Circus Busch GREAT WILNO (c.1927 - One Sheet)

Circus Busch GREAT WILNO (c.1927 - One Sheet), originally uploaded by bucklesw1. The Great Wilno (Circus Busch) - From Chris Berry According to Fred Pfening Jr's fine article on cannon acts in the Bandwagon (Nov-Dec 1976), It was during the 1920s that Willi Wiedrich (The Great Wilno) entered the world of great cannon acts. Willi Wiedrich was born in Dresden in 1902. At an early age he became interested in acrobatics and developed a trapeze and sway pole act. He met Mrs. George Starr, the original Zazel, in England in 1927 and was inspired to build a cannon. Borrowing money from his sisters Wiedrich started construction, using a catapult cylinder inside a 25 foot barrel, and mounting it on wheels that were 5 1/2 feet in diameter. He was performing with the Circus Busch in Berlin at the time, and the cannon and net were set up outside the building he then made his first shot. The act was then introduced into the Busch program, using the name The Great Wilno. Wilno appeared with other German circuses before going to France for a Paris date during the winter of 1927-1928. During the Paris date he was seen by Frank Wirth, husband of May Wirth, who with George Hamid operated a booking agency. Wirth signed Wilno and arranged to bring him to the United States in the spring of 1929. The Wirth Hamid firm ran a full page advertisement in the May 19, 1929 issue of the Billboard, announcing Wilno as "the greatest and most stupendous gate attraction ever conceived for parks and fairs." Wilno and his cannon left Germany by boat and arrived in the United States on May 4, 1929. Wirth booked the act at a park in Boston that spring and later in the summer on fairs.