Thursday, October 02, 2008

Cole Bros. Program 1947 #13


Scan10793, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 10/02/2008 06:03:00 AM

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Riding sea lions at least go back to Capt. Winston's act on the Barnum and Bailey show in the early 1900s. Weren't these sea lions trained by Fuzzy Plunkett?

02 October, 2008 07:09
Buckles said...

During WW2, due to gas and tire rationing, the Plunketts stored their Rep Show and sought work wherever they could.
Fuzz came to the Cole Show and broke several seal acts, including the horse riding seal seen here.
As Fuzzy was anxious to return to his family as soon as conditions permitted, there was always a search for people to work these acts.
My dad told me that when we joined the show in 1944 he was offered the position but politely declined.
They finally conned Milt Herriott into taking over the job.
Johnny has a lot of funny stories about his dad's experiences there.

02 October, 2008 07:38
Buckles said...

By the way Jim, I have been contacted by several people who are attending the EMA meeting (Elephant Management A.....?) being held this week up your way in Orlando.
Some have contacted me asking if I was attending the affair but I made a counter proposal that they come down to to Sarasota on Saturday and see our beautiful Showfolks Club.
The group might include several Blog contributors from Europe that I feel I already know.
If they arrive early enough maybe Johnny and I could run them down to St. Armand's Circle and signify a little.
Would be nice to see you there.

02 October, 2008 07:57
Wade G. Burck said...

Buckles,
I always assumed those Hollywood "See the Stars homes" Bus Tours would be more popular the Disneyland, if they had Brad Pitt driving the bus, and Tom Cruse narrating the tour. You might have hit on something. LOL
Wade

02 October, 2008 12:51
Wade G. Burck said...

Jim,
What did the sea lion juggle while it went around on the horse?
Wade Burck

02 October, 2008 12:53
Anonymous said...

Isn't "juggle" a wee bit misleading? Wouldn't the seal actually be balancing a ball or some other single object?

In the book "Circus" by Rodney N. Manser, on page 20, there is a photo of a sea lion riding horse in an act presented by Bennie Kirkbride at the San Diego Zoo.
The seal Is "...tossing a baton to and fro."

Would anyone have any info. and/or photos on Capt Albert Schneider - 100 lions?

Just a fan

Paul G.

02 October, 2008 13:44
Buckles said...

Paul Nelson worked this act and I remember three tricks, the seal would catch a ball about the size of a baseball in his mouth and spit it back, Paul would then toss him a beach ball which he bounced back by his nose and for the blow-off he caught a baton with a torch on each end and made it twirl by flipping and re-catching it in his mouth.

02 October, 2008 15:32
Anonymous said...

Paul G.,
Bennie Kirkbride, along with Art Thomas and Max Morris, worked for Capt. Harold Winston. I'm not positive but my guess is he was the original Capt. Winston's son (or really old). I've seen film of Bennie's riding act. He used two ponies and three sea lions. One sea lion on the ground would toss objects back and forth with the sea lions on the ponies. They also caught rings tossed to them. If very much looked like drawings of the early Winston acts.

The Zoo remodelled the Wegeforth Bowl and added a water moat. Bennie changed from a riding act to more water tricks. He had animals that did some tricks that still amaze me when I see the photos.

02 October, 2008 18:25
Anonymous said...

Buckles, Jim A., Wade, thanks so much for the info. What I like so much about this blog is you can learn so much about something you love and also have some good laughs along the way and having a seasoned sage at the helm is certainly a great attribute.

Now about Capt. Schneider and those 100 lions...........

Paul G.

02 October, 2008 22:55
Anonymous said...

I always thought that juggling was the ability to keep one or more objects in the air, so the seal, if he tossed the ball up and then caught it would have been juggling.
Bob Kitto
Where is WC when we need him?

03 October, 2008 20:10
Anonymous said...

In my own defense:
Webster's Dictionary...."(1) juggle, to keep (several objects, as balls) in continuous motion in the air simultaneously by tossing and catching." There were 7 different definitions most of which noted "several objects", BUT

In Bob Kitto's defense:
same dictionary...."(2) to hold, catch, or balance precariously"

Lets get some popcorn and enjoy the show.

Paul G.

04 October, 2008 13:02
Anonymous said...

Paul G. (alias "small Paul")– Capt Alfred Schneider was a famous German trainer who worked from the early part of the 20thC until about WWII. Indeed, he had a huge act of 50-100 lions—he was on Bertram Mills for their 1930-31 winter season at the Olympia in London presenting 70 lions. A few months ago Raffaele de Ritis posted on this blog a poster featuring the 100 lions as well as a link to a YouTube of Schneider’s act though the film clip does not show any big group and likely was done late in his life. A novel about how he lost his circus to creditors in Italy was authored by Johan Fabricius with the title of “The Lions Starve in Naples” and published in 1934. And a quick comment about juggling which we think of a keeping several objects in the air: A century ago, many juggling acts were dominated by lots of balancing of cue sticks and other odd objects; only a few dictionaries provide any history of how the definition of a word changes over time so one must be cautious in thinking of a dictionary as definitive. (And any dictionary publisher can use the name Webster.) So we not only need the the history of great people and the odd objects that assisted in moving the show but we need to know more about the history of the many types of acts seen in the ring.
By the way, to BEST enjoy the show, remember to get that popcorn from me in Newark week after next!
Dick Flint
Baltimore

05 October, 2008 00:30
Anonymous said...

Dick Flint,
Is this the same as getting 5 quarters for buck every 2nd Tuesday, every week??
Bob Kitto

05 October, 2008 20:16

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