Posted By thecircusblog on September 5, 2009
The Barnum and Bailey Circus (Bridgeport, Connecticut) was founded by Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891). P.T. Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut. Barnum’s first circus employment was as a ticket collector for the Aaron Turner Circus in 1836. A life-long entrepreneur, he ran a museum in New York specializing in freak shows and is credited for using a flamboyant style of advertising which contributed to modern day characterizations of show business. In 1881, he joined with his competition James Anthony Bailey (1847-1906) to found the Barnum and Bailey circus, touted as “the Greatest Show on Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Rand
Category: The Great American Circuses |
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Posted By thecircusblog on September 5, 2009
The Clyde Beatty Circus was founded by Clyde Beatty (1903-1965), an animal trainer. He formed his own circus in 1945 after touring with several circuses including Hagenbeck-Wallace in his early career. Beatty toured his circus in conjunction with Russell Brothers Pan-Pacific Circus in 1946, then decided to open a show under his name only. In 1956, the circus was sold to the Acme Circus Corporation, and Beatty was hired as a star attraction. In 1957, the Acme Circus Corporation acquired the Cole Bros. name and the show became Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus. Beatty remained the star of the show until his death in 1965……..This photo of Clyde was taken at his jungle zoo in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.
Category: Clyde Beatty Circus |
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Posted By thecircusblog on September 5, 2009
Ringling Bros Circus Train.
Category: The Great American Circuses |
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Posted By thecircusblog on September 2, 2009
Glad to hear you’re home and feeling better. Remember…”when it’s tough for everybody else, it’s just right for us” This is for you Bill….
Click here to listen to “Robinson’s Grand Entree”
Your friend,
Ivan
Check out more circus music here
Category: Circus Music, Gil Gray Circus |
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Tags: Add new tag, Circus Bands, marching bands, merrill evans
Posted By thecircusblog on September 2, 2009
Bob Emrico behind the camera. The other two clowns ……their names I do not know. I do know this routine was funny because Bob would change the standard camera gag and make it his own. His ad-libs were unbelievable, I think he missed his calling..he should have been a comedy writer. Between Bob Emrico, Harry Ross, Gene Randow, George Perkins and Mark Anthony I learned that timing was all important in any kind of comedy. I put a little of each of them in my chimp act.
Category: Circus Clowns, Siebrand Bros Circus & Carnival |
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Posted By thecircusblog on September 2, 2009
Behind the camera, Bob Emrico doing the camera gag. As we all know the camera bit is old one, but Bob’s one liners and often with a double meaning would keep the adults laughing while the kids were wondering why. Bob was on the Siebrand circus for many years until his health declined.
Category: Circus Clowns, Siebrand Bros Circus & Carnival |
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Posted By thecircusblog on September 2, 2009
Ray and Yolanda did hand balancing and juggling acts. Both acts were quite good. When their son Michel was old enough they put him into the act. They were with the Siebrand Circus for 2 or 3 seasons in the mid 1950’s. Later they went back to Canada.
I want to thank Lauren Fairchild for her comment.
Category: Siebrand Bros Circus & Carnival |
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Posted By thecircusblog on September 2, 2009
Eastern cities like Chicago, St Louis and New York were a haven for night club and theater performers as well as some western venues. But the east was the melting pot and many of the single circus acts like Jan Latin, The Royal Rockets, Pancho and Danita Roche are seen in this photo… top left.The 20’s, 30’s and 40’s were the “Hay Day” for the clubs. A main agent and producer was Babe Clatterbuck. Above is a photo of one of his fliers. When the war broke out in 1941 show business went though the roof. Those performers that did not go into the military gave much of their time doing shows at military hospitals, USO shows and on military bases. Some of you may remember the name Benny Fox who produced many USO shows on the west coast in which my mom and dad worked with the dog act and rolling globe. In Benny’s younger years he was a flag pole sitter and he and his wife Betty did a roller skating act on a 24 inch curricular platform. This platform was rigged out from the top of a building several stories high. This type of act was very popular in the 1930’s and was mostly used for a department store advertisement. You may have seen this type of act in news real stock footage. When the war came to an end,things slowed down and dates now were few and far between. Pancho and Danita came west with a dance group and joined the Siebrand Circus in 1949 for one season. The dance group left. Pancho and Danita stayed with their Latin American dance routines. This started in 1950 and they never left the Siebrand Circus until it was no more.
Category: Siebrand Bros Circus & Carnival |
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Tags: Benny Fox, night club dates, USO Shows
Posted By thecircusblog on September 2, 2009
What a wonderful couple. They were a permanent fixture on the Siebrand circus for over 40 years. Mr. and Mrs. Clark had a small animal menagerie that displayed monkeys, one baboon and a very large chimpanzee. The menagerie was housed in a semi-trailer that opened up for a zoo-like appearance. A tent and side wall closed it all in. The Clark’s also had a pony ride which sat next to the menagerie. The front of the show was very impressive with a jungle pictorial painted on it. Even though the show played most of the territory year after year the people still enjoyed the monkey exhibition. After all, the cost was only 25 cents as was the pony ride. Mr. Clark performed in the circus with his pony drill, dog act and his liberty horse Long Journey. In the back ground is the semi-trailer that hauled the animals. Mr. Clark drove this over the road. Mrs Clark followed behind with a one ton stake bed truck and house trailer. I never saw two people work as hard as these two and only once in a while would they hire extra help. I never knew the Clark’s by their first names. In those days we never called our elders by their first name. Photos can be seen of the acts in the Siebrand categories. This post is dedicated to there grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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Category: Siebrand Bros Circus & Carnival |
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Tags: Animal menageries, petting zoo, primates
Posted By thecircusblog on August 30, 2009
1920-1985 Yul Brynner was the son of Boris Bryner, a Swiss-Russian engineer and inventor, and Marousia Blagovidova, the daughter of a Russian doctor. He was born in their home town of Vladivostok on July 11. 1920, and named Yuli, after his grandfather Jules Bryner. He attended the exclusive Lycee Moncelle school, but dropped out and became a musician, playing guitar in the nightclubs and met luminaries such as Jean Cocteau and became an apprentice at the Theatre des Mathurins. He was an accomplished trapeze artist with the famed Cirque d’Hiver Co. He later traveled to the U.S. in 1941 to study with acting teacher Michael Chekhov and later toured the country with Chekhov’s theatrical group. In 1951 he was recommended for the part he would forever be known for: the King in Roger’s and Hammerstein’s “The King and I”. The rest is history.
SourceSee: http://history.nnyln.org/copyright.html
Category: Movie and TV |
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Tags: The King and I, The Magnificent Seven, Trazeze artists, Yul Brynner
