Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

27
WILLIAM "Boom Boom" BROWNING

Transcript of Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 1: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

WILLIAM "Boom Boom" BROWNING

Page 2: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 4 February 15,1983

Show DltisAmerican Cont'l CircusFeb 18-21 Richardson Jx.

Castle CircusFeb 18-20 Albuquerque,

N.M.26-28 Minneapolis,

Minn.

Chipperfield/Cottle Circusto Apr 10 Hongkong

Circus VargasFeb 15-17 La Puente, Cal.

18-21 Hollywood22-24 Long Beach25-27 Huntingdon Bch28-Mar. 1 Monrovia

Cole All Star CircusFeb 15 Hinsdale, NY

16 Shinglehouse, Pa.17 Holland, NY18 Bradford, Pa.19 Kane

Ford Bros. CircusFeb. 27 Conroe, Texas

(Opening Date)

Garden Bros. CircusFeb 18-19 Cornwall, Ont.

24-27 Toronto

Hamid-Morton Circus'an 28-30 Roanoke, Va.Feb 9-14 Hartford, Conn.

18-20 Binghamton,NY25-27 Topeka, Kara.

Wm. Kay CircusFeb 19-20 Madison, Wise.

23-27 Milwaukee

Kosair Shrine CircusFeb 2-6 Louisville, Ky

No Elephant CircusFeb 14-19 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla

21 Winter Haven22-23 Orlando

CAN PLACESTRONG MAN - ESCAPE ARTIST

SWORD BALANCER

For Central Florida • April thru Sept.

Contact:

Ron Morris Big Top Productions

1051 Laurel St., Suite 101Sarasota, Florida-33577

Phone:813-366 8870

Olympic Int'l CircusFeb28-Mar21 Chicago, III

Ringl ing-Bam urn - BlueFeb 9-20 Atlanta, Ga.

22-27 Raleigh, NC

Hingling-Bamum - RedFeb 15-16 Albany, Ga. .

18-20 Chattanooga, Ten22-27 Greensboro, NC

Royal Hanneford CircusFeb 22-27 White Plains, NY

Swan Bros. CircusFeb 18-27 Indio, Calif.

TNT & Royal Olympic CirFeb 18-21 Mission Viejo, Ca

Zoppe's Circo ItaliaFeb 11-13 Buffalo. NY

17-20 Rochester

• - -OTHER DATES •-•

Disney Ice OdysseyFeb 15-27 Boston, Mass.

Disney World on IceFeb 15-20 San Fran., CaJ.

22-27 Portland, Ore.

Marathon Band ConcertFeb 26-27 Concord, Calif.

Virginia Slims Tennis MeetFeb. 21-27 Oakland. Calif.

Felix SnipesFeb. 4-6 Los Ang., Calif.

11-13 Newhall18-20 Vemon, Texas25-27 Memphis, Tenn.

Page 3: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 5

THE GREAT JOHNTHERONPresentsBRUNO'S

t now have my own rigging.Indoor and Outdoor.

This Thrilling Act and myOriginal Comedy Tank are nowavailable.

Please contact me at: (813)355-4369 or (813) 355-1461.

Or write to: J-P Theron, 312044th St., Sarasota, Fla. 33580.

P. S. This pole bends and it bendsgood!

Page 4: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

he Circus Report Page?

SUPERB HAND BALANCING ACT

Featuring

An Amazing One Finger Stand

also

11 yr. old Paul

and

An Exciting Foot Juggling Act

Pedro Morales, Jr.

3010 Stearns RoadValrico, Florida - 33594

(813)681 -3932 (Evenings)

The Floridians

OPEN TIME

in April and May

1983

Page 5: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

PageS February 15,1983

The Red UnitLLENRAY J. Y ARNELL

The 113th edition of Ringling Bros, andBarnum & Bailey Circus (Red Unit) is onthe road. I saw the show during its run atthe Bayfront in St. Petersburg, Fla., fromJan. 4 thru 10th.

As in recent years, the taping for the TVSpecial was done at the Bayfront. The TVspecial will be on CBS with former boxerSugar Ray Leonard and his son as the guesthosts. No date was stated as to when thespecial will be aired.

The newspaper ads state there are no in-creases in the price of seats this year. Also,the programs still cost $2.50, but there isno potter in the program as-there has beenfor many years.

Once again Tim Hoist is the performanceDirector, Jeffrey Loseff is*the AssistantPerformance Director and Keith Green isthe Musical Conductor. Dinny McGuire,who was the ringmaster on the Blue Unitlast year, has replaced Kit Has ken, whohad been ringmaster on this unit. AliceLynn, who worked with Dinny in singingsolo and duets last year has also joinedthe Red Unit.

Noticably missing from the Red Unit thisyear, compared to last year are: there is npaerial spec, no leopard act and Gunther-Gebel Williams does not have his giraffe,Dickie, with him.The special guest star with the 1 t3th ed-

ition of Ringling Bros, and Bamum & Bai-ley Circus is The Pink Panther. The PinkPanther makes a number of appearancesin the show.

The program lasted 2 hours 45 minutesand ran as follows: Opening Spec, On WithThe Show, with Gunther Gebel-Williamsriding Roman style on a pair of Morganhorses with a lion on each horse; The Globeof Death, featuring the Urias troupe; TheLeaps; 3 Animal acts - Hall's Baboons, theMickey Antalek Chimps, Michelle Antalekand Mark Oliver Gebel, goats; Clowns; 3Aerial acts • The Franconi Duo, Miss Lisa,Satin; Liberty Hones • Sigrid Gebel and

Tina Gebel in the outside rings with 6 hor-ses each and Gunther Gebel-Williams in thecenter rirfg with 12 hones; Clowns; 3 ringsof teeterboard with The Kovatchevi, TheOukovi, The Parvanovi; Clowns; High Wirewith the Carrillo Brothers; the Big Spec -The Pink Panther Joins The Greatest Showon Earth, during the spec, M:rk Oliver Ge-bel once again rides 2 baby African ele-phants, Roman style; Intermission.

Clowns; Gunther Gebel-Williams and 19tigers, including the white tigress, Mahar-anee, Gunther exits the cage-with his leo-pard neckline at he did last year; SwayPoles with the 4 Fearless Bauen; Clowns;3 rings of dogs - Eric Braun, Lona, TinaGebel; Dolly Jacobs on the Roman rings;Elephant Spec, pachyderms proudly pran-cing down Broadway with Gunther GebelWilliams and Mark Oliver Gebel; GuntherGebel-Williams' elephant teeterboard act;Clowns; The Flying Espanas over bothrings one and three; and the Closing Spec,Flamboyantly Fond Farewell, with Gun-ther Gebel-Williams riding Kongo, his Af-rican elephant, with a tiger on the elephant.

Japan TourPhil Temple's "World Wonder Show" en-

gagement in Japan "was very successful."The tour was for five weeks and includeda total of 67 shows, twice each day.

