Tuesday, June 12, 2007

More comments from Henry Penndorf

Buckles,
Thank you for for the information and the list of elephants performing with the 1955 Edition of Ringling Brothers Circus. I had to smile when I saw that one of the elephants was named Henry (#37). I have printed your list and placed it with my 1955 program. After you mentioned "Mamas In The Park", I went back to the program and found the elephants' production number right away. There it was, Display #17. There was even a drawing of a mother elephant pushing her baby in a carriage. I don't know how I missed it the first time. Maybe I was distracted by the lyrics to the song, "Mamas In The Park".

As always your Blog is most informative. I learned that th! ere are two Hastings in New York. The one located near me in Westchester County and one in upstate New York, somewhere between Rochester and Syracuse. Actually the one that I have always known as just Hastings, I found out has a full name, Hastings-on-Hudson. The Double M Ranch is located in the upstate New York Hastings.



For Erik Jaeger...

I don't remember the circus where they finally caught up to Taras Bulba, but I am fairly sure that he appeared on the last program of "Circus" that season.

I found a copy of Def Leppard's "Animal" video on You Tube. ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R2GLQDLFtM ) Was that Taras Bulba sitting in the car?

Erik, what is the younger Alfred Beautour's cage act like? What makes it special? There is a great picture of the younger Alfred Beautour on Bill Strong's Blog. "Yesterday's Towns", with one of Mr. Beautour's tigers walking on his hind legs. You can find it in the Blog's archives - January 8, 2007. The picture is from Circus Krone 1996.

For! Roger Smith...

Thank you for the information on Bert Nelson an d Mabel Stark and their performing history relating to Ringling Brothers. Am I correct that Clyde Beatty was with Ringling Brothers before 1938? Were there any other notable wild animal trainers who worked for Ringling Brothers prior to 1938? I am looking forward to your book on Mabel Stark. I hope you will let everyone know via Buckles Blog and Bill Strong's Blog when it is completed.

"The Marvelous Mabel Stark" a movie based on Robert Hough's fictional accounting of Mabel Stark's life starring Kate Winslet is scheduled to begin production sometime in 2008. Miss Winslet is very committed to this project. After a previous attempt to mak! e this movie failed, Miss Winslet, and her husband director/producer Sam Mendes purchased the movie rights to the book, "The Final Confession of Mabel Stark". The movie will be produced by Sam Mendes own production company, "Neal Street Productions".

According to the 1955 program the ringmaster was Count Nicholas. He was Ringling Brother's Ringmaster from 1951 through 1955. Count Nicholas appeared as the Ringmaster in Cecil B. DeMille's "Greatest Show On Earth".

Harold Ronk, the first singing ringmaster, began his circus career in 1957. He returned to Ringling Brother's as ringmaster in 1960, and except for 1973 and 1977, continued as the circus's ringmaster until 1980. A! fter the creation of Ringling Brother's second unit in 1969, Harold Ro nk served as the Blue Unit's ringmaster.

For Harry Kingston...

Mike Cecere sounds like a great gentleman and a good friend. If it were the Hastings near me, I would definitely like to visit with him. I would like to hear his story about the five wildest male lions ever, and the Hoxie Brothers Circus.

For John Goodall...

Thank you for the information on Wilson "Willie" Storey.

Henry



Posted by Buckles at 6/12/2007 09:56:00 PM

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

In response to Mr. Penndorf: Clyde Beatty was assigned to the Ringling-owned Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus from 1925 to 1934. He appeared with Ringling as such only for the "Garden dates", Madison Square Garden and Boston Garden, for those engagements from 1931 to 1934. For each of those years, after closing Boston, he returned to H-W for their canvas tour, having turned down John Ringling's offer to tour with RBBB.

Maybe I missed something about the Count in GSOE, but the Ringmaster/Announcer for the movie was the character actor Robert Carson, billed this time as Bob Carson.

Harold Ronk indeed is credited as Vocalist in 1951, with David Murphy as Equestrian Director, in the show's program if not the film. If Nicholas was on the show for the filming, he is not listed in the circus credits, nor among those in the IMDb complete cast and crew list. Nor is Harold listed by IMDb.

