circus report, may 25, 1981, vol. 10, no. 21 · artistry in the air and was followed by the ......

Number 21 May 25.1981

EARL TEGGE

Show DatesBentley Bros. Circus

May 25 Monterey* Ca.26-27 Paso Robles28-29 San Bernardino

Big John Strong CircusMay 25-26 Simi Valley, Ca.

Garden Int'l CircusMay 28 Lamar, Colo.

Carson & Barnes CircusMay 25 Ponca City, Okla

26 Bartlesville27 Joplin, Mo.28 Lamar29 Butler30 Belton

Hubert Castle CircusMay 25-26 Red Deer.Albta

27 Drumheller28-30 Edmonton

Coronas CircusMay 29-31 Shreveport, La

Hamid-Morton CircusMay 26-30 Pittsburgh, Pa

Hoxie Bros. CircusMay 25 Wilmington,Dela

26 Elkton, Md.28 Bridgeton, NJ

29*30 Paterson31 Clifton

Hubler Int'l CircusMay 29-31 Cedar Rapids,

Iowa

M & M CircusMay 26-28 Hastings, Nebr.

30-31 Grand Island

Ringlmg-Barnum - BlueMay 26-31 Providence, R.I.

Ringling Barnum - Redto May 31 New York, NY

Royal Crown CircusMay 24-30 Ft. Worth, Tex.

May 25,1981

Royal Imperial CircusMay 28-31 Phoenix, Ariz.

- - M A G I C - - - -

Florida Magic AssociationMay 29-31 Winter Park.FIa

Doug HenningMay 26-June 1 Las Vegas,

Nevada

Krystali's KavalcadeMay 25 Ft. Collins, Colo.

26 Loveland27 Greeley28 Longmont

29-30 Arvada31-June 1 Lakewood

Magic JewelerMay 26 Berlin, Germany

pf. Miller Magic Time USAMay 25 Mansfield, Pa.

26 Williamsport27 Loch Haven28 Lewistown29 Carlisle30 Chambersburg31 Spring Grove

Felix SnipesMay 29-30 Liberal, Kans.

StarfireMay 26 Beaumont,Tex.

29-30 Lake Charles, La

- - - -OTHER DATES- —

Burr's Fun-0-RamaMay 26-31 Aubum, Mass.

James H. Drew Expositionto May 30 Marmet, W. Va.

Hall & Christto June 2 St. Louis, Mo.

Los LatinosMay 26-30 Pittsburgh, Pa.

Trudy's DalmationsMay 29-31 Edmonds. Albta

Hil I had to take some timeoff and get a few things backto normal at home. Wouldn'tyou know it, my first day backand we get hit by a rain storm.

This lot's like quick sand andeverything is a mess. It's goingto be rough getting the showloaded tonight.Daml There goes my boot!How's a girl supposed to lookglamorous around one of thesethings?

Beany-Cole CircusMay 18-20Willingboro,NJ

26-28 Paramus

HUBERT CASTLE CIRCUS

BY ALTON JONES

The Hubert Castle Circus had a successfulrun of four days, produing and directing forthe Murah Temple of Indianapolis, Apr. 23-26.The writer visited the Sunday Matinee on

Apr. 26th. The Murat Temple band entertained before the show, under the direction ofDave Thrasher. This was followed by a par-ade of the Murat uniformed units, inclduingtheir Oriental Band, the Gun Club, miniaturespeedway cars, and the Potentate who rodea fancy horse and his Divan, all well dressedand supporting him.

Maestro Gregory Toca was the band leaderand did a masterful job with the timing ofevents, possibly another Merle Evans.

Miss Roberta provided a dramatic openingwith the Slide for Life. She was followed bythe Paulsons and the Winns with their motorcycle escapades on the high wire. Then MissGilda and her Royal Palace Leopards stun-ned the audience as she showed the only leo-pard to walk on its hind legs.After some Clown Hysteria, Miss Golda and

Senor Vinicio performed on the trapeze withthe Braun Duo, the Pinson Duo and the Paul-son Duo, cradle acts. The juggling section wasnext with the Francarros, Dionne and Armando giving a splendid performance from theirrespective countries - Spain, France, Italy.The Jorge Rossel comedy car had everyoneon the edge of their seats with the perform-ance of this unpredictable car.Then came the 'tail wagging' display of the

Wilson's Canine Revue, Trudy's Dalmatiansand the Adams Dog Display. They w ere excellent.

Following the Bustling Buffoonery and theClown Alley shenanigans, the Crist iani Bros,on the bounding trampoline did many diffi-cult twists and flips to the brother's shoulders• if there was a word above excellent, it shouldbe used with this performance.The Smaha Royal Lipizzan Stallions and Miss

Joanne's High School Horses displayed talentgalore. Frank and Estrelita offered acrobaticartistry in the air and was followed by theAdami Chimpanzees, with the usual "Barrelof Monkeys" routine.

The Los Gauchos really had a big display ofthe rope twirling Argentine cowboys. The

May 25,1981

KAGK LIMITED HOTD I KMS - 4064 WlH A V I 0«l*HD (A

The "Magic Island" a private club on LidoIsland in Newport Beach, Ca., will open thisJune, with David Copperfield presenting thestage show.

Memberships include a Private Gold Char-ter at $750 each. It will soon be $1,000 un-til 1,000 people are enrolled, then the pricewill jump to $1.4501 A Corporate member-ship of 3 cards will cost $2,000, while a MiniCorporate with 2 cards runs $1,100. Both areset to double when the quotas are filled. En-rollments are already said to be about 800.One can bring 3 guests with no cover chargeand the menu will feature some eight en-trees under $20.00.

Advisors are listed as: David Copperfield,Doug Henning and Harry Blackstone, Jr.Members reportedly already signed up includeJohnny Carson, Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, andJoan Rivers.

first time in Indianapolis and a great show ofability.

Following intermission, Mike and John Winnperformed a sensational double cross-over onthe inclined wire. Then came 'Lord of theJungles' Tarzan Zerbini, prefaced with an il-lusion where a circus beauty is changed intoa fully grown lion. Tarzan put on his usualdisplay of handling lions and tigers - who cando better?

The Acadis one-finger stand and Les Michelsthe acrobatic aehalists prefaced the Dianoelephants and the Hawthorn elephants. TheDiano Bitj Tom' the largest performing maleelephant intrigued the youngsters.

The Quassars had a unique act. playing tothe Space Age excursions of the impossible.Current TV shows had the youngsters allerted to their message.

The Great Wiregard Swaypole act broughton the usual ah's and oh's as the pole broke.The final act was Captain Circus being shotfrom the Rocket Cannon. Had seen it in Ft.Wayne in February and it's stilt the most ex-citing of acts.

Especially enjoyed the ringmastering of Col.Lucky Larabee. Having known him for some7 or 8 years. He handled the announcementsin his usual masterful way.

PageS

MAGIC COLLECTORS HONOR JONES

BY JIM ALFREDSON

Magic col lector? from all over the countrygathered in Chicago, Apr. 24-25. for the 12thAnnual Magic Collectors'Weekend Jointlysponsored by the Magic Collectors' Associa-tion and Magic Inc. The guest of honor thisyear was Circus Report's own 'Book Worm'Lloyd E. Jones. Lloyd was recognized for hismany yean of active contribution to magicas a dealer, performer, author, collector, re-viewer and publisher.Although the official activities began on Fri-

day evening, many had gathered the day be-fore and the usual active swapping - of mater-ials, stories and greetings - took place. To giveyou an idea of how varied the programs are, arun-down of the activities follows; subject gi-ven first and author in parentheses.

