Two books just hit the streets,... pertaining to `the streets'. One at a time,... "BEAUBOURG Les annees saltimbanques". by Didier Pasamonik and Gilbert l'Automate. ISBN: 978-2-3500-0208-8. This is a hard cover, 13in. by 11in., 104 pages. French language, but mainly Photos. Very good, large, full page photos of street artists in the late 60's, early 70's, in Paris. Beaubourg is the part of Paris most refir to as, `le Georges-Pompidou'. The big Museum, Library, and Performance Center is located there. As well as, the big Plaza!, where lots of street artist try their hand. In the late 60's, it was a hotbed. Very romantic, very idealistic,... very creative. I think that is maybe why this book is so important. Over a hundred, full page black and white photos; the spirit of the times is really captured. As well as some really great acts! Magicians, Pantomimes, Fakirs, Acrobats, Philosophers, Hypnotists, Animals,... and the audiences. Nice stuff.

The first eight pages, give a history of `Saltimbanques' thru the ages in Paris, with some good insites from Gilbert,... the french `Automate' who took most of the photos. Gilbert, is `living' Saltmbanque. By that, I mean; he eats, sleeps, and drinks the streets. A nice thing is, you can view the whole book on his website, streetact@aol.com ,for free! Like I said, the guy simply loves the streets. One tip, BLOW the photos up,.. they work much better. The book, is even a tad better,.. the photos `hop' out.

Secondly, "Anlocken-fesseln-abkassieren! Handbuch der Straßenzauberei". By Radalou and Dr. Marrax. To be found at http://www.marrax.de . This is an 8 by 10 inch Hardcover,.. 300 pages. German language. It's intented for Germany, but still I think it's important to mention it here. The boys cover a good bit of the history of Street Magicians in Germany. From very early times, up `til present times. Well researched, good stories,.. some nice photos. The second half of the book deals with the `theory' and `practise' aspects of the craft. It's "germanly thurough". Really broken down from a theaterical point of view. Kind of deep,.. but interesting.
(One bit of note, Dr. Marrax is quite a character. An interesting story, pretty well known here on the continent. He works as a `Wonder Doctor', on the streets. Demonstrating the wonders of `Marraxofax', his `wonder powder'! He's a good show. No fear. Very lovible.)

It nice to know that the craft is being analized, studied,.. appreciated,.. and WRITTEN about.

take care,
gallagher

Thank you for sharing the information with us buddy.

Thanks for pointing these out. However, what's the web address for l'Automate's site? The link you have is an email address, and when I google there isn't a lot to go on.

TIA.

Hey Acephale, just found it. http://www.saltimbanque.de

gallagher

Thank you! That is a great site.