Roger Smith
Posted By thecircusblog on March 21, 2009
The last time I saw Roger was in the early 1960’s. I went to Thousand Oaks to pay visit with Big John Strong who lived not to far from the Jungleland compound. I happened to run into Roger who was at that time just developing his cat act and by all reports he was an up and comer. This was photo taken on Hubert Castle show.
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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
5 Responses to “Roger Smith”
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Friend Ivan,
I’ll be damned. I honestly didn’t know anyone had this shot. Thank you so much for remembering. I am telling my son, 40 years old this month, that it was Ivan Henry who paid for his first crib.
I trust we may be in correspondence, as I would like to know how things are with you and your family.
And of course I would like to jackpot about our days on Miller-Johnson.
Kindly accept my respects for everyone at your house. God bless.
Roger
Mr. Henry,
Many thanks for posting this! I am Roger’s son (middle name is Bennett after Benny Bennett–animal trainer at Jungleland. Thus, Roger calls me “Ben”). I love this picture of him and would welcome any others you might have or any history about him that you would be willing to share.
Very respectfully,
Richard B. Smith
This arena is the last Clyde Beatty cage, built new for him in 1960. It was engineered by Red Fisher, ably assisted by Alfred Timlin and my friend, the great show-welder, Charlie Harris, at Olson Welding, in DeLand, Florida. It was made of aircraft aluminum, and duplicated from the cages Beatty had on Ringling and the Cole show.
Upon Beatty’s death, in 1965, Dave Hoover bought it from the show, and later sold it to James Albert Hal Smith, aka Hubert Castle.. Castle, typically, couldn’t leave it alone, and made a number of alterations. But he left the man-door as it was, and I felt the presence of Mr. Beatty every time I entered.
The cub is Gypsy, daughter of Goldie and Sabre. I put her in after she changed her teeth the following season.
The date is November, 1971. We are at Castle’s Winterquarters in Seagoville, Texas.
WOW. I remember you when I was a kid visiting Granddas, Hubert Castle, circus in Ohio with my brother Hal Smith Jr. and my sister mariane. My dad, Hal Smith, still lives there. He has turned the Castle’s Winterquarters into his home. It is a large place for gathering.
LOVE this photo! My husband grew up in Miles City Montana. His dad was the Potentate of the Shrine at one time. During the early 60’s he was the one to help coordinate with the circus regarding set up, etc. Jim has very fond memories as a 6-7 yr old, trotting along early in the morning and being allowed to feed a tiger cub. Of course, no one was around with a camera as we are today, so this photo is about as good as it gets. Would Roger have been with Hubert Castle around that time? ( In high school, he and his buddies would help with striking the site. Many circus memories for him). Who would I need to contact about using the photo? Would love to enlarge it for an upcoming birthday. Came upon your blog while looking for a Hubert Castle Circus poster for that purpose. What a wonderful collection. Thank you for finding a way to share it!