favorite Circus Weekly

Volui December 3, 1973 Number 48

The SHOW1 though attendence waa notall that had been hoped foi

laat week's PAL Circua at the CowPlace in San Francisco was an i»-preaeive and entertaining ahow, of*faring something for everyone* Themany multi-ring presentations keptthe ahow rolling and delighted the

audiencea.

The show folks arrivedat the Cow Palace early

1 on Nov. 23rd, but wareunable to get into thebuilding becauae of a

rock concert that evening. Ae aresult it wasn't until Saturdaymorning that any rigging could behandled, ao the opening 11 a.m.show waa about 1) houra late. Thenat 2 p.m. with the show underwaythe local bendamen aaid their tieswaa up and they left. They return*ed for the other ahow and causedno further problems* However, ellthree shows on opening date wererunning behind schedule.

Thia year's show waa produced(Continued on Page 3 - Column 2)

AN ANIMAL SHOWone of the most unuaual and

Interesting ahowa to be developedon the west coast ia the "EarlyAmerican Circus" which Made ita de-but early thia year. Produced andpresented by Jerry Booker, the newshow's headquarters are in Loe Ga-

tos, Calif. They've been' playing shopping centers,celebrationa and specialevents, and next year theahow hopes for a series c

of California fair dates.

The program is presented in around, one pole top and offera awide variety of animal and noveltynumbers. All equipment and cagesare new and brightly painted, with"neatness and cleeninees" the rulefor everyone on the ahow.

In moat caaea the ahow haabeen sold outright to the sponsorso there is no admission charge*Concessions, consisting of popcorn, peenute and cotton candy aredispensed from a colorful circuswagon — all free to the kida.(Continued on Page 5 - Column 2)

Page 2 The Circus Deport

SHOW ITEMS SOUGHTn law »uit fllsd by the Ring-pi ling-Barnum Circus against

the Singling museum of the Circusand Florida's Secretary of StateRichard Stone* has bean moved to aSaraaota, Fla. court. The suit wasoriginally filed in flay at Talla-hassee.

The ciicus is asking for thereturn of wagons, wheels and otherequipment which it says were loan-od to the museum until such timeas they would be requested by thecircus.

It is presumed that the Ring-ling-Barnum people want the itemsfor their Circus World park.

YEARS AGOJune 18, 1917

The R. T. Richerda Supreme Showsplayed at Oalton, Maas. on June18th, then went to nearby Lea forJune 19th.

This la a small ahow, with Just 5wagons end some autoa. On theirway to Cheater (Jun. 20) the ele-phants ran away near Backet andwere gone all night.

THE CIRCUS REPORT la published ona weekly basis by Don ffercka, 525Oak St., El Cerrito, Cal. 94530.

Subscription ratest $1.00 for themonth; $5.00 for six months; and$10.00 for a full year. (Overseasand air nail rates on request).

Acts On JOURIhat nine day tour of the Hox-Sa Bros. Circus in Florid*

(Nov. 30-Dsc. 8) was booked andpromoted by Mearl Johnson. The etrcus included two aerial ballet nu«bars and was presented under Hox-ie's new round big top.

Appearing in the show programweret

Lucio Cristiani - riding actClary Ruth - dogs and poniesAcGulre Sisters - bird fantasyGene fflendez - high mireGlide's uncaged leopardanias Laura - cloud awingThe Oiaz Sisters - jugglingJohn Harriott - horsesItalo Fornasari Family - clown

band, juggling, trampolineKing Charles - band loaderBob flitchell - ring master

THERE'S HOPEA recent report from Canada

indicates that aeriallat Wary Gillhas come out of a coma — a condi-tion she has been in for some twoweeks.

Broken and bleeding, she wasrushed to an Ottawa hospital shortly after falling From the parchboard during a performance of theRBBB circus* Doctors gave her a10 to 15£ chance of recovery whanshe underwent brain surgery* Shewas paralyzed on the right sida.

It is atill touch and go forthe beautiful aerial star, but shedoes have a chance for recovery*

December 3, 1973 Page 3

POSTERS ON TV^ Dec. 17, 1973, the Public

Broadcasting Service (EducationalTelevision) will be pressnting,on a national basis, a medicalshow called "The Killers." The TVprogram is scheduled for viewingat 8 p.ei. e.s.t.

