Thursday, March 02, 2006

Al G. Barnes Circus #2


Robert Thornton and a mixed riding group, leopard, dog, pig-tailed ape and bear.

Posted by Buckles at 3/02/2006 06:24:00 AM

5 comments:

Buckles said...

1912 thru 1938.

02 March, 2006 11:28
Anonymous said...

Barry THG I only worked with one Zebra "Candy". I never had a single problem with him. I even gave him his bath. Most of the time he did not show up to be in the act. A dog and then a leopard rode on his back. The grooms could not get his saddle on him. DR finally said it took too much time getting him ready so just left him out of the act. Gene got drug down a barb wire fence for about 50 foot before he got Candy under control. The only animal lost on that ship DR was going to take around the world was "Candy". No one could get him off the ship. I always wondered if this was the truth. I was not there.

05 March, 2006 08:50
GaryHill said...

This isn't a zebra story but about a young lion. We were in Norfork at the "Scope" and Jewell was just introducing a new young cat to the act. We would leave him in the cages alone with "Coffeebreak" our props and cage cleaner while we had the rest of the cats in the great cage. During one performance "CB"came running up to me and told me the cat was loose! I told Jewell to stop the act and I openned the tunnel door and hollered "Hit the hole"! Well 15 cats came out in order and we took off to the backyard. That young lion was running in circles all over the back! Showgirls and clowns were all screaming and the cat ran under the picketlines with horses and the elephants all acting relatively calm! I finally pushed a cage to where we had him cornered and again hollered " hit the hole" and that young cat flew in the cage and was he happy then!

05 March, 2006 10:20
Buckles said...

There's an old circus story about some zebras being delivered to Cole Bros. Circus in the 1930's and an elephant man named Jimmy Reynolds who unhappily was put in charge of unloading them from the stock car.
After seeing that they already had halters, he found some ropes with snaps on the end and then located some roustabouts.
He told one of them to enter, snap the rope on the halter of the first zebra he saw and then tie the other end around his waist.
Open came the door, down the ramp came the zebra and across the field he went dragging his imbecile.
Reynolds told the next man, "See, he didn't tie the rope tight enough around his waist". Down the ramp and across the field goes imbecile #2.
Finally Zack Terrell, the show's owner arrived and asked "Who the Hell is responsible for this mess?", "Jimmy Reynolds", "Well tell that sonof a bitch I want him to stay away from them zebras from now on!".

05 March, 2006 11:09
Buckles said...

My dad said that on the Barnes Show they had a zebra liberty act and all their names started with "Z", "Zeke", "Zero", "Zeb", "Zorah", etc.

05 March, 2006 11:13

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