine that involves contortion feats on a bed of swords. In 2003 she worked as a target girl for Dr David Adamovich and later wrote a lengthy article about the act and the philosophy behind her part in it. Ula was featured as a target girl in the US edition of FHM magazine in March 2006.