Friday, May 27, 2011

Spec #27


Spec-27, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 5/27/2011 06:02:00 AM

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The large gold and silver mirror behind the young lady's head on this spec float is now in The Ringling Museum. As I recall, someone found it in the Sarasota dump or dumped along a road outside of town and recognized what it was and picked it up and gave it to the museum. This was only about 5 years ago or so. I'm still amazed that somebody had the knowledge and recognition of this piece of history to know what it was completely out of context in a somewhat deteriorated condition to stop and pick it up. Good for them!
Neil Cockerline, Minneapols

27 May, 2011 14:39
Roger Smith said...

Buckles: Is the young lady Kitty Clarke?

27 May, 2011 15:20
Buckles said...

Kay was on the show but this is show girl Hamburger Mary.
So called because she spent most of her time between numbers at the back yard pie car.
I never heard her last name but I'm sure Jackie or Kenny or Dom Yodice would know.

27 May, 2011 17:27
Anonymous said...

Neil,
I heard the same story. Several years ago(more than 5 years though)I was at the museum. This mirrored sunburst was leaning again the wall in back of the wood carvers section.
Several gentlemen were carving a carousel horse so I asked them if I could see the sunburst and take some measurements. I did.
They told me that they didn't know exactly what it was but that someone found it at the side of the road and thought it might be circus related so they brought it to the museum. Lucky for us.
I told them what it was and later sent the museum several photos of it on the float.
The lady on the float known as Hamburger Mary was Anne Mace (she may have had another last name at one time but I always knew it as Mace).
She was a 6'tall beauty. There was another 6'tall show girl named Pat Warner (Lombardo). They would often change places as I have photos of both of them on the Christmas float and also as Marie Antoinette in Picnic in the Park manege number. Maybe she was too busy at the grease joint???LOL
Dom
Dom

27 May, 2011 22:27
Anonymous said...

I have told many different Circus
office personnel and others, if you are going to get rid of something, call a Circus Fan or Circus Historian FIRST, next to nothing is junk to the devotees.

Paul Gutheil

28 May, 2011 00:12
Anonymous said...

PS I don't know if he wants his name mentioned so let me just say I was greatly admiring the display of a longtime Circus Fan at the Hershey convention and had to ask where he got all these treasures such as RBBB tack from the '20' 0r '30's etc. he replied that he got alot of it out of the garbage/dumpsters down in Sarasota as I recall.

Paul Gutheil

28 May, 2011 00:18
Mike Naughton said...

Roberta Ballantine, wife of Bill, was another 6 ft. showgirl on RBBB, she was brought to the show by John Murray Anderson. I don't know the year.
Mrs. Ballantine gave a lecture on Nutrition when I was at Clown College in 74; I had never heard of whole grain bread which she strongly recommended instead of bleached flour white bread.
She was way ahead of her time.
Very nice lady and still stunning when she gracefully walked about the arena.

28 May, 2011 09:35
Anonymous said...

Bill and Berta were married on the show in 1948. I believe Berta was there in 1946 / 47. They were a delightful couple and dear friends when we worked together at Clown College and the years that followed.
Bob Momyer

28 May, 2011 13:12
Mike Naughton said...

I am pretty certain that the mini Santa is Cucciolo of the Alberto Zoppe Troupe, or it could be Harry Doll (Kurt Schneider).
Jackie LeClaire would know.
Cucciolo's private name was Pasqualino Rizzi.

28 May, 2011 13:50

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