Monday, February 25, 2013

Harley Sadler #1

Posted by Buckles at 2/25/2013 05:32:00 AM

1 comments:

Dick Flint said...

Texas-born Harley Sadler (1892–1954) was supposedly "the first man to make a million dollars from a tent show."
Stagestruck and without finishing high school, Sadler joined a small carnival and later worked showboats, small-time vaudeville, and med shows. He trouped with the tent theatre shows of both Rentfrow and Roy Fox as comedian and horn player. Married in 1917, he and his wife then joined the Kansas-based Brunks Comedians, became partner in their No. 3 show, and by 1922 bought out Brunk’s interest. His show found prosperity in the 60 or so communities of West Texas and eastern New Mexico that it played every other year. His remarkable memory for names ensured his personal popularity and his flair and showmanship caused a Billboard correspondent to write “that Sadler would do business on the Sahara Desert"
The Depression severely affected his prosperity and his brief fling in the circus business was a financial disaster. He refused personal bankruptcy, sold what holdings he still had to pay debts, and for two years operated a small tent show in the Rio Grande Valley to finish paying off debts. Air conditioned movie houses then impacted under canvas rep shows and he folded his tent about 1941 at which time he also entered Texas state politics as a Democrat. He had started to become an oil wildcatter by this time as well but returned to the road in partnership with Joe McKennon in 1947 (Joe’s wife Marian wrote a book about this adventure). He died in 1954. In 1982 Clifford Ashby and Suzanne Depauw May authored “Trouping Through Texas: Harley Sadler and His Tent Show.”
Dick Flint
Baltimore

25 February, 2013 15:20

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)