|
Friday, August 11, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Contributors
Recent Comments
Retirement Fund
Favorite Links
- Circus Historical Society
- Circus News
- Circus Fans Association of America
- Showfolks of Sarasota
- Arkansas Elephant Sanctuary
- Jim's "All My Days are Circus Days"
- Pat Cashin's Clown Alley
- Bill Strong's Yesterday's Towns
- Circus Links
- Circus Model Builders
- Magic Gallery
- Tim Perkins Blog
- Trumble's Carson & Barnes Blog
- Dick Dykes
- Wade G Burck
- Chuck Mayo
- The Circus Blog
- Jackie LeClaire
Subscribe
Blog Archive
- March 2023 (15)
- February 2022 (5)
- November 2021 (33)
- October 2021 (3)
- September 2021 (61)
- August 2021 (37)
- May 2021 (39)
- April 2021 (10)
- March 2021 (17)
- February 2021 (103)
- January 2021 (137)
- December 2020 (21)
- November 2020 (76)
- October 2020 (151)
- September 2020 (73)
- August 2020 (65)
- July 2020 (181)
- June 2020 (174)
- May 2020 (225)
- April 2020 (181)
- March 2020 (124)
- February 2020 (221)
- December 2019 (36)
- November 2019 (77)
- October 2019 (166)
- September 2019 (146)
- August 2019 (62)
- July 2019 (250)
- June 2019 (238)
- May 2019 (311)
- April 2019 (355)
- March 2019 (367)
- February 2019 (313)
- January 2019 (373)
- December 2018 (377)
- November 2018 (348)
- October 2018 (378)
- September 2018 (381)
- August 2018 (542)
- July 2018 (514)
- June 2018 (153)
- May 2018 (4)
- April 2018 (3)
- March 2018 (110)
- February 2018 (296)
- January 2018 (590)
- December 2017 (569)
- November 2017 (587)
- October 2017 (565)
- September 2017 (405)
- August 2017 (509)
- July 2017 (575)
- June 2017 (558)
- May 2017 (653)
- April 2017 (562)
- March 2017 (507)
- February 2017 (451)
- January 2017 (516)
- December 2016 (367)
- November 2016 (479)
- October 2016 (449)
- September 2016 (517)
- August 2016 (427)
- July 2016 (400)
- June 2016 (360)
- May 2016 (272)
- April 2016 (374)
- March 2016 (481)
- February 2016 (405)
- January 2016 (429)
- December 2015 (240)
- November 2015 (381)
- October 2015 (477)
- September 2015 (461)
- August 2015 (427)
- July 2015 (463)
- June 2015 (421)
- May 2015 (350)
- April 2015 (416)
- March 2015 (467)
- February 2015 (441)
- January 2015 (460)
- December 2014 (408)
- November 2014 (379)
- October 2014 (416)
- September 2014 (378)
- August 2014 (413)
- July 2014 (414)
- June 2014 (482)
- May 2014 (429)
- April 2014 (367)
- March 2014 (458)
- February 2014 (406)
- January 2014 (390)
- December 2013 (508)
- November 2013 (353)
- October 2013 (423)
- September 2013 (468)
- August 2013 (536)
- July 2013 (490)
- June 2013 (447)
- May 2013 (411)
- April 2013 (401)
- March 2013 (407)
- February 2013 (372)
- January 2013 (432)
- December 2012 (413)
- November 2012 (388)
- October 2012 (398)
- September 2012 (376)
- August 2012 (387)
- July 2012 (382)
- June 2012 (351)
- May 2012 (356)
- April 2012 (367)
- March 2012 (351)
- February 2012 (336)
- January 2012 (410)
- December 2011 (393)
- November 2011 (283)
- October 2011 (333)
- September 2011 (363)
- August 2011 (356)
- July 2011 (336)
- June 2011 (363)
- May 2011 (351)
- April 2011 (324)
- March 2011 (327)
- February 2011 (253)
- January 2011 (368)
- December 2010 (359)
- November 2010 (315)
- October 2010 (342)
- September 2010 (345)
- August 2010 (352)
- July 2010 (344)
- June 2010 (335)
- May 2010 (338)
- April 2010 (321)
- March 2010 (369)
- February 2010 (318)
- January 2010 (338)
- December 2009 (358)
- November 2009 (338)
- October 2009 (354)
- September 2009 (368)
- August 2009 (354)
- July 2009 (401)
- June 2009 (403)
- May 2009 (375)
- April 2009 (346)
- March 2009 (406)
- February 2009 (341)
- January 2009 (353)
- December 2008 (351)
- November 2008 (362)
- October 2008 (391)
- September 2008 (375)
- August 2008 (382)
- July 2008 (324)
- June 2008 (349)
- May 2008 (375)
- April 2008 (383)
- March 2008 (369)
- February 2008 (426)
- January 2008 (457)
- December 2007 (360)
- November 2007 (369)
- October 2007 (359)
- September 2007 (361)
- August 2007 (370)
- July 2007 (341)
- June 2007 (307)
- May 2007 (298)
- April 2007 (391)
- March 2007 (374)
- February 2007 (326)
- January 2007 (385)
- December 2006 (343)
- November 2006 (252)
- October 2006 (213)
- September 2006 (174)
- August 2006 (180)
- July 2006 (176)
- June 2006 (155)
- May 2006 (178)
- April 2006 (170)
- March 2006 (149)
- February 2006 (134)
- January 2006 (154)
- December 2005 (135)
- November 2005 (137)
- October 2005 (113)
- September 2005 (100)
- August 2005 (102)
- July 2005 (103)
- June 2005 (43)
19 comments:
Three different tigers, Three different Mirror Balls, Three different colored spots and Shangri-la, It will never get any better than that in the arena. NEVER! I'm so glad I saw it.