The show was presented and booked bySankyo Promotions, and included on theprogram were: The Abulets, high wire, anact from the "Chinese Acrobats of Taiwan"troupe, Howard Baker, English escape ar-tist, with illusions presented by Phil Tem-ple, assisted by Oonna Paxson, Angela andPatrick Martin.

Jan. 23 - Del Mar, Calif. - An employee ofCircus Vargas, William Beggers, 35, suffer-ed neck and back injuries when he was at-tacked by an elephant while the circus wasplaying at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Page 6: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 9

COL. E. T. BALE, Sr.WISHES ALL FRIENDS AND CIRCUS PRODUCERS

A V E R Y S U C C E S S F U L 1983

NOW PRESENTING AND TRAINING HORSES

FOR THE SALLY CHIPPERFIELD CIRCUS

ALSO PRESENTED ATIGER ACT AT THE PAVILION, WEYMOUTH DORSET, ENGLAND

STILL THRILLING CHILDREN OF ALL AGES

Please send all Mail to:COL. E. T. BALE, Sr.C/O A. Roberson3 Salters HillNorwood, S. E. 19London, England, GB

Page 7: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 10 February 15.1983

World ChampionshipsBY JACK NIBLETT

The Circus World Championships of 1982were held in London at Eelbrook Common,Fulham, on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 18-19.This prestigious event has been cropped in

style, somewhat, since its conception, fromfive days to only two, and the number ofcompeting artists is smaller, but it is still animportant date in the circus calendar and itis possible to see some of the world's finestcircus performers in competition.

Staged in Robert Bros, magnificent six-mast Hippodrome Circus tent, and hostedby Norman Barrett, the doyen of Englishringmasters, the two day event attractedlarge numbers of circus artists, fans andcity folk, and generally plenty of excite-ment.The categories this year were: Flying Tra-

peze, Cycling, High School and Supertroupeand were judged on content and performingexcellence.

Honors for the Flying Trapeze went to theUSA with the splendid Flying Redpathsclosely beating their opponents from Chile,The Flying Valencias. Katja Schuman (Den-mark) lost the title which she had held since1976 to Manuela Beloo (Holland) in theHigh School category. Both girls gave im-maculate displays of Haute Ecole.

Cycling awards went to the MichelettyTroupe (France), the losers being the San-tus Troupe, their relations and friends fromthe UK. The verve and brilliance of the Ro-dogols (Mexico) with their springboard actjust snatched the victory from the Balkan-ski Troupe (Bulgaria), equally spectacularwith their springboard. Both acts couldtruly be called Supertroupes."

The judges were distinguished EuropeanCircus Directors, and included amongsttheir numbers Cart Semback-Krone, Moifa

SIEGEI & CANTOAttorneys at Law

Immigration•Permanent Resident Visas -

•Non-Immigrant Visas- Investors-• Retatite-s • I ahor Orliflmlion *

• Intra-Compan) Transfers • Students ** Deportation * Naturalization •* Inirrrmimnal Tax and Trade -

1634 Main Street, Sarasou, Florida 33577

Telephone: (813) 366-7935

Orfei, Eti Berneweiss, Bobby Roberts andPeter Jay.There were many visiting European artists

and friends and fans to be seen amongst theaudiences. I also spotted Michael Crawford,star of the long-running London productionof "Bamum" at a rehearsal • taking a lookat the real thing!

Bull in new home"Cindy" the elephant, branded as one of

the meanest and most ill-tempered elephantsever kept at the Point Defiance Zoo in Ta-coma, Wash., was transferred to the San Di-ego Wild Animal Farm Park last month.

Since arriving in San Diego she has beendescribed as being very calm

Page 8: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 11

Circus in IndiaBy N. V. ESWAR - Reprinted from the

Daily Variety of July 28,1982.Though a century old, the big top in India

is still not a very big entertainment mediumdespite the fact that it is popular in rural In-dia.

In an effort to save the circus from extinc-tion, a delegation of the Federation of In-dian Circus Owners recently met India'sPrime Minister Indira Gandhi and askedthat areas in the major cities and towns bemade available for performances at reason-able rent

The group rent a circus troupe has to payin a city like Bombay is as much as $312.50per day, while it was only $62.50 per day adecade or so ago.The delegation also requested that the gov-

ernment exempt circus performances fromentertainment tax.The first circus troupe to perform in India

on a commercial scale made its bow in Ma-harashtra in 1891. Today there are some200 circus- troupes in India. Of these only

WANTEDTELEPHONE PROMOTERS

andNIGHT ROOM MANAGERS

Reply to

P.O. Box 1570Winter Park, Fla. - 32790

305/645-1091904/7 34-8777-813/355-1205;.•/•"» -,,-

12 are major troupes, moving from town totown on a national scale. The rest are allpurely local.

Some 50 troupes operate within the radiusof a few townships, while as many as 138troupes operate in rural areas, performingin the open fields after the summer harvestof the rice crop.Some of the big circus troupes have be-

tween 125 and 450 artists and 70 to 150animals working. It is estimated that thetotal number of artists working with theIndian circus troupes is well over 10,000.Most of them are children and teenagers.The average daily expense of a circus

troupe varies from $1,000 to $1,750 perday, depending on the size of the troupeand the location.

Some of the well-known groups are theGreat Eastern, Venus, Amar, Bharat, Kam-ata and Raymond Circuses. The RaymondCircus is said to be the oldest troupe in op-eration.

Though Maharashtra was the birthplace ofprofessional circus in India, the tiny stateof Kerala on the west coast has a virtualmonopoly in the trade in that it operatesmost of the troupes, and well over 90% ofall circus artists are drawn from the state.

Some of the important performers receive$200 to $375 per month, while the averageperformers receive anything from $75 to$125 per month. All get free boarding andlodging.

In large cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Del-hi, Madras and Bangalore, the circus com-panies use the four-pole system with a ra-dius of 110 ft. for the arena and accommo-dations for 12,000 people.

The circus arenas in small towns have a re-duced radius of only 85 ft. with accomoda-tions for 6,000 people. Most other circustroupes, operating in the rural areas, useone and two-pole tents, with smaller arenasfor 750 to 2,000 people.

Apart from the exemption from entertain-ment tax, which some of the state govern-ments give, the central government allowslower fares and freight charges on the rail-ways for circus personnel, animals and itsprops. Most troupes, however, have to useroad transportation while setting up their

.tents in towns and villages.rS

(Continued on Paye 24)

Page 9: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 12 February 15,1983

Show Reportsby NORMAN J.BORGER

The fall tour of Borger Bros.-Circus Berlin,which was our 20th anniversary edition wasfrom Sept. 18 to Nov. 21. Business on thetour was exceptionally good.