Friday: Nicola (Tad Ware); Lady of MagicDell O'Dell (Al Sharpe); Performances of Bel-lachini and OeBiere (Walter Willmann}; Col-lecting Crooked Gambling Devices (TerryRoses), and Leslie May (Craige Snader).Saturday: Thurston, the Untold Story (Bob

Olson); Billy Purvis, the Newcastle Conjurer(Al Berlinski); films of lesser-known perfor-mers (Mike O'Dowd); Haenchen magic (BillPitts); Sir Edwards, the Man Who Sees To-morrow (Tom Ewing); slides of rare magicprops (John Henry Grossman, M.D.).Then the guest of honor, Lloyd E. Jones

chatted about his fabledcollection (now be-longing to the Walkers), his noted 'chickencoop' (still his), and many other topics, in hiswitty and trenchant manner.

In appreciation of being honored by the As-sociation, Lloyd presented those present witha complimentary copy of his best-selling book"The Dime & Peny Trick," in a Japanese transtation.

A fascinating audio/visual presentation wasnext, a colorful melding of music and magi-cians (David Linsell); That Man Dante (PhilTemple); and the evening ended with a num-ber of the members presenting magic usingantique props.

A 'bare bones' description such as this can-not convey the grand time that we have eachyear at this gathering of magic collectors fromaround the country; much time being spentchatting with old friends. Among the Calif or-nians who came to see Lloyd honored were

May 25.1981

JOE and BETTY NAUD'S Lancelot Chimpstoured with the Reid Bros. Circus in the Pa-cific Northwest, then joined the Sam T. Pol-ack Circus at Wellington, Ohio.

EARL K R A U Z E R visited the Royal Lippi-za.n Horse Show at Manchester, N.H., andreports an excellent show featuring ROSA)REand His Wonder Horse, BENNY CRISTIANIand his Miniature Horses and DIPRIMA'SPrancing Ponies.

THE KIBBEY CLOWNS, of the HoustonClown School (Texas) were used in the postWorld War II film '(Jar's Moon' which in-cluded some carnival footage. They have al-so been doing some promotional work forand since the TV special "Leave Em Laugh-ing" was aired nation-wide.

CLIFFORD E. VARGAS visited the RinglingRed Unit in New York City and then spent afew days with Circus Tivoli in Canada befoeereturning to his own show in Southern Cali-fornia.

CHELA GAONA, injured during the FlyingGaona's act in Australia last year, has recov-ered and is back flying with her brothers,TITO, RITCHIE and catcher ARMONDO.They are presently with Circus Scon in Eur-ope.

ReportGREAT Y CIRCUS

The 43rd annual circus performance by theGreat All American Youth Circus, of Red-lands, Calif., was presented at the RedlandsYMCA, May 8-9 and 15-16.The program featured: Grand Spectacle; Uni-

cycle; Single Trapeze; Acrobatics; Juggling;Clowns; Swinging Y's; High Bar; Double Crad-le and 3 Lane Cradle; Roman Ladders; Rings;Clown Vault; High Wire; Low Casting; HandBalancing; Multiple Cradle; Trampoline;Double Trapeze and Hanging Perch; GermanGym Wheel; Balance Perch; Multiple Trap-eze; Teeterboard; Webs; Flying Trapeze.

Dr. Albert Albo, Harry Blackstone, John Gaughan, Phil Temple, and, of course, Barbi andByron Walker. We look forward to next yearalready!

A W O R D ABOUT A FRIEND ____

Not many people in the circus world will re-member the name of Dittman Mitchell, for hewas not connected with promoting that manycircus dates. His main interest was rodeo andgood rodeo with lots of acts and plenty of production.

Those who were fortunate enough to work inhis rodeos were treated like royalty, but. youpayed for it, a simple price that you were morethan willing to give. The price was devotion,hard work and willingness to give towards thebetterment of the success of the show itself.

When you arrived at one of his dates therewas an air of success about it, and there was asense of pride that you experienced no whereelse. If he hired you to work publicity priorto the date, you were prepared to work longhard hours.

Mitch, as he was called by all his friends, wasto rodeo what Floyd King was to the circusworld. In fact, they knew each other, andMitch has told me stories over the years whenthe two would meet, from time to time, usu-ally in a hotel lobby someplace, then they'dtalk shop.

Mitch lived out of a suitcase most of his life,carrying with him trunks full, not of clothes,but press releases, names and countless files ofnewspaper people, TV and radio people, and,in general, the names of anyone who couldhelp promote the rodeo he was working withwhether they be his or someone else*. He lov-ed publicity and would take advantage of anysituation to fill the seats. He had very littleuse for phone promotions and said a goodphoneman was worth his salt, if as long assound public relations could be used also tofurther enhanse the filling of the seats.

Mitch traveled many miles with me over theroad, sitting in the backseat of my car, flash-light in his mouth, pounding away on his littleportable typewriter. When we would stop, hewas the first to get out and see the horses inthe trailer and be sure they were taken careof. His love of animals was amazing.

His love of people was just as great. Morethan once, after making a good profit pro-ducing a rodeo, he would give a needy cowboyor performer all he had so they could, as heused to say "make it down the road to a bet-ter day." It was not unusual for Mitch to bor-row money from someone to get another date

May 25,1981

because he gave his last to a friend in need.

He produced some outdoor rodeos, but heshinned best in a coliseum where they hadspotlights. And it was here that he liked touse as many people with circus backgroundsas possible. His performances were fast-pacedand well balanced, and all professional, fromstart to finish.

He was innovative and worked best underpressure. And best of all, he firmly believedin giving a person a chance to prove them-selves.

Mitch is gone now, having died of cancer,passing away in early April. He died nearlybroke, not by chance, but by choice, as hegave most everything away to people whoneeded to .. "make it on down the road toa better day."

Besides being a great producer, an outstand-ing publicity man, he was, above all, a closefriend to everyone. For those of us who knewMitch, we are all looking forward to workingwith him again in the future.

We love you, Mitch!.. Bradd and Sheila Frank

PEOPLEMICHELLE (Bubbles) MOERBE, a memberof the Texas Mid-Cities Clown Alley No. 85,presented clown DIMITRI with a bouquet ofred roses when he appeared in their area thispast month.

BIG WALLY WALLENTIN, formerly with theBig John Strong Circus, with his wife MICHELEand daughter KELLY-RAE have settled in ahome near Colorado Springs, Colo. His broth-er, KENNY, is working with Circus Vargas.

JAMES (Jimbow) DECKER clowned at theDallas (Texas) Inwood Village Fashion Carni-val on April 24-25.

MiscellaneousThe Aramco World Magazine for March-April1981 has a 7 page article with many color pic-tures on "The Big Top in Cairo." The maga-zine's address is: P. 0. Box 2106, Houston,Texas 77001.

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

BY BOB S T O O D A R D

The Texas Mid-Cities Clown Alley No. 85won top honors at the 12th annual Conven-tion of Clowns of America, held in Delavan,Wise., April 1-5.Alley 85 itself won the highest award that

the International Clown Club can bestow. Itis called the "Charlie" award and is present-ed to )he alley that did the most to promoteclowns and clowning during National ClownWeek, Aug. 1-7 annually. (There are a totalof 140 alleys that comprise "The GreatestClub on Earth."

Poppy "Poppy the Clown" Benner, of Ric-hardson, Texas, (an alley 85 member) wonthree awards. This 20 year old clown wonthird place in the Whiteface clown contestfor make-up and costume, and third place inthe Individual Skit Competition. She andpartner "Jimmy Waddell" (of Dallas) wereawarded second place in the Group SkitCompetition.