Featured in the program willbe a collection of circus posterswhich are owned by Mr. end Mrs.Ralph E. Trower, of Brock ton, MessThe posters will include odditiessuch as: Singere Midgets, animalfreaks, Tom Thumb, Siamese ladies,giant, fat lady, beerded lady, anAlbino family, aiameee males, thegiraffe necked women, Chinesegiant, etc. _

NO BIZ Kl CONCERTSmell crowds were on hand to

saa the 3rd annual "Broadway USA*show at the Oakland, Calif. Audi-torium on Nov. 16th. Two perform-ances were presented under thesponsorship of VFW Post 7722, ofWalnut Creek, Calif.

Featured in the stage showwarai Billy Daniels, who made thesong "Old Black Magic" popular;The Wheelers, marimba artists andSammy Blank and his orchestra.

Wanf — WanfStationary elephant Job - must beon the West Coast.

Contact! Ray Rodman, Log CabinTrailer Park No* 6, 18411 ValleyBlvd., Bloomlngton, Cal. 92316.

A 3 SHOW TOWNleast three major circusesare reportedly playing in

Mexico City for the holiday seasonOne show is playing indoors, oneis in a ballpark, while the otheris playing under canvas.

The Super Circo Bells la play-ing in a 22,000 seat baseball parkand is featuring the Murrillos, abalancing act, and Guzman & fioni-qus, high wire number*

Playing under canvas is theFuentes* Circo Union. They recent-ly purchased their own Mexico Citylot to assure themselves of agood location.

Meanwhile the Circo Atayde ismaking its annual appearance at thrColiseum in Mexico City,

THE PAL SHOw (Continued)by the USA National Circus. 51-mone Tinner served as talent coor-dinator, while special effectswere handled by Terry Shepherd.Roy Kabat was the ringmaster/an-nouncer, while the band was dir-ected by John Molinari.

Clowns on the show included!Danny Ashley, Rendy Hunyon, FatherPaul Tenbury, Dave Fulton and Ja-vier Meralea.

Lee Noblitt was in charge ofprops, with a crew consisting oftRika Rockwell, Jeff Benson, DavidFullmen, Bob Janelli, Bill (Hosierand Armando Huley.(Shows program is shown elsewherein today^ Circus "eport.)

ROUTESAllen's Petting Zoo

Dec. 5-9 Anaheim, Calif.Beetty-Cole CircusDec. 3 Winter Haven, Fie.

4 Clearwater5 New Port Rickey6 Bradenton7 Pinellas Park

8-9 Tampe— End of Season —

Circo Unionto Dec. 20 Mexico City, Mex,

George Matthews CircusDec* 3-5 St. Louis, Mo.

Hoxie Bros. CircusDec. 3 Orlando, Fla.

4 Tampa5 Largo6 Sarnsota7 Fort Myers8 Naples

Kay Bros. CircusDec* 9 San Franciaco, Csl

Royal Lipizzan ShowDec. 4 Toledo, Ohio

6 Canton7-8 Columbus9 Charleston, W. Va.

— End of Season —

Rudy Bros. CircusDec. 7 Milpitss,

8-9 RichmondSsnts's Xmas Revue

Dec. 5-6 Bakersfisld, Cal.

7 Portervills8 Exeter9 Madera

Showfolks CircusDec. 8 Sarssota, Fla.

John Strong's Int'l CircusDec. 5 St. Louie, Mo.

6 Tulsa, Okls.7 En ..route8 Dallas, Texas9 Houston

Super Circo Bellsto Bee. 16 Mexico City,flex

Tripoli ProductionsDec. 4 Columbia, Mo.

5-6 Kansas City7 Lawrence, Kans.8 Topeka9 Manhattan

Wonderful World of MagicDec. 3 Yipailanti, Mich.

4 Ann Arbor7 East Detroit8 St. Cleir Shore

OTHER ROUTESBugs Bunny ShowDec. 8-9 New York, N.Y.

Carnival History Soc. MeetDec. 9-11 Dss Moines.Iows

Marlsne Dietrich ShowDec. 6-16 San Francises,Ca

Holiday on Ice (Nat'l)Dec. 6-9 Reno, New.

Ice CapadesDec. 5-9 Portland, Oreg.

Ice ClassicDec* 5-15 Mesquite, Texas

Ice FolliesDec. 4-9 Rochester, N.Y.

Int'l Assoc. of Fair? MeetOec. 4-6 Las Vegss, New.

I. -

finaleAlbert Butler - press agt

who worked with RBBB for 27yeers. Died at Baitimore,Md,on Nov. 4th. He wee 84.

