Sunday, September 17, 2006

Bertram W. Mills' Circus 1928-29 #2


"Aga the Wonder Elephant and her Cingalese Trainer, Gonza. - Note- Don't miss the wonderful Cingalese Village in the Balcony"

(I'll bet this is "Yasso" and her East Indian handler Gunga. This engagement at Olympia closed Jan. 23, 1929, leaving sufficient time for them to be shipped to either Sarasota or Madison Sq. Garden. This trick created quite a sensation and appeared in the Ringling program thru 1938, Gunga returned home after the first season and from then on the "head carry" was done by an assortment of people, all bearing the name "Major Unger".
Following the disasterous 1938 season "Yasso" was given to Frank Buck, in lieu of back wages, who presented her in his 1939-40 New York Worlds Fair exhibit.
I have her listed as being at the Hickory Trained Animal Farm in Georgetown, Mass in 1941 but no further record.)

Posted by Buckles at 9/17/2006 06:32:00 AM

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this is Aga that belonged to Hagenbeck's and was bought by Sir Robert Fossett's after this engagement. They also bought a smaller elephant at the same time, but unfortunately I cannot remember the name. Mary Fossett told me her father bought it for her as a birthday present. She was presented by a Singalese called Jacob and remained with the Fossett show throughout the war and eventually died in about 1960. Bailey Fossett, Mary's brother, told me she was one of the best elephants they ever had. She responded to all the Singalese commands, as Hagenbeck had bought her partly trained when she was 8 years old.

19 September, 2006 08:22

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