Thursday, September 09, 2010

The Pettus Family #8


Scan13097, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

These next two pictures taken in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the
Orrin Davenport winter dates in 1955.
Some familiar names in this combination "Little Babe", "Tessie",
"Margie, "Mary and "Judy".
In both shots you can barely see Elephant Empress Sandy Pettus.

Posted by Buckles at 9/09/2010 06:16:00 AM

10 comments:

jerry digney said...

looks like a great elephant act!

09 September, 2010 20:05
Chic Silber said...

Please tell us Brigadier Buckles

what was the largest number of

elephants you recall being in a

fairly standard ring at 1 time

& where was that

09 September, 2010 22:34
Wade G. Burck said...

Buckles,
I note the headpieces on the elephants are very similar to the ones that the elephants had on Clyde Brothers(Rex Williams also had the same style). I not that two of the elephants are named Mary and Margie, and Clyde Bros. had a Mary, Sue, and Ruth, who was replaced with a Margie. Are some of these elephants Clyde Bros. elephants?
Wade Burck

10 September, 2010 08:08
Anonymous said...

Ranch herd Babe was old and stifflegged, so the ranch herd was now three getting old elephants. Saginaw and Gr. Rapids called for a five act, so on King that year we took the best of the herd, namily Little Babe [lead] then nice performing elephant Tessie [both adult], then Floyd King owned Marjorie [during King-Cristiani years Steve Fanning used her in with the Cristiani Four. Matt Laurish had trained her for Floyd some years before] and last the two nice young elephants bought from Si Ruebens Rogers Bros. that Bert had worked there along with Shirley Temple. They were Mary and Judy excellent performing elephants that ended up on Clyde Bros. I believe. This was a nice group of five elkephants and Bert really liked working them and we [I called the commands in practice because Bert liked the way I did it]. were proud of the routine. This was done so that we could accomadate the Fall Shrine dates with lots of elephants. Even so to keep elephants on the Big kING SHOW as well. Kelly Miller Fred Logan came on with three and the Woodcock elephants. Plus we left Non-performing one eyed Alace and Mona, both good harness elephants. So I ended up on the Texas dates with a cobbled up routine with Old Babe, Big Jenny and goofy Shirley Temple. My dad worked Nellie-Little Jenny-Wilma, and Lou Regan worked what was left of the Ranch herd Louie-Jeannie-Carrie.

Right before that my Father took out an extended circus unit for Barnes-Carruthers fairs and We [Whitey Haven would be the capt and had Arkies ex wife Helen with him] routined a very nice three act with Mary-Judy-Marjorie. Just nice sized young elephants very well trained. Sadly the next two years King went broke and it all fell apart with Paul Kelly and Miller from Pigeon Forge coming in the picture. It was alot of hard woork and fun while it lasted. We even, during that season did the movie"Jupiters Darling" [twelve weeks in Hollywood] and I found time to court Mary Ruth. I was a parade marshall on horseback, took tickets on the front door, was gopher asst. to Col. Harry Thomas. Worked liberty horses [along with Dorothy Herbert], liberty ponies, elephant acts, was feature rider [lousy] in Riding Conleys and did Roman standing [with Mary Ruth] races and drove wild ass chariot races with Matt Laurish.] I got seventy five bucks each week and Jim Conley gave me forty for going in the riding act. The finale in riding acts is when the rider stands up on a fast galloping horse and appears to be almost falling off. I did not have to fake that routine. Jim would yell to me,"go around another time and I will give you five dollars" I loved every minute of it. Tanglefoot Herriott

11 September, 2010 09:31
Wade G. Burck said...

Col. J.M.,
Wonderful story!!! That by God is how to record history. I had always been told that the Clyde Bros 3 of Mary, Sue, and Ruth were all trained together as punks. When they were adults, Margie later replaced Ruth, when she died. You mention a Mary and Judy ending up on Clyde Bros. I wonder if it was a different Mary, then the Mary from the Mary, Sue, and Ruth herd. I wonder if the "Judy" mentioned was the "Judy" the Clyde Bros. sold/gave to the Oklahoma Zoo? Lou had mentioned a "Judy" that was "double tough" that Rex Williams had worked for a while in the three baby act of Vicky, Jenny, and Judy(new Judy who replaced the Judy in question) that George and Chino Barrada had in 1974 when I worked for Lou.
You mention that you "did Roman standing [with Mary Ruth]" In the Kama Sutra book, is that number 43 or number 57?
Again, thanks for the history, and my best to you and Mary Ruth.
Wade Burck