Bob
Here's a quiz: Which Ringling alumnus had the audacity to say, and I quote: "There are only three real tiger trainers in the world anyway. Gunther, Charly Baumann and myself. Those two are gone. Who does that leave?"
Quiz Anawer?
If the third person was Josip Marcan he would be exactly correct. If the third person was Wade Burck, he would have a pretty good point as well.
Any other tiger act on RBBB in the last twenty years was basically an act, not a form of art to compare to Mr. Baumann.
Bob
to Mr. Cline: While I completely agree with your comment and first guess of Josip Marcan, that answer is incorrect. While I disagree with your comment regarding your second guess, Wade Burke is indeed the correct answer. Thank you for taking the challenge of playing "Biz quiz"!
Wade Burke!
Greetings Animonimous(sp),
The correct answer is Wade Burck. B U R C K!! as Mr. Kline was kind enough to point out. As good as Josip is I don't think he is an alumni, any more than John Cuneo, who I respect greatly, is. There was some great talent at the hay bale bull session, the day the comment was made, so you must have got your information second hand. When asked if I thought I was the best tiger trainer, I said "if that was the case, it is only through default, as the two I learned the most from, are no longer with us. God, this is fun, and congratulations Bob, you get lots of cash, and big, big, prizes. Wade Burck with a C.
Wade Burck,
Bob Cline here. I would appreciate it if you could drop me a line sometime.
fivetiger@marlboroelectric.net
Buckles, this is a great debate that has been opened. It has been troubling our industry for many years. Let's see if we can keep it going, it might clear up the debate forever. I will present a small example using the mirrored balls.
When Charly retired at the end of 1983, and I went there with the White tigers, he gave Gunther one of his mirrored ball tigers, Prince, for his act. When I was honored to take over Gunthers act in 1991, I used the same tiger. He died, 3 weeks before the opening. Gunther advised me to start training a new tiger, 2 months before Prince's death, just in case. The new young tiger, King was ready for the opening thanks to that advice. King was one of four added to the act. Mark used King in his act, for years
until his early retirement. King and Sabre then were used in the recent Marcel Peter's tiger act. Oh yes, the tiger Prince, I delivered to Charly in 1978 as a yearling, one of the "freak" Hawthorn tigers the "learned" like to comment on. That was the year Jimmy Hall and I started dyeing our hair blond. We thought we looked like Gunther. I believe it was Buckles who pointed out that we looked like those other Circus Celebrities, Eko and Iko. Truth is we all wanted an act like Charly's, we just wanted to present it like Gunther. Just my opinion. You have the floor, Mr. Riker. Wade Burck
No Wade, I did not get my information second hand. You have rambled on promoting your unparalled talent which is, in your less than humble opinion, "on a different level" for years. This comment was made directly to me in 2001.