J. Rudolph Conway - bro-ther of the late Joseph Con-way, aahow owner. Died atYeardon, Pa. on Now. 2nd.

Con Colleano - famoustight wire performer, diedat Miami, Fla. on Nov. 13.He was 73.Kovsz Auto DaredevilsDae. 6-19 Tampico, Max.

Showman's Assoc. MeetingDec. 7 Cibsonton, Fla.

Showmen's League ConventionDec. 2-6 Las Vegas, Nev.

Showtime of '73Dec. 8-9 Hayward, Calif.

Small World (Disney)Dec. 4-9 Atlenta, Ge.

WrestlingDec. 1 San Francisco,Cel

Yugoslsvia State DancersDec. 5-6 Berkeley, Calif.

HISTORICAL FACTC. E. Dubls, a circus his-

torian, troupad with theMight Haag Show in 1912. Hewrote the book "Those GoodOld Minstrel Days" and wssa trombonist for many shows

•aa

•yo>nH-noa

.

Decamber 3, 1973 Page 5

U. 0. UASHBUHN (Sparky, theClown) was in the San Francisco, Calarea the weekend of Nov. 24-25 for aspecial show date*

ERIK ACADI5, balancing act, waarecently married to Bobi, a member ofthe Stanek Troupe.

RED GATES and FRITZ LAUBER work-ed concessions for the San FranciscoPolice Circua at the Cow Palace onNov. 24-25

BOB EMRICO, clown, ie working inan Oakland, Calif. Magic show betweenholiday shows.

BOB and ROSA GIBBS are pleyingdates for the March of Dimes in Texathis month.

DANNY BAKER, concessionaire, wasthe "kid pusher" seen in the film•Greatest Show on Earth."

ERIK ADAMS will have his chimpact working • sports ahow in Februarythen joins the Hubert Castle Circuain March.

DON PERKINS, Beatty-Cole publicrelations man, planned to finiah upthe season with the show after leav-ing a Hattiesburg, Miss, hospital.He ifcBB injured in a car wreck*

DON WARCKS handled the MC workfor a couple of holiday shows in theSan Francisco area recently.

JOE BENNETT, of the Tulea, Okla.Zoo, is planning to write a book onthe history and training of elephantsin America.

Send your frienda aHoliday Greeting viaThe Circu* Report.Be a part of the bigDec. 24th issue formly 12.50. Send inyour order today.

Not «uch time left.

The Graduatesfollowing an elaborate grad-

uation ceremony on Nov. 17th some14 membara of the RBBB College ofClowns were signed to perform with"the greatest ahow on earth". Twoof those given contracta for 1974ware women.

In all 42 hopeful atudantaattended the most recent sessionof the college, which is directedby Bill Ballantine. Instructors atthe college included! Bobby Kayeand Lou Jacobs, veteran clowns;Plata & Hari, dancers} Victor Caonaserial istj Hovey Surges*, jugglerend Antar Wazzen, acrobat.

AN ANIMAL SHOW (Continued)Featured in the program is a

traditional type clown, a girlsnake charmer, e Charlie Chaplincharacter, a girl on a quarterhorse, a man who wrestles a lion,and severel animal feature* pre-sented by Jerry Booker and hiawife.

Among the latter group of an-imals arei a hyena that works on aleash, e trained peacock, giantClydesdale (high school type acts)a trained pig, and some unusualfreak type animals.

Page 6 The Circus Report

EXTRA SHOWS SHI total of five performancesft will be presented by the Cal

tech Circus at Pasadena, Lalif. inFebruary. An increased demand fortickets makes it necessary to of-fer additional performances.

The circus, which was startedin 1971 at the California Insti*uttuts of Technology, is producedend directed by Tom Lehman. It al-ways features professional acts,a full band and displays by thelocal circua model builders. ChuckBurnee, a former clown and mostrecently assistant manager on theRudy Bros. Circus, serves as aconsultant and ringmaster for theperformance.

RECORD SHOWSRecord crowde attended Kra-

mien's (Had World of Magic Show atits final two dates of the show'sCanadian tour. Playing the PtePher-son Playhouse in Victorie, BC (Nov

16-18) the magic ahowhad to givs seven performances, then they movedto the Oak Bay HighSchool Auditorium forNov. 19-20 and four bigshows.

Kramien will wind up hiscurrent tour on Dec. 27th, andopens again in the spring, with a1974 edition which he claims willbe the most lavish Megicisl Pro-duction our generation has seen*

Ths all new show will feat*

SHOW WINDS UP OKAYI IIP 1973 season was good to

ua, said Dave Ttuomey as he put hisHappytime Circus into winterquar-ters near Santa Rosa, Cal. lastweek. Now we are looking forwardto 1974, he added, for it looks aaif we're really going to have somenice dates.

