Koringa

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For the river in India, see Koringa River.

Renée Bernard, known as Koringa (1913-1976) was a French circus performer and snake charmer.[1][2][3] She was billed as the "Only Female Fakir in the World" and "the only female yogi".[4]

Early life[edit]

Renée Bernard was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1913.[1][2] She was five feet tall and of French Indochina ancestry.[5][6] However, her promotional materials claimed that Koringa was born in Rajisthan, India, having been orphaned at the age of three and raised by fakirs who had taught her their skills.[2][3][4] One English reporter wrote that she only spoke Spanish and German.[7]

Career[edit]

Cyril Bertram Mills of the Bertram Mills Circus discovered and recruited Bernard in 1937 when she was performing an act involving climbing barefoot up a ladder made of swords for a small French circus.[1][8] Her act also included dancing on razor blades and hot coals.[3]

Mills and Bernard came up with the name Koringa and fabricated an Indian backstory for her.[2][9] She was billed as "The Only Female Fakir in the World".[1][3] This stage persona gave her a cultural identity that was popular with British and French audiences in the time.[10]

Her acts included four female assistants in Eastern-style costumes, five crocodiles, two pythons, two boa constrictors, and having a concrete block broken on her stomach.[1][2][6] Koringa act sometimes including pushing pins and needles into her skin and hanging by her throat from the sharp edge of a sword.[6] She would also enter a state of self-hypnosis and, then, was placed on the sharp edge of two metal plates; a reporter noted that the plates were sharp enough to cut paper and sharpen a pencil.[6] In a variation of this act, she lay across the sharp edge of swords; then, a large stone was placed on her and broken with a hammer.[7]

Her signature act was hypnotizing the eight-foot-long crocodile named Churchill and standing on his head while wearing several snakes around her neck.[11][3][6]Her act concluded with her being buried alive for five minutes in a sand pit filled with snakes or in a coffin filled and covered with sand.[3][5][7] In another variation of her act, she dressed as a female Tarzan, with a leopard print costume.[12]

In 1937, she was featured on the cover of Look magazine.[4] By 1938, she was the leading act for Mills Brothers.[1] On 8 July 1938, Koringa and one of her crocodiles visited Fenwicks department store in Newcastle upon Tyne at the invitation of Arthur Fenwick, one of the directors and a circus enthusiast.[13] By November 1939, it was believed that Koringa earned more than the British prime minister.[14]

By 1942, Koringa had left the Mills Circus and was headlining with a vaudeville tour..[15] In February 1942, she lost control of her largest crocodile and it dived into the orchestra pit at the Palace in Preston.[15] Despite the scattering of the musicians and damage to instruments, Koringa regained control of the reptile and continued her act.[15] The next night, one of her smaller crocodiles bit her chest, below her shoulder.[15] She continued the performance but was unable to complete her show the next night because of the injury which required six stitches.[15] However, a reviewer in The Guardian noted, that her act "belongs to the circus rather than vaudeville."[16]

She also appeared as the headline act in other circuses, including Tower Circus in Blackpool, Cirque Pinder [fr] in France, and Boswell Wilkie Circus in South Africa.[1][2] In July 1955, Koringa was bitten by one of her crocodiles while working on a movie scene at Pinewood Studios, requiring her to be hospitalized.[17] She stopped touring in 1960 but continued to perform in France.[1] She retired in 1968.[1]

Free French Forces[edit]

During World War II, Koringa joined the Free French Forces, participating in secret missions.[1]

Fictional and theatrical representations and exhibitions[edit]

Koringa was one of the artists featured in a 2018 exhibition Circus! Show of Shows at the Weston Park Museum, Sheffield.[11]

South African writer Finuala Dowling's 2022 novel The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers has Koringa as a central character.[18][19] Koringa is one of the female artists featured in Marisa Carnesky's 2022 production Showwomen.[20][21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Toulmin, Vanessa (Summer 2007). "Koringa: From Biknar to Blackpool". Cabinet (26). Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Koringa, 1913 - 1976". Discover Our Archives. University of Sheffield. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Cordner, Chris (20 June 2022). "The crocodile handler who performed on the Hartlepool stage - with snakes around her neck". Harlepool Mall. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Diamond, Debra; Aitken, Molly Emma (2013). Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Smithsonian Institution. p. 259. ISBN 978-1-58834-459-5 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ a b Ricketts, Charles (2003). The Boswells: The Story of a South African Circus. Charles Ricketts. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-620-30717-8 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ a b c d e Delmar, Anton (4 April 1948). "Jungle Girl Tames Cros and Pythons". Omaha World-Herald. Omaha, Nebraska. p. 85. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c "Girl Fakir at Olympia". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. 23 December 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Mills, Cyril Bertram (1967). Bertram Mills Circus: Its Story. Hutchinson. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-906798-22-5.
  9. ^ "Koringa". Musée du Cirque. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  10. ^ Diamond, Debra; Aitken, Molly Emma (2013). Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Smithsonian Institution. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-58834-459-5 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ a b Katz, Brigit (27 July 2018). "Black and Female Circus Artists Take Center Ring in New Museum Show". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  12. ^ Chireau, Yvonne (28 July 2014). "Circus Freaks, White Voodoo Women, and the Amazing Afro". Professor Chireau's Academic Hoodoo. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  13. ^ Henderson, Tony (22 May 2019). "Why visitors to Fenwick's in Newcastle once came face to face with a crocodile". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Prysylla's Diary". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. 22 November 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Crocodiles Mess Up Vaude Act". The Billboard. 54 (15): 13. 14 April 1942 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ "The Hippodrome". The Guardian. London, England. 24 February 1942. p. 6. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Alligator Bites Circus Woman". Birmingham Evening Mail. Birmingham, England. 15 July 1955. p. 7. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Wright, Laurence (11 May 2023). "Koringa and the Professor: beating some 'fictive' bounds in Finuala Dowling's The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers". ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews: 1–9. doi:10.1080/0895769X.2023.2210168. S2CID 258644367.
  19. ^ Verduyn, Monique (11 May 2022). "Book Review: Is it or isn't it a novel? Whatever, it's a great read". BusinessLive. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  20. ^ Wyver, Kate (9 May 2022). "'It's hard to find a teacher for sword-swallowing': the thrilling skills of circus showwomen". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Showwomxn". The Lowry. Retrieved 4 December 2023.

External links[edit]

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