1971 Cleveland Grotto Circus #1 (From Eric Beheim)

1971 Grotto circus-1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Two of my family’s close friends were Ed and Frieda Tessar, who were very much involved with Cleveland’s Al Sirat Grotto. Each year when the Grotto Circus appeared in Public Auditorium, they would be on hand to help out, and to serve as hosts in the “hospitality suite” that the Al Sirat Grotto maintained in Hotel Auditorium for the performers. “Tante” Frieda had been raised in a German-speaking household and was able to converse fluently in German with performers such as Karl Wallenda. (She had quite an outgoing personality, and anybody who appeared with the Grotto Circus back in the 1960s and 1970s probably remembers her.) In 1971 when I was serving in Vietnam, Tante Frieda arranged to have that year’s Grotto Circus program autographed for me by as many performers as she could line up. (Seeing their names and signatures again after all these years will probably bring back a few memories.) Eric