 Is Daniel Raffo only going to present a seven tiger act with Ringling Brothers next season? Reports are that he has a twelve tiger presentation currently with Circus Barum. Are there any plans to add more tigers to Mr. Raffo's act? I realize that a seven tiger act is bigger than a six tiger act, but when I saw the word "bigger" I envisioned an act of maybe 12-15 animals.When you said that Daniel Raffo would also work "house acts" and be "generally useful", does that mean he will again work with the Ringling Brothers' elephants? Maybe a liberty act?I am not a fan of "miked" animal trainers. I prefer the natural sounds of the circus and of the cage act. Several years ago, Ringling Brother! s went interactive, and took a microphone into the stands and had the audience ask questions during some of the acts. A number of the questions sounded rehearsed. It was also distracting. I wonder how the performers felt about having the audience asking questions while the were performing.I need some clarification on your comment about Vicenta Pages. Why would she be "compelled" to wear pajamas in her presentation?I have a question for Mr. Gutheil. In the pictures that he took of Daniel Raffo when he was with Ringling Brothers in 1998, did Mr. Raffo wear a costume with a dragon motif? One similar to that worn by Richard Chipperfield in the picture that was posted earlier of him with the Ringling tigers. I seem to recall that he did.Attached is a link to a video that has been posted on "You Tube". The video posted is connected with the Great British Circus. It runs for two minutes and twelve seconds. Co! ntained in the video is a commentary by wild animal trainer Martin Lac ey. In his commentary, Mr. Lacey confronts the animal rights lobby in a most forthright and eloquent manner. The video is worth looking at just for that.YouTube - Great British CircusThe Great British Circus is one of only three circuses in Great Britain that still feature animals, and the only one to present lions and tigers. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Mr. Lacey is the former (?) husband of Susan Lacey and the father of Alexander, and Martin Lacey Jr. When it comes to the big cats, that is quite a talented family.Lastly, there is a link to a newspaper article about a bakery in Atlantic City. Ringling Brothers has hired the bakery to make a special whole wheat bread as a treat for the circus' elephants. I thought the article might bring a smile. Did you ever give whole wheat bread a! s a treat to your elephants?AC baker whips up jumbo loaves for circus elephants - Newsday.comRegards,Henry  |
Saturday, March 24, 2007
From Henry Penndorf
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6 comments:
These must be the "pajamas" of which my informant spoke and I must admit, Miss Pages would look sharp in coveralls.
Our elephant never had "special bread" but she did love pumpkin pie - when she was tired of eating it, she would coat everything. She just knew how much my FIL hated to get his hands sticky- I swear she laughed! cc
For Mr. Penndorf: First, my sincere apologies for referring to you as "Henry Edgar", don't know how I did that. The photos I sent to Buckles were scanned in from the magazine so they are rather grainey, but if you blow them up you can see Daniel's costume fairly well.
Thank you so much for your comments and information on the Great British Circus and...
BRAVO MR LACEY!!!!
Paul Gutheil
This costume looks very similar to what Sara Houcke wore on Ringling with Marcan's tigers. Do they recycle wardrobe over there, or is everything always new? Could just be the same style. Either way, Ms. Pages looks terrific. Good luck to her.
the outfit was Sara's Houcke's.
and Daniel Raffo's outfit was Graham's.
It wasn't uncommon for them to place a "new" performer in some else's wardrobe finishing out the tour. it was the using them year after year, when they are paying big bucks to a costumer that they didn't do.
But then the Feld Organization a couple of years ago finally realized they had a goldmine of wardrobe in those Palmeto warehouses, and have smartly reusing them ever since. Each new show has remanance of and older one .
Now when I go to visit I think of it like a Where Waldo of clothing. The current red show has pieces in it's B/W opening number that are from the 129th's all white Carousel spec.
Larry
www.justlarry.com
Paul Gutheil, I agree with you in regards to Martin Lacey, Sr. Not only is it a hard fight he is against, but doing it by himself, it has to seem futile at times. I too commend him, and wish him the best. Wade Burck
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