 Out of a clear blue sky my wife dropped two folders of pictures on my desk, mostly family stuff including this little gem. This is the Tony Diano Animal Show with the World of Mirth Shows in 1954 with Barbara standing on "Tommy's" tusks. Elephants from L to R "Betty", "Katie", "Tusko", "Mysore", "Calcutta" and "Tommy". Standing in the doorway are "Nackatala" and "Uganda". Rex Williams managed to keep out of the picture, their son Ben was just over a year old at the time (not Benny, not Benjamin) named after Rex's oldest brother, definately not Ben Davenport.  |
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Pictures from Barbara #1
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6 comments:
Treasures!!
Yes, wouldn't it be fantastic to find a couple of those banners in a barn somewhere?
I've heard the Tony Diano show mentioned a few times. Did the animals perform or was it basically a menagerie exhibit?
I asked Barbara about that and she said there wasn't much room in the tent but on occasion Rex would have "Tommy" do a few tricks.
They would do the same thing out front to bally from time to time.
I don't think I mentioned that the animals were transported in the Cole Show elephant car that Diano had purchased.
"Mysore" and "Calcutta" are not to be confused with the punks on the Dailey Show of the same name.
They were among five elephants imported by Hamid-Morton in 1949 "Siam", "Delhi", "Bombay", "Mysore" and "Calcutta".
For some reason they were sold to Tony Diano in 1952 with whom they would remain for the next 34 years, being in the herd sold to the Ringling Show in 1986 "Tommy", "Mysore", "Calcutta", "Minnie" and "Dolly".
Buckles,
Can you tell us more about these Africans please? The first seems like quite a mouth full.
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