Among the acts which appeared at the var-ious engagements were: John Armstrong,The Karpis Duo, foot juggling, the Kursawesunicycle and bicycle, Joyce Rice, batonsand whips and ropes, Steve Elsthain, magicand rope escape, Ken Benge, magic and jug-gling, Paul Bachman, Hard Luck Harpo,comedy bicycle, Leon and Luba, unsuppor-ted ladder, The Indian Princess, productionwith tomahawk juggling and hoop dance,The Freddies, rola bola, Johnny Joker, co-medy. The Juggling Jester, Mr. B, unicycles.Clowns were Sunshine and Rickie.

Had not read anything about this, but thereaders will be interested in knowing thatBud Jeffries, who performed with his wifeEdna, as The Aerial Jeffries and also did adoll dance act as Jeff and Uta, passed awayon July 25,1982. He is survived by his wife,Edna and a daughter Lita.We went down to Hammond, Ind., for the

Garden Shrine Circus. Since neither the run-ning order or the acts listed in the programwere correct, here it is as I remember it andrecognized the acts:

Eddie Schmitt, tigers; Aerial Cradles withLar Rays and Garcias; Clowns; Rola Bola,David Conners and An; Clown Car; MissMarki, birds, dogs and ponies; Rietta, roc-ket to trapeze; Eddie Steeples, bears; Cu-ccillo, trampoline; Aerial ballet with CathyEnglish; Victor Julian's Dogs; Intermission.The Flying Larrays, Gorilla Number; Uni-

cycles and Garcias; Jugglers; Elephants andThe Wallendas. At Leonard was the ringmas-ter.

NEEDEDGIRL or GIRLS FOR FLYING ACT

Contact: Gene, Lisa or Patty at:(305) -773 -8505 Evenings

or write:PATTY STRUNK

450 Kingston RoadSatellite Beach, Florida-32935

FOR SALE7 YEAR OLD MALE CHIMPANZEE

- Proven Breeder -Box 134 Nisswa, Minn. 56468

Phone: 218-963-4776

Bl LL IRWIN, former clown with the Pickle Family. Circus, is featured in a comedyspecial filmed for release on the PBS-TVsystem. The show is called "The Regard ofFlight."

THE AMAZING RANDI, magician, andURI GELLER, psychic, debated the sub-ject "Magic or Miracle" in a special NBC-TV program on Feb. 8th.

NICK MARICICH plays the part of Zorroin a display offered by the Walt Disney'sWorld on Ice Show. One of his feats is jum-ping over a series of barrels.

The Garcias, cradle acts and juggling wereOscar Garcia. Cathy English was very good.Lee Maloney was listed as bandmaster, butwe did not see him. They did announce atthe start of the show who the band leaderwas, but I couldn't catch it.

Page 10: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 13

Elephants Saved(Reprinted from the Western Morning News,England, of February 2,1982).

Four baby elephants would be dead todayif they weren't in a circus.

Mary, Lily, Suzie and Dickie were the on-ly survivors of a cull in a Zimbabwe nationalpark which wiped out several complete hertfcof more than 1,000 elephants.

And last night, a circus chief used them asan example to hit out angrily at animal pro-testors whi have dogged his show since itarrived in the South-west.

Mr. Chris Barltop, ringmaster of the fam-ous Circus Hoffman, appearing at ClennonValley, Paignton.said:"How many of those protesters can hon-

estly say they have saved an animal fromdeath?"Throughout the world the shrinking num-

ber of national parks are becoming increas-ingly overcrowded. And zoos are. not alwaysviable.

"Circuses have saved the lives of countlessanimals throughout the world, and I wishedsometimes these self-appointed guardians ofanimals would remember that."

Last week circus activists picketed the cir-cus when it arrived in Paignton, trying toturn customers away*

Mr. Baritrop, 34, said: "We have a roman-tic notion of animals in this country. Butbelieve me, if cows and horses were notbred to be eaten or worked by humans, theytoo. would be wiped out

"And if it's simply the act of training ananimal which offends them, why don't theypicket Barbara Woodhouse (dog trainer) be-cause she uses exactly the same techniquesas.we do.

"Her dogs may be bred in captivity but soare our lions and tigers. Our horses are train-ed in exactly the same way as show jumpersand racehorses."

Page 11: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 14 February 15,1983

TIBOR ALEXANDER5 CONTINENT THEATRICAL BOOKING AGENCY

P. 0. Box 87, Watt Labanon, NY 12195Phona: 518-794-7878 - Hot Lint 518-794-7784 - 24 Hr. Sarvica 7 Days a Wttk

Ntad acts all the tin* - Nothing too small, Nothing too bigSand Opan Tima and Picture • Naw Acts Walcpma

The Dallas FairBY BOB STODDARD

The line-up for the 1982 Dr. Pepper Circusat the Texas State Fair, produced by GilGray, included the following:

Clown warm-up with Johnny Peers (produ-cing), Gary Ray (Patches) and Bobby Gol-den.

Cleo Plunkett was the ringmaster.Castle's Bears with Jimmy and Tepa Hall

and Isabella Luvas; The Great Huberto slidefor-Jife; Ring 1 and 3. hand balancing by theRamos Troupe, Ring 2, perch with the Pab-lo Martinez Trio; Clown Dogs with JohnnyPeers and Patches; Ring 1, Woodcock's leo-pard was scheduled but didn't work becauseBarbara was in the hospital. Pam Zoppe &Co., had their chimps in the center ring andPete Luvas and Tajanna worked their smallelephant in ring 3; Risley Troupe; Clownsin The Photographer; Ring 1, rolling globes,by the Ramirez Sisters, Ring 3, The Unicy-ling Hall Family. The center ring was em-pty because Herbie Weber was ill and didn'twalk the wire;

Pete and Petrova in the center ring withPete Luvas in the cradle and 9-year-old Ta-vanna doing this for her second year whilemother Isabelle was on the ground. They

didn't do the break-away and I missed that.Hie Coraltas Sisters did loop-de-loops inboth ring 1 and ring 3;

The show stopper was the Zoppe IndianRiding Act, which is fast, loud and excit-ing. Roger and Pam Zoppe and Co. (with-out 3 year-old daughter Dallas, who had abad cold) brings the crowd to their feet;Iron jaw by the Claudia Sisters; BucklesWoodcock presented the Woodcock ele-phants (3), leading upito the finale.Visitors on the lot included: Pom Pom

Donoho, Kay Rosaire, Patti Gatti, Aurel-lia and In/in Hall, Chu-cho and Chu-cha;Max and Gertie Craig; Peggy and Joe Zop-pe; Denice and Antonio Almeda; Leonand Vicki Adams; "Snuffy" (rodeo clown)and Barbara's mother and sister.

MARK KALIN, illusionist; STU SCOTT,comedian, and DICK FRANCO, juggler, arefeatured in the show "Razzle Dazzle" cur-rently playing at the Hilton Hotel in Reno.

