Saturday, April 11, 2009

1969 Ringling #17


1969 Ringling-17, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

For those of us who were expecting a Hugo Schmitt-type elephant act, Gunther’s elephant number “Safari” was quite a letdown.

Posted by Buckles at 4/11/2009 06:08:00 AM

9 comments:

Buckles said...

I wouldn't say that.
John Herriott put it best when he said, "After the arrival of Gunther, the elephant trainers, cat trainers and horse trainers all headed for the practice barn!"
Kenny once told me, "Funny thing about you animal trainers, all the elephant men say that he is basically a cat trainer and the horse trainers all say he is basically an elephant man!"

11 April, 2009 07:02
J.C. Hall said...

In my mind, I always thought;
No.(1) Tigers
No.(2) Horses
No.(3) Elephants
And (#,One) at bringing the house down.
Plagiarizing Chris Rock's line,"Yes, I said it."

11 April, 2009 10:52
Jack Ryan said...

If anybody thought Gunther's elephant act was a letdown, I think it was because he performed it in a European style. It was just not the kind of elephant number most of us had ever seen before.

11 April, 2009 11:30
Anonymous said...

To "Anybody"
I was never letdown by anything Gunther did in the show, however I still stick to my thoughts on one thru three.

11 April, 2009 13:33
J.C. Hall said...

To Buckles
I missed signing my name on last comment to "Anybody"

11 April, 2009 13:37
Chic Silber said...

He had

#1 STYLE

#2 CHARM

#3 SHOWMANSHIP

And he worked very hard

All good qualities

Chic

11 April, 2009 16:29
johnny said...

To Jimmy. I go along with you on the classification. However he had excellent apprentiship in regard to horses. Also with elephants, but seems to have been kinda self taught on cats, tigers, leopards, etc. But tigers were sure his thing and he was increditable in their training and handling. It was like a duck in water. His elephant training was pretty elementary, but he seemed to have a way with them in regard to hiss hutley hutley and they just kind of come around.

12 April, 2009 09:31
Anonymous said...

I first saw Gunther in the Garden in 1969 and my immediate reaction (no offense at all to Charlie B. or Hugo) was, "My God, This man is wonderful!", and I always felt the same all through the years. By the way, when I first saw the Woodcocks many years ago I had a very similar reaction, "My God, these folks are wonderful!", and that never changed either.

Longtime Fan

12 April, 2009 11:48
Jim Zajicek said...

When I first saw Gunther...I had other things occupying my mind...Like trying to figure out a plan on how to convince my MoM into allowing me to make a purchase from the "Bug Man"...However, in later years..(when I was not distracted) I found GGW to be quite a incredible performer/trainer....

12 April, 2009 13:38

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