Ursula’s polar bear act first appeared in San Diego in
1976 with the 106th Edition Blue Unit. In 1978, we recorded her music for the
Circus Super Heroes TV special which was taped in San Diego. (For that recording session, bandleader
Ronnie Drumm conducted to a videotape of her act that had been made at
Circus World, where she was currently appearing.) In 1980, when Ursula was in back San Diego
with the 110th Edition Blue Unit, I got her autograph on the
reproduction of the Schmitz poster that appears in the book 100 YEARS OF
CIRCUS POSTERS.
(Actually, I was too timid to knock on her dressing room door and had
Ronnie Drumm take it in for me.) I’d
like to think that Ursula was probably surprised to see this poster turn up in
San Diego!
From Buckles: "John Herriot told me Ms Bottcher was strictly business, when he was Performance Director at Circus World he often tried to engage her in conversation but to no avail. In passing he would say, "Good Morning Miss Bottcher...isn't this a beautiful morning here in sunny Florida?" and without breaking stride, the answer was always the same....."Fifty...Fifty!". |
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
Polar Bears #12
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11 comments:
Ursula was surely 1 tough cookie
She was a war survivor in Dresden
She used the very real threat of
the DDR government control to get
whatever she wanted & had a few
good folks fired from the show
It was best to go through her
assistant & partner Manfred if
you wanted more than a 1 sylable
answer to anything
Ursula died about 10 years ago
back in her Dresden home which
was after German reunification
I think she was then about 82
Manfred Horn had been killed by
a bear from a different new act
many years before at about 51
Ursula was featured the 2 years
before them & the 2 years after
Buckles & Barbara were on Blue
I think she spent 80 & 81 at CW
One of the highlights of my life was the time I spent at RBBB Circus World as VP of Operations working with Ursula, Axel, Johnny and so many other wonderful performers and people. I can definitely verify Ursula's standard response as always being "50/50" (I never knew whether that meant the glass was half-filled or half-empty). But then again remember that this was still the Cold War era and her bears were the property of the State and most of her salary was sent back to East Germany "for safe keeping." I can remember the day she came to me extremely upset because her groom had defected and she was afraid that she would be in trouble. In fact a commissar from the East German embassy did fly down to speak to her but nothing came of it. We all thought he was just looking for a Florida vacation. By the way, I have a photo of Ursula and Manfred training "Spitzbergen" the bear that jumped through the paper hoop for the TV special. None of her bears had ever done that trick and they weren't sure what would happen. Rick Faber
Ursula
German tv spot, short
good footage on RBBB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBg21EIbo0I
I don"t think that Ursula passed away all that long ago. I think it was more like five years ago.
She and her bears came to Circus World before the elephant herds changed because the Vet knocked out her bears and we worked on their feet..pads were raw from the beast wagons they lived in most of the time..she was actually quite pleasant during all of that.
As RICK notes, anything around the East European acts sparked apprehension, or even outright fear. While constantly looking over his shoulder, one Polish performer on RB in that era, told me they never knew who they could talk to. Anyone could take any conversation to someone they wanted to curry favor with, twist the story, and hope for some form of security--like not being sent back and into prison, or not having their families back home under increased threat. Having explained this, he hurried away, as our visit was indeed being observed. Maybe "50-50" was the only response Ursula felt safe in giving, when anything more could result in another "visit" from some skulking Communist flunkie, and the dread of what that visit could mean.
Ursula died on March 3rd 2010 in
Dresden Henry 3 months shy of 83
The East German government wasn't
about to pull the act as it was
thrilled with the money sent back
"for safe keeping" as mentioned
Gary, I think the timeline is right. I was there Jul 77 to Jun 78, We had Buckles till the herd swap at Thanksgiving. Ursala and the bears joined up after Jewel's cat act had left. I know there was a great amount of excitement the following spring when the "new" area opened with the Polar Bear enclosure and swimming pool for them.
I had the opportunity to visit Ursula & Manfred on Circus Bush in 1990 in Germany. She was quite gracious and we spent a very pleasant afternoon. Her English was quite improved. I had the opportunity to see the Kodiak bears they had in training at that time.
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