According to Dave hla circushad no trouble getting gasoline un-til they came back to California.In fact, he said, we had to layover near Modesto because the sta-tions were ell closed for the dey,and we couldn't find enough gaa tomake the last leg of our trip home

During its dates in Arizonathe show encountered both rain andsnow. In the Berstow area (Calif.)winds of 40-45 miles were blowingand the highway stopped all trail-er travel. Several campers wereseen along the rood, blown over asa result of the storm.

On Nov. 20th, while travelingnorth near Chowchilla, a south -bound truck side swiped one of thecircus trailers and just kept go-ing, fortunately a witness to theIncident chased the truck down."We were lucky," aays Dave, "forno one was Injured and the damageisn't too bed."

ore Las Vegas style costuming andbeckdrops. A Vanishing of e livehorse, plus six other new illu-sions will be built this winter.

December 3, 1973 Page 7

RANDOM RAMBL'GSby ART "Doc" CULLER

Red cake coloring had a moathumble origin, perhaps if it warenot for circuses, it might neverhave been invented. The tale waspassed on down to me many yearsaqo by Silvia, the attractivesnake enchantress on Christy Bros,five Ring Mild Animal Circus. Shehad learned of the incident, fromher mother, a famous asrialist,whose father, a singing clown, wasthe very person this bit of his-tory centers around.

Soon after the Civil War, awagon circus ventured down intohot dusty Texas. Drinking waterwas a grave problem, often secur-ed from any convenient stream.Hardest hit for a supply was theold clown who ran the lemon-adsstand. One day when the midwaywas jammed with thirsty Texanaand his stock of lemon-ads deple-ted, he raced around the circusgrounds in desperation, lookingfor s chance bucket of water —any water. As a last resort hedashed into the ladies dressingroom, pushed aside a girl washingher red tights, and without an I,Yee, or No, picked up the tub andstaggered back to his stand. Nota bit concerned over the pinkishwater he hastily tossed in somecitric acid, a little sugar andhis tired old lemon, carefullyparaffined to last through theseason. Loudly he shouted - "Comeget your strawberry l»»on-ade."Oddly enough it sold quickly and

RECORD SETNew circua attendance records

were set at Sacramento, Calif, bythe Wilier Johnson Circus which recently cloeed a five day stand inthat city. The show enjoyed excep-tionally good newspaper end TV co*-eraga prior to and during the act-ual engagement.

Originally scheduled to give12 performances, the circua foundit wss necessary to provide 14shows, each presented to turnawaybusiness. On Nov. 20 they gave twoperformances, on Nov. 21 therewere also two shows. On Nov. 23rdthree shows were required, whileon Nov. 24 it »ea necessary to of-fer four performances.

Crowds of people even cameout on teardown day (Nov. 25) andexpressed their disappointment etnot being able to see the circus.

long afterwards, folks still stoodaround clammering for the excit-ing new treat.

Having found Such a profitablenaw idea, the old clown visiteden Inventive sort of a druggistfor a substantial supply of redcoloring. This man, alert to egreater market, hit upon the ideeof marketing it in tiny bottlesas something extra special forcake coloring,

The new product made an instanthit with housswives, while pinkIsmon-ade gradually fell to thewayside when germs were inventedaround 1920.

Page 8 The Circus Raport

solid tour endsSunday (D«c. 9) Allan's

Petting Zoo and Rides will Mind-up its 1973 aaaaon at Anaheim, Caland will then go into ita quartersat Pixlay.

The zoo and rides spent theentire year in California, playinga total of 25 shopping centers, 7faira (including Cal Expo), andfour celebrations.

VISITORSAmong those aeen viaiting at

.the PAL Circus in San Francisco,Calif, last week weret

Chester Cable, George Kell-ner, Dave Hammeretron, Floyd BakeiTom Upton, Jerry Booker, Pat Aria*ta, Don Mercka, Loni Ironbsrg, Pa-ti Antalek and several folks fromnearby Marine World.

notesThe Happytime Circus played

for the Washington Fairs Aaaoc. atYakima on Oct. 31-Nov. 2

Circus Kingdom is reportedlygoing to play a series of dates inthe East right after Christmas.

The Garden Circus Corp. hasmoved tot The Garden Building, Sar-asota, Fla. 33577. Phones (813)366-9282.