For 1952: Angelo Nicholas turns up as Equestrian Director. Special Announcements by Nate Eagle, and Harold Ronk as Vocalist.

For 1953, the year of the thrilling Mr. Mistin, Jr: Angelo Nicholas is Equestrian Driector. Special Announcements by Norman "One of the Biggest" Carroll, and again, Harold Ronk as Vocalist.

For 1954: Bob Dover was Equestrian Director, the Count was Ringmaster, and the vocalist was Ricky Dawn.

In 1955: Bob Dover as Equestrian Director, the Count as Ringmaster, and Harold Ronk was back as Vocalist.

For the annus horribilis, 1956: Bob Dover was Equestrian Director, with no credits given for Ringmaster, Special Announcements, or Vocalist.

For their first year on rubber tires, 1957: Bob Dover again as Equestrian Diretor, and Harold Ronk is credited as Announcer-Vocalist.

And so on. From this, historians may draw their own conclusions in regard to listed transitions.

Source: RBBB Programs as above.

13 June, 2007 18:56
Anonymous said...

I am sure this is just an oversight on the part of Roger Smith, but Ringling did not own H-W until it acquired the Corporation shows in the fall of 1929.
The scarce and often ignored 1956 RBBB route book, published by George Brinton Beal, lists Preston Lambert as Ringmaster and vocalist. I happened to also glance at the 1954 and 1955 route books and BOTH Ricky Dawn AND Harold Ronk are listed as vocalists. In the 1951 route book, a William Krause is given as the only vocalist and Angelo Nicholas is listed (and pictured) as the Equestrian Director and Announcer (see pages 15, 17, and 32). David Murphy was Equestrian Director in 1950 but is not credited in the 1951 route book. Otherwise, the route books (compiled at the end of the season) apparently agree with the listings as cited from the programs (printed at the start of the season).
Dick Flint
Baltimore

13 June, 2007 22:47
Anonymous said...

Henry,
Yes, that is Taras in the car. The thing that stands out in my memory about Alfredo Jr., is how smooth he worked the act, the animals were the stars, not him. He was also helping with the training of the hoof stock when I visited with him on Louis Knie's Circus. Thanks for the composite photo of Taras. Bill Strong would be able to provide you with more detail of Alfredo's act than myself. Erik Jaeger

14 June, 2007 22:57
Unknown said...

I would like to know more about Count Nicholas's life in the circus. A huge variety of dates have been printed about when he began his circus life, and I've wondered if it was he himself who offered this timeline, or if someone else got it mixed up. Many writings state that he ran away to join the circus when he was 16, which would have been 1926. It's also stated that he first lived at Sarasota winter quarters in 1927.

If he did begin this early, it would still appear that he wasn't involved in the circus during the mid 1940s.

What do you think?

I would really prefer to be messaged privately about this question. mollynighitngale@agapemail.net

Thanks Molly

14 May, 2013 05:40
John Herriott said...

The Count was a very fine side show talker on RBBB and came over to Cole Bros. in 1950 to work for Dick Best and made the openings, but his dream was to be a circus ringmaster and he finally made it and loved it.He was quite a guy.

14 May, 2013 07:23
John Herriott said...

Yes, the Count told me he did come from Bridgeport to Sarasota with RBBB. Also old departed frien Frank Perez came as well. Count was probably in those days learning about side shows and worked his way up, but he was also quite a gambler and would be involved in the "G top" or "Blue Rooms"Late years he was on Beatty-Cole and the around Dick Garden Shows. His son Toughy is following very successfully in the Counts footsteps.

14 May, 2013 08:32
John Herriott said...

The William Krause noted as "vocalist" was the flyer Willy Krause, one of Concello stable of trapezed performers. johnny

14 May, 2013 08:34
Buckles said...

The Count came in as the announcer at the NY Worlds Fair in 1964.
For some reason he struggled mightily with Billy Barton's announcement which had to be timed with his exit.
As predicted, this finally exploded into another "Death Scene From Camille!"
I'm embarrassed to say I took great delight in sympathizing with each party.

14 May, 2013 09:03

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