Geo Hanneford Jr & III (From Dick Flint)

Geo Hanneford Jr & III, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Buckles, Universoul recently played Baltimore for five days, closing Sunday a week ago. George Hanneford III asked me to report in on his own weight loss program since you ran some nice photos a week ago of his elephant act on Universoul when his jacket size looked a bit too large! Compare it to this photo taken just last week. Georgie proudly reports that since New Year's Day he has gone from 281 to 199 pounds and he generously offers to give you any pointers you might need to regain your slim, trim, and youthful figure. I had a good visit with his dad, George, Jr., who described for me at length his youthful years spent on the motorized Downie Bros. among many other topics that his excellent memory recalled. For example, he told me how his own father constructed for the family what were called house cars in the years before camping trailers were commonly manufactured. His memories of those days on Downie are memorialized by the two paintings he has had on his semis for some years—the chariot race seen here and "Washington Crossing the Delaware" on the opposite side. Those same themes were on a Downie truck that carried their horses and which doubled as the trampoline truck in parade and on which young George, Jr., appeared. By the way, that truck appears in a well-known Downie photo set taken by Eddie Jackson at the Macon quarters that I do not seem to have but perhaps you do. Universoul presented a fine show again this year and, despite near-record heat, played to strong houses here in the city where owner Cedric Walker grew up. It opens with Cossack riders (some of whom were on RBBB/blue last year), features an elegant silk routine, a nice double trap act with good comedy involving the "rigger," two very young black contortionists that both wow and charm the audience, the obligatory but excellent pole acrobatics of a 14-member Chinese troupe, and "Sir Lancelot and the Animals of Noah's Ark" (pairs of camels, llamas, ponies, and well-behaved zebras). A six-tiger act opens the second half while the Hanneford elephants provide a strong finish to the show. Tony Tone as announcer and his little sidekick Zeke appear throughout to keep audience enthusiasm and volume at a constant high pitch. Sorry that I don't have pictures of the performance as they are prohibited. Members of the Rodriguez family continue to be on the show and I always enjoy telling them how fondly I remember the impressive aerial bar act of their parents and uncles when it was on Beatty-Cole in the '80s, a true old-time act requiring great strength and skill that has sadly disappeared. Dick Flint Baltimore