Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Gay's One-Horse Show!


Scan12141, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Prof. Gay Billings proclaimed to have a one-horse show yet brazenly paraded this vehicle around town.
No wonder he is seldom remembered.

Posted by Buckles at 9/23/2009 05:42:00 AM

8 comments:

Ole Whitey said...

Wasn't Gay Billings Eva Davenport's first husband?

Also can you remember the name Eva used on her own med show- was it Princess Iola?

23 September, 2009 10:45
Anonymous said...

I count two horses.

23 September, 2009 11:21
Buckles said...

My point exactly!

23 September, 2009 11:28
Anonymous said...

Whitey. Here's the straight story, according to my previous interviews with Norma Davenport for a Bandwagon series. Hang on, because this tends to be confusing:

Eva Essa Billings was the daughter of Gay Billings, owner of Gay's One-Horse Circus. With her first husband--Bill Merriam--Eva had three children, Zoe, Billie and Galen. Billie Merriam later married Jessie James "Jim" Plunkett, the older brother of Merlin "Corky" Plunkett.

Eva's second marriage, to Benjamin C. Davenport, in 1930 produced Norma Davenport, who was raised on her mother's Princess Iola medicine show and Ben's one-ring Davenport's Society Circus, which later morphed into the multi-ring Dailey Bros. Circus in 1940. Norma married trampolinist Corky Plunkett on Ben and Eva's Dailey Bros. Circus in 1948. Norma and Corky were divorced in late 1949.

On June 24, 1950--the day before Dailey Bros. entered Canada for a disastrous repeat tour, Norma marred Cristiani at Port Huron, Michigan. (Ben Davenport had hired Pete at the start of the 1950 season to manage the pie car on the Dailey Bros. train.) After the collapse of the show in September, 1950, Ben presented the five "Norma Cristiani elephants" to his daughter and son-in-law as a wedding gift. They used these elephants to fill a series of Texas Shrine Circus dates before joining up with Pete's family on King Bros. at winter quarters in Macon, Georgia.

Lane Talburt

23 September, 2009 12:25
Wade G. Burck said...

Lane,
Je**s Chr***!!!!! Kinda reminds you of an old herdsman trying to keep track of what bull bred what cow on a ledger pad. The invention of the computerized pedigree, was indeed a Godsend to the dairy/beef industry. LOL
Wade Burck

23 September, 2009 13:53
Ole Whitey said...

Thanks, Lane.

Norma was also years later married to John Frazier for a time. In fact I believe they had been teenage sweethearts on the Dailey show.

Didn't "Society Circus" mean an indoor show? I have the impression that this outfit played school gyms.

23 September, 2009 14:53
Anonymous said...

Whitey: I'm not familiar with society circuses beyond the Davenport's show. But from what I learned in my conversations with Norma, Ben and Eva played winter dates indoors under the Princess Iola's medicine show title--usually renting community dance halls, and during the outdoor season they took out the one-ring Davenport's Society Circus either in a small tent or as a sidewaller.

The two different formats enabled the Davenports to stay on the road year round, which, of course, was essential to their survival during the Depression years.

And, given the diversity of the troupe, performers were able to adjust their routines from song-and-dance vaudeville routines under Princess Iola to traditional circus acts under the society circus title. Charlie Smith, for example, who replaced his older brother on the show in 1934, was just as comfortable acting and singing in black face as he was performing on roman rings.

There were two other major differences between the two shows: 1. Princess Iola's medicine show usually set up in a community for at least five or six days, and Ben and Eva made the bulk of their earnings off the sale of Eva's magic elixirs and the beauty pageant competition, where the winner was determined solely on the number of tickets that were sold on behalf of each contestant during the nightly shows leading up to the Saturday night coronation. 2. Davenport's Society Circus changed lots daily, which enabled Ben to fatten the take through grift. Regardless of the format, however, performers were always ready to load up and move out at a moment's notice should the local "heat" become too great.

Because of Eva's charismatic performances as Princess Eva, the medicine show was often welcomed back in many Midwestern towns year after year. Norma particularly remembers Danville, Illinois, as one community where the indoor show could stay as long as six weeks.

Lane Talburt

24 September, 2009 12:34
Unknown said...

My name is EVA. I am the Granddaughter of Ethel Billings-Stock. Ethel was Eva's older sister and Gay Billings is my Great Grandfather. I was named after my Great Aunt Eva. Gay Billings was Eva's father. They had three children, but one, a boy, died at a young age. Ethel and Eva were the two remaining children. Ethel married Fred Stock. Fred had his own medicine show and at one time owned Stock's Nu-Tone in which he sold products such as soap's and lotions. Ethel and Eva were raised in Marblehead, Illinois.

23 April, 2011 11:30

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