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Con Colleano (born Cornelius Sullivan; 26 December 1899 – 13 November 1973) was an Australian tightrope walker. He was the first person to successfully attempt a forward somersault on a tightrope and became one of the most celebrated and highly paid circus performers of his time. He was known as "The Wizard of the Wire" or "The Toreador of the Wire". "Nijinsky of the Tightwire", (Brisbane) Truth, (Sunday, 10 September 1950), p.25.
Around 1907, when Colleano was seven years old, the family settled in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, then a newly established opal mining field and a fertile ground for the father's talents. Here Colleano received a rudimentary education and learned circus skills from the sideshows present in the town.
By 1918, now known as "Colleano's All-Star Circus" (with more of Con's siblings), the troupe was sufficiently established to travel through Queensland on their own hired train. The children became known as "The Royal Hawaiian Troupe" (again to cover for their dark complexions). Colleano's All-Star Circus: Under Vice-Regal Patronage, Port Adelaide News, (Friday, 3 February 1922), p.2.
In 1919, Con managed to achieve the foot-to-foot forward somersault he had been attempting for some time and which was destined to secure his subsequent career. Circus extends Canberra Season, The Canberra Times, (Tuesday, 26 October 1976), p.12. Con Colleano speaks Five Languages: Dances Tango on Tightrope, The (Brisbane) Telegraph, (Friday, 9 July 1937), p.19. In 1922 he was engaged by the popular Tivoli circuit, the major outlet for vaudeville in Australia, on a salary of £60 a week. His siblings also appeared at The Tiv as "Eight Akabar Arabs". The Eight Akabah Arabs, The (Adelaide) Critic, (Wednesday, 23 May 1923), p.23. The Eight Akabah Arabs, The (Adelaide) Register, (Thurdsay, 24 May 1923), p.13.
At his first performances in South Africa he was billed as Australian, but in April 1924 he adopted the Spanish torero persona he was to employ for the greatest part of his subsequent career. £260-a-week for Walking on a Wire – and Spinning off a Wire like This!, Pix, Sunday, 29 January 1933), pp.12-15. In September 1924 he appeared at the New York Hippodrome Theatre and was soon noticed and engaged by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the largest in the country. Australian Wire-Walking Genius, The Sydney Mail, (Wednesday, 2 June 1937), p.42. His act now involved well-executed bullfighting movements in the ring, Spanish dance moves on the wire, and in conclusion, the dangerous forward somersault.
Thenceforth, through the 1930s until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Con was the principal star of Ringling Bros. with a salary of US$1,000 per week. At this time the Big Tent could seat up to 16,000 people. In the winter he performed on the vaudeville circuit in Europe to great acclaim, among his greatest admirers being Adolf Hitler.
In 1937, he returned to Sydney, Australia for a series of performances at the Tivoli ("the Tiv"). Wirewalking Instinct, The (Sydney) Sun, (Sunday, 6 Jun 1937), p.10. Into the 1940s Colleano continued performing in the U.S. and appeared on television on the Texaco Star Theater in 1952. His farm in Pennsylvania became a retreat for his siblings and their offspring between performances and, so established, he adopted United States citizenship together with now wife Winnie in 1950.
Con and Winnie had no children; Con was the uncle of American actor Bonar Colleano and the great-uncle of American actor Jack Stehlin.
In South Africa, Colleano first used his Spanish toreador act; to identify as an Australian or being of African descent would likely have proven unhelpful at the box office. Thenceforth, he retained his racial passing being generally perceived as Spanish. Despite the tenor of Skipping on Stars and other recent reportage, no evidence suggests that, within the non-discriminatory milieu of the circus, he denied, or was greatly concerned by, his heritage.
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