Alex Zander Morrow

Last updated
Alex Tomaini
Born
Scott Alexzander Tomaini

1989 (age 3435)
Other namesAlex Zander Morrow
Junior Torture King
Occupationsideshow performer
Known foryoungest US swordswallower
Relatives Al Tomaini (grandfather) [1]

Alex Tomaini (stage name: Alex Zander Morrow) [1] [2] is a sideshow performer. At the age of 14, he officially became the youngest confirmed sword swallower in the United States. [3] He swallowed his first sword at the 2003 Sword Swallowers Convention in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania before an audience of his peers and international media, only four hours after swallowing his first coat hanger as practice. [4] He later joined a record attempt called "The Big Swallow" in which a group of sword swallowers try to simultaneously swallow as many swords as possible. [5]

Alex lost the record to Erik Kloeker of the Pickled Brothers Sideshow, who is one year younger than Alex. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Castellaneta</span> American actor (born 1957)

Daniel Louis Castellaneta is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series The Simpsons. Castellaneta is also known for voicing Grandpa in Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!, and has had voice roles in several other programs, including Futurama, Sibs, Darkwing Duck, The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, The Batman, Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Aladdin, Earthworm Jim, and Taz-Mania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UGK</span> American hip hop duo

UGK was an American hip hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas, formed in 1987, by Chad "Pimp C" Butler and Bernard "Bun B" Freeman. They released their first major-label album, Too Hard to Swallow, in 1992, followed by several other albums charting on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, including the self-titled Underground Kingz album, which contained their single "International Players Anthem " and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, in August 2007. The duo has also been featured on hit singles by several other artists, such as "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z and "Sippin' on Some Syrup" by Three 6 Mafia. Pimp C founded UGK Records in late 2005. On December 4, 2007, Pimp C died in his West Hollywood, California hotel room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Roethlisberger</span> American football player (born 1982)

Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr., nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Miami RedHawks, and was selected by the Steelers in the first round of the 2004 NFL draft.

Psychopathic Records is an American independent record label headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The label is most associated with the hip-hop music subgenres horrorcore and rap rock. The label was founded in 1991 by Alex Abbiss and hip hop group Insane Clown Posse. The iconography of a man with a meat cleaver has been used for years as a symbol of the group, its fanbase, and its associates.

The Jim Rose Circus is a modern-day version of a circus sideshow. It was founded in Seattle in 1991 by Jim Rose and his wife BeBe Aschard Rose. The sideshow, then called the "Jim Rose Circus Sideshow", came to prominence to an American audience as a second stage show at the 1992 Lollapalooza festival. although they had toured the Northwest and Canada and had several US TV appearances before this time. Rolling Stone magazine called the show an "absolute must-see act" and USA Today termed Rose's troupe "Lollapalooza's word-of-mouth hit attraction".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sword swallowing</span> Performance skill

Sword swallowing is a skill in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach. This feat is not swallowing in the traditional sense. The natural processes that constitute swallowing do not take place, but are repressed to keep the passage from the mouth to the stomach open for the sword. The practice is dangerous and there is risk of injury or death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zander Diamond</span> Scottish footballer

Alexander Kevin "Zander" Diamond is a Scottish former professional footballer and current assistant manager of Lowland League club Broomhill.

Mark Schultz is an American writer and illustrator of books and comics. His most widely recognized work is the creator-owned comic book series Xenozoic Tales, which describes a post-apocalyptic world where dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures coexist with humans. In 1993, Xenozoic Tales was adapted into an animated series titled Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and a video game of the same name. Schultz's other notable works include various Aliens comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse and a four-year run on the DC Comics series Superman: The Man of Steel. In 2004, Schultz took over the scripting duties of the Prince Valiant comic strip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Fox (performer)</span> Magician (1953–2017)

John Robert Fox was an American professional sword swallower and sleight of hand expert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt the Knife</span> American magician

