Hanlon-Lees
Hanlon-Lees, The; Hanlon Brothers
A group of pre-Vaudevillian acrobats founded in the early 1840s, the Hanlon-Lees were world-renowned practitioners of "entortillation" (an invented word based upon the French term entortillage, which translates to "twisting" or "coiling") – that is, tumbling, juggling, and an early form of "knockabout" comedy (later popularized by such groups as the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges). The troupe consisted of the six Hanlon brothers and their mentor, established acrobat Professor John Lees.