Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus 1944 #8


Scan10085, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Johnny Herriott and Tom King.

Posted by Buckles at 7/18/2007 06:08:00 AM

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful Buckles; brings back alot of memories of when I was a 13 yr. old kid. Note the tent. I used to pull it up and down with Tina. Kelly would give me seven dollar bills on payday for pulling it up and then Obert later in the day would give me seven fifty cent pieces for pulling it down at night. I was a kid and if I had a cold, sore throat, etc. my Dad would do the tear down. My Dad paid me and my sister each Five dollars a week for our part of the Herriott family acts and Ione Stevens and Mary Rossi would pay me to fill those hand pump water tanks in their trailers.

It is hard to believe with all the middles and center poles that we did a SWpec, menage number with specialty horses on the hippodrome track and horse roping in the concert by Oklahoma Shorty and Tom King. I rode for the horse roping and both guys were pretty sharp ropers. Tom even did the under the tail catch and my horse would crow hop u8ntil the rope fell out. My dad would work the Christy eight black and white spotted liberty act, so there must have been alot of setting the ring curb back, tipping poles, etc. to get a big enough ring. I only remember that it was done. Yes we did have Capt. Millers military ponies. I worked the four pictured, my dad worked four and Obert worked four with Mae West [awhite with a black head] who was a brood mare for Obert for many following years in Hugo.

Mr. Miller and my Dad took turns announcing the show. Whoever was free at the time. Mr. Miller always prefaced his announcements with "Al,G,Kelly and Miller Bros. Circus very proudly presents for your approval etc. etc.

We also had three rings of performing dogs and Okla. Shorty worked the comedy mule in the concert. We also had three rings of whip cracking in the concert with Tom King, Okla. Shorty and me, my sister and my Dad. My mother ran the cookhouse when the cook blowed and boy did we eat god. I remember riding in the cab of the bull truck with my dad driving at sun up going thru the corn fields, etc. Life couldn't get any better than that.

My dad would water the elephants and then fill the half fifty gallon can with oats, bran, salt and water it down and let them go at it.

Our family did liberty horses, ponis, dogs, menage and specialty horses, whip cracking and the elephants in the show and on the lot, plus spec. etc. Other feature acts were Evalena Rossi and Gus Kanerva, plus a mexican family who did the slack wire drunk on the wire with Sombrero.cerapi and whiskey bottle. ILa Miller worked in the show [Dory was in the Army].

It was a wonderful time for me, kind of like a Toby Tyler, and I had a great father who encouraged me to be part of his professional life all thru the years. I was truly blessed.

18 July, 2007 09:26
Anonymous said...

And John, those blessings have been passed on to all who know you through your friendship in sharing the great heritage of the circus business. Many, many thanks.
This time period on Kelly-Miller must have been when you learned your announcing because I can still hear you reciting some of those old concert and other announcements using Oklahoma Shorty's name!
Dick Flint
Baltimore

18 July, 2007 10:08
Harry Kingston said...

Mr. John,
A million thanks for your comments on the way it was on Al G. Kelly and Miller Bros. Circus.
Your comments and buckles photos made those pictures come alive for us fans.
I can remember Isla Miller telling me of her driving a truck during the war years. Isla said she had one speed and it was 40 miles an hour.
Thank yuo again so much for the comments.
Harry Kingston
Beaumont, Texas

18 July, 2007 13:23
Mike Naughton said...

I'll bet Mr. Milt and Mr. John would never have dreamt that one day their great-granddaughter and granddaughter, respectfully, the lovely Jennifer Nicole Walker, would be a dynamic and powerful performer with the present day Kelly Miller Circus. Jennifer has enough flash and stage presence to light up the entire tent.

18 July, 2007 14:47
Anonymous said...

John: With the exception of the mustache (and the Grecian Formula 33 tonic to make your hair white), I saw very little change between this photo and the video images I recorded at CFA-Hershey of you and Buckles.

McAlester was only 70 miles north of Hugo, but during WW2 and after, with shortage of gasoline and poor Oklahoma roads, they might as well have been a million miles apart.

I only wish I had saved all those circus ads that I clipped out of the McAlester News-Capital and that I used to paste on the backs of El Producto cigar boxes to frame the circus tents I fashioned in my backyard sandbox out of handkerchefs (the white top, naturally), Pick-Up Sticks (the poles) and string (guy lines) tied off to stakes (matchsticks and toothpicks). Fortunately, my mother never seemed to mind my stealing dad's hankies from his sock drawer and returning them after a day of outdoors play, leaving holes in the corners and tops. I guess that's why, even today, I have a difficult task deciding which I like better--the circus set-up or the performance.

But I could only imagine the magic of the action under the big top with my cast of multi-colored plastic cowboys, horses, elephants, rhinos, sheep and an occasional dinosaur. You were there to experience it every day, John. And I join many other fans in thanking you and Buckles--and other contributors to the blog--for sharing these fantastic memories.
Lane T.

18 July, 2007 16:47
Anonymous said...

Thanks Johnny for share your great memories. Most of us when we were 13 mowed lawns and maybe had a paper route -- and dreamed we could work with elephants and other animals on the circus.

19 July, 2007 08:51
Anonymous said...

Mr.Herriott,
Thank you for all the great stories. Wasn't Tom King an old time wild west performer and worked for the Webb's on Russell Bros in the 30's ??
P.J.Holmes

19 July, 2007 11:29

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