Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus 1943

I have been asked to come up with some early Kelly-Miller pictures. Man at left is Whitey Thorn but I'm not sure if the stick is aimed at "Tena" or the clown.

DeMille movie #1

In retrospect this movie doesn't hold up well at all. Terribly overacted, today it more resembles a poor man's version of "Desperate Housewives" I marvel at how it ever won the Oscar for Best Movie. I especially like the part where "Holly" does an ankle drop (with a mechanic) and the press is immediately notified. On the other hand the footage of the Ringling performance, setting up the show and moving from town to town is wonderful and improves with age.

DeMille movie #2

DeMille movie #3

DeMille movie #4

DeMille movie #5

This is the movie's blow off with the rag-taggle parade. Oddly enough there were more former Ringling performers in this shot than present, even Capt. Heyer and "Starless Night" were recruited. In 1957 when I was with the show, we walked about a dozen elephants down town from the winter quarters for an annual parade with a Latin name, something like the Gasparilla Parade they do up here in Tampa. Maybe they still do it.

To Rebecca

This is my favorite Pinito Del Oro. This is the lady that actually did the head balancing trapeze that "Holly" was patterened after.

To Dick Flint

Most elephant men ride which ever way is most comfortable but if the animal ridden has a big head and an easy gait (like Anna May) you can sit forward like a rocking chair. When you worked a team like the men shown above, you had to sit facing the off-lead elephant on your right. This enabled you to reach over and steer both elephants to the right or left plus you can easily look back to see if the vehicle in tow is clearing the corners.

Ringling-Barnum 1953/ Herd on the way to the lot

Arky Scott riding Walter McLain's former horse "Harold". Benny White riding "Topsy" in front. The seven punks are "Tex", "Padmuh", "Tara", "Yamina", "Rani", Sita" and "Rajee" all named by Louie Reed. Immediately behind them is the young African "Emily". These seven punks were trained the previous summer by Louie Reed and assisted by Smoney Jones in Sarasota while the show was on the road. During this process the little elephants will invariably begin to rely on their trainer for security and any immediate change can cause problems. I think that even the mighty Ken & Nicole Show has finally arrived at that conclusion. When the show arrived in Sarasota, Arky, for some reason immediately excluded Mr. Reed and Smokey and the die was cast. By the time the picture above was taken the act "the 7 wonders" was pretty much in shambles. As the show traveled West that season they showed LaCrosse, WI on Aug 6 and by chance we were appearing with our family elephant act in front of the grandstand at the local Fair. I never got a chance to see their performance because our show times conflicted but I did watch the herd unload and march to the lot. I hung around long enough to catch the Side Show before I left. When I got back to the Fairgrounds I was surprised to see my dad talking with Noylles Burkhardt, Arky and his assistant Henry Demuth. I later learned that Mr. Concello had authorized them to make my dad an offer to come on the show and his only job would be to straighten out the little elephants for Arky. My dad then explained that he was part owner in our elephant act, this being made possible by D.R. Miller and the deal was etched in stone however to thank Mr. Concello for the offer. I personally thought that a dreadful error had been made, since at 18, I thought a closer examination of those show girls might well be in order. The picture below shows my father visiting Arky the next year in Chicago but by then Hugo Schmitt had been offered the same job and had accepted, after 4 years with the Mills Show he was back in the fold.

Ringling-Barnum 1954/ Soldiers Field

Standing: George Piercy, Bill Woodcock Sr., Tom Parkinson and Arky Scott. Kneeling: Ken Whipple.

Ringling-Barnum 1950/ Arky Scott and "Ruth"

"Big Ruth rears up for Arky Scott. All together she has a repertoire of twenty-eight tricks which is just about as high as any circus elephant can go. She can even do a one-foot stand." This caption is incorrect, "Kernaudi" from Hugo Schmitt's former act did the one-foot stand, the first in America, but by this time the trick was lost.

Ringling-Barnum 1950/ Jeanne Sleeter and "Ruth"

"Jeanne Sleeter demonstates how much confidence she has in the old elephant's discretion"

Dailey Bros. Circus late 1940's #1

Ben and Norma Davenport.

Dailey Bros. Circus late 1940's #2

Norma Davenport in an H.A. Atwell photograph.

Dailey Bros. Circus late 1940's #3

These of course, are the lovely ladies of the chorus, Donna Pyle, Tony Martin and Barbara Ray. All three Sarasota Showfolks members, I saw Donna last Wednesday at the club, Tony was Arky Scott's widow and after his death returned to Sarasota where she was a club regular and even Barbara like Greta Garbo will have an occasional sighting there.

Dailey Bros. Circus late 1940's #4

This is the only picture I ever saw of the lion trainer walking in spec (Joe Horvath) and at right is Barbara riding "Lucy". This is well before I taught her how to style properly.

Mark Anthony and "Hotch"

Bud, you are right I always found Mark to be a very gentle man. My favorite of his carvings was the buzzard that he would place either on his derby or his shoulder. The buzzard had a spring in it's neck so it would always nod it's head slowly as Mark moved and it's eyes were half closed and it wore a slight smile which to me reflected Mark's personality to a "T".

Robert Baudy/ The Maurice Chevalier of the steel arena

Jules Jacot/ "King of the Beasts"

"Daring" Dick Clemens and "Patsy"