Saturday, January 17, 2009

From Buckles #1


Scan11204, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Adams Bros. Circus about 1958. "Bertha" flanked by Patti Couls and Jenda Smaha. The lady at left is unknown to me.

Posted by Buckles at 1/17/2009 06:00:00 AM

9 comments:

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Then this Bertha ended up at the Nugget in Reno?

17 January, 2009 07:25
Buckles said...

Yes it is, with a brief layover (1060-61)at the Circus World Museum.

17 January, 2009 07:33
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

An acrobat from Brazil told me that Mr. Smaha had trained a cat act for a show in either Brazil or Argentina while he was there doing something with the elephants. Would anyone know anything about the act when he was finished with it?

17 January, 2009 09:32
Anonymous said...

At the mention of Adams Bros., what ever happened to Bill Griffith (originally from Appleton, WI)? He and my dad were friends and fellow printers. The last time I saw Bill was some time in 1965 and it was in some very small town in Wis. He invited me into their house which was also the office and we had a very good conversation. I know that after his 3rd show, he had a string of newspapers outside of Madison and latter had a rocket experience in shopping centers. After AB stopped publishing, I lost track of him.
Bob Kitto

17 January, 2009 19:30
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Mr. Kitto,
I believe he lives/was living in Port Lavaca, or Aransas Pass TX.

18 January, 2009 10:31
"Fluffy" Griffith said...

Bill Griffith (my dad) says that this picture was taken in April or May of 1958. The girl on the left was a neighbor of ours. He's back in Wisconsin again after living in Rockport, Texas, for a number of years.

19 January, 2009 16:57
bill griffith said...

The picture of Bertha was one of several publicity shots taken at my Adams Bros. winter quarters in spring 1958 for the use of press agent Jimmy Ray.
We'd had Bertha for abour 4 months at the time. Jendha picked her out of a bunch of imports at F.C.Zeehandler Co. in North Carolina and broke her in Appleton. The unidentified girl was a town girl joined out for the pix. She had two qualifications. (a). She lived up the road apiece. (b). she fit the wardrobe.
Bill Griffith

19 January, 2009 17:52
Buckles said...

Jenda once told me that on the way back from No. Carolina, Red Trower rode in the back with "Bertha" so he could operate a kerosene heater.
Somewhere along the line they encountered a storm and the truck slid off the highway and rolled over on it's side.
Climbing out of the cab and racing to the back door he found that "Bertha" was OK but Red had suffered a broken shoulder.
Jenda next found himself standing along side the highway in a blizzard with a completely untrained elephant.
He said that they starting trudging along and eventually spotted a light far off in the distance which turned out to be a Filling Station and he was allowed to hold her in service bay until a another truck arrived the next day.

19 January, 2009 18:44
Anonymous said...

Bill,
Why in hell would you move back to Wis. with the snow and cold we have had this winter, with no end in sight?? Nice to see you have access to the best blog on the web.
Bob Kitto

19 January, 2009 19:38

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