Page 12: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report

At the Dallas FairThe above photos by John Manning include:1 • Patches (Gary Ray) and Bobby Golden2 - Buckles Woodcock working elephants3 • Tepa (Luvas) Hall and Jimmy Hall4 • The Ramirez Sisters - rolling globe act

5 - Johnny Peers and dogs6 • Jimmy and Tepa Hall, juggling7 - Gerald Burns at work8 - Tajanna Luvas on Kenya with dad Pete9 - Pam Zoppe and Bob Stoddard10 - Tepa and Jimmy Hall

Page 13: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

New Group PlannedBY B O B S T O D D A R D

Forty-six clowns attended the dinner atthe main restaurant in Traders Village dur-ing the second annual Clown and CircusDays event to discuss the formation of anew organization to be called "The TexasClown Association/'

The group represented every geographicalpart of the state except the far west El Pa-so area. They came from Amarillo to Cor-pus Christi and from Longview to Odessa.

The idea for such an organization wasbrought up and discussed during the Nationat Convention in Albuquerque, and it wasdecided at that time that our event wouldbe a good opportunity to get the ball roll-ing.

The opinion seemed unanimous that suchan organization would be beniflcial to alland they elected a steering committee todraft a set of by-laws necessary to becomeincorporated by the State of Texas, and tobecome tax-exempt as a non-profit organ-ization. They will report their progress ata special meeting in Kerrville, when theyhave their mini-convention Dec. 3-5J982.

The committee members include: RosalieFerryman, Dallas area; Clifford Wood, Kerrville; Dorothy Braley, Corpus Christ i ; Rich-ard Wade, Houston; Wayne Veale, Odessa;Joyce Wilkes, Longview is secretary.

THE STANEKS, vaulting act, was featuredon the TV show "That's Incredible" shownthe evening of Jan. 31st.

Page 14: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 17

Children of all ages *BY BOB STOOD A RD

Ladies and Gentlemen ... children of allages. . . we direct your attention to the cen-ter ring... the youngest wire walker in theworld ... at two years old ... the great Car-los Obando the second ...

Cariitps (Little Carlos) bows graciously tothe audience and to his family and proceeds

Carlos Obando II walks across the wire ashis father Watches and gives advice.

Photo by Dave Paczak

to walk across the wire, with his parentsCarlos and Carol Obando, veteran high wireperformers, looking on from below.Young Carlos has been walking the wire

since April 18.1982, when he became theyoungest person ever to walk across a wireand was entered officially as such in the

Guinness Book of World Records.The feat was accomplished at the M&M

Shrine Circus in Sioux City, Iowa.Actually, the boy turned three soon after

he took the world's record away from it'sprevious holder, who happens to be his sis-ter Pamela Michelle Obando (now five yearsold} who had held the record since she wasthree.

She spent her first week on the wire at Se-minary South Shopping Center at Ft. Worth(Texas) with the TNT & Royal OlympicCircus the last week in October, 1980.

Pamelita (Little Pamela) still works in thefamily act and now does splits on the wireand performs without a balance pole.

She also does a graceful adagio dance (andother incredible feats of balance) on herfather's shoulders while he balances himselfon the rola bola.

Ecuador's Carlos Obando became an Am-erican citizen in Buffalo, NY, on June 9th,1982, while playing a Shrine Circus date inthat city.

The Obandos formerly were stars in LosObandos, a six person high wire act thatworked at heights up to 50 ft. until Pam-ela was born. Since then they have workedas "Poppini Company" on the low wire.

Show NotesBY BOBBY COX

At the Dallas State Fair, Red Hartman wasrunning a novelty stand, and they put up ahuge ride alongside him. It blared rock androll music for all 17 days.

Herine Weber was with the Gil Grey Circusalong with the Oscarians and Cleo Plunkett.

Ward Hall had a Freak Show on the Mid-way and Billy Loter was seen working agame.

Pete the Tramp was spotted working agri-bse joint in Columbia, SC. Tommy Pico(former Beany show butcher) was seen inCiowley, La., working a join, and RodneyCook and yours truly (also former Beanyshow troupers) worked a balloon joint atDallas.The Circo Caravana, owned by the Bau-

tista family, recently played for a week'sengagement in Puebla, Mexico.

Page 15: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 19

End of the tourBY BOB STOODARD

Canon & Barnes Circus played its finaldate of the season at The Colony (nearLake Dallas) in Texas, on Oct. 31st.The show was pretty much the same as it

was in May when it left Texas. Jim Royalwas back from England and was once againserving as ringmaster (he was scheduled togo back to England on Dec. 18th).The show had added Robin Fulton as a

vocalist and she sang the traditional "OldeLang Zyne" a ft re the final show and I no-ticed that a lot of the showfolks were cry*ing.

A few of the starting clowns were missingbut the backbone: Jack Johnson, MaudePlippen, Buckles the Down and Mary werestill there.

They were in a hurry to wind up the sea-son and had the two shows with only twen-ty minutes in between. Attendance was verygood for the 3 p.m. show and quite goodfor the 5p.m. show.Trie show was sponsored by the Colony

Jaycess, One of them told me that theymade more than $2,000 after expenses andthat they were already planning to do itagain next year.

Lots of people visited, like: Ralph Duke,Glen and Ethel Henry, Zoe Ann Henry, MacMcDermott, Jimmy and Tepa Hall, Bubba,Tommy Randolph, Johnny and Laura (Her-iott) Walker, Johnny and Hazel Frazier andfamily, Jack Baty, Rosanne Baty, Mary Leeand her daughter, Jim Howell and family,Herbie Weber and Maricela, Betty Uewellan,Harry Pearson, Jr., Terry Davolt and Eliza-beth "Chick" Chickilly.The award of Photographer of the Day

would have to go to Elise Jean Knox, whosetwelve large photographs in the followingFriday and Sunday editions of the ColonyLeader were absolutely "great.!'

SHARON WARD writes she has acquiredBurger's Ham V Egg Revue and has renam-ed it "Daisy's Ham & Egg Revue". The actwill be featured with Bill Garden's showstarting in April.

THANK YOU

FRANK and JANET BURGER

FOR YOUR PATIENCE, FAITH AND U N D E R -STANDING. I 'M PROUD TO HAVE PURCHAS-ED THE HAM 'N' EGG REVUE FROM YOU.

ALSO A SPECIAL THANKS TO PONCHO MA-GANA FOR THE EXPERT CONSTRUCTIONOF MY NEW "HOG-MOBILE" AND FOR GIV-ING ME THE BENEFIT OF HIS K N O W L E D G EOF ANIMALS.

SINCERELY,

SHARON WARD

Page 16: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 20 February 15,1983

Clown AwardsBY BOB STODDARD

Jo Jo Jingles (G. Elmar Jones) the FortWorth (Texas) clown was presented a rib-bon and a trophy honoring him for morethan 30 years as a Good Will Ambassadorfor the clowning profession, at the secondannual Clown and Circus Days celebrationat Traders Village on Oct. 13th.

