The Hubert Castle Camels
Posted By thecircusblog on August 28, 2009
I want to thank Joanne and PeeWee for this photo. I had posted a similar photo not long ago under the title Marhal. At the time of posting I had very little info on the act. The camels were owned by Hubert Castle and may have been trained by Bert Pettus according to Joanne Pinson.
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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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The Marhal Camels & Llamas were so titled from the names of the owners, Mary Castle and her husband, Hubert Castle, whose birth name was James Albert Hal Smith. From this they derived Marhal for the ruminants, trained by Bert Pettus. While we’re at it, their elephant act was named the Janmar Elephants, for daughter Jan, and once again for Mary Castle. In late 1971, a baby elephant died. Chet Juszek brought in another one, which survived and did well under Bert’s training. But Bert was floored by Hubert’s decision on the baby’s name–“Bunny”. This had been Mary Castle’s nickname when she and Hubert met. He thought it was cute to continue the name, but the rest of us were appalled–“Bunny” for an elephant.