Comedy Clown TaxiFOR SALE

Imported from Portugal

Excellent V-W. Engine

- Unique Blow Off -

AVAILABLE AS OF OCT. 1981

Inquiries to:

KEVIN BROOKINGc/o Circus Tivoli

125 John St., Toronto, CanadaM5V - 2E2

May 25,1981

A total of nine clowns went to the conven-tion from Texas and brought back seven ofthe twenty coveted awards.

Bob "Rags" Thomas, of Alley 55, in Am-arillo, Texas, took third place in the TrampClown Contest.Dorothy "Dotso" Braley, of Alley 23, in

Corpus Chnsti, Texas, won a tablecloth thatwas autographed by the hundreds of clownsattending the convention.

Other Texas clowns that made the trip toDelavan were: Rosalie 'Superstar' Ferryman,and husband Dalton, of Irving; Annetta 'Jin-gles' Moerbe and daughter Michelle, of Dal-las; Jimmie "Sunshine" Griffith of Dallasand Patty 'Cuddles' Norton, of CorpusChristi.

DeLAGE & MARGARET worked the OrchidShow at LeHigh Valley Mall, in Allentown,Pa. for three days early this month.

GEORGE (Perky) PERKINS, clown and hiswife, GAINELLE, will be celebrating their60th wedding anniversary this fall. They livein Yucaipa, Calif.

LYLE TUTTLE, operates the Tattoo ArtMuseum (30 - 7th St.) in San Francisco. Hefeatures a new special tattoo exhibit every90 days.

DOUGLAS MAC-VALLEY STUNTS, Globeof Death act is featured at the Playboy Ho-tel Casino at Atlantic City, NJ.

CLARK'S LIONS, on tour with Reid Bros.Circus in the Pacific Northwest, will join theM & M Circus for mid-western dates.

RALPH GODFREY, operator of a Donkey-ball operation, plans to retire and will be sell-ing his animals. Right now the animals arerunning on his 20 acre farm in Oklahoma.

HAL HAVILAMI-3 ACTS -

Pony Act - Piper Caper Act - Dog Act

203/666-2901 or 203/666-3588

AVAILABLE New England & Vicinity

Except: June 6th - White Plains, N.Y.(A.M. Show - Country Center Auditorium)

The Circus Report Page 13

Attention!CORRECTION. . . .

In the Amandis Entertainment, Inc., adver-tisement which appeared in the May 4th is-sue of Circus Report, the portion concerningthe Manuel Ramos Family should have readJointly booked.

In the portion concerning acts that have ne-ver played the Canada "Circus" TV show itshould have read: Acts should contact Aman-dis Entertainment, Inc., and they will be sub-mitted to Mr. Ian Garden for consideration.

LILLIAN WILSON (84) died in Tampa, Fla.,on May 4th, due to injuries sustained in anauto accident. She was an aerialist, animaltrainer and clown. Although she retired in1963. she returned to clowning at the age of81, in 1979, working with her son Dime Wil-son. Survivors include her son, Dime, andgrandchildren. Penny, Trudy, Joanne, Linda,Donna and Dime, Jr., as well as 13 great grandchildren.

Organist At LibertyFurnish Own Equipment and Transportation

AVAILABLE DATES-June 21 thru Aug 15

DAVID EPPERLY710 Tazewell Ave. Btuefield. Va. 24605

703-326-1301or

813-355-9651 (Nordmark)

PEOPLECHARLIE CAMPBELL was made "HonoraryRingmaster" of Hoxie Bros. Circus when theshow played Carrollton, Ga. (April 27). Char-lie has also been visiting several other showsin his home area.

NoticeThe phone number in the recently printed ad-vertisements for Stanley Book was in error.The number shown in the ad below is the cor-rect number.

ReportSINGLING RED IN NEW YORK

BY ALBERT F. HOUSE

On Wednesday, April 1, Ringling-BarnumCircus opened in Madison Square Garden inNew York City to an enthusiastic audienceAhich included 40 members and friends ofFelix Adler Tent and 46 members and friendsof tht CIOWMS of America.

The l̂ w York enqag^ent has traditionallybeen the longest and most magnificent run ofthe show's tour. This event is comparable toopening night on Broadway and that is whythe fans come enmasse to special seats to viewthis particular performance. The fans in theirseats were welcomed by show personnel TimHoist, Ken Horsman, Dave Mulaney and SalCondito.

Because Madison Square Garden openingsare always a gala occasion with much hooplatfie staid New York Times reviewer RichardF. Shepard captioned his review with "TheCircus is back, thrills chills and all" and com-mented that Gunther Gebel Williams is "Thestar of the Red Unit uncontestably" and "asuperb performer." Shephard described theshow as the "usual dizzying panopoly of py-rotechnics designed to numb the brain andunfocus the eye." To us friends of the circus,all this is true and more.

However, most spectators and reviewers arenot aware of the even more spectacular per-formance of circus logistics just to get theshow up and running for the two perform-ances on that day.

According to Personnel Director Tim Hoistmany problems had to be solved. There arethe traditional ones that confront the showduring hockey and basketball playoffs. Thoseproblems are solved easily because they aredone almost yearly. But this year a new setemerged that are a bit more difficult to solve.

The first problem was the location of thecircus train. Normally the train was parkedin the 34th St. yards in Manhattan. Theywere demolished to make room for a newconvention center. Last year the train waslocated at 60th St., but the facilities provedunsatisfactory. This year the train ended upin the Sunnyside Yards in Queens, near SheaStadium.The logistic problems existing here are, the

train is about 9 miles from Manhattan with

MaY 25.1981

only an expressway as a means of commut-ing. Since tnffic congestion on the express-way is so congested, the show bus is unde-pendable. To get personnel to the Garden,arrangements were made with the Long IslandRailroad to make a specie' stop at the yards.All personnel are given a special ticket thatallows them to ride back and forth to PennStation in the basement of the Garden.Another problem war finding sitisfacory

places to house the new giraffe, Dick.e. Be-cause the animal is so tall, ceilings are withinthe reach of the animal's head and tongue.Therefore, all ceiling tile and framework hadto be removed and temporarily eliminate thesprinkler heads within reach of the animai.

At 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 31st, the animalcontingent paraded from the railioad yards,through the Queens Midtown Tunnel intoManhattan, across town into the Garden. Al-though shown on television on Tuesday'snewscasts, the impact of the live parade waslost compared to former years.

At 1 a.m., Wednesday, April 1, following abasketball game, the circus working crewsset up the Garden for a 2:30 performance.At the end of the second performance of theday at 10:30 p.m. the workers had to clearthe floor for a hockey game the next day.While talking to some seasoned circus men.they commented about the difficulty of thebeginning stands of this run. They hopedthat things would settle to a normal routineshortly. All of the people who understoodtheir problems hope for that, tool

The Red Unit, in its cross country tour, willreappear in the New York area again in thefall. Allen Bloom noted that the new Mea-dowfands Arena will be the site of a twoweek engagement beginning Nov. 17th, andthen go to the Nassau Coliseum for its an-nual last stand of the season in December.

Fans in the New York-New Jersey area wi!lbe able to spend more time visiting the showthan ever before. The Manhattan area tendedto have drawbacks.All the fans from the group had an extrem-

ely good time enjoying the show and its per-sonnel. Truly, it is the "Greatest Show onEarth."

MemoSOME THOUGHTS OF THE PAST

FROM E. E. GILCREASE

What was the first circus to be transportedby railroad?

