The hardest act I ever had to follow, bar none, was the boxing kangaroo on the Hubert Castle Circus. Here’s Woody Allen battling a kangaroo when he was playing ringmaster at the Hippodrome in 1966.
I’ve seen feistier kangaroos, but I suspect this critter was intimidated by Allen’s reputation as a take-no-prisoners pugillist.
Update: That is, if you can call a film clip from 1896 an “update.” I just came across this 27-second clip of a boy boxing a kangaroo, part of a 5-minute Edison film called A 1896 Fairground Programme. You can see the whole film on Europa Film Treasures.
