Monday, July 05, 2010

The Great Milwaukee Parade


Scan13043, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Ernestine, Parley and Barbara flanked by two of the
Lord's Disciples "John" and "Paul".

"I saw the movie "Gypsy " on TMC the other night and had
completely forgotten that Parley played the frantic Mr.
Kringelein trying to evict Rose and her brood of kids from the hotel."

Posted by Buckles at 7/05/2010 05:54:00 AM

6 comments:

Bill Powell said...

Buckles,

Thanks for posting the nice series of photos on Ernestine Clarke. You should do a similar treatment on Parley Baer.

Parley was a great man who crossed over between the circus and movie world. Humble and gracious, he had a great sense of humor and was a delight to be around.

The last time I saw him was in the early 1980's. He was shooting a TV show up in Park City, Utah and staying in a Condo next to the golf course. I was promoting the upcoming circus that summer and , my mom told me of his whereabouts. I decided to look him up as I was also staying in Park City. It turned out that he was living less than a block from my place.

Parley had not seem me since the early 1970's when were out on the west coast with Gatti and Sid Kellner but he struck up a conversation and we decided to get together for dinner.

He told me that he was up there for the summer doing some TV work (It may have been that Gentle Ben series). This dinner led to a few more over the summer. Some times we would meet at a restaurant and other times we would just barbecue on the back porch of his condo and duck the golf balls from the nearby 3rd Tee of the Park City Golf Course.

Parley turned out to be quite a raconteur that summer. He talked about his kids, career and Hollywood. I was pretty amazed.

Parley was a friend of my mom and dad for quite a few years and knew me a little kid. He really did not have to take an interest in me as adult but nevertheless would ask me many questions about marketing the Ringling show and how was my mom doing etc.

I was sort of star struck with Parley because he was on so many TV shows over the years. Parley was one of the great character actors ever. He just morphed into so many roles and it was not unusual to see him on multiple show and movies in the course of a month. His body of work is pretty astounding.

Great pictures of a wonderful family.

Bill Powell

05 July, 2010 08:34
johnny herriott said...

His long scene in the "Young Lions" where he and Marlon Brando got drunk is a classic and moved him up as a great serious character actor in Hollywood. A fine fellow and a pleasure to know. The great Parly Baer.

05 July, 2010 09:09
Buckles said...

Parley said on that film they were on location in Paris for six weeks with the entire cast staying in a hotel right down town.
They would wait in the lobby each morning to be driven to the set.
Included in the cast was a French actress who lived in the US and this was her first return to France in many years. As they waited in the lobby she greeted by many old time friends.
One morning she enthusiastically jumped up to greet someone and knocked a pot of scalding water off the tray a waiter was holding, right into Marlon Brando's lap.
Brando leapt to his feet and danced around while spraying his balls with a bottle of seltzer water, which caused Dean Martin to say, "Let's all act like we don't know him!"

05 July, 2010 10:09
Frank Ferrante said...

I once sat with Parley on the Vargas show, he would talk to just about anyone, even me! We talked about him doing a one-man show on Barnum. It never came to pass, but he would have done a great job in the part. ~frank

05 July, 2010 15:29
Chic Silber said...

Just awakened a few memory cells

as I read the character name of

the hotel manager "Kringelein"

from "Gypsy" which was also the

name of a principle character in

the musical "Grand Hotel" played

by the Tony winning Michael Jeter

"Otto Kringelein"

05 July, 2010 21:42
Roger Smith said...

Parley Baer fans may have seen him this early morning on TCM in MGM's FEARLESS FAGAN. With Fagan described as not knowing he's a lion, Parley plays Emil Tauchnitz, the trainer of the real lions. Parley actually works a lion in a sit-up and a hurdle with a flaming hoop. He cracks a whip and fires blanks while fielding a nifty thick German accent.

06 July, 2010 22:53

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