Thursday, October 05, 2006

Madison Sq. Garden


This is the only picture that seems out of place. There was no cat act on the show in 1951 but they did sometimes augment the show in the Garden.

Posted by Buckles at 10/05/2006 06:41:00 AM

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I compared this slide with photos of various cage acts that have appeared on Ringling, and judgeing from the full arena net, and the high "wall mounted" pedestals, I would say that was Terrell Jacobs act. Wasn't he there from '36 - '39 ? I think the show had gone without a cage act on it's regular tour from the mid '20s right up to '36 when Jacobs came on the show. Clyde Beatty however did the NYC and Boston dates in the early '30s, then went over to Hagenbeck & Wallace.
I wonder if either trainer wore a cordless microphone while working the act?
While there was no cat act 1n '51, Albert Rix had a large mixed bear act that worked in a pull-up chain arerna.

05 October, 2006 07:05
Anonymous said...

The cage hand squating by the arena reminds me of OKIE CARR. I have pictures of him that look just like this. He was the only cage person I worked with who did not try to get into the picture or interfere with the animals. Or try to train outside the arena. He found out the hard way cat training was not as easy as it was made to look by a trainer who knew what it was all about.

05 October, 2006 08:00
Anonymous said...

How about Trevor Bale, Rudolph Mathis or Oscar Konyot. Weren't they there in those years?

05 October, 2006 12:59
Bob Cline said...

I knew Albert Rix had the bear act in the movie, but had no idea that a pull up arena was even thought of back then. Interesting.
Bob

05 October, 2006 18:56
Anonymous said...

I don't think this is a pull up arena. The net just looks weird.

05 October, 2006 19:48
Anonymous said...

I am absolutely sure this is Terrell Jacobs' act. Note the high double wire at the back of the cage. With regard to the net pull up cage used by Albert Rix, this was actually made out chain. The first pull up cage was originally used by Darix Togni. I have a few photos of it taken at Schuman's Circus in Denmark when they still were able to have cage acts. This was also made out of chain. The disadvantage of using chain instead of cable was if you pulled it too tight it broke in the middle. If you notice the Albert Rix arena was always quite slack.

06 October, 2006 09:37
Anonymous said...

Terrel's seating was similar to Beatty with the male lions on those tiered seats on both sides at the back of the cage and tigers in the middle on separate pedestals. Female Sheba was at front left on separate pedestal. Also I don't recall a full net as in the photo. Granted he did have the double wire, but also a tricycle.

06 October, 2006 11:24
Anonymous said...

I tried to blow-up this shot, and it only got smaller. Photos have Jacobs, Bert Nelson and Mabel Stark on Barnes in '36. We know TMJ had the John North black leopards on Ringling in '38,and it was a very troublesome act, since North, instead of Jacobs, selected the animals. In '39, Jacobs had his Big Act--from 35 to 52 mixed lions and tigers.

Jacobs had very distinctive props, but from this photo I can't identify them sufficiently to say this is his act.

I have a good shot of the Rix arena as used in DeMille's picture. It was of a chain type some call "sweetheart chain", the links doubling back onto themselves. Such an arena created perhaps a psychological barrier for the animals, but provided nothing in terms of security in case of a hey-rube.

08 October, 2006 00:14

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