Seven elephants and some 15 horses made the trek though the Queens-Midtown tunnel en route to Madison Square Garden. The bulls are shown here exiting the tunnel into Manhattan.
I had the impression that more than 7 pachyderms comprised this year's herd on the Red. Perhaps others were trucked over.
When the Blue show was in Atlanta in February, it carried 8 elephants but two were non-performing punks that rode overland rather than on the train. There were, however, three elephant cars on the train, one of which carries only hay and supplies.
Nowadays, only horses and elephants ride the train . Everything else is trucked overland, i.e., zebras, camels, performing cats et al. |
9 comments:
There always used to be a clear distinction between the Red and Blue Units. Mostly because Gunther and later Bello clearly personified the Red Show.
If my life depended on identifying the unit I saw last January in Tampa, I doubt that I could do it.
For many years we had the Blue
Show & Circus Williams
Most of the original show that
traveled on 17 rail cars when
I was first involved became the
Blue Show and when I left the
staff in 82 both trains were
44 cars long (much longer now)
There were many components that
had been "appropriated" by each
show form the other that they
had many coats of alternating
colors of paint
Chic
There was definitely a Red and Blue Show culture, the Red dominated by Gunther and the Blue by Charly after he took over from Jack Joyce and made the Blue his sole fiefdom. As long as Gunther was involved, I also think the Red show had fewer performers since Gunther did so many acts. Traveling between the two shows was interesting--i remember when Playboy Press published Charly's memoirs, TIGER TIGER, and we did a press tour for the book; he was on his best behavior and the book was a pretty good read. When i was with the show, both Gunther and Charly were at their performing peak so it was an honor to work with both of them (each an outstanding act), quite different in their styles and demeanors;
Between Dan Rice and Gunther Gebel-Williams, which other singular headline performers dominated a show identity and culture?
To: Richard Reynolds..
I was on 34th St as 10 elephants came out of the Midtown Tunnel this year (2009)and don't recall the lead elephant rider in orange. They used 11 in the show on opening night.
even though he only performed one act, there is no question that clyde beatty dominated both the shows he was with and the circus aspect of popular culture for a big part of the century.his name was synonymous with circus and was the best known performer for many, many years; due to national press, movies and appearing across the country in cities of every size, his name was known, rather than people calling him simply the blond animal trainer or even the illusiomists from las vegas. his name was so well-known it was a valuable marketing tool as a circus title 50 years after his death.
as far other names that were known and respected, don't forget the wallendas and emmett kelly. And as far as dominating a performance, we also must honor the Cristiani family, who were capable of presenting a complete show with no other performers except clowns. they dominated ringling line-ups when they were with that show and later cole bros and king bros as well as their own own shows, and have been acknowledged as the most versatile troupe in circus history.
give credit where it's due. no one can deny the impact of dan rice and gunther gebel williams, but by no means were they the only stars dominating the circus horizon.
too much circus history has already been re-written to downplay the contributions of beatty, the wallendas, kelly and the cristianis.
This Is A Picture of the Blue Unit Animal Walk from Last year. Chuck Wagner is on the Lead Elephant.
For the East Rutherford date in NJ they walked 10 and one was picked up and trucked over, about a 2 to 3 mile walk. When I asked why one was being trucked I was told by someone not in the elephant dept. she was too young to make the walk.
She looked to be about 10 or 11 to me.
PG
To clarify my comment...this year's show, 11 bulls plus a number of horses is the Red Unit/
Zing Zang Zoom. My observations were made at the siding in Carlstadt, NJ in early March. It was good to see Billy Morris running the herd and last year we saw Lee Morris (he goes by Aaron on the show) on the Blue show. Bill and Cindy must be very proud.
Paul G.
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