In 1872, P. 1. Barnum, the famous show-man, who had previously moved his circusand menagerie from town-to-town by teamsof horses, purchased 65 railrway cars, paint-ed them in the most flamboyant manner andbegan fouring the U. S. by rail.This was the first circus to be transported

by rail. Whever the "Greatest Show on Earth"went with its streaming Barnum banners thepeople flocked to see this circus train. Wheremuch time had previously been lost in travel-ling from town-to-town, all travelling couldnow be done at night and for the first timelong hops from one important city to an-other were possible. Barnum prospered be-yond expectations, and in time additionalequipment was necessary to transport thishuge "Museum, Menagerie and Hippodrome."

EVENTUALLY,

WHY NOT NOW?

I am a former versatile circus per-former, teeterboard acrobat and atumbler and an aerialist during the1920's and the 1930's and I tookseveral hundred kodak pictures ofthings that are and happen on atraveling circus that an outsiderseldom has the chance to see.

I have published a 6x9 in. bookwith 100 glossy pages and 100 glossy photos enlarged from the kodakpictures, therefore, these are rarephotos of circus life.

PICTURES TELL IT BETTER.

Send check or money order for$4.95 (not cash) to: JohnnieSchmidt, Rte. 3, Box 170-A, Lin-dale, Texas 75771.

You will be glad you did. I thankyou. Johnnie.

May 25,1981

Is it true that railway trains in the west weresometimes impeded by wild buffalo?

Trains crossing the Western Plains in pioneerdays were frequently delayed by "thunderingherds of buffaloes."

In the 1870's, P. T. Barnum's circus train,traveling to Denver over the Kansas PacificRailroad, encountered huge herds of wild buffaloes, and it was sometimes necessary to stopthe train to let them pass.

How did William F. Cody come to be knownas "Buffalo Bill"?

The famous western scout and Indian fight-er earned the picturesque nickname of "Buf-falo Bill" as a result of his contract with theUnion Pacific Railroad, which required himto supply buffalo meat for the constructionworkers.

CIRCUS THEME RESTAURANT

BY MARK K. HOPPE

Open since November 1980, the 'Circus Res-taurant & Bar' in Houston, Texas, is a threering winner. Located at 6015 Westheimer, theestablishment offers continental cuisine amida circus decor.

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus lithosand recent color photos of Ringling artists de-corate the walls. On ihe menu is "Veal Wallen-da" served with artichoke sauce and fettucine.Inside sources say many of the circus-styleddecorations once belonged to Judge Roy Hof-heinz.

JACK FRANKLIN (3410-G Edison St., SanMateo, Calif. 94403) believes he has foundthe old Dailey Bros. Circus calliope and wantsinformation and pictures of this old beautyso he can verify the calliope and perhaps evenrestore it to its original beauty.


SAN FRANCISCO

Five Days Commencing

Thursday, Sept. 9Show Ground., 12th and Market St».

Twice Daily: Afternoon* 2: Ercntnr* I.DOOM Op*r. Hour Earlier to T»«rmit VUw of

THE, BIO NEW 108 CAGE ZOO.

RINGLING BROS.CIRCUSTHE WORLD'S GREATEST SHOWS.375 Performers in 6 Arenas

Capital Invested $3,500,0001280 Persons650 Horses40 Elephants108 Cages ofWild Animals60 Acrobats60 Aerialists60 RIDERS50 CLOWNS

A Big New 6=Fold Circus85 Double-Length Railroad Cars

All th* Earth'i WonoVn. monopol l i lnf th*rr**t*et »c l< . trt ' . i t i and a t t r a c t i o n * of 0*017emitted nation on the Etrth.

ELEPHANTS

£Afflfc STRONGMENSTARTLING. NEW AND

SENSATIONAL FEATURES. •Hobladlllo. McCro* Davenport Troupe. Daley

WANTEDDue to disappointment we arein need of a big aerial act (pre-ferably flying trapeze) to work4 guaranteed weeks, June 1 to28th, in the Rockies.

Please call:

MARC SCHULTZ

312 -769 -2247

The Ringling Bros. Circus advertisement onthis page first appeared in the San Francisco(Calif) newspapers on Sept. 5,1909.

i th* Taximeter Hor»«», Pichcco Family,Corolll Trio. Scbuman'i Hone Circui. Aitouodin*Piny Brothers, torch Family, Mtrde Trio, i.?elyo Fruicosco, Alvarei Troupe.

The DEATH-DEFYING, DANGER-COURTING

DOUBLE SOKflULTAMD 100 AWE-INSPIRING FEATURES FROM

EVERY PART OF THE GLOBE.t Bf&ra— I Bttcc*.Aeritl FncUT*.Rom in Hippodrome.DoubU Menafene. ;

811-Fold Clrout.Bo Urn that it i t tndiTowerlnjly Aloao, andti the inspiration, fuiileaod dominant factor inthe a.-nutemont world.

M I I H M X - , - i . r i 0

SAN FRANCISCONEVER SAWA SHOWLIKE THISBEFORE JTiff HMD A V

FREE STREET PAKADE 3 MILES LONGOn* 60o Ticket Admit* to Everrthlav. Chil-

dren Undor If Tean Hair Prtc«.Admtiiion Ticket* and Numbered Reierved

Seitt will ba on eal« dunnr ' - '" fnya4*«ment Inthe etorn of th« OWL DRUU CO.. 778 M A R K E TST. (FHELAN BUILDING) , at f iactly the•am* prlc* charpad to recuJar tlckat wayoot OBtbe •how trounde.

May 25,1981

CLOWNSSHOW CLOWNS .

The 1981 Hubert Castle Circus clowns are:Toby Circus Ballantine, producer/stilt act/publicity/promotion; Tracey Ballantine. stiltwalker/show girl/dancer/web/comedy jargo;Tammy Ballantine. stilt walker/show girt/dancer/web/comedy jargo; Lee Mara, featur-ed clown/comedy juggling; Gary Mexamina.explosives/clown feature; Terre Maxamina,clown and living statue feature clown; Mo-hammed Rahhali, clown acrobatics/come inwarm-up/feature clown;

All clowns participate in the clown num-bers and all clowns make costume changesfor each number. The clown productions arecostumed, spotlighted, with musical background. There are four such production inthe show, and a 20 minute come-in. In theshow finale, Toby Circus Ballantine and hisdaughter walk very tall stilts as astronauts.

Featured withSHOW ACTS ....The program for the Circus of the Americas

presented in the Los Angeles (Calif.) SportsArena last month included:

Spec; Rocket Car; Kay Rosaire, wild ani-mals; Clowns with Boy and Girl Contest; TheZoltanas, high wire; The Ferges Troupe, tram-poline; Emmett Kelly, Jr., sweeping the spot;The Jupiters, trapeze; Albarracines, trapeze;Heidi Wendany, ponies; Carol Buckley withBaby Tarra the elephant; The Stimax Chimps;Death Riders, motorcycles; Chinese Acrobats

SIM61E DATES OR TOURS CONTACT

from Taiwan; The Nocks, sway poles; Inter-mission.

Clown Drum and juggling; The Albulet Ouoon high wire motorcycle; pie Flying Ramos,trapeze; Jonny Rivers, diving mules; The WeeGets, balancing; Tommy Oonoho, elephants(3); Frank Mateca, elephant and camel; A. D.Goetsch, elephant and camel; The AlbuletBros., high wire; Finale.

The show's ringmaster was Parley Baer.

