Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Cole Bros. Circus 1948 #1 (From Eric Beheim)


1948 Cole-1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


In 1948, Barr Films in Los Angeles filmed the Cole Bros. Circus unloading, setting up, and giving a performance in Pasadena, California. (Not only did they have the foresight to use color film, but they also recorded live audio of the band during the performance.) This footage was later released as an education film CIRCUS DAY, for use in elementary schools. (This was back in the days when the public schools still taught a unit about the circus. Today, they are too busy teaching little kids how to have safe sex!) The attached photos are all 16mm frame enlargements taken from the unloading in Pasadena.
Eric

"I thought these pictures would be nice to start out the new year since they are now exactly 60 years old. I will show the rest of the set later.
1948 was the last year Zack Terrell owned the show."
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 1/01/2008 06:36:00 AM

26 comments:

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Happy New Year Everyone!

My wish for you in 2008 ~
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address!
In simple words ~
May 2008 be the best year of your life !!!!

01 January, 2008 07:16
Anonymous said...

Thirteen year old last night upon hoisting his first glass of champagne...

"Illooouuu... I thought it would be sweet.... How can you drink that stuff? Happy New Year anyway."

01 January, 2008 10:42
Anonymous said...

It is tougher for circuses to get into the classroom these days. (But I remember the days in the 40s when I was in grade school--that's "elementary school" for those of you who were born in the 60s and later--when Pepsi Cola used to serve free samples on school grounds. Those days are long gone,)
But thanks to Peggy Williams, the first female clown on Ringling, who now works as Feld Entertainment's outreach manager, teachers all over the world are able to access curricular materials on the circus off the Ringling internet site to use in their classrooms. Peggy spent some time as an advance clown in the 1970s promoting the circus in classrooms all over the USA. She quickly learned how to deal with the class loudmouth or bully--she selected him to be her assistant when she did magic in front of the class. And woe be the student who jeered the bully. Peggy was one of the very first circus people to develop educational materials for Feld in DC in the early 80s. She'll host the CFA convention tour of the Ringling Palmetto train and prop shop in mid-April. Since her degree at the University of Wisconsin was in education (specializing in communications disorders), Peggy has been a wonderful bridge between the circus and educational worlds. Some day I'd like to see her get her star in Sarasota's Ring of Fame. She's a real trouper who has made a difference.
Lane Talburt

01 January, 2008 12:08
Anonymous said...

Buckles: You must have skipped school the day they had arithmetic- 1948 could not possibly have been sixty years ago.

Re Ben's story about the first glass of champagne... when Prohibition ended, my mother's daddy took his herd of daughters into a cafe that sold beer and said, "You're going to be hearing about this and you may as well taste it now under my supervision." None of them liked it but my aunt Willie Mae. Now all these many years later she is the only survivor of that long ago incident. There's a lesson there...

01 January, 2008 12:37
Buckles said...

Never at a loss for words, my mother used to say, "Beer tastes like horse pee smells!"

01 January, 2008 12:45
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Now while having a beer, I always remember Eddie Kuddamen, and the story "I think I will have some pancakes too"

While having whiskey, I think of WC Fields, and wish I carried a snake around.

01 January, 2008 13:09
Anonymous said...

She must have been tasting Pearl.

01 January, 2008 13:24
Anonymous said...

Buckles: Speaking of Prohibition, humorist-cowboy Will Rogers (he was an Okie, too) used to say that Oklahomans would vote "dry" as long as they could stagger to the polls. That remained true until 1960 when the governor and his brother, the state attorney general, called an election that effectively repealed prohibition on the sale of liquor beyond 3.2 beer. The brothers accomplished this by having the State Highway Patrol search the trunk of almost every car and truck entering Oklaoma from Texas and other states for about six months prior to the special wet-dry election. This dried up the bootleggers' supply of booze, which brought voters to the polls crying "give me back my whiskey." On the first day of sale of legal alcohol at state-regulated package stores, the TV station I worked for in Oklahoma City sent its news cameramen out to record this historical event. Many who entered the package stores were so embarrassed that they covered their faces. I remember one of the technical directors at the TV station telling me that he had become a silent partner in one of the package stores--"silent" because he was a deacon at a nearby Baptist church. Since I was raised a staunch Southern Baptist, I never let a drop of beer touch my lips--it was against our beliefs to drink any alcoholic beverage. Nowadays I still don't like beer. My tastes tend toward wine, margaritas (on the rocks, with salt, please), an occasional glass of champaigne, and a rare doubinee (?) red with a twist.
May I join in a toast to all you Buckleroos in wishing you a Happy New Year.