Lou Flowers (Honey) Stoddard, of Dun-canville was presented the "Clown of theYear" award for being the Alley No. 85member whose efforts for the cause ran themost "above and beyond."

Other awards were as follows:Make up and Costume, White Face.Elizabeth Cauley, Garland; Bobby Reese,

Garland; James Decker, Dallas; Van Chau-vin, Duncanville.Auguste -Donald Ferryman, Irving; Wayne Veale,

Odessa; Kay Veale, Odessa; Nicholas Brad-ley, Arlington.

Tramp and Character •

Bob Thomas, Amarillo; Irving Schwartz.San Antonio; Clifford Wood, Kerrville;Bill Pinney, Duncanville.

Individual Skit Awards -Bob Thomas, Amarillo, for his ragtime

band skit; Nicholas Bradley, Arlington, forhis Trash Can skit; Dan Young, Piano; Jo-yce Wilkes, Longview, Joy Beiis and Heidi.

Group Skit Awards went to:Ajax and Superstar with a balky mini-car

"The Garage"; The Big Match skit by AlleyNo. 85 members; Martian Invaders by Bo BoBrown, Giggles, Twinkles; A Tie BetweenA Day at the Park with Ajax, Uncle Will;Blossom and Big D Cafe by Alley No. 85members.

Mary Jane Smith was presented with anaward for the best alley scrap book of in-dividual activities, during National ClownWeek, Aug. 1st thru 7th.

Page 17: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 21

MR. DWIGHT DAMON, of Merrimack, N.H., now runs one off New England's leadingentertainment agencies.

His acts at the recent Deerfield, N. H. Fairincluded a beautiful Wallenda-style high

wire crowd p leaser by the Troffen, PaulBaron's Harmonica Rascals, Ken Sher-burne's juggling on unicyclec and rollingglobes, the Great Eric & Co., magic-illus-ions, Hager's incredible chimp, Cheezo'sMouse balloon clowning, Jim Whitney &Lou Rule, cowbell symphonies, "Dynamite*the clown pony and a lot of other greatperforming artists, muscial, etc. that mademe sorry to miss because of the pressureof record breaking attendance.

Obviously, during the last decade the Con-gress has been playing "Tilt" with the scaleoff our traditional symbol of American crim-inal" justice - the blind goddess. Make nomistake about it. In many parts of ourgovernment there are certain agencies af-fecting the lives and livelihood off circusand professional show people.

It is unfortunate that some off these gov-ernment agencies are run by self-centered,impractical tyrants. It's nearly electiontime. Take a few minutes and talk withcandidates for high public office. Vote forthose who are really interested in profes-sional performing artists. Give support tothose who want to make our lives easier.Correct those whose proven policies have

made our careen more frustrating, difficult-even impossible)

Good news - Roland and Marcelli and Ja-nis, slack wire act is showing recovery fromthe trauma of his recent narrow escape fromdeath during car repairs.

Eric and Angela Wilnow still active in thenortheast with their classic Indian America-na number.

Coloring BookThe new 1983 coloring book being sold at

Circus Vargas features drawings of the var-ious acts along with their autographs.Acts depicted in the book are: Wally East-

wood, juggler; Wally Naghtin, bean; LetVictoria, statue act; James Crawford, honetrainer; Dariene and Vanessa, dog acts; LynnPape, trapeze; David Polk, tigen; Semon,chimps; The Pa rays, aerialists; The Paulasand The Alexanden, cradle; Dale Longmireand Billy MeCabe, clowns; The Star Lords,flying trapeze; Pepi, Freddy and Tony, highwire; The Charles Troupe, teetertooard actand the Rex Williams Family, elephants.

ROBERT "Locke" LORRAINE, clown,recently returned home after undergoingopen heart surgery. He is making good pro-gress.

CINDY HERRIOTT and CHRIS PRICEwere married at Sarasota, Fla., on Jan. 8th.

Page 18: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 22 February 15, 1983

Special Feature(The following item is part of an article

that appeared in the Sarasota Magazine,of Jan. 1983).

Other small circuses are still based in Sar-asota and many organizations keep thetradition alive.

Irvin Feld now urges the return of theRingling circus to Sarasota as well.Noting he was not yet in control of the

"Greatest Show" when the winter quartersmoved to Venice 23 years ago. he contendsthe "citizens of Sarasota should not havelet it happen."

Venice "never wanted the circus and wedon't belong there," he adds." 'Circus City, U.S.A.' is really Sarasota,

Florida. It should never be anywhere else.If (the city or county government of) Sar-asota provided the money, we would makethe move. We are not going to make the in-vestment though."

According to Feld, the investment of pro-perty and capital would be used to the mu-

LCT ME QVE YOUR SHCW TOATLAS VEGAS SPARKLE!!

BILLBIRCHFIELD

Professional Stage ManagementCreative Lighting Design and

Special Effects

"a very talented guy" David Copperfield"lighting is crisp, on cue" Variety"excellent work" Greg Thompson,

Producer"a real pro" Red Skelton

- Phone - Write - Wire -

BILL BIRCHFIELDP. 0. Box 2283, Sparks, Nev. 89432-2283

Phone: 702 - 331 - 4274

Resume and Price Info Upon Request

CARSON & BARNES CIRCUS

Route Cards to be sent out eachweek from the show throughout

the season.

Cost for 1983-$20.00

Please Remit to:

JAMES JUDKINS

Box J Hugo, Okla. 74743

tual advantage of Sarasota and the Ringlingcircus. If the circus were headquartered inSarasta, he says, the Felds would build aunique, year-round attraction at the site.

He will not elaborate on his unofficial pro-posal except to add that the attraction heconstructs would be "permanent" and"something no one has ever seen before. Itwill bring in more tourists than Orlando."

Currently the circus is operated from Washington, from the Felds' national offices. Ir-vin, who lives in Washington, and Kenneth,a Maryland resident, spend a good deal oftime in the Sarasota-Venice area in the falland early winter.

Clown College, founded by Feld. Sr., whenhe first bought the circus, runs from Sept.to Nov. annually at the Venice arena. Irvinestablished the school 15 years ago when herealized only 14 members remained in thefamous Clown Alley and the average agewas 58. After the clown graduation, theRed Unit of the circus comes home for re-hearsal, followed by the Blue Unit. By theend of January both units have premieredtheir new shows before local audiences andwill have "hit the road" for another season.

