# Koringa

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{{Short description|French circus artist (1913–1976)}}
{{for|the river in India|Koringa River}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}'''Renée Bernard''', known as '''Koringa''' (1913–1976) was a French circus performer and snake charmer.<ref name="toulmin">{{cite journal |last1=Toulmin |first1=Vanessa|author-link1=Vanessa Toulmin |title=Koringa: From Biknar to Blackpool |journal=Cabinet |date=Summer 2007 |issue=26 |url=https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/26/toulmin.php |access-date=4 December 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="sheffield">{{cite web |title=Koringa, 1913–1976 |url=https://archives.shef.ac.uk/agents/people/294 |website=Discover Our Archives |publisher=University of Sheffield |access-date=4 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="cordner">{{Cite news |last=Cordner |first=Chris |date=June 20, 2022 |title=The crocodile handler who performed on the Hartlepool stage – with snakes around her neck |work=Harlepool Mall |url=https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/the-crocodile-handler-who-performed-on-the-hartlepool-stage-with-snakes-around-her-neck-3736794 |access-date=December 6, 2023}}</ref> She was billed as the "Only Female Fakir in the World" and "the only female yogi".<ref name="diamond">{{Cite book |last1=Diamond |first1=Debra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8NvDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Koringa%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT260 |title=Yoga: The Art of Transformation |last2=Aitken |first2=Molly Emma |date=2013 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=978-1-58834-459-5 |page=259 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Renée Bernard was born in [Bordeaux](/source/Bordeaux), France, in 1913.<ref name="toulmin" /><ref name="sheffield" /> She was five feet tall and of [French Indochina](/source/French_Indochina) ancestry.<ref name="ricketts">{{Cite book |last=Ricketts |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vv15AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Koringa%22+-wikipedia |title=The Boswells: The Story of a South African Circus |date=2003 |publisher=Charles Ricketts |isbn=978-0-620-30717-8 |page=72 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="delmar">{{Cite news |last=Delmar |first=Anton |date=1948-04-04 |title=Jungle Girl Tames Cros and Pythons |pages=85 |work=Omaha World-Herald |location=Omaha, Nebraska |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-world-herald-jungle-girl-tames-cro/136398692/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> However, her promotional materials claimed that Koringa was born in [Rajisthan, India](/source/Rajasthan%2C_India), having been orphaned at the age of three and raised by [fakir](/source/fakir)s who had taught her their skills.<ref name="sheffield" /><ref name="cordner" /><ref name="diamond" /> One English reporter wrote that she only spoke Spanish and German.<ref name="telegraph">{{Cite news |date=1937-12-23 |title=Girl Fakir at Olympia |pages=6 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London, England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-girl-fakir-at-olympi/136399476/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Career ==
Cyril Bertram Mills of the [Bertram Mills Circus](/source/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.<ref name="toulmin" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mills |first=Cyril Bertram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMIKAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Koringa%22+-wikipedia |title=Bertram Mills Circus: Its Story |date=1967 |publisher=Hutchinson |isbn=978-0-906798-22-5 |page=87 |language=en}}</ref> Her act also included dancing on razor blades and hot coals.<ref name="cordner" />

Mills and Bernard came up with the name Koringa and fabricated an Indian backstory for her.<ref name="sheffield" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Koringa |url=https://www.museeducirquealainfrere.com/Les_Tresors/Koringa/Koringa.html |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=Musée du Cirque |language=en}}</ref> She was billed as "The Only Female Fakir in the World".<ref name="toulmin" /><ref name="cordner" /> This stage persona gave her a cultural identity that was popular with British and French audiences in the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Diamond |first1=Debra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8NvDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Koringa%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT260 |title=Yoga: The Art of Transformation |last2=Aitken |first2=Molly Emma |date=2013 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=978-1-58834-459-5 |page=261 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Her acts included four female assistants in Eastern-style costumes, five [crocodile](/source/crocodile)s, two pythons, two boa constrictors, and having a concrete block broken on her stomach.<ref name="toulmin" /><ref name="sheffield" /><ref name="delmar" /> Koringa act sometimes including pushing pins and needles into her skin and hanging by her throat from the sharp edge of a sword.<ref name="delmar" /> 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.<ref name="delmar" /> 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.<ref name="telegraph" />

Her signature act was [hypnotizing](/source/Hypnotising) the eight-foot-long crocodile named Churchill and standing on his head while wearing several snakes around her neck.<ref name="katz" /><ref name="cordner" /><ref name="delmar" />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.<ref name="cordner" /><ref name="ricketts" /><ref name="telegraph" /> In another variation of her act, she dressed as a female [Tarzan](/source/Tarzan), with a leopard print costume.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chireau |first=Yvonne |date=2014-07-28 |title=Circus Freaks, White Voodoo Women, and the Amazing Afro |url=https://academichoodoo.com/2014/07/28/circus-freaks-white-voodoo-women-and-the-amazing-afro/ |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=Professor Chireau's Academic Hoodoo |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1937, she was featured on the cover of ''[Look](/source/Look_(American_magazine))'' magazine.<ref name="diamond" /> By 1938, she was the leading act for Mills Brothers.<ref name="toulmin" /> On 8 July 1938, Koringa and one of her crocodiles visited [Fenwicks](/source/Fenwick_(department_store)) department store in [Newcastle upon Tyne](/source/Newcastle_upon_Tyne) at the invitation of Arthur Fenwick, one of the directors and a circus enthusiast.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Henderson |first1=Tony |title=Why visitors to Fenwick's in Newcastle once came face to face with a crocodile |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/visitors-fenwicks-newcastle-once-came-16306777 |access-date=4 December 2023 |work=Chronicle Live |date=22 May 2019 |language=en}}</ref> By November 1939, it was believed that Koringa earned more than the [British prime minister](/source/British_prime_minister).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1939-11-22 |title=Prysylla's Diary |pages=8 |work=Evening Chronicle |location=Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-chronicle-prysyllas-diary/136400800/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> 

