Buckles Blog

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Brenton Bullen Circus #9

IMG_0529, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Brenton Bullen Circus #10

IMG_0594, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Brenton Bullen Circus #11

IMG_0589, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Brenton Bullen Circus #12

IMG_0596, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Robert Perry

!cid_14D27DB69E1A11DF9BD0904C58F39026@snj-us-pcwp-701_kodak, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hi Buckles
photo of the late David Knupp & Del Graham not to sure young man in the middle could be David son David & Del toured Australia in the 1950s Del was a pretty fiery character i was about 15 & went fishing on a lake in New Zealand with him some jerks in another boat bumped in to our boat and Del was fighting with them from Boat to Boat and he could fight for a small size man.

Robert Perry
Australia

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

From John Whitfield

An update. After one heck of a series of surgeries, Vicky Hanneford is out of intensive care and in a room at Tampa General. George has stayed at the hospital continually

with her, sleeping there at night. She cannot talk yet due to the process of the surgeries.

More details as I have them.

John

She will have to undergo therapy to talk and stand.

Krone '67 (From Sue Lenz)

Krone 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hi Buckles:

Just scanned the Program from when we were with Circus Krone in February 1967.

I'm not sure if the photos will be sharp enough.

Regards
Sue

Carl Sembach '67

Carl Sembach 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Mr. Sembach once came to Madison Sq. Garden to present Gunther
an award on behalf of the German Government. 1975?
Johnny Herriott said that it was only time her ever saw Gunther in a
nervous state. Not so much to be honored by his native land but to be
anointed by Carl Sembach was the ultimate honor.
Maybe Johnny or Sue or Henry could comment on this.

About this same time Axel Gautier paid me a visit at Circus World. He and Donna had just returned from a brief vacation in Europe
(Kenny Feld picked up the tab, Anniversary present as I recall).
Before he left, his brother in law Trolle Rhodin told him it was essential to visit Circus Krone at their Arena in Munich since most of the
circus people in Europe are related it was the proper thing to do.
It was a cold day when he arrived at the building and after entering
the foyer he presented his RBBB business card to a lady and asked
to see Mr. Sembach.. From his vantage point he watched her enter
office and caught a glimpse of a ruddy, distinguished looking gentleman
behind a desk as she handed him the card.
The lady returned shortly, handed Axel a program and said, "Mr.
Sembach is not available at the moment. Could you come back
later?"
Axel was still steaming over it. He said, "I traveled 5,000 miles to get
the brush off. It will be a long f------ time before I go over there again."

Buckles

Carl & Frieda Sembach-Krone '67

Carl & Frieda Sembach-Krone 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Christel Sembach-Krone

Christel Sembach-Krone, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Monroe '67

Monroe 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Macaggi '67

Macaggi 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Pio Nock '67

Pio Nock 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Peter Bento '67

Peter Bento 67, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Kelly Miller Circus #1 (From Jimmy Hall)

DSC08984, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles,
Caught Kelly Miller. A strong show this year. Saw a lot of acts using camels, not many trained though; a two thumbs up on Mike Rice's. All in all with the girls dancing in gold also fog. A strong number. Casey tigers doing great, the Clownys are quite good, the gal on the traps is on a string but is by no means boring. She moves at quite a fast pace. Poema's Risley,Carolyn's Dogs all fast paced . Will send second set later on.

James C.Hall

Kelly Miller Circus #2

DSC08990, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #3

DSC09002, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #4

DSC09001, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #5

DSC09006, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #6

DSC09068, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #7

DSC09060, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #8

DSC09159, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #9

DSC09165, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Kelly Miller Circus #10

DSC09171, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Monday, August 02, 2010

From Dave Price

Buckles41, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

You don't suppose this artist saw that 1932 Barnes program?

