 In a comment posted on February 19, 2007, Mr. Clubb suggested that the mirrored balls that Mstislav Zapashny uses in his tiger act contain midgets, who are used to control the balls. I came across this newspaper article on a Russian web site. The article talks about Mr. Zapashny's unique act, and in describing it mentions that the mirrored balls are "radio controlled". Another article about! Mr. Zapashny, from a different Russian newspaper, credits him as the first animal trainer to teach a tiger to walk on his front legs. The attached picture of Daniel Raffo is a current picture of Mr. Raffo and his tigers, and comes from the Circus Barum web site. It is an excellent picture. While I was looking through some old Ringling Brothers Programs the other day, I found a two page feature on the Ringling Elephants that caught my eye in the 126th Edition Program. That would be the show that was built around "Ariana, The Human Arrow" (1996). The elephan! ts in that edition were presented by Graham Thomas Chipperfield, David Polke, and Daniel Raffo. There was a quote by Mr. Raffo in the feature. He said, "I love performing. I'll never leave the elephants". The feature contains a great picture of Mr. Raffo standing atop an elephant. If I can get my scanner to work, I will send you a copy of it. Your recent post on April 8, "From Paul Ingressa (My New Best Friend), stirred up some very old memories. I hadn't heard the name Frederik Zeehandelaar in almost thirty years. Growing up, my parents were friends with Mr. Zeehandelaar and his wife Gertrude. As I remember they had a son. He and I would probably be close in age. I believe at the time they lived only a few blocks away from our family. Mr. Zeehandelaar had an office on North Ave! nue where he conducted his importing business. The last I knew o f Mr. & Mrs. Zeehandelaar, they were living in Eastchester, New York. Then again, that was at least twenty years ago. Mr. Zeehandelaar gave me an autographed copy of his book, "Zeebongo". The book was about his experiences as a wild animal importer. I seem to recall a story that Mr. Zeehandelaar was involved in arranging to send a pair of Musk Ox to China as a thank you from the People of the United States, for China's gift of the two Giant Pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, in the early seventies. For the fans of wild animal (cage) acts...Recently, I found several web pages for Russian wild animal trainers. The first site, Официальный сайт Карины и Артура Багдасаровых (bagdasa! rov.ru) was sent to me from a gentleman in Hungary. The site is for a brother and sister, Artur and Karina Bagdasarov, who present a large tiger act. The web site also contains some Russian Circus history and a list of Russian wild animal trainers. The second picture that I have attached is of Artur Bagdasarov, from this site, standing in the center of his tigers. I don't recall ever seeing any trainer completely encircled by his animals like this. Perhaps some of the wild animal trainers who post on your Blog could comment on this part of their act. The next two sites, www.zapashny.ru/, and ttp://funclub-zapashny.narod.ru/, are for the Zapashny Brothers. They are part o! f the Russian Zapashny Circus Dynasty. I am not sure how they ar e related to Mstislav Zapashny, senior, and junior. The brothers are versatile performers presenting a number of different acts including a mixed cage act. Another Zapashny Family first...The Zapashny Brothers are supposed to be the first wild animal trainers ever to ride on the back of a lion as the lion jumps from one large cylinder to another. (The third attached picture) In looking at the pictures from these web pages, I noticed that the great cages that they perform in are open spaces, almost devoid of any props. The animals rest on the ring curb, rather then sit on pedestals. I thought that was interesting. Is it a new trend? All three of the above sites are in Russian but worth looking at. I did find a free online tr! anslator that is capable of translating the entire web page from the Russian to English, AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation - Translated Text. All three of the web pages contain some very fine pictures and some interesting links. Lastly, a circus review for Ringling Brothers 137th Edition from the New York Daily News. This years circus has received a better reception then last years ringless circus. What a clown! - Entertainment - NY Daily News. Ringling Brothers stay at the Garden must be going well, they added three additional performances for this Saturday, April 14. Stay Well, Henry  |
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Daniel Raffo with Circus Barum 2007 (From Henry Penndorf)
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3 comments:
There are many words I would use to describe the current RBBB...however, "mondial" is not the first to come to mind.
"with the exit of the season" is on its way into the lexicon of American Circus.
I very much enjoyed the info in this posting.
As we hit the mid-April point I would like to invite all in the World of Circus to my upcoming ceremony/ritual celebration. I have decided to become a "born-again First-of-May". At the conclusion of the ritual there will be an "after-glow" with light refreshments.
Would those light refreshments be Bud. Miller, Mawalkee, etc.? Or BYOB
To the lovely Miss Rebecca:
Yes, all of the above will be provided but drinking directly from the beer cans will be highly discouraged in keeping with the sanctity of the occassion.
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