Gene Holter’s Wild Animal Show
Posted By thecircusblog on September 20, 2010
Gene was an exception to the rule of circus. Very little music if any during the show. He would get on the microphone and talk though out all his performances. I guess he believed in educating the public about everything there is to know about trainers , animals etc, etc. Oh and when he ran out words he just might talk about the weather. All in all he was a fine showman and person. Gene Holter loved the business.
Thanks Lucy for your comment.
About the author
thecircusblog
My name is Ivan M. Henry and I am the 4th generation of a circus/show business dynasty. I hope you enjoy the blog.Comments
12 Responses to “Gene Holter’s Wild Animal Show”
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Hi. When I would visit my grandma’s farm in Corona, we used to walk down the unpaved road to the Wild Animals all the time. It was quite a distance, with nothing in between our homes. He had an elephant, and the girl that rode the elephant gave me her gold lame costume with sequins when she outgrew it. I was stoked! My Aunt remembered the name of the owner so I just googled it and lo and behold…you were the only thing that appeared. I am having fun sharing old photos with my family, but have none of the animals. I vividly remember the ostrich tho. We had to stay away from the fence or they would bob at us. Great memories. Joanne
It’s such a delight to read this article. We lived in Jamestown, ND, right next to the Holter’s animal farm on the James River. It was magical having the exotic animals as neighbors and made my early childhood very unusual. My brothers would tease me to watch out for the hippo in the river and not to get too close to the ostrich. Only one of those was a legitimate caution! I remember being so sad when the trucks came to take away the animals for one last time when they moved to California. The empty pastures became my playground, but I missed those beautiful animals. Thanks for documenting such an interesting time in entertainment.
Pam
Hi Pam Me and my twin brother lived right down the street we help the the holters with there animals in the the summer we lived in the gray house with the ten kids.
Hello! I grew up onthe Gene holter show, my best friend was Gail as we were the same age. I of course I new margene, bobby and Kathy. My dad, Lee Mosier had a dog act called the Canine Cut Ups and my brother and I were trick ropers. My Mom and Margaret were good friends. It was quite the time and a great experience. My brother and I worked with Big Babe and did the act as well as the wild animal race and ostrich races. I have stories! As a little girl this huge elephant was so special to me, she remembered me every season and she would steal my cotton candy or any thing else, I had as I was hanging out with her sitting next to her on a bail of hay while reading my comic books. I loved Big Babe. Write to me if you want wireworks5@hotmail.com
Yolanda Bates/Mosier
Gene and my father, Bill Olney, were friends. Gene would take his circus to Galesburg Speedway which my father owned and put on a show for St. Joe County Michigan each summer. I have old photos from the 50’s of Gene and Dad driving around the city w the tiger on the back of Dad’s red convertible and other family pics of Gene and his animals. One summer Gene kept Babe the elephant at our place and before cell phones, Dad finally tracked down Gene…Help Something is wrong w BABE (Dad didnt want Babe to die and he left digging the giant hole!) Gene said, RELAX. Babe is just constipated…Now Bill just stick your arm up and pull out the….well, Dad hired the local vet to do the relief work…our local vet talked for years about this house call.
It is a great pleasure to see that my memories of the Holter family were not just a wonderful dream as I am the last living member of my family who was there.Friend me! Teresa Johnson fb
My late husband’s family lived next door to the Holters before they moved to Bloomington, CA. I remember that Gene would bring animals home with him and I heard a story that he once brought one (maybe two) of the lions home and they stayed in the house while Gene and his wife went out to dinner. It seems while they were gone a burglar broke in and when Gene got home he had to call the police AND advise them to bring a doctor because the robber was still there and had had a heart attack.
Hello All,
I love reading all these wonderful comments on the Holter Family. My grandmother is Lois Holter-Krein, the sister to Gene. I have grownup hearing all these stories from my grandmother as Gene passed away in 1973 from cancer. His wife, 4 kids, grand and great and great great grandchilden reside in Southern California as well as his sister and family. If you have any stories or pictures you would like to share please send them to me. I love hearing al the stories and seeing all the pictures. I know their house still stands in Jamestown (I got to see it when I was younger) but the barns and such are gone. Look forward to hearing from all of you
Melissa Vigoren-Garcia
Anaheim, California
My name is penny luiken and my dad Jim taught me to ride horse at Genes. They remained friends for ever. We traveled to California and saw Gene and Bobby. I had a crush on Bob. lol I was 15 or so. I got to see GT one last time. We got to ride the great tiger. I heard they ended up stuffing or having him mounted when he died. I am going on 60 and enjoyed all of Gene Circus
Hello everyone , I am Gene Holter’s youngest of four children. I want to express to you how truly honored I feel to read your stories of how my family (both two legged and 4 legged) brought some WOW into your lives.
My family and I loved introducing our animals to all of you, Over the years we met so many wonderful and interesting people. Thank you so much for sharing
Kathy Holter Nealey
Attention Ivan M Henry
Hello Ivan, I love your blog,
I absolutely love the hole gathering of the entertainers and fans
Kathy, my dad built his house right next door to the farm house in about 1952. I remember when the circus would come to Jamestown. I stole my mother’s oranges & feed the ostrich! I also had my picture taken sitting on the elephants knee in street in front of the farmhouse. All the animals have been in my memories ( I am now 69) . —- I got stuck in the James river when I was about 5. I was hollering for help when ( It could have been your mother) came to pull me out! I made her promise not to tell my mother before she pulled me out! She never said anything- of course my mother knew wher I was – I was full of mud. Another story, the hired hand was taking the leaves in the fall. When he wasn’t looking, I ran through his piles. He got so mad at me, he was looking my bedroom window that night & got caught. It caused him a lot of trouble. Another story, there was a boy there that was in a wheel chair. I played with him often, but one day we got into a rock fight! His arms were so strong he kicked my but! But I got a spanking for that! Many memories from that time in my life. But have never forgotten the Holter farm & all the wonderful animals! Mac
Hi Ivan, I would like to know if I can contact any of the children of Gene Holter? Because
I would like to know about their parents and their lives in his Wild Animal Show. I would also like to ask them if they could write a mini bio about their father Gene for imdb.com? Because I wrote the mini bio about Ralph Helfer who bought Gene’s ranch in 1969.