Circus Bouglione 2010 (From Bob Swaney)

Belgium 2010 266, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles--

I recently had the good fortune to attend an early evening performance of Circus Bouglione in Le Luviere, Belgium. Linda Bouglione, wife of director Alexandre and mother of Nicolas (cats and African elephant), told me the show was a special edition geared for smaller towns. A fall show in a bigger tent opens for three months in mid-September at the Atomium in Brussels. This to be followed by a three week Christmas circus in Wavre, Belgium, southeast of Brussels.

Production values were impressive--immaculately groomed and costumed performers, quality lights and sound, well maintained tent and equipment. Even more impressive were the performers--in spite of a thin house that evening, each performed as if there were 10,000 "paid" in the seats. No let down.

Most all circus skills were on the program. Maud (Gruss) Flores' high school horse presentation and low wire artistry were especially noteworthy for their grace and elegance. Also, liberty long horn steers presented by clown Rony were a hoot.

This is an outstanding show produced by a friendly family with deep circus roots. Definitely worth the time for anyone visiting Belgium in the next few months (www.bouglione.be).

Bob Swaney

Circus Bouglione 2010 #2

Belgium 2010 214, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Circus Bouglione 2010 #3

Belgium 2010 215, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Circus Bouglione 2010 #4

Nicolas B., originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Nicolas B.

Circus Bouglione 2010 #5

Maud (Gruss) Flores, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Maud (Gruss) Flores

Circus Bouglione 2010 #6

Belgium 2010 257, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Circus Bouglione 2010 #7

Belgium 2010 249, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

A fond farewell! (From Lane Talburt)

!cid_D03D3529-BB3C-4A99-80A2-D198A3A60AF7, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Guilford, CT Fair 2007

From Lane Talburt #2

!cid_D3DFF273-EEEB-437A-87CD-29D878907C11, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Guilford, CT 2007

Dondi and Joshua (From Paul Gutheil)

dondi and joshua, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles,
Attached is a photo (not the most flattering of Dondi) and Joshua that
I took during a Hamid/Irem
Shrine date in Wilkes-Barre a few years back. Great people,
great elephant. Our sincere condolences.

Paul
pdgutheil@earthlink.net

Sunday, August 01, 2010

From Frank Ferrante

Buckles -

Received the sad news that Ray Hartzell passed away last week after a battle with cancer. Ray's parents were well known to a number of your readers as Johnny and Helene Hartzell. Along with their other sons Mike, Ross and John, Jr. they appeared as one of the first long term acts at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. During that period, Ray also created some of the elaborate head pieces worn by the Vegas showgirls. With their show, The Wallace & Rogers Circus, Ray formed the entire orchestra with one of those new fangled electronic keyboards back in the mid-70's. He also did the dagger-sword balancing routine that Rogana did on RBBB in the early 70's. After selling their show, Ray returned to Vegas and Circus Circus where he worked as lead prop master for the other acts. Ray was a great person to jackpot with and will be sorely missed. ~frank

"Dondi" 2008 (From Jim Cole)

Dondi 2008, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles, Sad news received from Phil Schacht that their elephant Dondi passed away on July 26 at Southwick's Animal Farm in Mendon, MA.
She was being treated for a tooth infection by the zoo Vet. The exact cause of death is not yet known. Dondi was 36 years old.

I'm sure we all offer our sincere condolences to the Schacht family on the loss of their beloved Dondi.

From The Boston Globe:

An Asian elephant rescued more than 30 years ago from a camp in Thailand has died at a local zoo.

The animal, Dondi, died Wednesday morning at Southwick's Zoo in Mendon.

Dondi was rescued from a lumber camp in Thailand in April 1975 by Phil and Francine Schacht.

Dondi had been introduced to several elephants throughout her years but was not interested in them. She had already adopted what she considered her own family, the Schachts. She was even part of a family wedding party in 2008.

Dondi traveled with the family to promote environmental and conservation awareness. The Schachts noticed something was wrong with Dondi, so they called in Peter Brewer, DVM at Southwick’s Zoo.

Veterinarians worked relentlessly trying to find the critical issues with Dondi's illness, but she died despite efforts to save her.

She will be buried on Southwick's Zoo grounds.

.