This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/8/2024
[WATER SPOUTER]. Collection of Hans Röhrl Photographs and Ephemera. German, 1930s – 50s. Including four real photo postcards showing the “human fountain” in various poses, a handmade lobby board with eight photographs of Rohrt presenting his act in a circus ring (original old fold at center from mailing by Röhrl; original address label and stamps to verso, along with Röhrl’s rubber-stamped return address), three vintage photographs of Röhrl, and a TLS from Röhrl dated February 8, 1955 boldly SIGNED in ink. The largest item 15 ½ x 11 ¾”.
Images show Röhrl drinking 30 glasses of water in two minutes, then regurgitating the fluid in tall fountains or using the liquid to put out a raging bonfire. Both of these stunts (and others related to the regurgitation of the water) were part of Röhrl’s music hall act, presented in the style of Hamid Bey, Mac Norton, and the water spouters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.