Obviously the Felds' instincts are morethan philanthropic. As Irvin told an inter-viewer recently, the family has "done allright." But the circus and all it represents

(Continued on Page 25)

Page 19: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 23

John Strong ShowBY J1MCONLEY

"Wonderful World of Magic" a show thatBig John Strong put together for EncoreProductions opened its fall tour in San Ber-nardino, Calif. Oct. 16th.The show opened with MC Al Leonard

singing an introductory tune as a clownparaded through on stilts. The first act wasthe Rolling Dars unicycle act which featur-ed a jump over two reclining humans. Thenext act was a new routine put together bythe Trampoline Guys involving a mini-tram-poline and a large pad. The fast moving ac-tion held the audience's attention.

Mark Vozza's 'Pirate Birds of the Sea' wasan interestingly dressed bird act with Markas a pirate and very attractively dressedprops. Jack Davis assisted by Mary Grantand a large staff of assistants closed the firsthalf with a production cabinet from whichhe produced a number of people, some dovemagic, a thin model sawing-in-halves illus-ion and the floating lady illusion. The act

was well dressed with scenic effects, chaserlights, etc. They were somewhat hamperedby the local fire department which wnuldnot let them use their flash pots and fireeffects.

The Trampoline Guys opened the secondhalf with their trampoline act which feat-ures the triple somersault on the trampo-line. This is a Vegas type act which wentover big.

Dixie the clown was on next with TheTide gag.Sir David juggled on the rola bola using

rings, tennis rackets, balls and daggers.Jack Davis followed with the Temple of

Benares illusion and the vanish of a girl andcage in mid-air, with the girl reappearingfrom the auditorium.A clown did the tight rope bit while the

stage was being reset in circus motif. Davisthen did the large production of flowersfrom the Botania, the well-known Zig Zagillusion, a balloon penetration, using spec-tators from the audience, the Lion cage il-lusion using a Jargo Lion produced from

(Continued on Page 24)

Page 20: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 24 February 15,1983

Show ProgramThe program presented by the Emmett

Kelly, Jr., Circus at Warren Atherton Au-ditorium, Delta College, Stockton, Calif.,on Jan. 8th included:

Wayne Regan and his wild animals; ClownAlley with Timothy and Chen; The Willetys,juggling/balancing; Hugo Wells with theHollywood Seals; Emmett Kelly as "TheMagician"; Wini McKay, aerialist; Clownsin "The Painter"; Mac, the trained housecat; The Rianos Duo, double wire act; Em-mett Kelly, comedy; Chester Cable, footjuggling; The Ferges Troupe, trampolineand Sugar V Spice, aerial cradle.

Show NotesA recent report indicates it takes the fol-

lowing numbers to keep the R8BB RedUnit on the road:400 people; Traveling 12,763 miles in 49

weeks on a 42 car train; Putting on 595performances in 33 cities; 1,000 costumesand 73,800 ft. of rope and wires to rig theshow which features 125 actual people inthe performance, 21 tigers, 20 elephants,28 horses, 2 camels, 4 chimps, and a tlama.

In a year some 539 tons of hay are requir-ed along with 294 tons of straw and some17,150 tons of meat, 2,450 IDS. of bananasand 9,800 rolls of toilet paper.

CIRCUS IN INDIA (Continued)

Circus troupes are always on the move,after spending a few nights to a month ina particular location. They usually contin-ue to operate even during the monsoonperiod of July to September.

On an average a circus troupe performsfor 300 days and spends about 65 days intravel during the course of a year.

JOHN STRONG SHOW (Continued)

the cage. The production of a girl from adrum head concluded his act.

The MC introduced all acts for the fibale.Organist Neal Armstrong and Grant Guthryon drums accompanied the show.I have not seen so many lighting effects,

set pieces and portable scenery in a showof this type for a long time. It certainlyhelped to make this show.

Page 21: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 25

JOE TROLLY(A.G.V.A. MEMBER)

INTERNATIONAL NOVELTY SKATER AND HIS MARIONETTES

EXTENSIVE REPETIORE - UNION CONTRACTS PREFERRED

BONDED and LICENSED AGENTS, PRODUCERS CALL

(516) 585 3398

SPECIAL FEATURE (Continued)

seem to surpass the acquisition of profit.In the same interview Feld contended the"important thing" to him was "not the

money but to do what we're doing.Kenneth echoes the sentiments. "I'm a

conservative/' he says, referring to his per-sonal spending habits. "I don't want tobuild a castle or anything like that. WhatI'm saying is, you can only spend so muchmoney. My idea of success is to do yourjob well."When Irvin succinctly states his philoso-

phy and hopes for the future he bindsthem inextricably with the circus:

"As far as we know, we only go aroundone time. It is great to leave a legacy. If Icould be remembered for just one thing,it would be that I saved the greatest Amer-ican institution. I'd be gratified for that. Ithink it's where I've made my mark."

Ford Bros. Circus will open its 1983 sea-son at Conroe, Texas, on Feb. 27th. Theshow will be presented under a brand newall blue canvas big top made by Leaf andmeasures 120 ft x 200 ft. This will expandthe show's seating capacity and will allowfor the use of special lighting during thedaytime hours.

Performers, animals and equipment work-ing with the Paul V. Kaye produced Circusin Japan, is expected to arrive in Los Ang-eles. Calif., about Feb. 23rd. Exact arrivaltime at the L. A. Airport has not yet beendetermined.

The Paul Eagle's Circus Luncheon Clubwill hold its annual circus at the RanchoLos Amigos Hospital in Downey. Calif.,on March 8th. Show time is 1 p.m.

Page 22: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 26 February 15, 1983

FSU CircusBY JOEW1EBUSH

The Florida State University Flying HighCircus appeared in Fruitland Park, Fla. onSaturday, Nov. 20. This show which seldomventures far from it's home base in Talla-hassee, was jointly sponsored by Sun Bankand ACA (American Cheerieading Acade-my) for the benefit of the Florida Elks Har-ry Anna Crippled Children's Hospital - a lo-cal institution. Two shows were presentedat 1 and 5 p.m. on the secluded grounds ofthe ACA. The weather was perfect for thestrictly open air performance and the bigcrowd spoke well of the aggressive advancesale of tickets at all Sun Bank offices.

The show is a strictly extra curricular ac-tivity for the students involved. The fortyperson company travels about six timespar semester and the students double asperformers and riggers and roustabouts.The circus travels in a large semi, a vanand a Greyhound Charter bus. The audien-ce was seated on steel folding chairs set upon the lovely short grass lot. Concessions

WANTEDfor 1983 season

BILL POSTERSADVANCE CLOWN

MUSICIANSELECTRICIAN

CLOWNS FOR SHOWHELP IN ALL DEPARTMENTS

FORD BROS. CIRCUS

P. O. Box 7099

Cut and Shoot Texas, 77303

Phone: 800-824-7888, Ext M4260

AVAILABLE

A - 1 BEAR ACTand

HIGH WIRE ACT

Contact:

EMIL or HANNA PALLENBERG

512-629-1348

or write

122 Camp Porter RoadNew Braunfels, Texas - 78130

were handled by Sun Bank personnel, ex-cept for the T-shirts which the FSU stu-dents handled.