Report Pige 19

Show ReportNASHVILLE SHRINE CIRCUS

BY ALMOND KNIOHT

The annual Nashville Shrine Circus (Al Me-nan Temple) was produced by the OlympicInt'l Circus Curp.The program included: Al Menah Temple

Units on Parade; Princess Gina's Royal Leo-pards; Clowns; The Valentino Duo and TneJupiter Duo, trapeze acts; Benny Williamswith elephan* Anna May; Juggling displaywith The Mauiiios, The Jugyling Jewels andThe Droguetts; Sir Harry James, one fingerstand; Clowns; The Kursawes, bicycles; TheLoyal-Repensky Troupe, riding act; The Flying Ibarras; Clowns; Lipko's Chimps; Katin-ka's Poodles; The Venictos, thrill act; VinoBerosini, the 'King of Swords'; Woodcock'selephants; The Young Troupe, teeterboard;The Nock Brokers, swaypoles; Clowns andHugo Zaccnini the Human Cannonball.

CIRCO UNION

BY TIM TEGGE

I visited Circo Union in Tijuana, Mexico, onApril 6th and found i* to be a beautiful, onering show with ac action packed, fast moving

performance.The show tarries four bulls, a four horse li-

berty drill, four chimps, and a good assort-ment of high acts - head balance trapeze, ahigh wire, flying act. cradle, casting, etc. aswell as a lot of ground acts, including balan-cing head-to-head.

They have some excellent clowns, and oneof the best I've ever seen is Pepito. All o f thiswas rounded off with a flashy parade-typespec in which all of the animals follwed in aline without any handlers. Really Impressive!

The show has six show girls, and a live drum-mer who plavs along with taped music, plus aringmaster.

Circo Union moves on about five semis, inaddition to the performer's riys. The biq topis abo'jt 300 ft. long by 110 ft. wide, threepoles, bale ring top.

PEOPLE"ART" MILLER, semi-retired circus generalagent, recently received from his old friendand circus fan JUDGE ROBERT W. HAN-SEN, of Milwaukee, a cloth-bound book'This Way to The Big Show", which is thelife of Dexter Fellows, who is a celebratedcircus agent.

Show ReportTANGIER SHRINE CIRCUS

BY MARK ANTHONY

Grace Mclntosh brought her M & M CircusInternationale to Omaha. Nebr., for the Tan-gier Shrine and presented Potentate WalterPowell with one of the finest productions ofher career. Public reaction to the show was,"One of the best Shrine circuses we haveever seen."

It was a fast-paced show that kept the au-dience throughout the entire two hours. Comments were made on the fine costuming andcleanliness of the entire show as exemplifiedby the opening spec "Circus Days". HarryThomas then took over with his excellent 12tiger act which features a host of good tricksrather than a lot of time consumed with propmovement, and finished with his wrestling ti-ger. This is truly a top cat act.Billy Barton wowed them with his cloud

swing routine.Killer Willard's first appearance in Omaha

was one of the hits of the show. This kan-garoo comes out fighting at every perform-ance and leaves the Gassetts battered andbruised and the audience asking for more.

A good variety of juggling and balancingacts next: Don Phillips & Co., unicycle; Lad-dies, unsupported ladder; The Obandos, rolabola. Following was a real show-stopped. Walt& Wendy, teeterboard and aerobalancing -CLASS!Clown hot dog machine with clowns, Roy

Arrmgdale, Buck Nolan, Rick Legg, BobbyDavis, Jr. and boss clown, Vemon Woerner.Two excellent animal acts: Susan Zoppe's

Afghans and Christina's Chimpanzees. Theseacts are truly sensational in beautiful propsand costumes, combined with fine training.

Clown walk-around.The first half closed with the aerial bailey

featuring Lou Ann Jacobs, fabulous trapezeact that won the hearts of the Omaha audi-ennce.

The second half opened with the FlyingLantonys who were hampered by injuries atan earlier date, but provided a good routineof tricks.

Clown pie gag followed.Two good balancing acts: Mr. Bell, chair bal-

May 25. 1981

Ml LO SMITH (79), well known and talented1 in. scale circus model builder and wood car-ver, died at Herkimer, NY, on April 30th. Hewas the first secretary of the CMB and alsohad served as one of its directors. Many hor-se and elephant acts traveling the New YorkState Thruway layed-over at his farm as theywere always welcome. He had built a fulland complete circus train, as well as a 1 inchscale merry-go-round.

PEOPLEJOHN L. SULLIVAN, of Concordia, Kara.,recently visited BILL GREEN, of Beatrice,Nebr. and reports that Green and FRANKSMITH attended a performance of the M&MCircus at Lincoln, Nebr.

PETER WALKER, artist, has created a seriesof huge circus murals in his New York CityStudio. He and his wife, CINDI, traveled onthe Carson & Barnes Circus to get ideas andbackground drawings.

ERNEST M. TERRY, formerly with the bigRingling-Bamum tented circus, is now incharge of the Usher Dept., at Madison SquareGarden.

JON FRIDAY, announcer/ringmaster, wasomitted from a report on the Hubert CastleCircus when the show played Seattle, Wash.

ancing and The Kents, hand balancing; Irene,Tonga & Co., gorilla parody left the crowdlaughing with their crazy antics.Two very fine whip and rope acts received

plenty of applause. The Claytons and PanchoMagana. Johnny Zoppe and his Rhesus Mon-keys is a real show stopper and provides plen-ty of comedy for any show.Jean and Roman Schmitt presented their

three elephants and two zebras. Roman'sbulls are well trained and present a host ofgood tricks with a different twist by enter-ing the arena via the zebras pulling a chariot.The show ended with Johnny Luxem leav-

ing them gasping with his Wheel of Death.Two hours of pure circus at its best.

The staff included: Grace Mclntosh, pro-ducer; Bill 'Boom Boom' Browning, musi-cal director; Jim Douglass, equestrian dir-ector and Don Phillips, prop boss.

The Circus Report

"MUMBO JUMBO, It's Magic" Pay TV ASpecial for national release on H.B.O.

BY FRANK HERMAN

Mark, Nani and Greg Wilson, Diane and DickZimmerman, Shimada and Copperfield, hostedby actor Tom Bosley.

It is now apparent that the producer of HBOmagic specials graduated with honors from thefuneral director school.First, there is the compulsion to rent a cele-

brity host. This is puzzling since pay TV hasno need for ratings, publicity or to attractsponsors. Celebrity hosts need writers. Havingspent the money, they use up valuable time.As a result the opening of this show took adull eight minutes. The low spot of this intowas Bosley singing a long, inane song 'Mum-bo Jumbo, It's Magic For Me and For You'.(I'm not making this up). Bosley is a compe-tent actor and an interesting person • buthis singing voice can best be described as achain-saw tenor.

HBO did the same thing with a previous ma-gic special. Superb magic flawed with lugu-

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brious sermons by Raymond Burr.When Mark Wilson finally got on, he presen-

ted a wonderful updated sword cabinet illu-sion. The mounted clusters of swords addspeed to the presentation and the open onall sides cabinet make it a real baffler.

Young Greg Wilson next worked in onewith a creditable billiard ball routine. It waswell done, using large spheres, not just a cutekid session.

Mark and Nani closed their first appearancewith a fine Asrah levitation that includedsome convincing hand bits.

Dick Zimmerman followed with a fast pac-ed parade of his unique inventions. Instantlinking rings on a long ribbon. Dancing ringon rope. Vanish of a huge bucket of milkfrom a breakaway pail, Hula Hoop linkingand the production of Diane from a nest ofhula hoops. Dick, our modem day Karl Ger-main, dots his brisk routine with a flow ofexplosive surprises.