The Wallace it Rogers Circusplans to open ita 1974 under can-vas tour in April.

SHOW TALENTActs appearing on the San Fran-

cisco, Calif. PAL Circus included!Ada S«ieja - trained tigersDavid & Irene - aerial cradleTurner's liberty poniesDaisy Mae's crittsrs (goats)Miss Anna's poodle revueRandy Runyon - rola bolaThe Noblitts - trampolineJavier Morales - rela bolaRoxy Family - tight wireftdme. Charlene - comedy wiremiss Allison and Diana - crapezeSenior Antonio - balancing trap.Eduardo's Gypsy bearsChi Chi - the trained chimpThe Minn Bros. - wire walkTwinkle Toes - comedy horseThe Flying Farfans - trapezeCharles Family - bicyclesChief Screaming Chicken - comedyRandy Runyon - jugglingThe morales Duo - balancingJavier Morales - JugglingThe Clowns - painting sceneryGeorge Matthews circus slephantsThe Armandoa - aerial motorcycle

A BUSY TOWNThis is a busy week in St.

Louis, No., especially for the cir-cus fan who will have a difficulttime trying to keep up on all ofthe shows playing there.

The Tripoli Productions In-door Circus played the city on Dec,2 and 3, then comes the George fat-thews Christmas Circus for Dec. 3-5, while the John Strong Circus isin town for two shows on Dec. 5th.

December 3, 1973 Page 9

Pictured here is the Kork Family in 1906. Wrs. Korkwas known as "Marionette, the Girl in White" wienshe was a bareback rider with Bornum & Bailey. Herhusband, Walter, *as a clown and acrobat on the show,They also appeared in vaudeville as tne "KorkingKorkers." In the high-chatr is daughter, Marion, whobecame a Hollywood dance instructor. Tneir son, Bob-by, appeared in vaudeville, burlesque and musicaljomedies, then went with carnivals presenting girlrevues end sex attractions*

KARL UALLENDA (Madean outdoor "sky stroll"in New Orleans. La. onNov. 18th.

BILL BURGER visitedRUTH and JOHN STRONGat Costa Mesa Mo*. 1?

VINCE DILLflAN, anRBBB catcher* majoredin criminology at FSUand plans to retiresoon to attend lowschool*

RAY GRANT, magic-ian, will be with theHubert Castle Circusin 1974.

DON KIRBY, clown,suffered a heart at-tack and is in a hos-pital at Spokane,blah.

BOB EflRICO, clown,plans to rejoin theWallace £ Rogers Cir-cus next spring.

LETTERSReally enjoy Circus Report.

It's tha best source of timely circus news information around.

Don Coving ton

I look forward to every issueof Circus Report and when I re-ceive it I do not lay it down un-til I finish reading it. It is thegreatest thing that has been offered to circus fans. _>Uoyd

ANGELA WILNGW willplay Christmas dates for the GapitolBooking Service. She haa that troupeof trained Collie dogs.

AUSTIN MILES has been touringas narrator with the Royel LipizzanStallion Show.

The HARTZELL FAMILY is workingwinter dates in the Pacific Northwestwith a show called "Heads Over Heels"

ALBERT LUCAf, juggler, fell dur-the Ice Capades Show at Fresno, Calif.on closing night and broke his arm.

Dec* 3, 1973 Page 10

Thia year's edition ofthe Ice Capades makes upin novelty what it lacksin excitement, says Ro-bert Taylor, draws cri-tic for the Oakland (Cal

if) Tribune. They have e girl in afish bowl, fencing, a look at someformer days and several numbersjust for the children.

The most prominent skater inthe show, seys Taylor, is JulieHolmes, a U.S. Olympic silver med-al winner. Also featured ie a Hun-garian skater and the team of Royand Sandl Wageleln.

The snow is short on sets andlighting effects, but has some in-ventive acts. "Atlantis is surelythe first bondage number on ice, acombination of Flash Cordon, Cecil8. DeWllle, Modem Satan and a Bet-ty Page cartoon book, with a blackprince in silver chains and a wa-ter slave. That's the girl in thefish bowl. She's not nude, butthen she's not wearing ice skates*either."

Taylor also notes that theshow's music and announcements ereon tape (a common thing with iceshows, which tends to take awaysome/of the live quality of suchpresentations).

rC/"*'v'~\ The Circus Reportmakes good read-

• ing no matter- where you are —subscribe todayat $10.00 a year.

Writoi Don ffiarcks, 525 Oak StrestEl Cerrito, Calif. 94530