Monday, April 17, 2006

From Darryl #1


These next two pictures from Darryl Atkinson taken in the late 1960's at Sid Kellner's winter quarters at Martinez, CA.
"Anna May" and "Ellie" in back with "Juno", "Sid" and "Louie" in front presented by Ben and Barbara.
I would hazard a guess that all three of these punks remain today at the Ringling Elephant Stud Farm at Polk City, FL.

I must apologize for oversleeping this morning, I was up past 3 last night watching the silent version of "Ben Hur". The host Robert Osborne explained that this movie was the standard for greatness from the time it was made in 1925 until "Gone With The Wind" in 1939. I don't doubt it for a minute.

Posted by Buckles at 4/17/2006 07:21:00 AM

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckles, I saw the silent Ben Hur was being shown and I am sorry I missed it. My late father, who was working his way thru college at the time as a radio operator and purser on small coastal freighters back in the 1920s said that his ship was in Los Angeles after unloading lumber from the Pacific NW, and he and another of the ship's crew saw an ad for a job that offered $5/day and free lunch. So off they went. It turned out it was an ad for movie extras for Ben Hur and Dad ended up being a Roman soldier. So after the film came out he went a couple of times and tried to spot himself in the movie -- yeah, right! He said there were so damn many "Roman" soldiers in it he couldn't tell if he was in any of the scenes, or if the film he was shot in ended up on the cutting room floor!!

17 April, 2006 09:28
Anonymous said...

I caught BEN HUR last night, too. The production values were classic. I trust this film is taught at all film schools. The very tragic end which came to Ramon Novarro is still talked about out here.

I've worked as an extra for some four years now, and about all you can hope for is the small paycheck you get out of Central Casting. I always know where the camera is, and where to look for my scant few frames, but the rule we remember is--you're there as an extra, not to be featured. Sometimes we see ourselves, and sometimes your shooting day was all in vain.

17 April, 2006 12:34
Anonymous said...

Parley told me once the secret of getting a lot of work as an extra was to not be seen.

17 April, 2006 13:26
Anonymous said...

This wardrobe I will never forget. I copyed it from Barbara. I wore it while riding the back of a Chevy Nova convertiable during a parade for Kelly Miller. Some small boys yelled "hay Tarzan" and shot me with a pea shooter. So much for glamore.

17 April, 2006 17:32
Anonymous said...

I've never spotted him, but my grandfather (Jim Conley)was one of the charriott drivers in Ben Hur.
Maria Vonderheid

17 April, 2006 17:36
Anonymous said...

(from Eric)

The chariot race sequence was staged by Reeves “Breezy” Eason, a top action director who also directed Clyde Beatty’s two serials and the burning of Atlanta sequence in "Gone with the Wind." Eason was known for not sparing horses or stuntmen in order to get a good action sequence on film. The chariot race for the 1959 remake was staged by Yakima Canutt, who turned out a much more thrilling race sans the risks and carnage of the 1925 version. A very good account of the making of the 1925 Ben-Hur can be found in THE PARADE’S GONE BY a book about silent films by Kevin Brownlow.

17 April, 2006 17:55
Anonymous said...

Dalilah, This is what I mean about me trying to be sexy and glamerous like all the show girls. Just about the time I think I have got it right, I get pooped on by an elephant or shot with a pea shooter by little boys. And then there was the time my falsies slid all over the place while doing web.

17 April, 2006 21:04
GaryHill said...

Hey Dutchess, maybe Buckles will now run your Cooch picture?????

17 April, 2006 21:34
Anonymous said...

Great stuff, Eric, and dead on. Read more about Yakima Canutt,and his able son, Joe, in Charlton Heston's books. Our Brad relates the staging of the chariot races in exquisite detail.
Yak was involved in most of the wild animal films shot out of Louis Goebel's compound, and was liked and admired by all the animal men as a great pioneer stuntman and second unit director of top action films.

17 April, 2006 21:59
Anonymous said...

Where does Pat Darby fit in the animal picture? I read that she worked on movies a lot with her animals. I have read this but never from animal people, just her web site. Anyone ever work with her?

18 April, 2006 11:06
Anonymous said...

Pat and Ted Derby were around Jungleland when I first got there. They had movie animals for a few years. Ted was shot and killed some time after I knew them, and Pat has become an opponent of circus animals. She written at least one book, and is a voice in animal rights, especially out here in California.

19 April, 2006 12:31
Anonymous said...

Was Ted shot by a circus person? Is this her revenge against us?

19 April, 2006 13:19
Anonymous said...

rebecca, Ted was shot trying to russle cattle to feed their cats. I guess business was not that good.

19 April, 2006 18:52
Anonymous said...

I think Darryl has this about right. Ted got on someone's posted land and tried to haul off a cow or a couple of calves, and the rancher let him have it. The story at the time was that he didn't have to--they had the money to feed their animals. Ted's fatal error was choosing rustling to cut the nut. One rumor had him shot by a jealous husband, but the rustling story seems to prevail. He was a cheerful, friendly guy who liked my acts. It's sad his decisions brought him to this avoidable, violent end.

My reflection here is--all Ted ever had to do was tell Uncle Ben his cats needed meat, and between Unc and I, he'd have gotten it if we had to bootleg it off the Compound for him. Unc would never have let a cat starve. When Pat was on Polack, with Buckles, at Pomona, Roy Kabat, Mgr. of Jungleland, wouln't let Pat have meat. He could have paid, and our meat went to cat acts at 10 cents a pound. Unc drew me aside, gave me instructions, and I bootlegged Pat and Bill a thousand pounds in my station wagon.

I have about as much pity for Pat Derby as "Our Dutchess" would have. She's proven a vicious liar about circus acts. She never names a trainer or a show, but claims to have rescued animals from both. I haven't seen Pat since about 1970, but those who know her now dismiss her as a common Southern California nut case.

20 April, 2006 19:12

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