Tuesday, February 11, 2014

1978 A Great Year! #5


TV Special at St. Petersburg.

Posted by Buckles at 2/11/2014 06:10:00 AM

16 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Another shame that the Bayfront

Center was torn down long ago

11 February, 2014 10:44
Buckles said...

I have arrived at the conclusion that I wouldn't go down to that wretched Bay Front Center to see the Lord's Last supper with the original cast.
You would think that somewhere in Central Florida there's an open area where you could simply get out of your car and walk up to the building like most civilized communities.

11 February, 2014 12:02
Chic Silber said...


Although the orignal cast is no

longer available Bobby Snowden's

classic wax version is in a truck

somewhere awaiting some skilled

show presenter to rescue it

11 February, 2014 12:29
klsdad said...

Chic...
Go for it!!
KLSDAD

11 February, 2014 14:36
Roger Smith said...

Buckles and Barbara in a magnificent shot, put off only by that whompy-jawed atrocity the Felds accepted as a wild animal arena. With all other rigging looking purposeful, sharp, and professional, the one embarrassment telling of amateurish indifference descends upon the cat act.

11 February, 2014 18:24
Chic Silber said...


Roger you know that this was shot

while raising the mesh arena from

the ring curb & once it was fully

extended it looked just fine

This was indded the newer pattern

Shame that this was taken early

11 February, 2014 20:20
GaryHill said...

Wouldn't it be great to go the the next edition of TGSOE and see something like this again...

11 February, 2014 22:39
John Herriott said...

This is what the GSOE was for some 100 yrs. Now they say it can not be done. Why not? And in fact they make more money now than ever. The "gold unit" moves the whole equipment on 2 trucks. And they call it the GSOE. how can that be. All of the animal acts are provided by same people with one person presenting all three acts, none of which are of old Ringling caliber.On the two other units they are both one ringers with alot of razzmatazz making up for acts and talent. Look at a program of ten yrs. ago and see the difference. What a shame. And the circus fans go for this. I never in my wildest dreams expected to see this happen to such a hallowed American institution. And it does not have to be.I am 84 yrs. old, been on circuses all my life and feel so let down. what a shame. johnny

12 February, 2014 09:18
John Herriott said...

I am surprised at your comments buckles concerning the Bay front center bldg. I always liked it with tents right at back door area and all trailers comfortably parked right across thw street. I know dressing rooms were a little tight but thats not new. That awful bldg. they show in now is awful to even get animals, etc. in to the ack door warea. Parking is helter skelter. I hate to even visit the show bthere. Well to each his own. Filming the "highlights" there was always exciting. johnny

12 February, 2014 09:25
John Herriott said...

And now a "knock" on that modern arena. Whats next? johnny

12 February, 2014 09:28
Chic Silber said...


Thanks John as I always thought

the show presented well there

The TV taping added some extra

work & long hours but I enjoyed

the outcome & could mention the

broadcast to many distant friends

The worst thing about that joint

to me was in bad weather driving

up over the OLD Sunshine Skyway

bridge could be a challenge

12 February, 2014 10:34
Chic Silber said...


I think Roger was just disturbed

by the awkward look of the arena

in an untrimmed state John

12 February, 2014 10:36
Chic Silber said...


John it seems the older we get

the more we liked what we lost

In some cases we didn't know how

good it was when it was

12 February, 2014 10:38
Buckles said...

To the uninformed, you exit the Interstate in down town Tampa, proceed thru a series of crowded stop lights to the Bay Front Center, then enter a building across the street where you ascend a series of ramps looking for a parking spot.
Once parked you wait in line to descend in a crowded elevator then cross a busy street to the Arena proper.
Again you wait in line for an elevator, this time up to the seating area.
Once there you must walk the circumference of the building in search of your seat which I might add is invariably on the opposite side of the building, then either upward or downward to your actual seat.
Needless to say, afterward the procedure is repeated but only in the opposite direction.
To play the date, which I have never done, sounds like a delight.

12 February, 2014 10:47
Chic Silber said...


I believe we (John & myself) are

referring to the OLD Bayfront in

St Petersburg & you might mention

the Tampa Times Forum or such

12 February, 2014 10:53
Roger Smith said...

No, I didn't know the mesh was being raised. How many times I saw that thing supposedly trimmed, and the top rim looked no better. I'll never forget sighting along the rigging and finding a single pulley block holding this thing up with cable spiders. If you've ever seen a block fail, this was bad enough, and there was no safety of any kind to back it up. What was worse, was seeing the single rope from the block tied off to a descending guy line from another rigging. That week, I revisited several performances specifically to check this out, and there it was--one fall hung to lift the net cage, and one strand of rope from it tied off to a guy line. If different rigging was used in other years, it was not that week. Nothing about it looked fine. It looked like what you expect when indifference leads to shortcuts.

12 February, 2014 18:14

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)