Buckles Web Log

Big Weekend Coming Up! #1 (From Mike Naughton)

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:12:00 +0000

showfolks ticket, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Showfolks Circus, Saturday, December 12th, Showtimes:
2:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Club open to all after the evening show, no membership required, but new memberships are appreciated since the water leak from the roof is destroying some of the cherished murals in the Father Sullivan room (banquet annex).

Showfolks Circus Flea Market, Sunday, December 13th, morning till noon, Jerry Kleinfelter sent some info on this last week.

A Big Weekend Coming Up! #2

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:10:00 +0000

SRQ 09-10, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Ring of Fame Fund Raiser Show at the Rosaire Family Big Cat Habitat, Sunday, December 13th, show time: 3:00 pm.

From Lynn Bell

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:07:00 +0000

sellsfloto, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Sam Houston was involved with Floto and also Gentry Dog and Pony Show. This is a copy of his business card from 1905.
Lynne Bell

From Peter Rosa #1

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:05:00 +0000

!cid_94DCA0F1-CEEE-455B-86B5-9C2729CBE60D@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles
Do you know anything about these two houses. They are reported to have been built by Ringling for the Doll family. They still sit on a street near Jungle Gardens. One was recently for sale. I stopped and inquired about the historical background from the owner of one of them. She is a writer and has not been able to find out any information about the original owners. She would love to know anything that you or your readers could tell us about these houses. In these photos the houses look big, but they are really small and when you see them in person, it is a real possibility that they were built for the Doll family.

Hoping to hear from you or some of your blog readers.

Thanks
Pete Rosa

"I can't imagine John Ringling building a house for anyone.
In fact the story comes to mind, that in the side show railroad sleeper, the length of Harry Doll's berth was reduced to provide space for the giant in the next berth."
Buckles

From Peter Rosa #2

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:48:00 +0000

!cid_350AEFF1-4A1F-4CF9-A4B7-8BB8594FD44F@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Chic Silber #1

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:47:00 +0000

VENICEX1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hi Buckles

These photos could accompany my post regarding the Venice Arena

Chic

From Chic Silber #2

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:45:00 +0000

VENICEX2, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Carol Chapman

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:43:00 +0000

!cid_3_2414099164@web36205_mail_mud_yahoo, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Her mother had a cousin living in Niagara Falls that year.

She told the family that she and her neighbours woke up in the night feeling something was wrong. It took a while but they finally realized that it was the lack of noise.

They had all become so used to the roar of the falls that the silence was unusual enough to alert their senses. Of course at that time nearly all the houses were near the falls.

Amazing pictures !!! Almost 100 years old.

Can you imagine walking on Niagara falls ???

From Buckles #1

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:41:00 +0000

Scan12458, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Buckles #2

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:40:00 +0000

Scan12460, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Buckles #3

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:39:00 +0000

Scan12461, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

(Reverse side)

Bill Strong Memorial

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:43:00 +0000

Dear Friends, The memorial service for my Husband, Bill Strong, ( Yesterdays towns ) will be held at the Showmen's Club in Gibsonton Fl. on Dec 27, 2009 at 2:00.

It is a pot luck celebration of his life. Thank you, Trudy

Hagenbeck-Wallace #1 (From Peter Rosa) Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:03:00 +0000

!cid_228010B3-A1D3-48CD-8603-507161FC37D1@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles

These photos are not the greatest.

Photographer: GEORGE BRINTON BEAL. Town: WHEELING, WV Date: UNKNOWN

ROSA COLLECTION

Hagenbeck-Wallace #2

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:59:00 +0000

!cid_22F81C38-A965-4DEA-809E-6159D0A0208E@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #3

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:58:00 +0000

!cid_0DABF4FD-08DA-4625-AE06-731684FE1310@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #4

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:56:00 +0000

!cid_46C43CDD-02A7-41AA-BA3F-ED9FE6D337EC@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #5

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:55:00 +0000

!cid_8B4D84B1-C3B7-4541-8173-16FA210D31EA@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #6

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:53:00 +0000

!cid_CEB22142-A48B-436D-A811-F1F5EEB3EF48@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #7

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:52:00 +0000

!cid_12D39340-9296-4253-B415-A75CE9DFBFDE@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #8

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:51:00 +0000

!cid_FC097816-6755-4DC3-9B9E-BBF47F9BBA25@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #9

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:50:00 +0000

!cid_89D88D3F-AB84-426F-86D7-FECAA1CDF974@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #11 (TO BE CONTINUED)

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:49:00 +0000

!cid_0EC4FE80-BC48-4A13-802E-6568BD6F55BE@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hagenbeck-Wallace #10

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:49:00 +0000

!cid_D8338C0D-D52A-4A78-BA62-39FD1A40B013@hsd1_fl_comcast_net, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Marco Kristen

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:57:00 +0000

Dear Mr. Woodcock,

while surfing the web looking for Circus Williams/Gunther Gebel Williams stuff I discovered the following website with very interesting videos of English circuses of the 40's,50's and 60's.
I found a couple of videos that might be of particular interest for you and the readers of your blog.
One showing Ringling's arrival at Madison Square Garden in 1966 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=71606

and another one of Clyde Beatty being stranded in California 1946 during a railways strike http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=54549

I enjoy your blog every day and thank you for your work. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Marco Kristen

Fred Logan Article (From Don Covington)

noreply@blogger.com (Buckles) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:59:00 +0000

SAVE1894, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

CIRCUS PAGES, A Family Business (Photo from Buckles)
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
Saskatoon, Canada

by
Bob Florence

Water the camels. Feed the lions. For Freida Pages and family, it's business
as usual today. The circus season is done for the year, but the show goes
on. Stitch this. Paint that. Now is the time to get Circus Pages ready for
its 20th season, starting in January.