By 1942, Koringa had left the Mills Circus and was headlining with a [vaudeville](/source/vaudeville) tour..<ref name="billboard">{{Cite journal |date=April 14, 1942 |title=Crocodiles Mess Up Vaude Act |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Koringa%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT12 |journal=The Billboard |volume=54 |issue=15 |page=13 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In February 1942, she lost control of her largest crocodile and it dived into the orchestra pit at the Palace in Preston.<ref name="billboard" /> Despite the scattering of the musicians and damage to instruments, Koringa regained control of the reptile and continued her act.<ref name="billboard" /> The next night, one of her smaller crocodiles bit her chest, below her shoulder.<ref name="billboard" /> She continued the performance but was unable to complete her show the next night because of the injury which required six stitches.<ref name="billboard" /> However, a reviewer in ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' noted, that her act "belongs to the circus rather than vaudeville."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1942-02-24 |title=The Hippodrome |page=6 |work=The Guardian |location=London, England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-the-hippodrome/136398081/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

She also appeared as the headline act in other circuses, including [Tower Circus](/source/Tower_Circus) in [Blackpool](/source/Blackpool), {{ill|Cirque Pinder|fr}} in France, and [Boswell Wilkie Circus](/source/Boswell_Wilkie_Circus) in South Africa.<ref name="toulmin" /><ref name="sheffield" /> In July 1955, Koringa was bitten by one of her crocodiles while working as an animal tamer on the film ''[An Alligator Named Daisy](/source/An_Alligator_Named_Daisy)'' at [Pinewood Studios](/source/Pinewood_Studios), requiring her to be hospitalized.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-07-15 |title=Alligator Bites Circus Woman |pages=7 |work=Birmingham Evening Mail |location=Birmingham, England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-evening-mail-alligator-bites/136401195/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Derek |date=Aug 27, 1955 |title=They're Glad This Film Has Ended |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1771138903 |journal=Picturegoer |volume=30 |issue=1060 |pages=9 |id={{ProQuest|1771138903}}}}</ref> She stopped touring in 1960 but continued to perform in France.<ref name="toulmin" /> She retired in 1968.<ref name="toulmin" />

== Free French Forces ==
During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), Koringa joined the [Free French Forces](/source/Free_French_Forces), participating in secret missions.<ref name="toulmin" />

==Fictional and theatrical representations and exhibitions==

Koringa was one of the artists featured in a 2018 exhibition ''Circus! Show of Shows'' at the [Weston Park Museum](/source/Weston_Park_Museum), Sheffield.<ref name="katz">{{cite news |last1=Katz |first1=Brigit |title=Black and Female Circus Artists Take Center Ring in New Museum Show |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hidden-stories-black-and-female-circus-artists-come-light-new-exhibition-180969766/ |access-date=4 December 2023 |work=Smithsonian Magazine |date=27 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

South African writer [Finuala Dowling](/source/Finuala_Dowling)'s 2022 novel ''The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers'' has Koringa as a central character.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Laurence |date=11 May 2023 |title=Koringa and the Professor: beating some 'fictive' bounds in Finuala Dowling's The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers |journal=ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=473–481 |doi=10.1080/0895769X.2023.2210168|s2cid=258644367 }}</ref><ref name="verduyn">{{cite news |last1=Verduyn |first1=Monique |date=11 May 2022 |title=Book Review: Is it or isn't it a novel? Whatever, it's a great read |language=en-ZA |work=BusinessLive |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/life/books/2022-05-11-book-review-is-it-or-isnt-it-a-novel-whatever-its-a-great-read/ |access-date=4 December 2023}}</ref> Koringa is one of the female artists featured in [Marisa Carnesky](/source/Marisa_Carnesky)'s 2022 production ''Showwomen''.<ref name="wyver">{{cite news |last1=Wyver |first1=Kate |date=9 May 2022 |title='It's hard to find a teacher for sword-swallowing': the thrilling skills of circus showwomen |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/09/its-hard-to-find-a-teacher-for-sword-swallowing-the-thrilling-skills-of-circus-showwomen |access-date=4 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="lowry">{{cite web |title=Showwomxn |url=https://thelowry.com/whats-on/showwomxn/ |access-date=4 December 2023 |website=The Lowry}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |title=Koringa |url=https://www.museeducirquealainfrere.com/Les_Tresors/Koringa/Koringa.html |website=Musée du Cirque |language=fr}} ''Collection of photographs of Koringa''
* {{imdbname|2862827}}
* {{cite web |title= Koringa, 1913–1976, Archives|url=https://archives.shef.ac.uk/agents/people/294 |website=University of Sheffield |language=en}}

{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koringa}}
Category:1913 births
Category:1976 deaths
Category:French circus performers
Category:People from Bordeaux

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Koringa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koringa) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koringa?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.