Barbara said that she and Rex opened with the show that season and remained until they left with the Pete & Norma Five "Mary", "Maud", "Norma", "Bessie" and "Konti" to join the Tom Packs Show.
She explained that Slick's uncle and aunt left unexpectedly and Rosie was still in school so she was enlisted into the flying act to drop bars. Having done cloud swing, in no time she was doing a "feets-across" and "crab-across".
Her only mistake was done the first day when she threw the bar rather than drop it and hit Billy Woods in the head.
When Rosie finally joined the show (as seen above) the Cristianis asked Barbara to remain in the act and added $85 to her salary, a sizable sum in 1958. |
4 comments:
One morning while laying off at my parents home in Springfield, I received a phone call from Western Union, they had a telegram for "The Flying Del Rays" & wanted to know where they could deliver it. The only Del Rays I knew was a Hanging Perch Act, but I knew Roy & Neets Diesler were at a trailer park in town so I decided to go out and ask them. When I got near the trailer I could hear them arguing, the subject was that their two flyers Billy Woods, & Ray "Slick" Valentine blew the night before. They went to the Cristiani Show.
Slick was born Maximillian Sandovinci, and adopted by Bill Valentine and named Ray. As big a guy as Slick became, his adoptive father, one of the strongest catchers ever to work, trained him to fly. Slick and brother Billy Glenn, also a stout fellow, were Bill's main leapers for years. Long after Bill's retirement, the boys found themselves in sudden need of a catcher. No catcher available wanted to work with fliers their size, so to save the booking, the boys sought their father's advice. In rather advanced age by then, Bill himself showed up, changed into his tights, and disdaining even to warm up, went up into the rigging and caught the act.
More relative to this picture, it was about this time that Slick broke a leg, and won many backyard bets by catching the act wearing his cast.
Help with names. Ray Valentine (?) , Barbara, Rosie ? and Billy Woods (?)
Slick was one of the prettiest flyers I ever saw.
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