Wednesday, November 07, 2018

LEOPARDS #5


13 comments:

Chic Silber said...


May Kovar was Alfred Court's

only female animal presenter

Jim Clubb said...

This is not May Kovar. I think it is Cuneo's Leopard and White Alsatian act, presented by Eloise Burchell. By the way, Court had two other female presenters before he came to the USA. These were Vialetta D'Argent and Pat Borne. Vialetta committed suicide because of problems with one of the lions, leaving Pat to take over. She was a good friend of mine.

Chic Silber said...


Thanks for the correction Jim

Was Eloise Cuneo's 1st wife

Charles Hanson said...

Just for the record...Her name was Eloise Berchtold

Roger Smith said...

MR. CLUBB is right. May and Harry Kovar were among Court's USA imports, but this is not May. It is the Cuneo leopards-white Alsatian dogs-and single zebra act--which can be found on YouTube, as worked by Eloise.

To throw in another consideration, this lady is possibly Patricia English. She figured into this same act, in a very mixed history of presenters, along with Eloise and a later entry, Dutchess (sic) Rebecca Apponey.

Eloise was Mrs. Cuneo for a time. So was Patricia, and a long-time girlfriend was Rebecca. Even though I visited last night for an hour with Rebecca, it remains unclear if she and Cuneo were actually married.

And CHARLES is right on the name. Burchell is a sub-species of Zebra, but my late friend Eloise was surnamed Berchtold.

GaryHill said...

Roger, give my Best to The Dutchess..how is she?

Charles Hanson said...

Roger, same here...Give her my best....Was she able to get her dogs back home?

Wade G. Burck said...

I believe this is Pat Jamison, wife number two, and mother of John Cuneo's only child, son Stephen. She always wore her gun on the front. Eloise wore her's on the side. Rebecca was a "girl friend" who was with the act a short time. Originally a black leopard was used to ride the zebra.

Wade Burck

Wade G. Burck said...

Roger, how is the leopard and dog act listed on you tube?

Wade Burck

Roger Smith said...

WADE: JAMISON is right. I said ENGLISH, since Pat English is the girl in the shots with Beatty in LIFE Magazine. That photo article covered a very brief time when Beatty opened his work to school future cat trainers. Most quit rather early. Pat
English lasted through this shoot, but but not work a cage act. You're right--it's PAT JAMISON in the shot above.

I've lost the clip title for Eloise working this act. Let me search it out again and get back. I it is among the many YouTube has on cat acts.

GARY and CHARLES: Dutchess is OK, but just OK, now in a new apartment. But no, her dogs are gone. A local neighbor, a hateful woman, filed papers against Rebecca's kennel operation and the City caved in, and closed her down. They took the dogs to another shelter and refused to tell Rebecca of their fate. She almost did not survive this. We visited an hour and a half 2 nights ago, and she is still heartsick over her dogs. She had 5 mayors, 3 police chiefs, and 2 fire chiefs as clients for her boarding facilities, and it took one jealous woman neighbor to shut her down. I try to keep her engaged with jackpots of circus old-timers we knew. She just called to tell me she is seeing Parley Baer on a re-run of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.


Roger Smith said...

Just talked to Rebecca again. Like we used to see in the old ads in BILLBOARD, she is at home, and said she would enjoy receiving mail, at:

Ms. Rebecca Apponey - 2200 Iowa Avenue, Apt. E - Granite City IL 62040-5417.

Charles Hanson said...

ROGER: Many thanks for the update on Rebecca....Goes under the heading..."Life is not always fair"...Many thanks for the new address....I still like to believe that every adversity has the seed of an equal or greater benefit....However, in this case it makes one wonder....

Unknown said...

Please let Rebecca know I think about her. I'm a younger sibling she refuses to acknowledge.