Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1908 — SKATING IN MIDAIR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SKATING IN MIDAIR

Mr. and Mrs. Earle Reynolds left Friday for Atlanta, Ga., to fill an engagement at the Orpheum theatre. They had spent a most delightful week visiting his mother, Mrs. S. R. Nichols, and his many old acquaintances in Rensselaer, Not content with having been declared the greatest roller skaters in the world, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are planning a marvelous act for next year, which is described in the following article from the Pittsburg, Pa,, Dispatch:

There is hope for the athlete. Earle Reynolds, not content with winning the championship in every style of action known to skaters, amateur as well as professionals, now figures as a rival to Marconi and Edison. This wizard of the revolving wheels has noted the workings of the Marconi wireless. He has seen Mr. Edison improve upon his own inventions. He has. seen ships float through the air, and has kept tab on the aerial flights of the interpid Dr. Thomas, who goes ballooning for the pure joy of living among the clouds. And Mr. Reynolds, having observed the extraordinary attention which these resourceful men of genius and daring have now attracted from the public, which did not extend them the glad hand when they first came into the limelight, has decided to go all Of them just one better. Being a modest inventor, he does not purpose •to get away from the field In which he has become a dominant figure, for, be it known, he permits himself to be billed as the “Champion of all Champions” among skaters for the simple reason that he actually is the foremost skater whether on the ice or upon the platform.

Marconia has demonstrated that it is the easiest thing in the world to get into immediate communication with friends some thousand miles away without the use of telegraph wires or the telephone, Inventors of flying machines having proved that it is really possible to take the space route covering considerable distances. Mr. Reynolds now intends to show the world that it is possible to skate through the air. He invented a process by which an iced platform would be prepared for skating purposes, the component parts of which are his own secret. He turned water

into ice and then executed over this lake “made while you wait” the most difficult figures known to skaters. But this achievement did not satisfy his ambition. For the past year he has been at work on the act which is expected to startle the theatrical world. Mr. Reynolds is associated this year with Miss Nellie Donegan, the champion of lady skaters Of the world who among other things executes a toe dance on ball-bearing skates, with the ease and grace of the most famous Parisian premier danseuses. Together they appeared with Anna Held In “A Parisian Model,” and are coming to the Grand this week. Mr. Reynolds skates to almost any tune a dancer might respond to and performs feats on rollers that woulfl be regarded as remarkable when performed under any conditions.

Mr. Reynolds and Miss Donegan purpose to perform their entire act somewhere between the floor of the stage and the flies. To those who view the act from the front in its' perfected state, it will seem that these two experts are actually gliding through space without any support whatever. Of course, there is a trick in connection with the act, but just what it is Is Mr. Reynolds’ secret. They actually skate over the stage, eight feet above the floor. There is no illusion. The skaters are there in person, float to the starting point apparently unassisted in full view of the audience and any contraption they may have concealed must be regarded as somewhat more effective than any of the devices magicians have shovjrn us. If the skaters are in any way protected by wires overhead or underneath or at the sides, the nature of the protection -is a ’mystery. Certain it is that there can be no protection at the front or sides, where the skaters start and finish their act. It is easy to Imagine, under the circumstances,that no matter what the nature of the protection might be, the slightest mistake might result tn one or more of the skaters tumbling from space to the hard floor of the stage. Mr. Reynolds will have his novel act "Skating In Mid-Air’’ ready for presentation by the first of November. The glass apparatus is being built in Germany. Meanwhile Mr. Reynolds and Nellie Donegan will present their present success, society and stage dancers on rollers, which has made them famous. 1

Earle Reynolds and Nellie Donegan in Their 1969 Midair Skating Ait, Which Promises to be the Sensation of the Roller Skating Age.