The Pit Show #1
Posted By thecircusblog on October 23, 2011
Glen “Bones” Hartzell stands near his ticket box. His daughter Glenna is the ticket seller. This photo was taken in the mid to late 1940’s. Bones and Glenna joined the Siebrand circus and carnival in the early 1950’s….. I believe 1953? Here is a man with a most interesting show biz life that included the vaudeville stage, to the circus arena and then carnival show midways. Sometime ago in the circus blog I wrote a story about Bones and his Octopus pit show. This is the short version. It had to do with death of his Octopus. After many seasons of it being on exhibit and just before the fairs on the Siebrand show “Octo” passed away. Octo was the name Bones gave to him or her? Bones had to do something to save the rest of the season with his show. He removed the Octopus from the salt water and replaced it with formaldehyde. He rebuilt the exhibit tank with a bubble like see though cover. However this was not good enough Octo had to move to give a realistic appearance. Bones rigged up an air pump and attached a small hose to it. The air hose ran though an opening in the tank that lead to the Octopus. When the eclectic pump was turned on it gave Octo a life like appearance. The Octopus almost lasted the rest of the season, just long enough to make winter money and somewhere along some highway pull off is the rest of the story.
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