Cutting Edge Innertainment

03/09/2026

Book sighting in the wild! To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing sighted at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art bookstore in Sarasota FL today!

Now nominated for both a Pulitzer Prizes and the prestigious Circus Historical Society Stuart Thayer Award! Marc and I will both be attending and lecturing at the CHS Convention in Baraboo WI in June!

If you see To The Hilt in the wild, snap a pic and let us know, and we’ll feature your picture!

Get your own copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764368826

04/29/2025

Mighty Ajax performed as a sword swallower at Coney Island for more than 50 years!

In this episode of To The Hilt Deep Dive Podcast, we interview two grandsons of sword swallower Joseph Milana, better known as Mighty Ajax, who started performing at the age of 18, and went on to tour perform with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Europe at 19, with Coney Island and Dreamland and Wonderland Sideshows for over 50 years, with Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, Hubert’s Museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and with many other circuses and sideshows over 55 years without a serious injury!

Mighty Ajax is one of more than a hundred sword swallowers featured in the book, To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing, by Dan Meyer and sideshow historian Marc Hartzman (Schiffer Publishing), now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Target, Walmart and more:

For more on To The Hilt book, visit
https://ToTheHiltBook.com

Buy To The Hilt book on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3EbUsQf
https://amzn.to/47Qqw6p

Listen to To The Hilt on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/56cY7j2jQrPuCv9KzyoIrT?si=c32911e3330d4445

Amazon Music, Audible and Alexa:
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a5fc742d-27f2-4f71-b021-bac32fdb9f2d/episodes/cb480c4c-0bf9-4bd5-aec7-d31407b5c887/to-the-hilt-deep-dive-podcast-a-sword-swallower%E2%80%99s-history-of-sword-swallowing-historical-bios-to-the-hilt-deep-dive-podcast-ep-1-10-mighty-ajax-a-sword-swallower%E2%80%99s-history-of-sword-swallowing

Apple Podcast and ITunes:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/to-the-hilt-deep-dive-podcast-ep-1-10-mighty-ajax/id1806254176?i=1000702002200

iHeart Radio:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1333-to-the-hilt-deep-dive-pod-271786872/episode/to-the-hilt-deep-dive-podcast-271786879/

Listen to over 24 other To The Hilt Podcasts, both historical and modern living sword swallowers:

To The Hilt Podcasts
https://www.swordswallow.com/podcasts.php

04/24/2025

Jim Ball To The Hilt Podcast:

At 89 years old, Jim “Lucky” Ball holds a rare triple distinction in sword swallowing: He’s the world’s oldest living sword swallower; When he learned at age 12, he was the world’s youngest; and having swallowed steel for 77 years, he’s the world’s longest-performing sword swallower. Jim is also unique in that both his parents were legendary sword swallowers — John “Lucky” Ball and his mother, Estelline Pike who trained him — both who performed with Ringling Bros, Royal American Shows, and many other shows.

Jim’s career took him across the U.S. and Canada, working with legendary showmen like Dick Best, Walter Wanous, and Alex Linton. From Hubert’s Museum in New York to Madison Square Garden with Ringling Bros Circus to What’s My Line? in 1958, and a stint in the army in between, Jim has many adventures to share in this episode.

Jim Ball is one of more than a hundred sword swallowers featured in the book, To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing, published by Schiffer Publishing.

For more on To The Hilt, visit
https://ToTheHiltBook.com

Buy To The Hilt on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3EbUsQf

Listen on Spotify
https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/marc-hartzman1/episodes/Jim-Lucky-Ball-The-Worlds-Oldest-Sword-Swallower-e31uq68

Listen on Amazon Music & Alexa
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/c384fc38-63da-420f-aa66-0fa2c236892d/episodes/35618890-1275-4eb1-96b6-148acec607a4/to-the-hilt-jim-%E2%80%9Clucky%E2%80%9D-ball-the-world%E2%80%99s-oldest-sword-swallower

Listen on Apple Podcast & ITunes
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/to-the-hilt/id1807844977?i=100070472743

Listen on iHeartRadio
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-to-the-hilt-272251667/episode/jim-lucky-ball-the-worlds-oldest-273306584/

02/20/2025

Deep Dive: Happy World Sword Swallower’s Day, February 22, 2025!

On World Sword Swallower’s Day 2025, we are honoring the memories of past sword swallowers Murrugun the Mystic, Scott Nelson, Nick Penney, Johnny Fox, Count Desmond, Hans Rosling and many others at participating Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museums around the world.

If you’re a sword swallower, the media, or someone who loves the weird, bizarre and unusual, come join us at a Ripley’s near you on World Sword Swallower’s Day 2/22/25, raise a sword, hug a sword swallower, and come CELEBRATE with us!

World Sword Swallower’s Day is also the world debut pre-release of the new book on sword swallowing at participating Ripley’s:

To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing

Drops February 28, 2025 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Target, Walmart and wherever else you buy books:

For more info, visit:

https://ToTheHiltbook.com
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764368826

Sword Swallowers Assoc Intl SSAI
http://www.swordswallow.org

World Sword Swallower’s Day:
https://swordswallow.org/wssd/

Video:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bNRJhxZtLjY

Happy World Sword Swallower’s Day, February 22, 2025 at participating Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museums around the world!This year we are honoring the memo...

02/17/2025

Just realized it was 10 years ago that I was in Time Magazine!

In honor of World Sword Swallower’s Day 2025, here are

Time: 5 Penetrating Facts About Sword Swallowing

These tales are hard to swallow!



https://time.com/3721173/sword-swallowing-world-sword-swallowers-day/