Jimmy Cavaretta | |
---|---|
Born | James Cavaretta |
Nationality | American |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1962–1990 |
Known for | The Flying Cavarettas, The Flying Medallions |
Television | Ed Sullivan Show The Dating Game |
Relatives | Terry Cavaretta |
Honours | Circus Ring of Fame |
James "Jimmy" Cavaretta (born 1949) is an American circus performer, trapeze artist, actor, and model, best known for his work in the famed trapeze act "The Flying Cavarettas," his regular television appearances in the 1960s and 1970s, and his performances as an original headliner at the Circus, Circus hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cavaretta was born in 1949, into a family for their strong circus arts background. He began training in the circus arts in his early childhood and by the age of 15, he was performing in a trapeze act, as "catcher," with his sisters Kandy, Maureen, Molli, and eventual Circus Hall of Fame inductee Terry Cavaretta. [1] In 1968, The Flying Cavarettas became headliners at the newly opened Circus Circus hotel/casino in Las Vegas, marking the peak of their fame. [2]
"The Flying Cavarettas" gained widespread media attention in the 1960s and 70s, including appearances on popular television shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace, and receiving personal praise from Queen Elizabeth II following a command performance in London. [3] [2] The siblings' athletic good looks and unique appeal as a teenage trapeze team garnered significant attention from circus aficionados and the general public alike, with Cavaretta quickly emerging as a popular teen idol and pop cultural heartthrob of the day. [4] [5]
In 1968, The Flying Cavarettas became headliners at the newly opened Circus Circus hotel/casino in Las Vegas, marking the peak of their fame. [2] When the family's act disbanded, Cavaretta worked as an aerial motorcyclist for Disney on Parade, toured with the Shrine Circus and Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus, and founded "The Flying Medallions" with his wife Judi, sister Maureen, and her husband Barry Mitchell. [6]
Caravetta suffered serious injuries in 1970 after a 35-foot fall resulted in 85 fractures, but recuperated fully. [7] [6] He also appeared as one of the "bachelors' on The Dating Game, and made brief forays into acting and modeling, appearing in films and posing fully nude for Playgirl as the magazine's January 1976 centerfold. [6] [8]
Following the death of Terry Cavaretta's husband in a plane crash in 1976, he returned to performing with his sister, Terry. [9] [10] Their act continued to headline in Las Vegas and toured internationally. In 1984, the siblings won a Silver Clown Award at the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo, presented by Hollywood legend Cary Grant. [9]
Cavaretta retired from performing in the late 1990s but remained active in the circus and Las Vegas performer community.
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning, swinging or flying, and may be performed solo, double, triple or as a group act.
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Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus includes the largest permanent circus in the world. It features circus and trapeze acts, as well as carnival games, at its Carnival Midway. The resort also includes the Adventuredome, an indoor amusement park.
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The flying trapeze is a specific form of the trapeze in which a performer jumps from a platform with the trapeze so that gravity makes the trapeze swing.
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Terry Cavaretta aka Terry Cavaretta-St. Jules is an American aerialist. In 1977, she became the first woman to perform a quadruple somersault on flying trapeze. She is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for achieving the most triple somersaults. She was also the first aerialist to perform a triple back somersault with one and a half twists.
Kaely Michels-Gualtieri is an American trapeze artist known for her work as a leading artist with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, often performing under the stage name "Electra". She is the winner of two Golden Flyer Awards as one of the world's leading swing trapeze artists. She won a Silver Ring, Russia's highest trapeze honor, in 2017. She is the youngest person ever nominated for membership in the Circus Hall of Fame.
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Norma Fox, also known as La Norma, is a Danish-born aerialist and trapeze artist who performed throughout Europe before moving to the United States with her husband, the Frenchman André W. Fox, in 1949. In 1952, she performed as a stand-in for Betty Hutton in the film The Greatest Show on Earth. La Norma retired in 1974 and now lives in Sarasota, Florida, where a "Ring of Fame" marker records her circus achievements.
The Flying Cavarettas were an American aerialist act that gained widespread popularity in the 1960s and 1970s for their acrobatic performances and international tour and media appearances. Initially composed of teenaged siblings, the team, inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame in 2009, is best known for its role in popularizing acrobatic and circus shows on the Las Vegas Strip, the brief pop cultural notoriety of catcher Jimmy Cavaretta, and the athletic accomplishments of lead flyer, Guinness World Record-holder Terry Cavaretta.