Gaston Sanchez
08/28/2021 14:01
Clarín.com
International
Updated 08/28/2021 2:45 PM
How many men in the world put up the cones of a
world champion
in
boxing
heavyweight or impact of a
bullet
of
gun
in your
belly
?
Without a doubt, few show such superhuman strength.
And surely the image of
Homer Simpson
receiving
cannon shots
in his belly while participating in the tours of a traveling circus
comes to mind
.
But behind this chapter there is a true story.
It is the American
Frank Anson Richards
.
A carnival and vaudeville entertainer who astonished audiences during the 1930s by demonstrating the incredible resilience of his stomach.
His most important act, and the one that gave him his nickname "
Cannonball,
" was being
hit
by a
cannonball
.
Vaudeville performer
But Frank also put his body's stamina into play in different ways.
He was born on February 20, 1887 in Minneapolis, Kansas, United States.
He grew up with his parents and two brothers in his hometown and served for the Army during
World War One
.
By 1924 he was already working as an artist in the
vaudeville
variety theater
.
He performed various numbers until he decided to invent his own act to see how much punishment he could take in the abdomen.
This test would change his career forever.
He withstood the blows of the public.
They often jumped on him or hit him with a hammer.
Punching and hammering
The audience lined up to
punch
him
one at a time.
Then it was climbing.
He went from beatings to
hammering
and then to being hit by battering rams.
In the end, they ended up
jumping
on his stomach.
The actor had to train his abdominal area daily so as not to get hurt.
The next step was to
be
hit
by a
world champion
in
boxing
: Jack Dempsey, whom the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO) ranked among the top 10 heavyweights in history.
The boxer, who held the world title between 1919 and 1926, hit him in the belly several times causing almost no reaction from "
Cannonball
."
The projectile weighed 47 kilograms and was launched 1.5 meters away.
Frank Richards
is believed to have
started out playing.
First he asked his friends to hit him in the stomach and there he found his great future.
He saw that he had resistance and decided to do something about it.
But there are also those who think that the Great Depression that the United States suffered in 1930 had something to do with it.
Well after Black Tuesday the world changed and unemployment and economic crises were common at that time.
Hit by a cannonball
His most famous act involved neither hammers, nor boxers, nor battering rams.
He probably did it for the first time in 1932 and the whole world was amazed.
An almost bald man, without a shirt, wearing only his pants and glasses, faced a
cannon that fired a 47-kilogram bullet into his abdomen.
It was one of the most surprising acts of that moment.
It was believed that there was some kind of visual effect or that the projectile was empty, but none of that was true.
The action was forceful.
The shot existed and was a meter and a half away.
Although there was a technical detail: no gunpowder was used to avoid the recoil of the barrel and contain the power.
Inside the metal tube a spring was used to generate the shot.
In any case, taking into account the weight of the bullet, the short distance and the speed of impact, possibly this act would have killed anyone else.
The band "Van Hallen" used the image of Frank Richards on their eleventh studio album.
Superhuman stamina
Frank "Cannonball" Richards
did this act twice a day during the height of his career and eventually became an icon of American popular culture.
The Simpsons
did an episode about him called "Homerpalooza", where Homer joins a traveling circus of "
freaks
" and in his acts shows that he can stop cannon shots with his abdomen.
But the Matt Groening series was not the only one.
He also had an appearance on the animated series "Phenomenoid!"
and it was the
cover
of the eleventh album
by the
hard rock band
Van Halen
released in 1998. Also, he was featured on the series "Ripley Believe It or Not!"
and "The magical godfathers".
"Cannonball" was also hit by battering rams in his abdomen.
Richards was someone who undoubtedly had
unusual
stamina
.
He tested the limits of
pain
, exceeding those of the average person.
Any one of his tests would have left most of them in the hospital, or even taken their lives.
But not him.
War veteran
As a veteran of
World War I, he
was a member of the American Postal Legion and gave various
free
shows
at military camps, veterans gatherings, and also for the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
, an American social action fraternity.
Despite being born in Minneapolis, Kansas, and having traveled the roads a lot for work, his home ended up being Long Beach, California.
Religion was also important in his life: he was a Christian and a member of the Pomona Presbyterian Church.
He lived to an advanced age despite the shots he was able to stop with his abdomen.
Frank "Cannonball" Richards
passed away on February 7, 1969 at age 81, and was interred in the Pomona, California cemetery.
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