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While at Lincoln Center, "Adolf" was a participant in the only seal runaway I was ever involved in. "Peggy" and I were included in a "reprise" (clown gag) that immediately followed this act. We would stand at a distance until they had left the tent and then hurriedly enter and stand beneath the band stand in almost total darkness awaiting our cue. One day Roby forgot his robe and unaware we were inside re-entered the back door followed by "Adolf". The next thing I heard was this "bark" then Peggy whirled and roared and tried to back thru the sidewall. During the ensuing scuffle I caught a glimpse of Roby and "Adolf", side by side headed for the Metropolitan Opera. Surprisingly law and order was quickly restored and we made our cue but as we were exiting the ring, I noticed several of the musicians looking down with Titanic survivor expressions....as were some members of the audience. To quote Happy the Clown: I had 'em in the aisles! Laughing? No leaving! |
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
1984 Big Apple Circus #1
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11 comments:
Had the opportunity to see this act
on a gigantic outdoor stage on the
lawn of Copenhagen's Tivoli Garden
the day before we took the ferry
over to Malmo to visit Trolle
This is really huge male sea lion. I never saw the Gasser act but wish that I had.
I do not think this a California sea lion like those of Tiebor and others. Perhaps it was the much larger Stellar sea lion (males easily 1,000 lbs or more). They are from the Pacific northwest. Or, maybe it was a Patagonian sea lion from the southern coasts of South America.
Jim Alexander will likely know.
The Patagonians are the species used by European trainers in RBBB acts of the 1980s and 1990s.
Gasser's sea lions were Patagonian.
Here's a link to a video of the act on the 1984 edition of Big Apple Circus from circopedia:
http://www.circopedia.org/index.php/Roby_Gasser_BAC_Video_1984
Don Covington
I don't believe actual seals were
ever used as they lack the anatomy
to perform any of the tasks so
Sea Lions were substituted but not
given credit for some reason
Chic, what is the difference between seals and sea lions? Very confusing and I have been around seal acts all my life. My father trained seals at the Longfellow zoo in mINNEAPOLIS AND later tookover the Cole Show three seal acts. I remember the little cages they took them to the ring from the nbig cage.[toomany rocks, trash, weeds, etc. for them to maneuver on. I never heaRD tell of a differece between seals and sea lions. please enlighten me. your friend, johnny
John Milton and Chic,
The Earless or 'True' Seals have no external ear flaps, they swim with their hind flippers, their hind flippers always face backward and are furred, they have 2 or 4 teats and can be found in both marine and freshwater environments.
One the other hand, th Eared Seals, Including Fur Seals and Sea Lions have external ear flaps, swim with their front flippers, unlike earless seals their hind flippers can turn forward, and they are better able to 'walk' on their flippers, they have 4 teats, and are only found in marine environments.
Kinda similar, but very different.
Wade Burck
Hope it's OK if I jumb in here. I've been around both in the wild and seal lions on circuses and have been told sea lions are better able to navigate on land than are seals because of their larger front flipers where seals are belly crawlers with short fron flippers. Seals are better suited for water than land. Seals have no external ears where sea lions have small ear flaps. Sea lions are
noisier than seals and more social.
Bob Momyer
Hi John I learned more than I ever
wanted to know about Sea Lions
from the folks at 2 Sea World
parks when I designed a couple
of shows for them mny years ago
Here is a link to a great source
http://www.dolphinencounters.com/education-sealionvsseal.php
I'll give you a call later on to
review some of it
Have no idea why they were always
called "seals" in the circus
If anyone has mentioned the trained "seal" (probably sea lion) on Beers-Barnes I missed it. I believe Charles Beers worked it. Comments anyone?
By the way: If you never saw Beers-Barnes you missed a dandy show.
Wade's got it on the difference between true seals (Phocids) and sea lions (Otarids). Sea lions can rotate their hind flippers under neath their bodies and get around on land easily. Seals just scoot along on their bellies. If you've seen the video of the elephant seal in the 1930's you saw a true seal move on land.
The Gasser's and the Harrison's(on RBBB around 1990) used South American or Patagonian sea lions, pretty common in Europe. Marco Peters has the last two Patagonians (former Popescu's) with his sea lion Splash show. Patagonians have the repuation for being quiet, they don't run - they just freeze up and do nothing. (Not always considering Buckles story on Big Apple.) I've never heard of a Steller's sea lion on any traveling show. A few parks have used a few of them but they are big and flighty - a bite would be no fun.
The Woodward mentioned on old posters and the Gasser page from Big Apple is Joseph Woodward, an English trainer working around 1900. His family had a Aquarium in England where he developed his sea lion act. He's probably the first trainer to had a sea lion balance an ball or other object on their nose. There were sea lion and seal acts in the late 1800s that blew horns, went down slides, caught rings, but no balancing until Woodward. During WWI Woodward also trained sea lions to find German submarines in the open ocean but the program was never developed and used in actual combat.
Jim,
Sorry I swam into your water's, but I had to do something, while folks were waiting for you to get here. Great history, thank you. When RJR asks for assistance, that's pretty big stuff. I am sure you have heard about the "hey rube" at the joint up north. Email me at wadeburck@yahoo.com when you get a chance.
Wade Burck
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