Lane Talburt

01 January, 2008 14:15
Anonymous said...

And where does one get a copy of this great film? Must be out there in some form these days?
Carl

01 January, 2008 14:42
Anonymous said...

Unfortunately PETA also does a "circus" classroom module mailed at to schools ahead of some shows. Of course they seem to get in to classrooms to promote vegetarianism these days too.

We've had floss and kettle corn at a local "First Night" celebration since the mid-90's. For the last four years attendance has been declining, and last night was truly pathetic. My older son Max was packed up and home by 10:30. I think maybe the novelty of "sober" New Years Eve, dragging the kids around until the fireworks go off at midnight is wearing a bit thin, especially now that it costs $15 to get your child's face painted. (We know one couple who made $100,000 this year doing face painting on the local wharf. It boggles the mind.) Of course son #1 does like the taste of suds, so it's always possible that closing early was an executive decision predicated on recently turning 21. These things, I'm told, happen. Not like his aging parents who are content listening to Grateful Dead tapes, or maybe Bob Dylan and pretending that it's still the 80's until we fall asleep promptly at 12:05.

01 January, 2008 15:12
Anonymous said...

Just for historical accuracy...Peggy Williams was not the first female clown of the Feld era, it was Maudie Flippin. When Peggy came along it was obvious to the Press Department that Peggy would be a tremendous asset to the Press Dept.

All the press attention went to the well-spoken and well-poised Peggy Williams.

I believe that this information is also memorialized in Bill Ballantine's book "Clown Alley".

I am submitting this information in a spirit of helpfulness and it is not my intention to be confrontational.

A regular reader.

01 January, 2008 15:20
Anonymous said...

Anonymous: Thanks for the heads up on Peggy Williams, listed on the Feld Entertainment site as the first female graduate of Clown College to be offered a contract on Ringling's clown alley. An interesting sidebar on Peggy and Bill Ballentine, as Peggy related in an interview at CFA last April: Peggy broke her ankle during her third day at clown college in Venice in 1970 and persuaded Ballentine (then the clown college director) to let her continue auditing the courses, even tho Ballentine said she would not be eligible for a contract because she could not do the physical training, which was considerable. While watching from the sidelines, Peggy was adopted by several other veteran Ringling clowns, including Danny Chapman, who taught her magic. To her surprise, on the day following clown college graduation (she was able to have her cast removed for her own clown walkaround), Ballentine knocked on Peggy's apartment door and informed her that Irvin Feld wanted to interview her. In short, she was offered a contract on the Red Unit for the 1971 season. The rest, as they say, is hysterical.

Lane Talburt

01 January, 2008 18:38
Harry Kingston said...

Happy New Year to all the readers of this great blog.
A big thank you to Buckles for taking his time to do this in the first place.
I check the blog early in the morning and many times during the day. It is a great way to start off your day.
I remember when if we brought a note from home they let us out of school at noon so we could go to the 2 pm show.
I also remember studying a circus unit in school but times have changed and not for the best.
The kids now days do not who the heck Clyde Beatty is let alone Gunther.
You are very lucky if the schools will take the free tickets to pass out to the kids and really they do not want to mess with them.
My wife's 4th grade class just read the book, Ballet of the Elephants, and my wife explained who John Ringling North was and about all the elephants they had.
So there still is hope as they still go to the circus and enjoy it.
Lets hope 2008 is better for the circuses we like and that they get the help they need to get it up and down the circus trail.
Harry

01 January, 2008 19:41
Anonymous said...

The Feld Organization should receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Peggy was offered a contract for the Red Unit while Maudie Flippin was already on the Blue Unit.

I was there, I know.

I'm not taking sides, I'm just sharing my humble memories.

01 January, 2008 20:26
Anonymous said...

To the 'anonymouses'? 'anonymice? who brought up Maudie Flippen:

Flip has been my best friend for 26 years; by her account, she and Peggy were both the first girl clowns on Ringling, Peggy was hired for the Red Unit, Maudie (Flip) for the Blue Unit. She has never stated- or cared, apparently- who was hired first. But one thing I know for sure, Flip's heart was always in her work!

