Friday, August 18, 2006

From New York to Hugo #7


This is George King, one of the few elephant trainers I never met. Dolly Jacobs wintered her elephants at the Hugo Fairgrounds the winer of 1949-50 and had purchased this punk "Dolly Dumbo" that George was training.
Later he was with the Gil Gray Circus but is best remembered for training the Don Franklin elephants "Helen", "Katie" and "Ola" in 1958 (later sold to the Beatty Show).

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was he related to Walt King? cc

Buckles said...

I don't think so.

24-HOUR-MAN said...

Is this the elephant who was in the act later named, Dumbo, that the legal battle was over.

Buckles said...

Yes it is. I had forgotten all about that.

Anonymous said...

DOLLY JACOBS [EX WIFE OF TERREL JACOBS] LOST EMPRESS, ONE OF THREE. GIL GRAY OF WHOM SHE HAD A PERSONAL AND BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP BOUGHT DOLLY DUMBO AS A REPLACEMENT. GEROGE KING TRAINED HER AND THE ACT WAS PRESENTED BY DOLLY AND MAC MCDERMENT. LATER BY JIMMY WOODS AND THEN HER SON PUNCH. LOUIE GOEBEL WAS THE IMPORTER. PUNCH OR JUDY CAN TELL THE REST OF THE STORY.

Ryan Easley said...

Buckles,
So the Don Franklin 'Katie' is different from Tony Diano's 'Katie'?

Buckles said...

Yes, different elephants.

Holly Wade Matter said...

George King was the stage name of my great-uncle, Thomas E. Taylor.