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The Circus Blog by Ivan M. Henry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.thecircusblog.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.thecircusblog.com.
Gil Gray Circus
Posted By thecircusblog on December 20, 2010
Gil Gray took from the passed and brought the old time circus parade into the future or at least into his time. He not only was a circus owner he was also a circus fan…that’s what made him a great showman. He loved his profession.
Kamel Kiss
Posted By thecircusblog on December 20, 2010
Aksel Enger getting a little smooch from one of the Gil Gray circus Camels.
Pete & Petrova #1
Posted By thecircusblog on December 20, 2010
Wonderful People to know. They presented to the arena a fine aerial act. The last time I worked with them was on the Hubert Castle show in the early 1960’s.
Pete and Petrova #2
Posted By thecircusblog on December 20, 2010
Patrova performed a ring routine on a shoulder held perch. I believe this is their daughter on the left in the photo.
Pete and Petrova #3
Posted By thecircusblog on December 20, 2010
Contortion routine performed by Petrova. These photos were taken on the Gil Gray circus or the Hubert Castle show. When I worked with them they did their aerial acts.
Pete and Petrova #4
Posted By thecircusblog on December 20, 2010
In this photo it looks like Petrova is doing what is known as a flag but actually Pete is spinning her at a very high rate. This is not an easy trick because it takes a lot of timing and strength.
The Hartzell Family
Posted By thecircusblog on December 2, 2010
From left to right: Olive, Glenna and Glen”Bones” Hartzell. This photo was just sent to me by Randall Hartzell, a second cousin to Glenna. This photo was taken on the R.B.B &B. Circus in the late 1930’s or the early 1940’s. Bones and his wife Olive clowned on many different circuses but mainly with Ringling. After Olive’s death in 1946, Bones created a pit show and traveled with different carnivals though out the mid west and west exhibiting a live octopus. In 1953 Bones and his daughter Glenna joined the Siebrand Bros circus and carnival with their show. My Dad knew the Hartzells and he and Bones spent a lot of time cutting up old jackpots. Glenna sold tickets for her father’s pit show at the price of 10 cents. On the fairs they changed it into a Ding Show. It was faster getting the people though and it made more money. My experience with the octopus was one of excitement. My friend Lanny Locken and I asked Glenna if we could see the creature………… “sure go on in”. We stood overlooking the high barricade into a tank where this very large thing was laying in a liquid of some sort. We were not impressed and ask Glenna why it didn’t move………….Well she said it used to be alive but that was a long time ago, now Dad keeps it formaldehyde and every now and then we pump a little air into it, It kinda makes it move and it looks bigger. Sometimes Dad will open a can of sardines and lets it set a while……….gives it a fishy smell……….. Now you kids get out of here…….. “The Ding Show”. Quite often I use words that some people will not understand as they are only understood by show people. At the front page of my blog on the right side under categories you will find a show biz dictionary where the definitions can be found.
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