Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

"Do you want to be adored by the ladies?...instead of draping yourself in unflattering clothesput on a more natural garb, which does not hide your best features."

This sartorial suggestion is included in the 19th century memoir of France's most famous trapeze artist. This high-flying Frenchman, who -- incidentally -- invented the trapeze, performed before delighted circus audiences in Paris and London during the 1850s and 60s, dazzling crowds with his spectacular aerial somersaults.

Our French acrobat's memoir hints that he was destined for the circus life, since, as he claims, his infant cries were silenced only when he was hung upside-down from a horizontal bar. Later in life, he would be the inspiration for the popular novelty song "That Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," written in 1860.

The Daring Young Man was so serious about his appearance that he designed and wore a novel costume for his aerial performances: a tightly clinging, low-necked, one-piece garment. The 19th century acrobat's skin-tight garb was the prototype for the garment still worn by dancers, gymnasts and other athletes today. It is called the leotard, after its inventor and promoter, Jules Leotard, the original Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, who boldly boasted that his special attire did not "hide his best features."

Radio Script > Leotard