Friday 29 November 2013

Alexander Joseph Dourof, 'last of the sword swallowers', Camberwell Old Cemetery



It must have been hard times and a fickle public’s dwindling interest in sword swallowing that drove this former performer in the Russian Royal Circus to the unglamorous business of selling shag piles and Axminsters to south east Londoners.  This proud man who as well as performing for the Tsar had been a Cavalry Officer in the British army would surely be disheartened to know that in anywhere with an SE postcode his name is now almost synonymous with carpet selling and that his principal legacy is Dourof’s Carpet Warehouse on Rushey Green in Catford.
 


Alexander Joseph Dourof was born into a well known family of circus performers in Russia in 1881. The Dourofs were animal trainers and Alexander was reputedly one of the first people to succeed in training a bear without breaking its back. Alexander and his extended family were performers in the Russian Royal Circus but fled the country in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. When they arrived in the UK Alexander and his wife Sophia Elsa entertained the troops fighting out the last months of the First World War. Alexander was forced to go one step further and join the military himself where he became a horse trainer in the Light Cavalry. After the war the family worked first at a circus in Wales and then travelled the rest of the country before putting down roots in Peckham where he seems to have largely given up performing and settled down as a carpet salesman. In 1943, at the age of 62, he came out of retirement to take part in a carnival scene in the James Mason film “The Man in Grey” where he could be seen swallowing a sword in the background. Unfortunately for reasons unknown the scene, the only film record ever made of Alexander in performance, was excised from the video and DVD versions and now seems to be lost forever. Apparently there is a plaque at Guy’s Hospital commemorating Alexander’s help during the development of the stomach pump, presumably swallowing rubber tubes rather than swords. He died in 1949 and was buried at Camberwell Old Cemetery.       

Alexander was married to Sophia Elsa, who was born in Russia in 1888 and was buried with her husband when she died in 1967. She too was a circus performer, a tight rope walker, and when the family came to England she worked with Alexander and their two eldest children (who were acrobats). Later she must have dedicated her life to her large family – the couple had ten children.   
  

 
Links

Almost all the details about Alexander Dourof's life come from  Swordswallowing.com.

http://www.swordswallow.com/halloffame.php

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for this great article ! This was my late great great grandparents.

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    1. Those are interesting ancestors that you have!

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    2. My great grandparents too Sophia so we are obviously related! I wonder how? Wonderful you have Mama’s name x

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    3. The Dourofs were my Grandparents and I lived with them right up until they died. I don't recognise any names in this comment page.
      I am interested to know of any relations that I and the rest of us Dourofs have.

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    4. I am very interested to know who you are as Alexander & Sophia were my Grandparents, a few years after my Grandad died my Grandma lived with us, my mother Elsie looked after her and she was happy to do so with my Mum and Dad and my elder sister who was always by her side for most of her life, even when she was dying. A lot of the above is guess work and untrue.
      Yes a sword swallower but his legacy were a group of shops in Pecham near to were he lived.
      We never saw any other cousins from her large family, they never came near except my cousin June.

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  2. Wonderful story of your great great grandparents, amazing looking people,I walk by everyday a look at their Grave

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  3. Alexander Dourof was my great great grandfather on my father’s side of the family. I have his sword that he would have used.

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    1. I wish my great great grandparents were half as exotic as yours! You aren't tempted to grease up the sword and try swallowing it I hope?

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    2. Hi
      I did not know his swords or any other equipment survived. I would like to see it
      Alan Dourof

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    3. Hi Alan, the original comment was made anonymously which means we aren't going to be able to trace the person who left it. Unless they pick up on these replies.

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  4. I’m a swordswallower who was lucky enough to meet one of his great grand sons whilst working at The Windmill Theatre a few years ago (unfortunately I have a memory like a fish and can’t remember his name). Was so lovely to talk to him about his ancestry though and to pay tribute to legacy of showmen performing this skill. As it happens, at the time I was living in Catford so imagine my surprise when I get off my bus home directly across from said carpet warehouse.

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    1. Good story Snookie. Did you realise at the time that the Carpet Warehouse had anything to do with Dourof the sword swallower or did you think that the name was just a coincidence?

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  5. Carol Kennedy (born Dourof)26 June 2024 at 19:01

    I am a granddaughter of Alexander Dourof and I wish I had continued the family name by giving it to my two sons. We are proud of our family history but I fear the name may one day disappear. My father, Albert, was the third child born to Alexander and Sophia and he also trained as an acrobat, but was too young to perform publicly. He used to teach me some acrobatic tricks when I was very young. He remembered the rule in the family that the animals should be fed before the family were allowed to sit down to breakfast. It was also well-known in the wider family that Alexander was a trainer who showed kindness to his animals and was the first trainer not to break a bear's back to enforce obedience. We now have a branch of the Dourof family in Australia although continuing through the female line. I emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, in 2006 and my cousin, another Dourof granddaughter, has been in Australia for decades.

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