Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Chris Zeitz #7


Scan11139, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

My dad wrote on the back:
"Chris Zeitz Supt. of Elephants and Menagerie with John Robinson Circus 1922. 1st elephant "Betty".

CHRISTIAN ZEITZ

1901-03 Ringling Bros. (elephant hand)
1904 Ringling Bros. (herd worker)
1905 Great Floto Shows
1906-09 Sells-Floto Circus
1910 Norris & Rowe
1911 Dan Robinson
1912-15 Howes Great London (Corp. owned)
1916-22 John Robinson Circus
1923 Sells-Floto Circus

At the conclusion of the 1923 season Mr. Zeitz retired and purchased a ranch in Kissimmee, Florida where he died 1-5-53 at age 77.

Posted by Buckles at 12/30/2008 06:04:00 AM

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any insights on the elephant births on Ringling and SF and Zeitz's involvement or lack thereof?

30 December, 2008 07:31
Buckles said...

By the time the first calf was born with Sells-Floto, Zeitz was long gone.
However he would have been in Baraboo during the birth of the Baldy/Alice calves.

30 December, 2008 07:53
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Would it not be unusual for an elephant man to retire at the age of 47? Did he maybe have a health issue or hit the lottery?

30 December, 2008 09:10
Buckles said...

I remember reading how this all came about but I can't recall the source or details.
Since this was well before the days of elephant rides, he possibly did the noble thing and married into money.

30 December, 2008 09:40
Anonymous said...

Looks like the banner man had a field day here.
Bob Kitto

30 December, 2008 19:24
Anonymous said...

Bob: I think Studebaker was a National tie-in that Sells-Floto had, like Dick Scatterday used to do in our day. In other words this was set during the winter rather than on show day by the heel-and-toe man.

30 December, 2008 22:09

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