Bobby Gibbs
Posted By thecircusblog on February 23, 2009
Bobby Gibb’s Zebras. I never met Mr. Gibbs but maybe someday I will. I have heard a lot of nice things about him. I have a question why do the zebras look alike in their strips? B0bby is this a gag. I have looked & looked at this picture & I think it is either donkeys or ponies that are painted. See comment below by Bill Strong.
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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
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These are actally white mules, I think the first time they were painted it was done by Walt King, & was very well done. Bobby was definitely no artist.!!!!
By the way, this pic was taken in Cleveland Public Hall, probably the Grotto Circus.
Thanks Bill for the great comments I can always depend on you………..Ivan.
There is a great story in Circus Report October 28, 2002 from the great story teller himself about the “Siberian Zebras”.
Hope others have printed storys from Bobby, I can remember sitting and listening to him for hours.
I worked with Bobby in the summer of 1984 on John “Gopher” Davenport’s Ford Bros. Circus. Bobby was bigger than life and he was kinda my keeper that summer (I was 17 and green). I wish I’d written down all the stories I heard, and I wish I could remember all we did together. I showed up in the very end of May or start of June and he rolled on a couple days later (I think he may have been with Gopher’s Alaskan troupe, perhaps shutting it down). He was there by June 9 in Ripon, Wis., when Gopher was scratched by a tiger. Bobby and hung out almost every day for about 11 weeks — shopping, site seeing, dumpster diving (perfectly good produce), buying feed, ropes, petting zoo animals, getting a hippo cage welded, etc., and about anything else you can think of, including Clairol black to paint the mules. I guess, by this photo, that Bobby had been doing it for quite some time. I can tell you the stripes were better in 1984, I think he got someone else to do the painting, at least once, and didn’t let it fade too badly so he could follow the old work.
Best buy: a nice pair of Belgium horses – Tom and Jerry – in the Pacific Northwest with Amish tack that summer. Their previous owner had trained them well to pull a wagon.
Bobby liked history and museums, and we visited a few together. The Indian Museum in Browning and the Louis & Clark Museum outside Seaside, Ore. come to mind.