A story of love and tragedy between a Gordon woman and an acrobat
Local historian Brian Binstad discusses the discovery of a collection of artifacts belonging to Victoria Lidberg, a Gordon, Wisconsin woman who married acrobat Paul Lorenzo Perkinson in 1926 and toured the country performing death-defying acts 125 feet in the air. The collection, donated by Victoria's nephew Andy Worsley, includes costumes, photos, posters, and a massive backdrop from their shows. The conversation also reveals that the Gordon Cemetery is unexpectedly home to several other former circus and show performers.
Summary
In this episode of Archive Dive, hosted by Maria Lockwood of the Superior Telegram, local historian Brian Binstad recounts the remarkable story of Victoria Lidberg, a Gordon, Wisconsin woman who met acrobat Paul Lorenzo Perkinson while ushering at Superior's Palace Theatre. The two married in October 1926 in Chicago and went on to become nationally recognized performers, executing acrobatic feats atop swaying poles 125 feet in the air — taller than Gordon's 100-foot fire tower — with no safety nets. Victoria herself was noted for walking tightropes at 100 feet without a balancing rod, and audiences reportedly screamed and fainted watching their acts.
Their career spanned state fairs, county fairs, circuses, and carnivals across the country, with an indoor vaudeville-style act featuring table balancing during the off-season. Paul built his own equipment, which was intentionally designed to sway at the top. The couple performed under names such as 'Lorenzo and Vicky' and 'The Great Lorenzo.' Their careers ended tragically in 1942 when Paul fell to his death during a Soldiers and Sailors Reunion Show in Salem, Illinois, after the pole he was performing on broke. Victoria, who was with him at the time, later recalled that Paul was knocked unconscious before he fell, contradicting sensationalized newspaper accounts of him clawing to save himself.
Following Paul's death, Victoria remarried twice but reportedly never stopped loving him. She is buried in Gordon under her last husband's name, Fournier, but her gravestone bears the name 'Lorenzo' — a testament to her enduring love. Paul is buried in Showman's Rest, a Chicago cemetery founded by Buffalo Bill Cody specifically for circus and show performers, marked by giant elephant statues at its entrance.
Binstad describes how the collection came to him through Victoria's nephew, Andy Worsley of Washington State, who was downsizing and wanted the artifacts to go to the Gordon Wascott Historical Society. The collection arrived in large steamer trunks inside a massive shipping cube and temporarily ended up in Binstad's neighbor's garage. The trunks contain costumes, promotional photographs, posters, disassembled props from their table balancing act, and a large backdrop — estimated at 15 to 30 feet in size — that has reportedly never been unrolled since the last show. A group of historians and museum professionals was assembled to evaluate and help steward the collection, and plans are underway to display portions of it at Gordon Good Neighbor Days, with costumes being prepared by Ellie Connolly and her daughter Rainbow, who works in textile and costume curation.
The episode concludes with a surprising revelation that the Gordon Cemetery contains other hidden show business figures: an unmarked grave of former strongman Anthony Yakin (stage name Tony Hart), who performed at the Chicago World's Fair, toured with Ringling Brothers, and assisted heavyweight boxing champion Jim Jeffries; and 'Candy the Clown,' a registered clown with American Clown Clubs International whom Binstad remembers from childhood making balloon poodles, who performed for the Shriners and raised money for children's causes.
Key Insights
- Brian Binstad argues that Paul Lorenzo did not desperately claw to save himself as newspapers reported — Victoria, who was with him on the apparatus, said Paul was knocked unconscious when his head struck something during the fall, making the sensationalized newspaper accounts factually inaccurate.
- Binstad notes that Paul built his own performance equipment himself, and the swaying and bending of the pole top was intentional engineering rather than structural weakness, making their act even more technically remarkable.
- Binstad observes that Victoria's gravestone bearing the name 'Lorenzo' despite her being buried under her third husband's name, Fournier, is widely understood by community members to signal that Paul was the true love of her life.
- Binstad reveals that the Gordon Cemetery contains an unmarked, unrecorded grave of Anthony Yakin, a former world-class strongman who performed at the Chicago World's Fair and trained with heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries, yet left virtually no trace in local community memory or cemetery records.
- Binstad points out that because the Lorenzo and Vicky act was a traveling show, the artifacts were literally designed to be packed into trunks and transported — making the trunks themselves historically significant objects and the collection naturally suited to periodic exhibition rather than permanent display.
Topics
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