Special guest star, David Copperfield, re-peated his slick dining room haunted hand-kerchief routine.

Diane Zimmerman working with two dan-cing males opened her turn as the invisiblegirl who becomes visible, produced a largegolden phono record and closed with a sur-prising double exchange illusion. She vanish-ed from the horn of a jumbo antique victro-la and reappeared as one of her assistants.The speed of the illusion and elaborate cos-tume change was impressive.

Copperfield returned with the "Fresh Fish"torn and restored cue card and the atticscene featuring the vanishing dog and the DeKolta Chair. I am a Copperfield fan, but thisis the fourth time I have seen the same danc-ing hank and attic scene on national TV. Iwould enjoy seeing the magic repeated butfeel that the presentation should be chang-ed for repeat outings. The torn and restor-ed cue card loses it's lustre on repeats.

It was refreshing to have homage paid toCantu and Channing Pollack in the intro toShimada's dove act. Shimada's charisma andflawless timing bring a new patina to thisoverdone theme. His spectacular finish, thevisible vanish of two doves, is terrific.

Mark Wilson brought the show to a strongclose with his most sensational Illusion todate. He did the sub trunk, using a transpar-ent box filled with water. The illusion has

(Continued on Next Page)

SHOW STAFF . . . .The staff on tour for the 1981 Hubert Cas-

tle Circus, as listed in the Silver Anniversaryedition of the show's official program is asfollows:Unit Manager, Reggie Armor; Master of

Ceremonies, Jon Friday; Performance Direc-tor, Sampion Zurani; Lighting Director, BruceBull; Musical Director, Clement E. Toca;Sound Director, Gregory Toca; Aerial Direc-tor, Jacqueline Savary; Property Supt., Ver-ner Schmucker; Animal Supt., Gary Thomas;Asst Animal Supt., Greg Bonde; Transporta-tion Supt., Braun Reinthold; Rigging Supt,Pablo Rodriguez; Wardrobe Supt, Ceres Mel-lo, and Producing Clown, Toby Circus Bal-lantine.

MUMBO JUMBO (Continued)everything; attractive girl in bikini, obviousdanger and complete bafflement • Wonder-ful!

For magic buffs the show was a thoroughtreat. For the general public I felt it wasshort on balance. It was all serious, goodmagic with no comedy or light touch. Ma-gic can be fun too. Why don't we all writeHBO and tell them about Jay Marshall, Kar-retl Fox, Mike Caldwell and a host of othersthat could add a bit of frolic to the hour?

ALEPPO TEMPLE SHRINE CIRCUSThe annual Aleppo Temple Shrine Circus

at Wilmington, Mass. (Apr. 28-May 3) hada 274 page program book, which sold for50c each. Show prices were scaled at $5.00for adults and $2.50 for children.

The show was produced by Ed Migley andCircus Odyssey and featured the followingacts:

Spec That's Entertainment'; Lilli-Ana, leo-pards; Pirates of the Sky, aerialists; RexYoung, comedy cannon; Albert's Poodles;Cimse's Russian Wolfhounds; Aria's LibertyGolden Retrievers; Joselito, wire walk; TheMorgan Ashton Family, risley; Rudolph Del-monte, contortionist; Clowns with the DuckHunt; Charles Gutis Family, Jungle comedy;Jorge Barreda, lions; Miss Lorelei, featuredin the aerial ballet; Surprise Comedy numb'or; Las Duvan; Delmonte, rola bola/juggling;Alberti's rolling globes; Princess My-lmba Ba-boons; Gae Gee Engesser's elephants; Saluteto the People finale.

PEOPLEKURT RUSSELL, BILL BIXBY and TOMPETTY were among the stars seen visitingthe 'Circus of the Americas' in Los Angelesover Easter Week.


SPECIALDIMITRI by Bob Stoddard

If you should have an autograph that says"Dimitri" it means a lot of things.

It says first, that you attended a perform- •ance of a delightful combination of circusclown, mime and virtuoso musician, presen-ted in a most extraordinary fashion by oneof the world's truly great clowns.

In a rare sort of evening, a genius presenteda one man show that rivaled many shows witha large cast for a new dimension in laughterand entertainment.

The performance moved so quickly andsmoothly from one act to another that it ishard to realize the two hour show was act-

ually comprised of twelve or more acts clev-erly tied together, and yet so obviously sep-arated when he would remove a small ocar-ina from his pocket and play a high pitchedlilting refrain. The repetition of this simpleact became wildly funny as the evening pro-gressed and attests to the degree of finenessto which the show had been honed.

Actually the show was comprised of twopeople, but Dimitri was both of them.When an act ended and Dimitri stepped

back through the curtain on the right side,a stage hand would enter from center curtainin what seemed almost simultaneous action.By the addition of a hat, a drastic change infacial expression and the smiling clown be-came a griping, grumbling stage hand.

Dimitri has invented his own world in whichhe is a very simple person who tries to cope

WALTER BEFORD HEROD (77),a formerhigh wire performer and retired printer, diedMay 4th at Colorado Springs, Colo., after along illness.From the 1920's to 1935 he worked in circusor vaudeville, appearing as a tumbler, trapezeartist or high wire walker. He was injured on-ly once in a fall, suffering a broken neck anda brain concussion. He began his printing ca-reer in 1928, working in the off season, thenafter 40 years as a printer retired in 1968.Survivors include his wife, Irene (Zolla), twodaughters and two sons.

PEOPLEPHIL HAGERTY, special effects designer/builder, has just completed a giant guillotinefor the American Museum of Magic in Mar-shall, Mich. Standing 9 ft. tall, it can be view-ed from all sides and operated right under thespectators' noses. "It's a wicked looking mon-ster/' says museum proprietor ROBERTLUND. It's first victim was touring "Miss Teenage Michigan" contestant, who walked awaybewildered but unscathed.

JAMES MARCEL, juggler, was a guest star onthe Merv Griffin TV Show the afternoon ofMay 7th.

with life but seems to be fighting a losingbattle without realizing it, as he eagerly at-tacks each project.

His unique style has made this Swiss clownas celebrated in Europe as Marcel Marceauand Charlie Chaplin for the past twenty yearsand in 1973 won for him the "Crock Prize"the international "Oscar" for clowns.

His American tour brought him to NorthTexas State University in Oenton, Texas, onApril 29th, when fifteen members of the Te-xas Mid-Cities Clown Alley No. 85 stoodwith the rest of the sold out house in a roar-ing ovation which brought Dimitri back fornine curtain calls.

SPECIALANIMALS AND YOUR PERSONALITY

(from a recent issue of the Enquirer maga-zine, by Artine Brecher).

A psychologist reports your favorite animalreveals a great deal about your character andhis analysis concerning some of these peopleand their favorite animal are:

Monkeys • They have a special appeal forpeople who feel forced by circumstances toassume a serious, sober or sedate role in or-der to be respected on the job, or as parents.These people actually have a secret, fun-lov-ing, irresponsible and whimsical side, whichthey normally struggle to surpress.

Lions - Lion lovers want to have more of asay in decisions. They crave being leadersand would like to have their opinions valued.

Snakes - Those who like snakes have a bigneed for privacy. They are uncomfortable inthe spotlight, like to think their own thoughtsand keep their own counsel. Many secretlythink of themselves as being too trusting.

Elephants - People who like elephants make

May 25,1981

it a point to seek out the sure and steadyroad to their goals. Elephant people placegreat value on security and permanence andvalue long-term friendships.Tigers, Cougars, Leopards - People who pre-

fer these animals are independent and com-fort loving, are not easily swayed by conven-tion. They also have a commitment to excel-lence.

