Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Chicago Worlds Fair 1934


Thanks to Shannon I am back in business but owing to the lateness of the day and the risk of missing Judge Judy, I will confine things to this wonderful picture just received from Dave Price.
This is the Live Power Show that Zack Terrell produced at the Chicago Fair featuring Allen King's lion act and shows the overhead track that enabled the front half of the arena to withdraw into the back half so other type acts could appear. Mr. King can be glimpsed in the chute.
Mr. Terrell bought these three elephants from the Wm. P. Hall Farm, from left "Juno", "Tony" and "Big Katie" and were the beginning of the elephant herd to be assembled for next year's Cole Bros. Circus.
Working the act is John Smith (Monkey Smitty) and the elephant empress is Estrella Nelson from the famous Nelson Family of acrobats and the wife of Mr. Terrell.

Posted by Buckles at 4/26/2006 05:22:00 PM

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What info do you have on the lion act? Males, females, mixed number etc. How many elephants did Cole Bros. take out the next season?

26 April, 2006 18:19
Buckles said...

They opened with 17 and mid way thru the season added 9 more for a total of 26.
As far as I know King's act was strictly lions and what few pictures I have of him show only males.

26 April, 2006 18:24
Anonymous said...

The late Bill Johnston wrote an article about Alan King and a few other trainers in Bandwagon about five years ago (it appeared after Bill's death). The show was presented by Standard Oil with their Red Crown and White Crown gasoline brands. (I remember those brands when they were 25 cents a gallon.) I think Chubby Gilfoyle might have put the act together.

I'll quit now an await Roger Smith's reply.

26 April, 2006 19:10
Anonymous said...

I know Chubby Gilfolye was an all around animal trainer, but who did he learn his craft from?

26 April, 2006 22:14
Anonymous said...

Well, I do have all my files back around me now, so let me give this a try.
We know the lettering on the train read COLE BROS. CIRCUS with CLYDE BEATTY AND ALAN KING. Not long after opening, King's smaller act was dropped, and I've never known exactly why. I read where Mickey King sadly recalled that problems befell King, and they separated. He later worked security at Ford Motor Company, in Detroit. I have a series of snapshots of both he and Beatty in an outdoor arena before a big crowd, and King is working lions and also a black leopard.
I don't recall when Bill's article on King appeared, but Bill died in Baraboo, in 1992, with 2 or 3 of his stories published posthumously.
I read that John C. "Chubby" Guilfoyle broke in under Albert Stadler, but no amount of effort has brought me more on Stadler.
I have a very endearing story about Mr. Beatty and Chubby, and will share it another time.

27 April, 2006 15:49

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