thecircusblog | December 4, 2009
Every now and again the local newspaper of whatever town we were showing at would come out and do a little story on you. Some of the time they would get it right….this was one of those times. This story took place in late 1973, It was about my circus life, philosophy and the relationship with a large family of […]
thecircusblog | July 15, 2009
Carmen working big Jackie, I have to give Carmen a lot of credit.This chimp was big and tough but she handled Jackie like it was nothing. Carmen never got hurt by any of the chimps we had. Photo taken the fall of 1969. Tucson, Arizona. SEE comment by Toni.
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
Little Makimba saved the act when he took Bongi’s place after Bongie’s death in Las Vegas, Nev. In 1970 I lost Bongie, my hand balancing and lead comedy chimp to a stupid and selfish person that unplugged the electricity from my chimp truck and used it for their own. We had just arrived in Vegas and we pulled into the Desert Rose […]
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
After a short lay off to practice with Makimba, we went out on the road again. As you can see Makimba’s hand to hand is perfect. The comedy became natural and within a few month’s I had it all back together.
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
It was wonderful how my chimps seemed to understand my problems . Makimba seemed to know just what to do and how important he was to the act… every show he became better and better. After doing this trick with Bongi who weighed in at 140 lbs, Makimbs’s one hand was a breeze. The act worked for another ten years. […]
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
The comedy with Bongi started almost from the very first day I got into the act with my father in the mid 1950’s. It was my intention to have a strict chimp act with hard and different tricks and controlled humor. I didn’t want to be like all the other chimp acts. Bongi seemed to have a different […]
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
After a while I had to stop doing so many balancing tricks because the act became too long… what with the comedy and my father doing tricks with the other chimps. It was easy to do a fast and funny 30 minutes and sometimes longer which was ok at a fair or night club but not in a […]
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
I really cannot take the credit for all the training. My Dad was a fine animal trainer and he knew how to get the best out of an animal. He would not settle for less than perfect as you can see here in this one hand. As I look back, he trained both of us.
thecircusblog | May 21, 2009
Bongi developed his own style, he would wave his one foot at the audience. He had a great personality and he loved to entertain.
