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"MARY" Photo by Chang Reynolds taken Nov. 2, 1963 in Banning, Calif. "I had no idea any of the Acme shows ever went to the West Coast. Two elephants with King Bros. that season "Mary" and "Hattie" |
Monday, July 09, 2012
From Buckles #5
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6 comments:
Bob Snowden took the King show to the West Coast when he was Manager and co-owner.
When I was first there, in 1964, Beatty-Cole was out for Acme Circus Operating Company, and King Bros. and Sells & Gray were operated by Kit, Inc., depending on who you talked to. Something about if one corporation went under, it didn't take the other shows with it. Sort of smart, like when Clyde Beatty hit the hard times of 1956, only his National Circus Operating Co. went bankrupt running the Clyde Beatty Circus. Wisely, he had kept his name and his act entirely separate, and the Clyde Beatty name and wild animal act remained clear and working entities. When I returned for 1980 and '81, King, Sells & Gray, and Kit were history, but Beatty-Cole was still Acme--depending on who had the floor in the backyard.
Buckles does have a point about the King show heading West. Frank McClosky may have meant only the Beatty show when he supposedly decreed, "This thing never goes West of the Mississippi."
Through most if not all of the 60s
all 3 shows were under the "Acme"
banner but each of them had their
own corporate title & the "Kit
Operating Company" named for Bill
English's wife was the title for
only 1 of the smaller shows
Currently the "Beatty" show is
under the corporate title of
Branchwater Productions Inc but
it's operating name is "Cole Bros
Circus Of The Stars"
On very reliable source material
from Ken Dodd the Sells & Gray
show was under the corporate title
of the "Kit Circus Operating Co"
& the King show was under the title
of "General Circus Operating Co"
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