Birds - Bird lovers can be depended uponto be themselves, day in and day out. Theyare creatures of habit and are home-centeredand lavish time, attention and love on placesthey live. Even when out on a pleasure tripthey can't wait to get home.

Seals - People who prefer seals are compas-sionate to a fault. They are nature lovers andare people who tend to follow their hunches.

WANTEDElephant Act - Flying Act - Circus Acts of All Kinds

forSept. 12 Little Rock, Ark. Sept. 21 • 27 Reading, Pa.

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AND A U G U S T

Animal Fantasia

Miss Carla • Principal Rider

Master Nino - Comical Juggler on Horseback

Uncaged Horseback Riding Lion

Professor Alberto's Comedy Riding Academy

Please reply to: ALBERTO ZOPPE

2931 Gardner Street Simi Valley. Calif. 93065


May 3 - Winnipeg, Canada - Assistant ele-phant trainer Wayne Pilz was injured whenan elephant stepped on him during a perfor-mance of the Shrine Circus. Witnesses said theaccident occured when the elephant's blanketfell down between the animal's legs. Pilz triedto pull the btankett away, slipped and fell un-der the elephant and was stepped on severaltimes before he could be pulled free.

May 6 - Omaha, Nebr. - Zoo employee GarryCox was attacked and pushed up against a wattby the zoo's male elephant, and suffered 'com-pressed fractures' of the lower back. It was re-ported that the elephant had been breedingand was 'touchy'. Officials report that no oneis supposed to enter the elephant area alone.

The Cultural Information Service, an inde-pendent non-profit resource agency sent outa Viewer Guide pamphlet on the TV movie"Leave 'em Laughing!" which starred MickeyRooney, portraying the late party clown JackThum. Writers Frederic and Mary Ann Brus-sat list the address of 'Clowns of America' aswell as several good books on Clowns, nam-ing John Towsen's 'Clowns' as the best re-source book for the researcher.

from

Don Marcks

There are two subjects for discussion today:

1 - The problems with my left eye have nowbeen pretty thoroughly investigated and chec-ked. The only abnormal thing the doctors canfind is a considerable amount of scar tissue inthe eye itself, which is apparently hamperingthe vision. They blieve this scar tissue is theresult of chemicals having been splashed intothe eye and/or chemical fumes. Their reco-mendation at this time is that glasses will beof some help, especially to the right eye.

2 - Just last week the Postal Authorities laiddown the ruling that all future mailings forCircus Report will have to be in envelopes.This means some new and added expense eachweek - envelopes and additional postage costs,plus a lot more preparation work.

For your general information the currentweekly cost of producing Circus Report runsas follows:$ 700- postage

30 - Envelopes100 -Printer100 -Paper

20 - Rates

32-Bmdery$ 987 - weekly cost

COL. TIM McCOY'S REAL WILD WEST SHOW

Washington, DC - May 4, 1938

DATELINE: St. Louis (and Highland, III):Here I go, missing deadlines again, but it justcan't be helped. Having just wound up a tourfor Pplack, Hamid-Morton and M&M, I amstopping over for a day to get a column outat Fred and Loni Van Voorden's. At the sametime, winding up a book promotion in St.Louis, where I appeared on the Jack CarneyShow (KMOX-TV) followed by the ClifSt.James Show (NBC), followed by book storeappearances, made by dashing hither andthither in the pouring rain. It's nice to sit stillfora day!

In my last column, I said I would detail theproblems experienced by Davide and SusanZoppe upon leaving Canada and the Shrinedate in Montreal for Ian Garden. This is a complicated tale, so bear with me while I try toget the facts straight.

On the American side (where most of theanimal acts' difficulties occur) the vet gaveDavide clearance to leave. He was pulling outto make a left hand turn on to the interstatewhen an official, having just returned fromhis lunch break, ran out of a building and wa-ved Davide down. As Oavide says now. "HadI left seconds sooner, all my troubles couldhave been avoided."The official demanded to see Davide's wild-

life permits. As it turns out Davide had, on-ly a year and a half earlier, sent for these per-mits but never got them. When he called theFish and Wildlife people, Oavide was told thatRhesus monkeys were not endangered and sono such permit was required. The only per-mits Davide needed were state permits.This was explained by Davide to the official

who replied: "True - then - but those permitsare required now." Davide argued: "We werenever informed of the change in the law." Theofficial: "That's your problem, not mine."

Then the brouhaha really began. Pictureswere taken of the animals, of Davide, of theequipment, all current papers were photostat-ed, and a threat was made to confiscate theanimals. "We have a building," the officialsaid, "where we can put the monkeys. You

can take the dogs and leave." Davide protes-ted - vehemently, "You are not taking my ani-mals!" Whereupon the official retorted, "Wewill take your animals and then arrest you aswell."

To make a really long, complicated storyshort, Davide and the entire family wound upin a court house in Utica, NY and before aNotary Public had to swear to the following:That Oavide was indeed Davide Zoppe, sonof Sarah and John Zoppe, Sr. that he in factdid own the animals and that each monkeywas 'captive-bred' (I think that is the properterminology), then, markings had to be re-corded on every monkey, distinguishing marksand a history of each monkey as well, its or-igin, seller and so on. One monkey is 28 yearsold and was bought from a carnival and thereexists no bill of sale, further complicating analready overcomplicated situation.At this writing the dilemma remains unsolv-

ed. A fine of between $1000 and $2000 willbe levied against Oavide and the necessary pa-pers are still in a snarl. After their closing inLincoln (Nebr) for Gracie, the Zoppes return*ed to Indiana where they hope to have thematter cleared up and will contact me so I canfinish the report for my readers, especiallythose animal people continually being harras-sed by burdensome rules and regulations.

Now - for News Story No. 2: Those peopleheaded for the Circus Vegas date in Montrealproduced by Michel Gatien, went there somewhat warily - chief among them, Gracie MeIntosh, who provided the ring curbs and theequipment and supervised the date. Halfwaythru the run the balance of the monies dueher was paid - but - one of the flying acts re-fused to continue unless salary for the datewas forthcoming. Gracie was asked to giveback $5000 in cash and was reimbursed bycheck.

In addition to the $5000 was money cover-ing the services of Leo Coffey and Stash whowere handling props. When Gracie returned

(Continued on Next Page)


to Troy, Mich., she discovered that paymenthad been stopped on the check. The worst ofit is, this $5000 was part of a payment toDorey Miller for his elephants. MeanwhileGrade had mailed Dorey her check in theamount of $5000. Well, this is another cliffhanger story for which you must wait to hearthe rest.

News Story No. 3 • While playing the Ken-tucky dates for George Hubter, Barbara VanVoorden demolished her new Airstream whenshe was run off the road fay a passing pick uptruck. The wheels of the trailer slid off thelip of the road, a deep drop, and the trailerbroke loose from the Cadillac and flipped toits side. Fortunately, neither Barbara nor hernew baby were hurt and in that she was about30 miles from Kentucky's main Airstream dealer a new trailer was obtained the same day.

Loni, meanwhile, was in Canada doing theCircus TV show for Ian Garden. Mother anddaughter met in Highland and then went onto some dates for Carden-Johnson where thenew trailer was backed into by a patron lea-ving the circus in Duluth and not discoveredby either Loni or Barbara until they pulledinto a KOA later that night. The entire backend is severely damaged.

Now that the depressing news is dispensedwith I will get on with the column.

