Hawthorn Elephants #5

Bombay.Delhi.Tes.Joyce.Billy.85.003, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr.

Hawthorn Elephants #8

Tes.Bombay.Delhi.Joyce.Billy.83.001, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr.

Hamid-Morton Circus 1964

06-24-2012 06;55;34PM, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr. Linda Wilson and Al Vidbel with "Bombay"?

#16 More Acts!

Wade Burck with Hamid-Morton Elephants, "Tess", "Bombay", "Delhi", "Joyce" and "Billie"!

# 10 More Pix!

Hamid-Morton Elephants! "Tess", "Bombay", "Delhi", "Joyce" and "Billie"!

SD Zoo #2

SD%20Zoo-2, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Indian elephant. “Empress,” one of the largest female elephants in captivity, is about 35 years old, and has been a favorite with San Diego children for almost a generation. [Empress was one of the Zoo first elephants, arriving in 1923 from the Bombay Lumber Company via Frank Buck. The leg chain wouldn’t be acceptable in today's San Diego Zoo.]

Louis E. Reed #1

Scan10533, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Today's pictures concern Mr. Reed's earlier years with the Sparks Show. LOUIS REED 1898 Walter L. Main Circus (elephant hand) 1907 Barnum & Bailey (elephant hand) 1912-23 Sparks Shows 1924-25 Sells-Floto Circus 1926-41 Adele Nelson Elephant Act (Mrs. Louis Reed) ("Myrtle", "Tillie" and "Jennie" were imported 6/7/26 and over the following fifteen years were featured in Vaudeville both in the US and Europe) 1942-48 Dailey Bros. Circus 1949-50 During this brief period of time Louis Reed trained an incredible number of young elephants, five for Hamid-Morton (Siam, Delhi, Bombay, Mysore and Calcutta) five for Hunt Bros. Circus (Chandre, Sita, Rani, Muna and Dinu, these were trained on the road) three for Biller Bros. (Margie, Betty and Lillian) and "Jean" for Terrell Jacobs. Being well past his prime, he would solicit the aid of Smokey Jones who was always ready for an adventure. 1952-54 Ringling-Barnum Quarters (He finished his career training elephants for the Ringling Show, seven for the 1953 season and twenty for the 1955 season.) Mr. Reed died suddenly in 1960 while standing before the mirror shaving. Smokey and I once discussed what the E. in his name might stand for and we decided it must be "Elephant".

#18 Gold Unit!

Bound for Japan 1989! 1. Tommy (Male) 2. Minnie 3. Mysore (John Cuneo) 4. Bombay 5. Delhi 6. Tessie 7. Joyce 8. Billie 9. Misty 10. Queen 11. Tyke (African) 12. Jackie (African) 13. Dumbo 14. Maude 15. Rani (Gary Thomas) 16. Tony (Male)

From Richard Reynolds #2

Poona (now Pune) is lies 75 miles east of Mumbai (Bombay) in the highlands - -1,800 ft. elevation. For that reason the climate is much milder than most nearby Indian places.

Parker & Watts Parade 1938-39 #8

Scan000010549, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. In 1939 the elephants were "Ena", "Mabel", "Mona", "Maxine" and "Thelma". The boss elephant man, on foot, is Matt Laurish. The second elephant "Thelma" (rode a tricycle in the show) and the last elephant is "Mona" (not to be confused with King Show "Mona") who along with "Mabel" wound up with Hamid-Morton in 1941 where they remained thru 1949. That year H-M bought 5 punks "Siam", "Bombay", "Delhi", "Calcutta" and "Mysore" making the big elephants expendable. In 1950 we were with Kelly-Miller and just prior to opening D.R. bought this act, now consisting of "Mabel", "Mona" and "Juno". They were being transported by baggage car so D.R had to send a truck up to Wichita and my dad included Smokey to handle them. This brought the herd up to fourteen but other than make the daily Chevrolet parade all this three did was stand on the picket line. "Mona" had turned into an evil, hang-dog, unhealthy looking specimen and half way thru the season my dad decided to exclude her from the parade so she stood alone in the menagerie while the rest of the herd was down town. Us candy butchers put up the menagerie tent each morning and she would be inside when we were finishing up with the side wall. One day a new guy decided to go up to pet her and before we knew it "Mona" had him down and wallered him around pretty good until Logan suddenly appeared. Fortunately it was a soft lot but I was told that despite this he had an eye popped out. Needless to say I now had different outlook on elephants. The reason for this rambling yarn is that Ira Watts operated the Reserved Seat "squeeze" in the connection between the menagerie and the big top and more often than not he would be dissatisfied with the way the side wall was hung and we would have to go back and do it over. If it was on the side behind to the elephants I would be appointed to tie off the jump ropes from the inside since my father was in charge of the elephants, I should have no trouble. My pride prevented me from having Smokey or someone keep a lookout but I had several uneasy moments and developed a strong dislike for Ira Watts.

From Don Covington

pony%20lift, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr. Hi Buckles, Sylvain Jardon sent me this photo from France. He's hoping someone might be able to provide some background on it. Any ideas? Don, This is Bucky Steele working the Hamid-Morton elephants. Elephant is "Bombay" assisted by a volunteer from the show's pony drill. Buckles

Hawthorne Elephants 1983 #2

Laura and Johnny Walker with "Joyce", "Billie", "Bombay", "Delhi" and "Tess".

From Darryl #2

After looking at this, Ben mentioned that he was 16 at the time and had just broken his right hand the night before at Karate Class. While making the Texas dates in 1960 Barbara and I worked in a display with the Hamid-Morton elephants worked by Al Vidbel and despite our act having the wonderful vaudeville type tricks my dad had trained, when Shirley Peterson went into that leg carry with "Bombay" we were dead in the water. The following winter while scuffling around with Little Bob Stevens Show waiting for our regular season to start, we decided to train a leg carry with "Anna May". We had it in the act in a day or so but being on a mud show Barbara's long hair would drag thru the weeds as "Anna May" walked around the ring. The alternative was to raise the trick up by having "Anna May" turn with her front feet on the tub which was fine until I happened to recall the picture of Cheerful Gardner having "Blanche" do a hind leg stand during the "head carry". So the finished result was the picture above.