01 January, 2008 22:25
Anonymous said...

I don't know about circus units but when my daughter was in grade 5 her elementary school devoted an entire year to the circus, culminating in a 1 hour circus musical tribute starring the 5th grade class. I was the PTA president that year. We also purchased $750.00 worth of unicycles and started a lunchtime & after school unicycle program. My daughter is 21 now and the program in Monrovia, CA (Monroe elementary) is still going strong. Many times it just takes a face to get things done. Every clown makes a difference.

BTW I spent 3 wonderful years working with Miss Peggy 'Poole' Williams. 1st or not she is one great broad.

02 January, 2008 02:13
Anonymous said...

Who cares who was, is, or will be first. Isnt making the most of a given opportunity the most impressive thing? Peggy has done a great job for many years, and I am sure she will continue on that successful path.
Wade Burck

02 January, 2008 09:36
Anonymous said...

Wade,
Speaking of opportunities...
Try this:
Film@HeroicFilms.com

Whatsa matter Wade?
Cat got your tongue?
Or hasn't the great animal trainer figured out how to send email yet?
I have stuff for you...but you'll need to send me an email to get it. This is all just part of your training...;) How's the decoy carving coming?
Barb

02 January, 2008 10:21
Anonymous said...

The Cole photos are great. is there any way to increase the size of the photo when the slide is scanned to create a larger photo on the blog?

02 January, 2008 10:33
Anonymous said...

Pat: Can you, or any one else, give me more info on Maudie Flippin, or where I can obtain more info? I'd like to include it in a story I'm doing for a circus-fan magazine. Many has been the time in writing about circus folks that I've failed to include important information--especially about family members or fellow performers, simply because I didn't know. That's why this blog is so valuable to townies, like me. Incidentally, because of my professed ignorance, I almost always review a proposed story for White Tops, Bandwagon or Circus by the person(s) I've interviewed for corrections and additions prior to publication. Even then, errors crop up, especially misspellings of names, and sometimes incorrect dates. Occasionally, two eyewitnesses to the same event will tell slightly different accounts. In the overwhelming number of cases,, the dates and events cited by the actual participants have been extremely accurate. Again, quoting Dizzy Dean, "If you've been there and done it, it ain't braggin."
Thanks for continuing to give readers of the blog a marvelous liberal education (now, wait a minute, dammit, I'm not calling you a bunch of liberals) in the world of circus--past and present.
Lane Talburt

02 January, 2008 10:42
Anonymous said...

Just ran across a copy of HOLIDAY magazine July - 1950 article and art by Bill Ballantine...Refer to page 47, Bill mentions RBBB having two female clowns at the time by the name of LULU and Rose Hanlon. By the way very lenghty article is fantastic reading.

02 January, 2008 13:31
Anonymous said...

Dear Lane: I'm sure Maudie would be pleased to give you any info you needed for an article. However, I don't want to post her email address or phone# on the blog; if there is some way for her to contact you perhaps, I'd be more than happy to pass on the information.

She is really a delightful person, and I know she'd be glad to help in any way possible.

02 January, 2008 18:00
Anonymous said...

Pat: Maudie can reach me at talburtcom1@sbcglobal.net
or on my cell phone
203-612-0991
(By the way, Pat, the first and only time I caw your big cat act was when you were on Sterling & Reid in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with Dutch Crawford as manager--that would have been in the early 2000s. I still have photos of your routine. Were these Cuneo cats? The following year, as I recall, Dickie Garden downsized the show in the Show-Me Arena to a one-ring Circus Piccadilly, with Ben deWayne as manager.)
Thanks,
Lane Talburt

02 January, 2008 18:41
Anonymous said...

Thanks, Lane. I'll pass the information to Maudie (I still call her by here clown name, Flip!) immediately. Yes, those were Hawthorn tigers. There was one very special tiger in that group that I still miss terribly.

03 January, 2008 01:03
Anonymous said...

Pat White, was Maude Flippen ever on Carson & Barnes after leaving Ringling?

03 January, 2008 10:24
Anonymous said...

Yes, she sure was on Carson and Barnes. For eleven years, I think. 1980-1990 I believe. That's where she and I became friends.

03 January, 2008 15:58

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