11 September, 2010 11:44
Chic Silber said...

Your detailed memories are most

amazing & great fun John

Just want to know roughly how

many shows were you able to get

the extra fiver for the turn on

11 September, 2010 13:33
John milton Herriott said...

Ranch herd Babe was old and stifflegged, so the ranch herd was now three getting old elephants. Saginaw and Gr. Rapids called for a five act, so on King that year we took the best of the herd, namily Little Babe [lead] then nice performing elephant Tessie [both adult], then Floyd King owned Marjorie [during King-Cristiani years Steve Fanning used her in with the Cristiani Four. Matt Laurish had trained her for Floyd some years before] and last the two nice young elephants bought from Si Ruebens Rogers Bros. that Bert had worked there along with Shirley Temple. They were Mary and Judy excellent performing elephants that ended up on Clyde Bros. I believe. This was a nice group of five elkephants and Bert really liked working them and we [I called the commands in practice because Bert liked the way I did it]. were proud of the routine. This was done so that we could accomadate the Fall Shrine dates with lots of elephants. Even so to keep elephants on the Big kING SHOW as well. Kelly Miller Fred Logan came on with three and the Woodcock elephants. Plus we left Non-performing one eyed Alace and Mona, both good harness elephants. So I ended up on the Texas dates with a cobbled up routine with Old Babe, Big Jenny and goofy Shirley Temple. My dad worked Nellie-Little Jenny-Wilma, and Lou Regan worked what was left of the Ranch herd Louie-Jeannie-Carrie.

Right before that my Father took out an extended circus unit for Barnes-Carruthers fairs and We [Whitey Haven would be the capt and had Arkies ex wife Helen with him] routined a very nice three act with Mary-Judy-Marjorie. Just nice sized young elephants very well trained. Sadly the next two years King went broke and it all fell apart with Paul Kelly and Miller from Pigeon Forge coming in the picture. It was alot of hard woork and fun while it lasted. We even, during that season did the movie"Jupiters Darling" [twelve weeks in Hollywood] and I found time to court Mary Ruth. I was a parade marshall on horseback, took tickets on the front door, was gopher asst. to Col. Harry Thomas. Worked liberty horses [along with Dorothy Herbert], liberty ponies, elephant acts, was feature rider [lousy] in Riding Conleys and did Roman standing [with Mary Ruth] races and drove wild ass chariot races with Matt Laurish.] I got seventy five bucks each week and Jim Conley gave me forty for going in the riding act. The finale in riding acts is when the rider stands up on a fast galloping horse and appears to be almost falling off. I did not have to fake that routine. Jim would yell to me,"go around another time and I will give you five dollars" I loved every minute of it. Tanglefoot Herriott

11 September, 2010 14:41
Anonymous said...

I believe that Donny had Mary and Judy. Judy was going blind at that time. Seemed that young Damon tipped them over in a truck wreck. Mary was hurt bad. Donnie sent them to Foxboro for Owner Of Patriots Sullivan Circus in the stadium. I was there for Bill Hall and Walter was there and asked me for Donnie to coble up a simple routine as Mary was gimpy and hurting. I did that and got thru the date. Believe Mary died and Donnie sold Judy to Cuneo. Wade, you would know about that.johnny

11 September, 2010 15:02
tanglefoot said...

Had to work over the flying act net. Smells of the Marine Bros. Poor replacement for Jonsey

11 September, 2010 15:23
Wade G. Burck said...

Col.,
Listen close. "two nice young elephants bought from Si Ruebens Rogers Bros. that Bert had worked there along with Shirley Temple. They were Mary and Judy excellent performing elephants that ended up on Clyde Bros"

The only Mary I was aware of on Clyde Bros. was from the group of Mary, Sue, and Ruth. Later they became Mary, Sue, and Margie. I never heard of them being broken up into other act's. I wondered if it was the same Mary or another one. Forget the Judy I mentioned earlier, I remembered the elephant Rex sold/gave to the Oklahoma City zoo was named Kitty not Judy. Clyde Bros. did have an act of 3 babies, who were about 10-11 in 1974 Vicky, Judy, and Jenny. The original Mary from the Mary, Sue, and Ruth act, which was my first elephant act is the Mary you worked with at the Patriots stadium. Lucky for you I had worked with her first, or you probably couldn't have gotten around her. Blind Judy was from the Vicky, Judy, and Jenny act which George Barrada schooled in advance for you. Yeah, that Judy went to Hawthorn. If you recall, there was a point in time, where John took in anything, as long as it had a trunk. It didn't matter if it had two eyes or four legs. That wasn't an important issue. I think his thought was, if they can't see you or run after you, they can't sap you. John liked to eliminate alibi's. The amazing thing is, it made perfect sense to him.
Wade Burck

11 September, 2010 22:17

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