12 comments. 8 with names, 4 without. The statement was, "if I'm on the planet moon, Charley and Gunther were on a planet we don't even know the name of." In perspective, my son Adam, who I am very proud of, and who has done a tremendous job, his first year of "tiger training", is still on planet earth. He can stay there the rest of his career, or head off into the solar system. It's his choice. I was the luckiest young man in the world, to have people of the caliber of Charly, Gunther,Wolfgang, Josip,Dickie, with cats to try and emulate. Greats like Buckles, Rex, Axel, Hugo, Mac, Lou, with elephants. Men like Johnny H., Gunther, Billy B., Daniel S., Donny A., and Hoffmeister, with horses. These are the shining star's from my era. My son will have to try to do it without somebody leading the way. It will be much harder for him. Are you sure it wasn't 2002? Wade Burck
It was 2001. The comment is quoted verbatim, as I have rarely been as dumbfounded by anyone's over inflated sense of self importance as yours. Best, best, who's the BEST? WHO CARES? Who decides the criteria? I think it's far more important for an animal person to do the absolute best THEY can do with the animals and opportunies they're given, care for their animals as well as is humanly possible, and enjoy their work, without getting caught up in whether or not your act has six tigers bouncing on their eyelashes rather than eight. The best is only a matter of opinion anyway; it's not a contest. Twenty years ago you did something significant. Now you have the luxury of practicing 11 1/2 months for a weekend date per year, affording you time to boast to the check out girls at Van's and Cost Cutters that you were once somebody. Your dismissive attitude toward those of us who actually work is a true source of irritation. I do however wish Adam the best. Perhaps he'll discover being down here on planet earth isn't so bad. After all, it's lonely at the self-perceived "top" eh? Now that I've purged myself of this, Ill stop cluttering up this website. (Apologies, Mr. Woodcock. Even if this isn't posted, I feel much better for having said it.)
Well, hold on. Maybe I did get the year wrong. But that's hardly the point. (For those of us who work the years seem to mush together after a while anyway.)I am correct on the comment, though.
Man, sound's like somebody has been enjoying to much Saki. I have never been to Cost Cutters in my life. I have a private hairdresser. Back to the original question,which I have heard for 33 years, He is a trainer? He is a presenter? What is the difference? In the world of Arabian show horse's, they have three types of classes. The amateur class, the Pro class, and the open class. An amateur is defined as someone who has never been paid to train a horse. A Pro is defined as someone who does get paid to train horses. Amateur's only compete against amateur's, and Pro's only compete against Pro's. They ride the same horse. In the open class Amateurs' compete against Pro's, and whoever is mounted the best at that moment win's. Is the distinction something like that? Let's hear from everybody with an opinion. Signed with pride Wade Burck.
This is not meant to take either side in this conversation. I only have about 12 years in the cage with lions and tigers to talk about. The Lions didn't interest me like the tigers did and I stayed with the tigers for the last seven years. It makes no difference whether you are the one that taught the tiger to sit up all by itself or whether you were the one that performed every night, or you were the one that did both. Both jobs made the act what it was. Any tiger trainer can tell you, tigers carry a grudge if you allow that to happen. So if you are going to perform every night, you are the one in charge and if that means things are flawless that time or whether you settle down a near disaster the next time you still are the one in charge. Trust me teaching a tiger to sit up takes a few days at best. Keeping them sitting up every time, not running away, or trying to get away without sitting up while the other tigers do, is the work of a TRAINER no matter who you are talking about. Just speaking from my own experience.
Bob
Flavio Togni trained a white tiger few years ago to do the mirror ball trick. This Togni's act (five white tigers) was also presented a couple of years ago by Fredy Knie, and it will be seen again next winter at Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione in Paris with "Burle" Suppmeier in the cage. With this, cage act will grace Cirque d'Hiver again for the first time after about 30 years.
Well there you go,Wade. You helped clarify my exact point. For you the great debate is trainer/presenter/, are you better than so and so, etc. Don't your see? For you, being a tiger trainer is all about one thing: YOU. For some of us who plug along quietly year after year, decade after decade in relative obsurity, without CARING who's talking about us, or if they're talking at ALL, it's about something entirely different: the animals. I sleep very well at night without the aid of sake, thank you. And as far as the chariot race goes, name your time and place.
why doesn't anonymous sign his name? he obviously has a beef with wade and it would be nice if he let wade know who he was arguing with. incidentally, i interviewd wade several times over the years and my impression was always that he was very concerned about the tigers' well-being and also very supportive and gracious about other trainers. i don't know a lot about training tigers, but i know that wade has always been very impressive in the ring.
To Anonymous, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had a point. Got to go, got lots of tigers to train. About 11 1/2 months behind, and have the new season starting Thanksgiving Day. Bye, Wade
Mr. Edgar: It isn't necessary for me to sign my name; Wade knows with whom he is volleying. Supportive and gracious of other trainers? Gunther and Charly to be sure, as we all are-but to his contemporaries he is insulting and wickedly arrogant. One thing I will admit though. Wade is a master when on a mission to recruit fans. He will be delighted to find you are one of them,sir.
Post a Comment