Thursday, March 06, 2008

Alive! Alive! (From Bill Powell)


img202_edited, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

I never thought digging up an old movie cowboy could be so much fun. I will try and find a couple of photos of Jack and George for the blog.

After Jack Hoxie ran his course at the box office, George Engesser featured a giant crocodile on Schell Bros. Circus for several seasons in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Trouble is the crocodile died after the first year.

Posted by Buckles at 3/06/2008 06:17:00 AM

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a few Freinds that have Alligator single-O's...Funny thing is....They win more money in states where Gators are native, then they do up North! Who would Figure.......Also, My freinds Gators almost never move...hence, Its a Buck to see em....$25 for the operator to make him move...So if the Croc died..you could probaly show it till it became to ripe to stand.......JZ P.S. Nice Banner (add some T/A to it...and Hell, I'm goin in!)

06 March, 2008 07:41
Buckles said...

Frank Ellis had a big Sea Turtle that died. He had the innards cleaned out, put a little straw around it and charged people a quarter to look at an empty shell.
Jimmy Rossi and I suggested that at least he could have his assistant Grady stick his head out but it fell on deaf ears.

06 March, 2008 08:44
Anonymous said...

Curator,
I wonder how they arrived at the figure 127 for offspring, and I wonder if some goofy mar... sorry, skeptic ever held up the line, insisting on a head count, to assure himself he got his money's worth.
Wouldn't T/A make it cute and charming? You told me wild and wooly is the magnet. I'm going to call Dutch, who usually doen't have his head on straight, and find out if you've been giving me bum information.
Be safe, friend. Disgruntled people will often time's act irrationally, forgetting that they just received a great history lesson for a buck. Speaking of T/A, I assume Laurie arrived safely.
Wade Burck

06 March, 2008 09:11
Anonymous said...

My mother and father were on the show in those years and I have a photo of the front declaring "AMOZON AND HER 40 LITTLE MONSTERS". Has a nice ring to it. I will try to dig the photo out.

06 March, 2008 09:20
Anonymous said...

Bobby Gibbs and I saw Ben Davenport's shopping center show in 1965 in NC. His big snake had recently died but Ben figured between hopefully cool weather and some alcohol (as a preservative) the reptile would be good for another month or so.

06 March, 2008 09:21
Anonymous said...

From who or where was the alligator obtained?

Who was that showman [Al __??_] that sold out of goldfish at a big date and then simply sold bags of water containing "invisible goldfish." One buyer said "Yes, I think I can see him in there." People in Atlanta last year would have been primed to buy those fish.

06 March, 2008 09:46
Anonymous said...

As a Nut Ummm,I mean Showman that shows "Dead/pickled" specimans....When on the Bally...I like to turn, glance over the Teaser...and say...Yo, Lloyd..can you give the 2-headed pig some more "water"...he looks a little low!.....After further reveiw...I must admit.."Its the Larceny" that attracts me to this Business...and by reading the comments...apparently so do others.....Jim Z

06 March, 2008 10:16
Anonymous said...

Wade, Just like Circus Fans only photographing "Show Broads and Elephants" Banner painters like paintin "Pin-ups' in banners...God Bless em both....One sells tickets....The other..documents the 2 things I love the most!!!!....Jim Zajicek

06 March, 2008 10:24
Anonymous said...

We had a gator show set up as a single-o from the late '50's until 1977. The gator are much more active with two in the tank. then anything that hits the water gets both to take a stab at figuring out if it's edible and getting there first. There was a spike in interest in the 1960's when the whole "endanger Everglades" became a big story. And in every town there were people with 2' caimans purchased as pets as hatchling. Caimans are never nice and start to draw serious blood when they hit a couple feet. Folks figured the "alligator guy" might want them. My Dad was always pleasant and said sure he'd take them, but he could actually pay anything because they were "endangered" and shouldn't be sold. (They weren't actually endangered.) He'd put them in a big aquarium until Sunday when it was time tear down, then toss them in with the gators who would promptly eat them. Oddly enough nobody ever asked the next year where their pets ended up.

06 March, 2008 10:31
Anonymous said...

Curator,
You need to sit with Ben, and take some notes. He has a deal here where not only do they buy a ticket, but they also feed the stock. I know Daisey May has to be an expensive "keeper" feeding that wide mouth. You should be able to save a few buck's and get Laurie out of that crummy. She is a pretty classy girl, and would appreciate at least the Dew Drop Inn.
Wade Burck

06 March, 2008 11:53

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