As the name implies, it is largely an aerialcircus. The rigging consisted of four poles,with the usual high wire, flying trapeze,swinging trapeze, with all nets. There wereno rings as such. A solid wooden platformserved for the ground acts in 'center ring'.There wore no animals (and none expected)and sadly enough, the clowning was minim-al. There were no clown acts and few clowncostumes in evidence. A delegation of localclowns were on hand - but did not perform.

By 1 p.m. there was an overflow crowd of2,000 people. Music over the speaker sys-tem was suitably loud. The pre-show musicwas strictly circus calliope to set the mood.

The excellent program lasted for an hourand a half and moved very fast. There waslittle lost time between acts. Some of the16 acts were quite short. Unfortunately,there was no printed program available,which made it almost impossible to notethe names of the performers, but many ofthem performed in several acts, in tradition-al circus fashion.

(Continued on Page 27)

Page 23: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 27

FSUCIRQUS (Continued)

The program: National Anthem with flagsalute (an appropriate touch on thesegrounds, with a large flag billowing in thebreeze); High Wire (3 performers); Sky Pole;Swinging Trapeze (excellent); The Imper-ial Four, balancing by 3 men and a woman;Cloud Swing; Jugglers, 4 men with clubs, anovel act; Rola Bola; Hanging Trapeze - atalented couple; Intermission.

Comedy on the low casting rig, 3 men per-forming as Batman and Robin; MexicanCloud Swing; Balancing, 3 men in unusualfeats of strength; Slack Wire; Siltwalker;Aerial Ballet, 4 girls aloft, with two coupleson revolving ladders; Wheeling Wonders, 5on a bike; The Flying Seminoles • a tradi-tional flying act.

An unusual show, with some unusual tal-ent presented. As an amateur show, with aprofessional flair, it would seem in appro-priate to criticize any shortcomings bycomparison with a circus which is composedof professionals.

The fans got their money's worth and aworthy charity was well promoted. I con-sidered it an afternoon well spent 'at thecircus.'

Show ii JipinActs appearing with the Paul V. Kaye, pro-

duced "Korakuen Great American Circus"in Japan were:The Rix performing bears. The Kneisleys,

aerial cradle, Rudolph Delmonte, contor-tionist. The Plunketts, comedy trampoline,Bobby Moore's Mongrel Revue, ChristopherJames, tight wire. Wade Burck with the Cu-neo white tigers. Miss Najean, single trapeze,My-lmmba's African Baboons, Johnson'selephants. The Los Gauchos and The FlyingMiklins.The show's staff consisted of:Executive Producer and Director, Paul V.

Kaye; Assistant to Mr. Kaye, B. Brian Riz-zo; Ringmaster-Vocalist, Bob Welz; Riggingand Prop Supt., William Bannister; SpecialEffects Supt., Robert Moore; Lighting Dipactor, George Spelvin; Electrician, MichaelRedpath, Aerial Ballet Director, Donna Mit-chell, Wardrobe Mistress, Anna Delmonte,and Promoter, Ralph T. Yempuku.

Music was pre-recorded in Los Angeleswith Jack Cervone directing the band, as-sisted by Don Heaston. Tracey Heastonwas the percussionist.

Page 24: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 28 February 15,1983

ERIC BRAUN - ClownbyBOBSTODDARD

ERIC BRAUN,sixth generation of Germancircus performers, was born in Tampa, Fla.,where his parents - who were sway pole,trapeze and aerial perch artists - were win-tering. His father came over here with theGreat Arturo, and his mother is somehowrelated to the Wallendas.

He was raised in the circus, but had tospend one semester in college before he de-cided, "This isn't for me."

He attended the first Ringling Clown Col-lege in 1968 and decided that this was it -at least the beginning of it.

He was a Ringling clown for five years andthen decided that he needed more moneyand it was time to move up, so he put thedog act together.

(Somewhere in here it should be said thathe married a French-Canadian woman nam-ed Francine, because later on show wilt be-come an important part in his act and in thestory).

The Felds helped them career-wise andhelped him get the bookings that got themstarted in Europe where they spent threeyears with several circuses including twoFrench shows, Amar and Bouglionc; Ben-neweis in Denmark and Circo Americanoin Italy. During this time they made thecircus festival at Monte Carlo and won theSeine et Piste award.Their comedy dog act is a center ring at-

traction that worked all over Europe, Cir-cus Circus and other Las Vegas spots, plusseveral TV shows. Then they came backhome, to the Ringling show, where theyfeel at home and are very happy.

Eric loves to clown and is in the centerring with the garbage can act. He's proudof that. "One of the most difficult thingsin show business is to be a good clown,"he said. "Comedy is something that peoplewant and need. It's a good release from thetension."

The garbage can routine is a great clownact and it telts a story. A simple story abouta little dog who lives in a garbage can. Thisis his home, and this street sweeper (clown)throws trash in on top of him. The dogjumps out, knocks the clown down and thenjumps back into the can and throws the pa-

pers out. The clown doesn't know who orwhat knocked him down so he makes an-other attempt to do his job, with the sameresult. It's cute to the audience because theclown keeps putting it in and the dog keepsknocking the can over and taking it out. Inthe end, the dog wins. People can relate tothat.

Eric explained it best. "It's like the littlemen all over the world who finally win. Thegovernment has taken his last dollar, but inthe end - he wins. People like that idea."

In their other act, which is pretty much astandard dog act, they have one trick thatno one else has been able to duplicate sofar. He puts a poodle named Dino on ateeterboard and stomps on the other end.Dino flies through the air in a graceful 9 ft.arc and lands on Eric's hand on his twofront paws.

Dino is the most intelligent dog in the act,Eric explained. "It's very hard to teach adog to do this. When we first started, hewas coming off the board in a different dir-ection every time. It is very difficult for adog to learn when to come off. The tempo

(Continued on Page 29)

Page 25: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 29

Party TimeA Gala Potato Party was held at the Satel-

lite Hotel in Tokyo on Jan. 20th, hosted byCorky Ptunkett. Chris Rix was the headchef.The main course consisted of potatoes,

eggs, cheese, onions, bacon and ham, allcooked in a single (only one available) pot.A tossed salad topped with quail eggs wasalso served.The only downfall of the evening was the

desert because the temperature of the win-dow ledge wasn't cold enough to keep theice cream bars from melting.

Attending the party were: Albert Chris,and Susan Rix, plus Jeanette, Jeffrey,James and Debbie Ptunkett, Doug Terra-nova and Bob Welz.

THE AMAZING KRESKIN, the man whoreveals other people's thoughts, was a fea-ture guest on the San Francisco TV Show"People Are Talking" on Feb. 4th.

ERIC BRAUN (Continued)

is the important thing. It took him a yearand a half to leam the trick - to get thetiming down."

