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Hadji Ali (c. 1887–92 – November 5, 1937) was a vaudeville performance artist, thought to be of Egyptian descent, who was famous for acts of controlled regurgitation. His best-known feats included water spouting, smoke swallowing, and nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience. Ali's most famous stunt, and the highlight of his act, was drinking copious amounts of water followed by kerosene, and then acting by turns as a human flamethrower and fire extinguisher as he expelled the two liquids onto a theatrical prop. While these stunts were performed, a panel of audience members was invited to watch the show up close to verify that no trickery was employed. Although never gaining wide fame, Ali had a dedicated following on the vaudeville circuit in the United States. He performed for heads of state including Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Judy Garland named him her favorite vaudevillian and David Blaine identified Ali as his favorite magician. Portions of his act were captured in the short film ''Strange as It Seems'' (1930) and in ''Politiquerias'' (1931), the Spanish-language version of Laurel and Hardy's ''Chickens Come Home''. Two documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from ''Politiquerias'': 1977's ''Gizmo!'', and 1999's ''Vaudeville''. Ali's unusual gastric abilities led to rumors that the Rockefeller Institute had offered a large sum of money to obtain his stomach post-mortem. After he died in England, his body was offered to Johns Hopkins University for study, though the offer was declined. ==Background== Hadji Ali was born into a working-class family in approximately 1887 or 1892,〔 depending on the source consulted, probably in Egypt. His fame was as a practitioner of a recognized vaudeville subgenre known as a "regurgitation act", involving the swallowing of material or objects and their regurgitation in various ways. Ali became aware as a child that he possessed an unusual gastric ability. He explained in response to audience questions at a performance held at St. Mary's Hospital in Niagara Falls, New York, in May 1926, that while swimming in the Nile as a ten-year-old boy, he naturally discovered that he could swallow a large amount of water and blow it out like a whale spouting. He continued to develop and refine the ability as he grew older. A more dramatic version of these events was provided by Ali's daughter, Almina Ali, in an interview in England after his death. She stated that his abilities were first learned through a single incident: while bathing in the Nile, he inadvertently swallowed a fish and an ample volume of water. Instead of dying, as those present thought he might, Ali simply regurgitated the liquid and the fish without ill effect. Ali learned that his regurgitation talents had the potential to entertain and to earn money through performance at the age of fifteen:〔 I tried out my tricks first of all in the street, swallowing many glasses of water and then pouring forth a great fountain from one side of the road to the other ... A cafe proprietor saw me doing this one day, and chased me down the street. I thought he wanted to beat me up, but no—all he did was to put a coin in my hand and ask me to repeat the trick. Finally, he was so delighted that he asked me to come to his cafe and entertain the customers.〔Taking his abilities on the road, Ali met an Italian man in Cairo who signed him to a contract for music hall performances. Ali performed under contract throughout Europe and at times for heads of state. According to Ali, in or about 1914 he was summoned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to perform at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He stated that the Tsar "must have liked my performance because he awarded me a special decoration, which is now one of my most treasured possessions."〔 Following World War I, Ali began managing his own affairs and toured the world, learning more tricks as he went.〔 Ali came to the United States with Almina in the mid-1920s.〔 They performed together at fairs, carnivals and in vaudeville,〔 sometimes advertised under the collective name, "Hadji Ali & Co." Almina played the part of assistant in her father's act, billed in his shows as "The Princess".〔 Ali alone had a variety of stage names, including: "The Great Egyptian Miracle Man", "The Amazing Regurgitator", "The Egyptian Enigma", "The Human Aquarium", "The Human Volcano" and "The 9th Wonder of the Scientific World". Ali has been described as a "large, barrel-chested and bearded man... (cut ) an imposing figure in his Arab costume." Although Ali spoke a number of languages〔 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, it was reported that Almina acted as his interpreter in the United States and other places, as he did not speak English and was illiterate. Once he had gained some notoriety, Ali took on as his manager Hubert Julian,〔 a former colonel in the Abyssinian Air Force. Although he developed a significant following, even being named Judy Garland's favorite vaudevillian, Ali "remained more a sideshow curiosity than a true vaudeville headliner" according to at least one source.〔 Nevertheless, at the time of his death in 1937, Julian commented that Ali had "earned big money in America—$1,000 a week sometimes. I was building him up here (Europe ) and had a Continental tour arranged."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hadji Ali」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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