Fascinating and tragic tale of one of the performers at the Glasgow Empire Exhibition.
'While I knew holiday camp entrepreneur Billy Butlin ran the amusement park at the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Bellahouston Park, I never knew about one of his star turns - ladies and gentlemen, live from Germany, meet Camilla Mayer, the 'Stratosphere Girl'!
Camilla, brave soul, would - three times a day - climb a 137ft tall flexible steel mast to perform a remarkable range of acrobatic stunts whilst balanced on a two inch platform.
My knees go weak at the very thought, especially since the summer of 1938 was one of the wettest ever recorded in Scotland.
Sadly, her Glasgow engagement was almost her last.
A few months later, while performing a Saturday night show at the Deutschland Halle, Berlin, the 21-year-old crashed from a height of 60 feet, and was killed.
According to one report, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, was present at the performance, broadcasting how happily the German people were spending their evenings.
The crowded audience were watching the girl’s acrobatic feats, performed at the top of a 60ft. steel tubular mast, when the mast snapped without warning. Miss Mayer fell into the arena striking a wooden balustrade. She died in hospital.
Officials of the hall carried out an immediate inspection of the mast. It was found that it had snapped because of bad material.'
