Camilio Mayer

Grave of Camilio Mayer in Stedten an der Ilm

Camilio Mayer (born April 25, 1890 in Mulhouse ; † May 21, 1972 in Stedten an der Ilm ) was a German high-wire artist who set standards worldwide in his profession.

Mayer was born as Camill Mayer on April 25, 1890, the son of the businessman Joseph Mayer and his wife Maria Eugenie, née Zuberbühler, in their parents' apartment at 4 Manchesterstraße (today rue de Manchester) in Mulhouse.

Mayer, who does not come from any artist family, ran away from home at the age of 16 and joined various traveling fairground and circus troupes in France . He later came back to Germany and built his own troupe with high wire artists. Under the stage name Napoleon of the Skies , he gained fame in many European countries, in India , Australia , Java , New Zealand , Egypt and the USA . On January 20, 1940, his artistic and private partner Camilla Mayer (real name Lotte Witte ) had a fatal accident when she fell from a 20 m steel mast in Berlin's Deutschlandhalle .

When Mayer was obliged to do civilian service in 1944, he came to Kranichfeld and settled in Stedten an der Ilm . After the war he trained young artists in Stedten and Kranichfeld and performed again in August 1945. He formed a new troupe ( Park of Sensations ) that went on tour partly alone and partly with the Sarrasani Circus . The guest performances led to both parts of Germany , to France , England (before the Queen), the Netherlands , Finland and the USA.

However, his plan to be the first to actually cross Niagara Falls over the abyss instead of crossing the river like everyone else before in 1953 failed. The resistance of the Americans because of the mass accumulation in the nature reserve probably contributed to this as well as their own concerns, because the high foaming spray made the rope run unobservable and unpredictable.

Until his last appearance in the early 1960s, Camilio Mayer himself stood on the rope, often with his number, to fry a fried egg on the tightrope. In the last years of his life, Mayer suffered from Alzheimer's disease , on May 21, 1972, at the age of 82, he died in Stedten an der Ilm .

literature

Adolf George: Camilio Mayer, the Napoleon of the skies , Schönlanke 1921
Camilio Mayer: Between heaven and earth. Forty years on the tower rope , Weimar 1946

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Birth certificate No. 878/1890, Mulhouse registry office. Microfilm Elément n ° 223, left page. In: Mulhouse, Naissances 1890–1890. Archives Départementales du Haut-Rhin, Colmar , accessed on July 18, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Mayer, Camilio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mayer, Camill (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German high wire artist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 25, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mulhouse
DATE OF DEATH	May 21, 1972
Place of death	Stedten on the Ilm

[GebUrk-1] Birth certificate No. 878/1890, Mulhouse registry office. Microfilm Elément n ° 223, left page. In: Mulhouse, Naissances 1890–1890. Archives Départementales du Haut-Rhin, Colmar , accessed on July 18, 2020 .