Profiling Performer : Russell Nesbit was an acrobat, coach, and leader of the Flying Nesbits, who performed live and on television beginning in the 1950s. He was also an art model in the Washington metropolitan area from the late 1940s until the 1990s. He died in November 2001 of colon cancer at the age of 81.
In the 1940s Nesbit began performing and teaching as a volunteer at the now historic 12th Street YMCA, and later at a local Boys and Girls Club. During World War II he was a physical fitness instructor with the United States Army Air Forces. His particular specialty was teaching paratroopers to land without injury.
Beginning with his family and students from the YMCA, Nesbit formed an acrobatic team eventually called the "Flying Nesbits". During the segregation era the Flying Nesbits performed as a warm-up act for Black performers and at historically Black theaters in the eastern United States, including the Howard Theatre (Washington), Regal Theater (Chicago), Royal Theatre (Baltimore) and the Apollo Theater (New York City).
They were also part of the half-time performances with the Harlem Globetrotters and breaks during games of Negro league baseball teams while touring with the Birmingham Black Barons and the Indianapolis Clowns . On road trips, parents and a tutor accompanied the troupe.[6] Commenting on the Detroit Stars, Lawrence D. Hogan notes that in 1955 the team was likely better known for the performance of the Flying Nesbits.
Notes: Super Circus is an American television program that aired live on Sunday afternoons from 5 to 6pm Eastern Time from 1949 to 1956 on ABC.
The show was produced in Chicago by WBKB-TV (today's WLS-TV) through 1955, and its production moved to New York City and WABC-TV for its final season.
The award-winning show featured circus and clown acts performing in front of a studio audience. Mary Hartline and Claude Kirchner were the hosts Sponsors for the show included Kellogg's, Mars, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and Sweetheart Soap.
Hartline, known for her short skirts, white boots and long blonde hair, became one of television's first sex symbols, spawning merchandise such as dolls, clothes, and boots --- three dozen different Mary Hartline products.
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