Monday, May 22, 2006

101 Ranch Wild West Show/ Cossack Riders


Recently a gentleman suggested that I spend a week on each subject rather than jump all around. Today is a good example of how overrated I am.
I have a lot of horse pictures left by my mother who was an excellent horse woman but if I tried to display them for a week it would become glaringly obvious after the second day that I don't know a damned thing about horses. My image would be shattered, same thing applies to acrobats and aerialists.
Oddly enough tho, I do remember the rider at right, Steve Saline, later with the Cole Show. They had him dressed as a Canadian Mountie in Spec and of course, he did this type riding in the Concert.

Posted by Buckles at 5/22/2006 06:39:00 AM

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckles, you have a hell of a memory. I had wondered about that especially when it comes to elephants. The question is - are you recognizing the elephants by their appearance, or do you have notes you're going from?

22 May, 2006 08:24
Buckles said...

I've got a good memory but not that good, I would never have gotten into the elephant business had my dad not needed a truck driver for his elephant act in 1953.
It was after my return from the Army that I decided to make a career in this field since I seemed to have a knack for it. I was also aware that over the years I might become involved with elephants that might present a risk so I started making notes.
After studying for a while it turned into a hobby and today I have a card index on all the elephants I ever knew, heard of or even read about.

If you think my memory is good, you should have known my father, we both attended the Masonic Lodge in Hugo where he was on the Degree Team. On more then one occasion he would have to fill in for a member who was absent and despite being unaware of the several pages of dialogue involved he would start reading the Ritual and in a few minutes he had it. Once I saw him lose his memory while reciting a passage and he immediately closed his eyes and you could see a slight head movement as he continued on. It dawned on me that he was actually reading the print from the page he had just memorized. After a while he would resume on a a normal pace. The next day he couldn't remember one word of it.
I once heard him recite the complete route for 30 week season on the Kelly-Miller Circus and the day of the week for each town.

22 May, 2006 09:09
Anonymous said...

buckles -- do you know what happened to the beatty anna may? i know we lost her in the late 60s or early 70s but at that time i was out of contact with the business. she was a wonderful elephant and and when we were on sells and gray together i felt like she was a real friend. and she was always great with the press when i brought them to the show

22 May, 2006 21:44
Buckles said...

In 1925 my dad was working at the Wm. P. Hall Animal Farm in Lancaster ,Mo. (where I was born 10 years later) and a group of five punks came in that were named "Sidney", "Wilma" (these two named after Hall's daughters)"Nellie", "Tessie" and "Anna May".
My dad talked them into using the last name since at the time he was enraptured with a Chinese movie actress named Anna May Wong.
"Anna May" eventually carried the lion and tiger in Clyde Beatty's act as well as later appearing in the movie "Jumbo".
My dad thought so much of her that in 1950 he named our "Anna May" after her and Barbara and I eventually had her picture engraved on our tombstone.

ANNA MAY
1925-34 Wm. P. Hall Animal Farm
1935-38 Cole Bros. Circus
1939-42 Clyde Beatty Circus Unit
1943 Clyde Beatty-Wallace Bros
1944 Clyde Beatty-Russell Bros.
1945-56 Clyde Beatty Circus
1957-62 Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros.
1963-70 Sells & Gray Circus
(Died in 1970)

23 May, 2006 00:43
Anonymous said...

Would you have an info(a well as pics)of the elephants of the various Wild West Shows of the 1890's and early 1900's?(not the rivals ).
Prof. Lockhart's elephants toured with the Buffalo Bill Show in Europe during the early 1890's.
Maybe its just me, but I dont think that there is a more interesting combination of Cowboys,Indians and Elephants!

23 May, 2006 17:10
Anonymous said...

Also of course there was another elephant named Anna Mae",
It had been a baby elephant with the John Robinson show ca. 1912,
and was featured in a number of two reelers produced by the Selig Motion Picture Company in Los Angles.
I believe that Anna Mae died in 1939 at the old Lincoln Park zoo in Los Angles(which probably was the site of the old Selig zoo).

23 May, 2006 17:13
Anonymous said...

In the 1939 classic movie
GUNGA DIN,Carey Grant and Douglas Fairbanks ride across the terrain on a elephant they call"Annie",
but if its actually Anna Mae,I dont know.
BTW Gunga Din was not filmed in Afhanistan but up near Lone Pine California.

23 May, 2006 17:16

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