Posted By thecircusblog on August 17, 2010
In the late 1950’s Dad and I thought it might be a good idea to put together a brochure. This was a proto type for our cover. After countless hours we scrapped the idea. Dad said “lets just get some good 8 X 10’s made of the act and go from there”. As usual he was right.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 17, 2010
The Bongo drums were bigger than the chimp but Toby did his best to be heard. We were on the Hubert Castle show when this photo was taken and was at the Winterland Arena on Sutter St and Polk, San Fransisco 1966. I understand that the arena is no longer there.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 17, 2010
This photo of myself and Bongie was taken on the Al Mall International Circus, Spring dates 1968.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 17, 2010
This was usually our closing trick. Bongie every now and then would balance on his head and then let go of the gimmicks. I did not want him to do this and I would shake the perch pole just a bit to stop him. This day was one of those times. It was a great trick….. balancing without holding on but I was afraid he might fall. My concern was his safety and it was not really necessary as the audience didn’t know the difference. Comedy is what sold the act.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 14, 2010
Bongie was an extraordinary chimp. When he learned his head balance there was no end to the different tricks. He would balance himself exactly like a human. It was just pure luck to have a chimp with this much intelligence and dexterity. I would only think of what head balancing tricks I had seen and within a few days of practicing, Bongie had the trick down perfectly. My father gets all the credit as he was the one that taught both of us this type of balancing. You can see in this photo that he was very proud. As time passed we had to cut out many of these tricks because the act ran too long. It was not to my liking but it had to be done. We pick the best some of the best tricks and embellished the comedy even then the act would run sometimes over 20 minuets. It was never planed to run over, It just did. The comedy that the chimps would ad lib but at times it was completely beyond my control. Probably my greatest advisers were my fellow performers. Their comments helped to build the comedy that we were noted for. Sometimes it wasn’t anything more than “leave that bit in, it’s funny”. One special friend was Tony Fossett.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 14, 2010
As I was watching an act do the head to head it came to me that it might be a good trick to teach Bongie, but what did I know about head to head?…….nothing. I spoke to my Dad about it and he liked the idea. Dad taught both of us in 1955, The trick stayed in the act until Bongie’s death.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 14, 2010
For me the piano routine was the most exhausting part of my act. It was filled with numerous “monkey shines.” Toby throwing his piano chair, folding his arms and refusing to play his little grand piano all because he wanted his candelabra put on the piano before he played. Once the candelabra was placed, he would begin to play. Of course it was all slap stick comedy and as the years passed it evolved from a two minute routine to a major part of the act sometimes lasting 6 to 8 minutes. I had to cut out some of our acrobatic tricks to make more time for the comedy.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 14, 2010
Comedy is the greatest medicine that money can buy. I have always enjoyed watching it and being watched while a “chimp” made a “chump” out of me. I consider myself to be most fortunate to have been part of making people laugh while being used as a straight man by a chimp. Of all the animals I have trained and presented in the arena or on the stage, the chimpanzee is my favorite of all because of the contest between Ape and Man. I have found that the chimpanzee can often out think a human, especially with common sense and patience. Yes it is true an adult chimp can be quite dangerous and take on anyone that they dislike or wish to dominate such as a trainer. Understanding the chimpanzee temperament is your best defense, and if there is a confrontation never abuse your authority or you will lose your command and pecking order, this is natures way. Most of the animal kingdom lives by the rules of “Mother Nature”. There isn’t a trainer that I know of that will dispute this.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 14, 2010
They were so great! The show made a poster of them which doesn’t happen too often.
Posted By thecircusblog on August 14, 2010
This photo was a publicity shot. Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey 1934. It also was used in their program.