I told my daughter I'm 44, maybe it's time I retired, Freida said the
other day on the phone from the circus' winter quarters in Myakka City,
Fla., 30 minutes outside Sarasota.

Retirement is a fleeting thought, though, the gut reaction after nine months
on the road. At heart, Freida is a circus lifer. It's in the blood.
I feel like I'm the last heir to my dad's legacy, she said. I want to
keep his memory alive.

Her father was Fred Logan. Aside from the two years he served in the U.S.
Navy during the Second World War, protecting merchant ships in the South
Pacific, Fred enjoyed a more than 60-year run under the circus big top, much
of it performing with family. He was still appearing in the ring into his
70s.

Born in Brandon, Man., in 1925, Fred grew up in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw. He
attended Notre Dame College in Wilcox, playing hockey and being mentored by
Father Athol Murray after Fred's father, Walter, a land inspector with CN
railways, died when Fred was 10.

Fred's fascination with the lights and the life of the circus began the
summer he worked a hot dog and hamburger stand for Conklin Shows at the
Saskatoon Exhibition.

Leaving home at 17, Fred hooked up with Terrell Jacobs Circus as a cage boy,
circus talk for someone who looks after the animals. He worked for peanuts
at the start, making $3 a week.

He didn¹t care, said Freida. He loved the road, loved the life.
He not only walked with the animals, he talked with the animals. He'd grunt
and squeak and squawk with the animals. And in working with Jacobs and later
with Bill Woodcock, Fred apprenticed under two of the best animal trainers
around.

Soon, Fred had an act of his own. Captain Logan, he was called. It's said he
had an ivory touch with the elephants.

My mother always used to say to him: You're married to the elephants.
Freida said. I say the same thing to my husband now.

Freida's husband, Jorge, is also from a circus family, hailing from Cuba.
Jorge used to perform with his brothers on the flying trapeze. Now he and
Freida tour with Circus Pages, each season following a route up from Florida
through the eastern U.S., traveling as far north as Michigan then going
south again. Jorge appears in the show with two elephants. Fred taught Jorge
how to train them.

Circus Pages, a small, but ambitious troupe, also includes Freida and
Jorge's daughter Colleen, who works with lions and tigers, and their son
Jorge (they call him Georgie) who rides a motorcycle inside a big metal
globe and helps with the show's music and lighting.

In a family circus, everybody does everything, Freida said.
And always be courteous, said Colleen, 18, a lesson she said she learned
from her grandfather Fred.

Freida and Jorge's oldest daughter, Vicenta, is one of the headline
performers with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the big circus outfit Fred
worked for in the ¹40s. Vicenta¹s act features six white tigers.

When Fred wasn't on the road, home was Hugo, Okla. His wife, Ora Jo, was a
full-blooded Cheyenne Native from Watonga, Okla. Her father, Chief Joe
Yellow Eyes, performed in wild west shows.

Fred and Ora Jo raised eight children. Fred Jr., Charles, Walter, Mary Jo,
Eileen, Lillian, Freida and Naomi were all in the circus as kids. They rode
elephants and wheeled around on unicycles. They did acrobatics. At every
town along the way, they helped with the circus set-up and takedown.
Years ago (on the circuit), we were moving to a different place every day,
said Eileen Osorio, the Logan girl everyone called Ike. The first thing
father did was get to the lot and plan the layout: Elephants here, tent
there. He'd work with the cats. He'd do a parade in town and put up banners.
He'd sell the tickets.

(When the show started), he worked with my brothers and sisters in three
acts. Then he and mother did the elephant act.
I miss those days, Eileen said, but I don't miss the travel.
Eileen is a bank manager in Las Vegas, but is still connected to the circus.
Her husband, Pancho, who did a high-wire act with his brothers years ago,
and their daughter, Candice, both tour with Circo Osorio, based in Vegas.

Two of Fred and Ora Jo's other daughters also have a link to show biz. Mary
Jo, the oldest of the girls, married an aerialist, one of the flying
Zerbinis. Lillian married Jim Havershorm, who was a band leader with Clyde
Beatty Cole Bros.

Son Walter was an elephant trainer for years, then left to become a truck
driver. He died in 2005. Daughter Naomi works in a grocery store in
Sarasota. Charles is a welder in Houston and Fred Jr. works for the Choctaw
tribe in Hugo.

Of the eight children, Freida is the only one actively involved in the
circus.

One of the earliest memories I have is standing in the ring with the
(family in the) Kelly Miller Circus, said Freida. I was five. I didn't
have to do anything, I just stood there.

Dad, he had an amazing memory. His mind was a history book. He could
remember where he went and when, the type of place it was. That¹s a good
show town, he¹d say.

The animals, the children; he loved what he did. People come up to me all
the time and tell me stories about him.

It's hard coming home now, with him not here, Freida said.

Fred died in 2006. At 80, his life was measured not so much in duration, but
devotion. Near the end, he was working as a night watchman for Hanneford
Circus in Osprey, Fla. Freida said he was so looking forward to seeing his
granddaughter Vicenta perform with Ringling Bros.