Vertelli, or Professor Vertelli (stage name of John Morcom, Cornwall, June 12, 1840 – West Berkeley, Berkeley, California, January 8, 1914), was a British-Australian tightrope walker and stage magician, and the brother of cricketer Samuel Morcom.
John Morcom was born on June 12, 1840, in a family of impoverished Cornwall miners. His father emigrated to Australia in 1848, and the family followed him one year later.[1] His brother Samuel became a leading Australian cricketer.[2]
In 1863, he debuted as a trapeze artist, and by 1866 he decided to focus on tightrope walking.[1] Australian media nicknamed him "the Australian Blondin",[3] a reference to the well-known French tightrope walker Charles Blondin. He entertained his audiences by walking on a tightrope without pole and blindfolded, and even with heavy ladies from the audience who accepted to be carried by him on the rope.[3]
His most important shows were at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne where, according to Australian media, he was paid £ 100 per week.[4] As other tightrope walkers of his time, he also performed outdoors, including by crossing the river below Niagara Falls on a wire,[4] and walking from the top of a building to the one opposite it by crossing a street in New Westminster, Canada, at night and without lights.[5]
When he got older, he abandoned tightrope walking and performed as a stage magician and ventriloquist.[5] He formed his own troupe and toured China, Japan and the United States for more than twenty years, after settling in San Francisco.[5] He was among the first Western magicians to perform in Yokohama and Tokyo, where he was very successful.[1]
In his later years, he suffered with a paralysis of both feet, and continued his career as a professional astrologer and Tarot card reader, until his death in West Berkeley, California, on January 8, 1914, at age 73.[1]