Matt the Knife is a magician and mentalist. He has broken a number of Guinness World Records. He began his career as a professional con man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Robbins</span> American magician, lecturer, actor, and author

Todd Robbins is an American magician, lecturer, actor, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Cowboy (performer)</span> Australian entertainer

Chayne Hultgren, known professionally as the Space Cowboy is a world record-holding sideshow, street, and freak show performer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Frodo</span>

Captain Frodo, also known as “The Incredible Rubberman”, is a Guinness World Record breaking contortionist living in Australia. He is the son of a famous Norwegian magician known as “The Great Santini”.

Carnival Diablo the Ultimate Sideshow is a travelling sideshow operating primarily in Spencerville, Ontario, Canada. Performances by the troupe follow a traditional Ten-in-One format featuring such acts as fire-eating, sword swallowing and a human blockhead, with show times lasting two and a half hours. Carnival Diablo opened on April Fools' Day 1992 by Scott McClelland, whose family goes back three generations in the carnival and side show business. Shows have been performed across Canada, including shows at The Calgary Stampede, Edmonton's Klondike Days Regina's Buffalo Days, and the Canadian Tulip Festival. In 2008 and 2009, Carnival Diablo was a featured act at Carnivàle Lune Bleue, a dedicated revival of a 1930s old-time carnival located in Ottawa, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Strange</span> English performer

Johnny Strange, nicknamed "the man with ears of steel", is an English world record breaking performance artist, producer, street performer and bestselling author based in London, England. He is known for performing daredevil stunts with a comedic twist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dai Andrews</span> American performance and visual artist (born 1977)

Dai Andrews, is an American performance and visual artist, motivational speaker, director, producer, martial artist, and multiple Guinness World Record holder. He is also the proprietor of Dream Machine Arts and Unforgettable Entertainment, both entertainment agencies based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Byers</span> American entertainer

Brad Byers is an American entertainer known for his extreme performances, including sword swallowing, lying on beds of nails and inserting various tools into his nasal cavity. For the latter he is also referred to as a "Human toolbox". He holds several World Records. His brother Rod assists him in some performances.

Aerial Manx. is an Amsterdam-based Australian sideshow entertainer who has pioneered the field of acrobatic sword swallowing. Aerial Manx was born on 18 March 1986 in Melbourne, Australia.

Melvin Burkhart (1907–2001) was a sideshow performer known as the Human Blockhead for driving a large steel spike up his nose with a hammer. He was also known as Melvin the Two-Faced Man, due to his ability to wear different facial expressions on the two sides of his face, and as Melvin the Anatomical Wonder for his abilities as a contortionist. His act also included magic, sword swallowing, fire eating, and an electric chair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Meyer (entertainer)</span> American sword swallower, Got Talent Finalist and Ig Nobel Prize winner

Dan Meyer is an American sword swallower, multiple Guinness World record holder in sword swallowing, global TEDx speaker, finalist on America's Got Talent, Golden Buzzer finalist on Sweden's Talang, and recipient of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine at Harvard University.

References

  1. 1 2 Kushner, David (September 4, 2003). "I Was a Teenage Freak: In Gibsonton, Florida, the Carny Capital of the Nation, a New Generation of Glass Walkers and Knife Throwers Keeps the Sideshow Alive for at Least One More Summer". Rolling Stone Magazine . No. 930. pp. 104–106, 108, 110, 112. (Accessed on November 1, 2008) online version requires registration
  2. Alex Zander Morrow (August 1, 2004). "Alex Zander - The Junior Torture King" (Interview). Interviewed by John Robinson. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  3. 1 2 Records from Swordswallow.com (accessed December 22, 2006).
  4. Roz Mason (director), Andrew Waterworth (executive producer) (July 2004). Stomachs of Steel (documentary). NHNZ / Discovery Channel.
  5. News article on 2003 Big Swallow (accessed December 22, 2006).