From Jimmy Cole: Here is an entire episode of the old Super Circus TV show from 1954. Watch the first act as a portable trapeze rigging collapses live on stage. This has the original Kellogg's cereal commercials and the Miller Woocock Performing Elephants. |
Monday, March 10, 2008
Video of Miller/Woodcock Elephants
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12 comments:
If you just want to see the elephant act, use your curser arrow on the lower slide bar, and take it about 75% over to the right. From there you can either go forward or backwards. That's Buckles moving the props at age 19. Little did he know this would be on his blog site more than 50 years later.
Fantastic.
were did the time go.?
This is so awesome I can't find the words!!!
Just wondering...since MY history began in 1955, who are these elephants? Is Anna May in the picture, yet?
Also:
Buckles -if you had heard the word "BLOG" in 1954, what would you have thought it was???
:-)
Cindy Potter
Watching this video reminded me that after the show my dad was approached by several gentlemen who were from the Texas Shrine dates and happened to be in Chicago attending a Shrine Convention.
Having seen the act, they made him an offer and we were booked on the spot for Houston and Ft. Worth in the Fall.
This turned out to be a fiasco, Bert Pettus and Lou Reagan presented big elephants ridden by pretty girls in each end ring while "Anna May" stirred a bucket of soap in the center. We died the death of a dog.
Bert and Lou weren't too happy either having to work to "Sweet Adoline".
I'm sure the announcer went on to a promising career in Risk Management, after his explanation of the fall, that wasn't really a fall! I always enjoyed the barbershop routine with Anna May and Peggy, on the Big Apple.
Erik Jaeger
The girl who took the fall is Vivian Randow, the wife of clown Gene Randow.
The Menagerie Supt., Bernie Hoffman had a big pet shop in Chicago. He appeared on a lot of Chicago TV shows. Back in the 50s I'm sure he was selling young coyotes, prairie dogs, as well as rabbits. I recall he had a full grown lion at his shop.
When I was a kid I thought Super Circus was great television. Now I wonder if Ringmaster Claude was paid by the word.
Thanks for the video Jimmy.
What was the shaving cream? It must have had something sweet and not just soap, because the soap would have caused digestive problems.
Bob Kitto
And to think, until 30 minutes ago I'd never even heard of Mary Hartline. Not sure if I'm richer or poorer for it, but the Woodcock elephants were awesome.
Jim Cole thanks so much for the great video of the way it was when we were growing up watching tv.
Buckles you have a great movie of your family in action done right.
A super elephant act from a class family.
Now being done in Chicago we see a black and white RCA camera with a 4 lens turret. One of the cameras had the new Zoomar zoom lens that was very costly back then.
The effect with the clown where the scenes changed from different shots, the camera man was turning his 4 lens turret to get that effect.
In 1954 they keinescoped the tv shows to have a record of them for rebroadcast or had an auricon sound camera with a tvt shutter to film off a tv set.
A great film for the worlds greatest blog.
Harry
Capt, how many yrs at that time had Anna May been doing the Barbershop? Looks like your Dad was helping her along? 20plus yrs later I think she could have done it in her sleep! I remember her wacking CW Peggy on the head with the razor rather that the way she did it in the video.
I think my dad had trained this the previous winter I noticed that "Anna May" was confused and tried to put the towel in her mouth, which is what she did with the baton after making the "arrest" in the dinner table number.
The elephant being shaved is "Fanny" and as I recall, something was added to the lather so it would show up better on TV and whatever it was must have been tasty.
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