CLOSEUP! Omaha's Joe Sharp had his shareof visitors and did his share of visiting duringthe Shrine date when virtually everyone onthe show brought equipment in for repair. Al-so on tap were Karen and Mappy Davis, in forminor repairs and then staying over at thecampground where most of the acts were lay-ing off between the Sioux City and Omahadates. Also on tap for Omaha was John Good-all from Chicago.

I was surprised by a visit from Richard Gray-son, a dear friend of June Dewsbury's, andnow company manager for the Ooug HenningShow which day and dated us.. .That meanjump of 1200 miles with only one day off wasmade by all the H-M people from St. Paul toHarrisburg. Last to arrive, at 3 ayem, wasFrank Galumbo. The show was fully set by5 ayem and the matimee went on as scheduled

A virus swept the M&M Show, which blameis on Kent Clayton who brought it with himfrom the Rapid City date and quickly gave itto everyone else. Pancho Magana was ill fora week • fortunately it was the week off al-though it was no fun for him.. .Walter Pat-terson's mother died during the month of

April. Right after the Lincoln closing Waltand Wendy and Ruth drove home whereWalt will oversee family details and then re-turn to Gracie's mid america tour thru Ne-braska.

The Show Party, reinstated by Gracie inOmaha, was a big hit. Outstanding show stoppers were Irene Fossett and Vicky as Panchoand Lou Ann in their whip act. Vicky lookeduncannily like Lou Ann • unbelievable in fact,so much so that Sarah Zoppe was overheardto say "it would be funnier if Lou Ann wasn'tdoing it." Susan remonstrated, "but she isn'tand Sarah replied "Don't tell me she isn't".Well, said Susan "if that's Lou Ann out there.. who is that sitting in the seats?"

Bobby Davis got into drag to portray Chris-tine Fossett in the Kangaroo act (with WendyPatterson as the kangaroo) and somehow man-aged to look more like Stevie Coronas than helooked like Christine. We had a helluva a timeblocking out his eyebrows and mustache!

Kent Clayton did a take-off on Walter Pat-terson with an "invisible" Wendy, and CarolPhillips must take several bows for providingvirtually all the costumes and wigs we used -I don't know where she found that blond wigI used to portray Gracie but it was perfect.

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL: I overheardGracie Mclntosh tell an interviewer that shemight get married again - when she gets old-er. Gracie suffered a lot of good natured rib-bing over being a house guest during the lay-off at Shriner Bruce Williams' residence - thekidding was because Bruce is single.

BOUQUETS: To Omaha Shriner Mark An-thony who gives freely of his time to assistperformers and who is repsonsible for all thepublicity the circus gets. He is an unsung he-ro and never receives from his own templethe gratitude he deserves. Perhaps, in someslight way, this will make up for it.

My personal thanks to Joe Sharp for allow-ing me to park my van on his lot for two weeksand to Chris and Ernie at the Conant Hotel whobent over backwards to make the stay at theirinn comfortable and convienent. Of the broth-ers, only Ernie is part of the Omaha Shrinemembership. Ditto to Shrine Clown and Den-tal surgeon Dr. Richardsen who extracted atooth for me and refused payment.

SAD NOTE: A girl, who I don't know, butwhose name is Cindy, fell during a practicesession of the flying act on Oonnie Johnson'sunit and has since died. Loni. who was on theshow, filled me in on the latter during a recent

telephone call.SNAPSHOTS: Harry Thomas is now doing

the wrestling tiger routine, last performed bythe late Mabel Stark - first time the routinehas been accomplished since. It is so realisticit scared us to death the first time we saw itand, since I followed Harry, and opened onmy rigging, I had a clear view of the routineevery show - Sensational!

In Lincoln when Susan Sheryll started theact she heard a commotion behind her, look-ed back and saw that the carriage was still onthe track but the Afghan was forging aheadpulling only the harness. "After that," saidSusan, "the whole act was a shambles." Mid-way thru the act she hollered for Don Phil-lips to retrieve the Yorkie from the carriage.He started to do her bidding, stopped, cameback and asked if the dog bit. "Just go get thedog" ordered a now thoroughly exasperatedSusan, Don ended up by pulling the carriageup the track and into the ring so Susan couldget the dog herself. "All that," she sighs, "ov-er a little dog whose mouth isn't big enoughto bite."

Boom Boom unearthed and played for Har-ry Thomas' tiger act the original Clyde Beat-ty March, written in 1936, and used for thefirst time since 1965.. .Louie Bellson, hus-band of famed Pearl Bailey, and the TonightShow drummer, is taking Boom Boom on a3 week tour of England this fall.

Lou Ann and I watched a video taping of theHanneford Circus in Detroit in the Fossett'strailer and I whipped out a notebook and be-gan taking notes. Lou Ann looked at me andsaid: "Ohmygawd, here I sit... with ThePent" (Thanks Ed Migley - 1 used to be knownonly as The Voice).. .Tony is a video tape en-thusiast of the first rank, except, wails Irene,when he erases something she particularlywants to save to tape something else.

Circus Fan, wheel-chair-bound Bill Green, ofBeatrice, Nebr., was escorted to the Lincolndate by a friend and was given box seats...The Gaonas have reportedly signed a 3 yearcontract with Tommy Hanneford for theirflying and teeterboard acts.. .1 said therewere two teeterboard acts in Detroit whenactually there were three - Gaonas, Hernan-dez and Zerbini.

Now that Tarzan has Detroit for 1982, Tom-my Hanneford took Saginaw - playing date-checkers, these two.. .Omaha went to theCoronas for 1982 which might upset Gradeif their change of dates hadn't made it im-

May25,1981

possible for her to play it anyway - the datewill conflict with Sioux City, signed by Gra-de for two more years. She has retained Lin-coln, plus a new date to make up for Omahaas well as an extended Nebraska route and theDenver Police date.

DuOuoin is added to the Belleville-GraniteCity Shrine dates produced by George Hublergiving that route the bonus of a new town ..It's too bad that Belleville must be played inthe dirty hole. It is always blistering hot, too.I have been added to the line-up of the Ken-tucky State Fair for Ron Kelroy and by thetime this sees print will be enroute back tothe mid-west to play Hastings and Denver forGrade and then return to Omaha for a 3 daymajor book promotion.

Roy Arringdale, a Shriner from Omaha, wasa veteran circus clown long before he becamea Shrine Clown and worked dates for JimmyDouglass. In addition, Roy is a brilliant por-trait artist, portraits in oil so real they lookalive.. .Gary, a rider with Royal Hanneford(and hand balancer) has left that show, or soI am told, to join Jay Cochran in a doublesway pole act.

The Burketts and Harry Thomas return toFantasy Island for the summer.. .Also goinginto a park are Roman and Jean Schmitt.. Aland Joyce Vidbel will be with Grade's mid-American tour.. .Gus and Betty Bell visitedin Lincoln - they were next door with theTrade Show. On the stage was Rick Nelson.The Million Dollar Carlos Twins are with

Tihany and report that living expenses downthere are exorbitant.. .Fred Van Voorden isstudying French, going to night school, is nowin his second semester.. .Buck Nolan, a fleamarket afficonado, always manages to pick upold books with odd and campy titles which hegives to individuals - apropos the title.

FISH STORY: Only Walter Patterson couldgo 'land fishing" and end up with a fish hook-and lure embedded in his finger and have tobe rushed to the emergency room of the Lin-coln hospital to have the hook extricatedlTHIS YEAR'S BYWORD for the 1981 sea-

son - created by and courtesy of Christine Fos-sett: That word is .. Borr-inngg!SEE YOU down the road, luvs.

circus report, may 25, 1981, vol. 10, no. 21 · artistry in the air and was followed by the ......

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