| The Cristiani elephants were originally trained for Bailey Bros. Circus (Big Bob Stevens) in 1947 by Mac Donald and might have been the first imported after the war. The three at right "Shirley", "Babe" and "Carrie" are from the original act, "Emma" at the far left was added by the Cristianis in 1955. |
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Rudy Bros. Circus 1969 #25
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
The Oscar Cristiani Elephants had the best music of any independent elephant act. The arrangements were all done by Bill Pruyn before he was hired by Ringling. The music included “Entry of the Gladiators,” the Prince Igor “Polovetsian Dances” by Borodin, a fragment from “Scheherazade” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Charleston,” and “Procession of the Sardar” from the “Caucasian Sketches” by Ippolitov-Ivanov. It was the best elephant act music I’d heard and was only eclipsed by the music score Bill Pruyn did for the Woodcock Family’s elephant number on the 108th Edition Ringling show.
I seem to recall, but I might be mistaken, that Bill used "THE CHARLESTON" for the elephant number on the blue show, which was named the Barnum & Bailey Razz Ma Tazz, in 74-75.
Prince Paul was costumed as a mini Rudy Vallee, with collegiate sweater and yellow hat pinned upward.
...I seem to recall.
We were holding the Circus World elephants in the Venice Quarters in 1974 and I watched every day of the Blue Show rehearsal.
During that number, Price danced with tall clown flapper (Janice Aria)and when she did a high kick he would pass under her leg.
She once told me that whenever the Felds showed up, Prince would go absolutely nuts and on one such occasion all he could remember to do was run in circles and yell "Yabba", "Yabba".
While doing the kick he slammed his face into her crotch and knocked her down.
Later in the dressing room she discovered a perfect print of his face on her pink tights.
The 104th edition’s Roaring Twenties-themed elephant act was, in my opinion, the stand-out production number. The music included "Puttin’ on the Ritz," "La Cumparsita," "The Charleston," "Collegian," "Varsity Drag," "Yes Sir, That’s My Baby," "Dill Pickles Reg," "If You Knew Susie," "Runnin’ Wild," and a selection from Gershwin’s "Oh, Kay!"
Post a Comment