This is no doubt the most precisely trained elephant I ever saw, "Bertha" and her trainer Jenda Smaha as seen with Adams Bros. Circus in 1958. The lady in the center is Patty Cowls.
The show was operated by William "Bill" Griffith Jr. and I believe bankrolled by Dean Adams.
Jenda explained to me the details of travelling to the Carolina's to pick her up at an animal farm in the dead of winter, then the ordeal of sliding off the highway in a snowstorm on the way back.
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Thursday, October 16, 2014
"Bertha" #1
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7sLWgOPBo
This is Jenda at the MGM with Tanya.
There are several more clips on YouTube, just search for Jenda Smaha.
Are the tubs chromed or stainless steel?
A good friend of mine who enjoys
unique research found this today
Bertha the elephant at Ascuaga's
Nugget was the longest running
casino act in Nevada history
which ran from 62 to her death
in 1999 at the age of 48 or 49
Johnny Ascuaga bought Bertha in
1962 for $8,000 from a circus
museum in Wisconsin
Bertha was one of 20 elephants imported in a shipment by Fred Zeehandelaar. The unsold animals were stored at George Tregembo's Tote-Em-In Zoo until brokered out. The shipment was supposedly the "largest since the time of Hannibal."
For the youngsters out there: Patti is the daughter of Bob and Mary Jo Couls, old Howard Suesz folks who had Zell Bros out and later Famous Cole.
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