Sunday, October 11, 2015

Clyde Beatty #13


Gee Gee Engesser made the oft quoted remark,
"I don't know what it is but gals smell that elephant shit on those guys and go wild!"

Posted by Buckles at 10/11/2015 05:10:00 AM

9 comments:

Wade G. Burck said...

That is a classic quote, Buckles. I note a herd hook in this picture and cane hooks in the picture above. Back in the day, did each person use what ever they were comfortable with, or did the "Captain" tell them what to use. I've noted most pictures of Fred Logan and staff all used herd hooks. Sorry I meant to write herd guides and cane guides............

Wade Burck

11 October, 2015 19:46
Buckles said...

I never learned how to make a hook and got by using whatever I could get.
Smokey made very good ones, he learned from Louie Reed who would when presented would toss it in the river if it didn't pass inspection.
A cane was the last resort, I always cracked my wrist with it.

12 October, 2015 08:46
Roger Smith said...

The lady at R appears to be Ethel Jennier. Does anyone know if this is she?

George Young, Arky Scott's assistant at Jungleland, told me some elephant men refused the cane. He said if you have to hook an elephant up high, say atop an ear, or get the hook hung in a headpiece, and the crook of the cane catches under your arm, your arm can get torn off if elephant suddenly throws its head up. He made sense, but both he and Arky, at the time, used caned hooks.

12 October, 2015 18:22
Dick Flint said...

"Herd hooks" - just no curved handle like a cane or something else?

12 October, 2015 21:06
Chic Silber said...


I thought a herd hook had a long pole

13 October, 2015 08:15
Chic Silber said...


I made quite a few custom hooks

Back in the day there was a chrome

plating shop in Sarasota where I

could get the hook & the bezel

triple plated before assembly

Suzanne Zerbini worked there in

her retirement years

13 October, 2015 08:23
Chic Silber said...


I believe Barbara has my last hook

with an acrylic handle that I gave

to Buckles a few years ago & only

wish I had taken a photo of it

It is a small ladylike gem

13 October, 2015 08:26
Roger Smith said...

Suzanne Zerbini worked in the section that plated the ink barrels for ball point pens. I visited her there.

13 October, 2015 16:20
Chic Silber said...


That was the "Sunshine Plating Co"

Some circus friends thought I owned it

I don't own the Sunshine Skyway either

14 October, 2015 08:58

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