From Josip Marcan #1

For those who know Andre Skarbecki, here is his monument. He was buried on private property in Ponce De Leon, Fl. about 15 minutes from my ranch.

From Josip Marcan #2

From Josip Marcan #3

From Vicki Cristiani

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY!!!! Can't believe our beautiful, self-reliant Shirley is celebrating yet another birthday. Wonderful to know she's enjoying her well deserved retirement in peaceful surroundings and, more importently, being cared for in such a loving way. My dad must be smiling down---along with her beloved sisters: Christy, Carrie, Babe and Emma---the clown of the Cristiani herd.

Cristiani Elephants #1

Cristiani Elephants #2

Cristiani Elephants #3

Cristiani Elephants #4

From Paul Gutheil #1

Seems like only yesterday!

From Paul Gutheil #2

From Dave Price #1

For Chris Berry Central did a lot of copying or borrowing. When Bert Nelson took over the Beatty act on Hagenbeck-Wallace, Erie litho took a pose of Beatty and made it into a litho for Nelson; then Central copied it for Seils-Sterling. Obviously they cut the plate from the Erie litho and of course it printed the design in reverse.

From Dave Price #2

Here's a more recent photo of Percilla

The Wagons Roll At Night #33 (Eric Beheim)

Despite Nick’s warning, Matt and Mary secretly write to each other. Then, with the carnival about to open in Chicago, Matt slips away to visit Mary at the farm.

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While looking for Matt in the lion tent . . .

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. . . Nick gets a little too close to Caesar, a lion considered too dangerous to use in the act.

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Escaping with only the loss of the shoulder of his coat, Nick realizes how treacherous Caesar really is.

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Learning that Matt went to the farm to visit Mary, Nick drives there to confront them. In the ensuring angry argument . . .

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. . . Matt knocks him down.

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Returning to the carnival, Nick formulates a plan to permanently keep Matt away from Mary.

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When Matt returns for the big Chicago opening, Nick greets him cordially and tells him to forget their recent differences. He also convinces Matt to add a new finale to the act: working Caesar, who has recently gained notoriety by killing a member of the big cat crew.

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Nick sees to it that the new feature is duly promoted.

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On opening night, and just before the lion act is to go on, Nick unloads the blanks from Matt's gun to further reduce the young trainer’s chances of surviving the encounter with Caesar.

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First, Matt presents his regular act.

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[The music played for Matt’s lion act consists of two authentic old marches: “The Billboard March” by John N. Klohr, and “Houstrauser’s March” by Paris Chambers.]

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At the act’s conclusion, the lions are sent out of the steel arena . . .

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. . . and Caesar is let in.

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Almost immediately, Matt finds himself in trouble. [Is that Louis Roth doubling Eddie Albert?]

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Watching from the sidelines with Nick and Flo, Mary realizes that Matt is in real danger of being killed.

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With no blanks in his gun, Matt is unable to fend off Caesar’s relentless advance.

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In desperation, Mary pleads with Nick to save Matt.

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Just as Caesar attacks Matt in deadly earnest . . .

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. . . Nick enters the steel arena with a gun loaded with blanks . . .

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. . . and distracts Caesar away from Matt.

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Caesar then attacks Nick.

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Retrieving Nick’s gun, which still has some live blanks left in it . . .

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Matt drives off Caesar . . .

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. . . and is able to get to Nick . . .

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. . . and carry him to the cage door and safety. [In all the excitement, few people probably bothered to keep track of how many blanks were fired during this sequence. I counted a total of 6 shots.]

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Back stage, the dying Nick makes his final peace with Mary, Matt and Flo.

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Just before expiring, Nick wryly speculates that perhaps a good promoter will be needed where he’s going.

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Hilton Twins #1 (From Chic Silber)

Hilton Twins #2

From Dave Price

When Central was cleaning their shelves in the mid-fifties I bought this Quigley litho for $1. Have seen them go on eBay for up to $700.

The Wagons Roll At Night (From Eric Beheim)

Released in 1941, THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT stars Humphrey Bogart as Nick Coster, the tough, cynical and somewhat shady owner of a carnival. (When this film was made, Bogart was not quite the box office draw as Warner Bros. other stars James Cagney, George Raft and Errol Flynn. THAT would change after the release of his very next film THE MALTESE FALCON.) The plot is a reworking of the 1937 Warner Bros. film KID GALAHAD, which deals with professional prize fighting.

The Wagons Roll At Night #2

The film opens with an establishing shot of the midway of Nick Coster’s Original Coney Island Carnival.

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The featured attraction of Nick’s carnival is a lion act worked by The Great Hoffman (Sig Rumann)

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The Great Hoffman is, in fact, a drunk with whom Nick often has to take drastic measures to sober up before a performance.

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With the act about to go on, Hoffman tells his crew to let the lions into the big cage.

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As the lions are making their way down the wooden chute . . .