Dino is the trouble maker in the act. To-day he decided that the act was finishedand left before the others did.

Eric said, "I really don't like people toknow that I have a dog that leaves beforethe act is over. Can't we say that he does-n't actually leave that early? We just spendmore time styling than he thinks is neces-sary."

I told you that, later on, Francine wouldplay an important part in the act, and inthe story. The act is "Eric and Francine'sDogs," and in 1982 they added seven-year-old son Rickey to it. For 1983 they plan tomake it a really big act by adding six yearold daughter Neecha for a ring-ful of twelvedogs and four people.

Eric says, "Francine is a great help. She'sgood with costumes and great moral sup-port."

Oscarian Bros. CircusNEEDS

2 BOOKING AGENTS- IMMEDIATELY -

Easy ContractsGuaranteed Pay

Call:MANUEL RAMOS

8 1 3 - 2 4 7 - 1 5 6 3- No Collects -

Winter ShowThe Caria Wallenda Fan Club Newsletter

reports the following acts worked a winterdate in Kinpton, Jamaica, with a show puttogether by Caria Wallenda.

Razzle Dazzle, opening with entire com-pany; The Vashek Duo, sky-high motor-cycle; Space Fantasia with Aerial Ballet,Battle of the Galaxies and Rietta Wallenda,Goddess of the Galaxies; Clowns; JohnnyLuxem, Wheel of Destiny; The Flying Lar-rays; The Great Wallendas, high wire; Dis-play with Mario & Doris, hanging perch,Jennifer and Larry, aerial cradle, Valerie &Mike, hanging perch; Clowns; Caria Wallen-da, sway pole, followed by a stide-for-life.

On the final show a 650 ft. sky walk wasmade by Enrico Wallenda, across the sta-dium. The entire company appeared in theshow's finale.

DOUG and SALLY ASHTON are in Aus-tralia where they have joined the Sole Bros.Circus for a 12 month tour.

LICENSE PLATESROBERTS BROS. CIRCUS

- $5.00 Each -

TERESA EARL5343 Altoona Street

Sarasota, Florida - 33582

Page 26: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

Page 30 February 15,1983

Old-time circus manBy NANCY SMELTZER

JEFFERSON — Clowning aroundin the Akeman household used tobe serious business. Clowning wasTed Akeman's career. Greasepaint,funny clothes and a yen for enter-tainment kept him in the ringnearly SO years.

Although he rarely uses hisgreasepaints these-days, the spiritof his profession remains. Hishearty laugh, quick jokes and afriendly pat on the back exhibitwarmth and sincerity.

According -to Akeman. who is 77,being a clown is little more thanbeing a kid. And while the yearsmay have taken some spring out ofhis step and put some gray in hishair, Akeman says "The clownmake-up makes you feel like a kidagain."

In his Jefferson home, remind-ers of the circus days fill what Ake-man calls his "clown room." It iswhere Akeman the man and Ake-man the clown become one.

On the walls are big, brightportraits of Akeman and postersheralding the arrival of the Ringling Brothers Circus.

Among the keepsakes, his favor-ite is a music box with a clown thatdances to the tune of "Here Comesthe Clowns."

"One thing about it, I don't letother kids play with my toys," hesaid.

Show props, some a bit frayedfrom years of use, are stacked neat-ly throughout the room. He keepshis tattered straw hat and grease-paints in worn pasteboard case.In a small red velvet coffin rests"Martin the Martian," who Ake-'man introduces in his best sideshow voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you aregoing to see one of the strangestsights you'll ever see," he says in aserious tone. 'This was discoveredin the desert near Phoenix by twodoctors. Whether or not you be-lieve it, you'll remember it a longtime."

Martin is only paper mache, butto the thousands of people whopaid 25 cents to see the creaturefrom the outerspace, Martin wasthe real thing, Akeman said.

So real, in fact, "a lot of peoplewant to buy him," Akeman said. "Ididn't especially like him, but hemade money."

During his career, Akeman esti-mates he worked for 15 circuses.Clowning, which he said is one ofthe lowest-paying jobs in the cir-cus, was not his only line. He alsoran a side show and worked as a

(Continued on Next Page)

Page 27: Circus Report, February 15, 1983, Vol. 12, No. 2

The Circus Report Page 31

CIRCUS MAN (Continued)

trapeze artist and as a contortio-nist.Akeman started his career in 1922with the Laznont Brothers Circuswhich wintered in Salem, 111., notfar from his home in Dixon, 111.

There he worked as a contortio-nist, amazing crowds by bendinghis body in ways most bodiesavoid. Angela Akeman, his wife.said he almost could sit on hishead.

But his introduction to the cir-cus came long before. Akeman's fa-ther, who owned a livery station,often hauled goods from the trainstation to the circus grounds. Pay-ment included free tickets to thecircus.When Akeman was 16, he asked hisfather for a trapeze. Instead he re-ceived a desk.

Though opinions differed onAkeman's choice of careers, littlewas done to discourage the ven-ture, he said.

During his career he was knownas Ted LaVelda — a stage name heselected simply because "the for-eign sounding names carried moreweight."

Akeman has scrapbooks filledwith clippings of times when thecircus in town meant a parade anddays of fun as circus people andwagons of exotic animals createdan air of excitement.

He points proudly to the front-page coverage he received fromthe Toronto Telegram during aperformance for crippled children.But for every big city there werehundreds of tiny towns, he said.The billing card for the 13th weekof the Burnett Brothers Circus sea-son in 1935 shows engagements inOhio ranging from Ashtabula toElyria and Lorain.

And unless a town was noted for

something really special, sightsee-ing was limited to the travel fromone engagement to another.

Not all Akeman's performanceswere in circus rings. He recalled a1935 performance at the 12th StreetReno Club in Kansas City. Mo. Per-forming on the same stage was abudding musician named CountBasie.

Mirce/lziteousLate last year two doctors performed

cataract surgery on "Ronnie" a Ringling-Barnum elephant at Venice, Fla. The UP!photo story report said the cateracts wer<*unusual in that the lens tissue of the eyehad hardened to become "almost like arock."

The 22nd elephant bom at the WashingtonPark Zoo in Portland, Ore., was bom threeweeks ahead of schedule, in December 1982.The new arrival weighed 180 IDS. Her mo-

ther is 'Pet' who had already brought fournew offspring into the world. The lather is'Packy' the fi rst elephant bom at the zoonearly 21 years ago.

The Washington Park Zoo is by far themost successful zoo in the world in breed-ing elephants. Before the newest elephantwas bom on Dec. 26th, the latest elephantborn at the zoo was 'Lu Chai', born Oct. 1.

WANTED - WANTEDACTS WANTEDDON LINDSAY

PLEASE CALL ME AS SOONAS YOU CAN

PERCY TURNER878 Harwood Avenue

San Diego, Calif, - 92154619-429-0123/8951