{{short description|French vaudeville performance artist}} {{Infobox person | name = Mac Norton | alt = | image = Mac Norton l'homme aquarium.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Claude Louis Delair | birth_date = {{birth year|1876}} | birth_place = Lyon, France | other_names = "The Human Aquarium" | occupation = Vaudeville performance artist | death_date = {{death year and age|1953|1876}} | death_place = }}
'''Claude Louis Delair''' (1876 – 1953) was a French vaudeville performance artist and magician known as '''Mac Norton'''. He was called "The Human Aquarium" for his controlled regurgitation of live animals including fish, turtles and frogs as well as his ability to water spout.<ref name="clan_">{{Cite web| title = THE HUMAN AQUARIUM| author = McNaughton, Ken| work = clanmacnaughton.net| date = | access-date = 23 August 2020| url = https://www.clanmacnaughton.net/docs_articles/MAC_NORTON.pdf}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=October 2024}}<ref name="scie_Scie">{{Cite web| title = Science Source - Claude Delair AKA Mac Norton "The Human Aquarium"| author = | work = sciencesource.com| date = | access-date = 23 August 2020| url = https://www.sciencesource.com/archive/Claude-Delair-AKA-Mac-Norton--The-Human-Aquarium--SS2869676.html}}</ref><ref name="vult_Davi">{{Cite web| title = David Blaine Went on an Epic Quest to Learn How to Regurgitate Frogs| author = Wrighrt, Tolly| work = Vulture| date = 2017-01-19| access-date = 23 August 2020| url = https://www.vulture.com/2017/01/how-david-blaine-learned-to-regurgitate-frogs.html}}</ref>
==Career== thumb|A circus poster promoting "The Aquarium Man" Delair was born in 1876 in Lyon, France. He began his vaudeville career in 1894 as a singer. He reportedly took the name Mac Norton after a bodyguard of Mary Queen of Scots. He later began his career in the regurgitation act. He was able to drink gallons of water and regurgitate it at will. He could control the force of the stream of water and could gently press it out to wash his hands or force it out rapidly.<ref name="clan_"/>
Delair became known as the "Human Aquarium" when he began swallowing frogs, goldfish,<ref name="nickell">{{Cite book |last=Nickell |first=Joe |title=Secrets of the sideshows |date=2005 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-7179-2 |location=Lexington, Ky. |oclc=65377460|author-link=Joe Nickell}}</ref>{{rp|227}} and turtles. He could keep turtles and frogs alive in his body for approximately two hours. He traveled to Paris, Brussels, Antwerp and Russia. Delair performed in front of leaders such as Nicholas II of Russia. In 1915 and 1916 he traveled to South America, but never visited the United States because of objections from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.<ref name="clan_"/>
Harry Houdini noted in his book ''Miracle Mongers and Their Methods'' that on one occasion Delair had lost count of the animals he swallowed and feared he had digested a frog.<ref name="Houdini1920">{{cite book|author=Harry Houdini|title=Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Exposé of the Modus Operandi of Fire Eaters, Heat Resisters, Poison Eaters, Venomous Reptile Defiers, Sword Swallowers, Human Ostriches, Strong Men, Etc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l0u-YrUcJeMC|year=1920|publisher=E.P. Dutton}}</ref> Houdini also wrote that Delair was the only frog swallower who performed their act in a "dignified manner".<ref name="Houdini1920" />
==Death== Delair died in 1953 at the age of 77.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}
==See also== * Performance artist * Professional regurgitation
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{ACArt}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Mac}} Category:1876 births Category:1953 deaths Category:20th-century French artists Category:French performance artists Category:French vaudeville performers