thecircusblog | May 26, 2009
Another wonderful page in circus history. Col. Tim Mc Coy is in the center of this photo. He presented one of the finest exhibitions of trick riding performers from countries such as Canada, Morocco, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Russia and Argentina. The show would not have been complete without our own American cowboys and Native American Sioux and Lakota people demonstrating […]
thecircusblog | May 26, 2009
Taking a little time out between shots. Johnny Weismuller with Tamba on location shooting one of many Jungle Jim movies in the late 1940’s. As Johnny got older he did not fight the young Tarzan image, so the studio created the Jungle Jim series. They were still exciting and adventurous and the kids loved them.
thecircusblog | May 26, 2009
I am publishing Frank Buck again because of his autograph on this photo and because I found some additional history on him. In 1939 these autographed photos were given out to some of the public when Buck toured with Russell Bros and Pan Pacific Circus. This is a little known fact. In 1938 Frank Buck […]
thecircusblog | May 26, 2009
I never met or worked with Bobby Gibbs, but my cousin Gary Henry and his wife Zoeanna said that he was a great guy and that’s enough for me. I found this picture in my collection of photos so I published it for you to see. Perhaps one of these days I will have the opportunity […]
thecircusblog | May 26, 2009
Cheerful Gardener, trainer and the elephant, Major.The John Robinson Circus 1923. Cheerful was also with Hagenbeck & Wallace, Circus.
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 […]
