From Richard Flint

Here's a much more recent photo of Casey McCoy, who spent his youngeryears on Franzen Bros., than the earlier photo sent in by Josip Marcanasking for identification. This was taken March 4, 2007, while he wasstill with Gopher and Termite Davenport's L.E. Barnes & Bailey show,then playing the second of two armory dates in Maryland. He'spresenting a nice act of four tigers that he began training on theroad ten weeks earlier. Sita is the oldest tiger at 13 years andbegan her career on Carson & Barnes, possibly trained by Okie Carr.Kali, Jai, and Sumsara are all young tigers. Eight tricks arepresented opening with a plank walk by Sumsara who goes over and thenback to return to her original pedestal. Kali and Sita playingleapfrog follow this, and then all four tigers do a lay down. Sita isnext with two jumps through a hoop, and then Jai does a rolloverfollowed by all four posing in a pyramid. Kali does the jump througha fire hoop. Closing turn is a good hind leg walk by the elderveteran Sita. When seated, the cats are positioned in four corners ofthe circular arena cage so every side of the audience has a good viewof a tiger. For the size of arena played in Baltimore or on a smallertent show, this is a very nice act with a good routine of tricks thatquickly impressed me.Dick FlintBaltimore

From Frank Ferrante

269_Tai[1], originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Buckles - I didn't see a place on the blog where this list would have been appropriate, but there are a few familiar names on the cast list of circus performers. Hope that all is well with you and Barbara! Have a Happy Easter with the kids. ~frank "Water For Elephants" Cast of Circus Performers There are more than a few familiar names here Tai - Rosie (Owned by Gary & Kari Johnson - Picture attached) Uggie - Queenie Ice - Silver Star Major - Rex Sita Acevedo - Circus Performer Danny Castle - Circus Performer Michael Coronas - Circus Performer Aloysia Gavré - Circus Performer Chobi Gyorgy - Circus Performer David Hunt - Circus Performer George Landkas-Coronas - Circus Performer Kerren McKeeman - Circus Performer Rebecca Ostroff - Circus Performer Bianca Sapetto - Circus Performer Katia Sereno - Circus Performer Vladimir Sizov - Circus Performer Russell Stark - Circus Performer Sebastien Stella - Circus Performer Lee-Anne Telford - Circus Performer Dreya Weber - Circus Performer Tara Ferguson - Showgirl Shannon Freyer - Showgirl Kelsey McNamee - Showgirl Molly O'Neill - Showgirl Jackie Zane - Sideshow Aaron Bloom - Clown Chris Grabher - Clown Eddie Medrano - Clown Stephen Simon - Clown Jon Weiss - Clown Tom Weymouth - Clown

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".

Marsha Hunt

Received a phone call today from Miss Hunt who mentioned that she had just come across our Blog Site and was very complimentary. She pointed out that there were only three baby elephants added to Hunt Bros. Circus in 1949, "Chandre", "Sita" and "Rahnee". She added that they were accompanied by two Mahouts as dictated by Indian Law and that neither had so much as seen a Television set. Louis Reed was indeed their trainer and that "Muna" and "Dinnu" arrived the following year. She further mentioned that their names were given to them in India.

To Old Texan/ Hunt Bros. Circus 1953

The three elephants at left are "Dolly", "Blanche" and "Jewel" all purchased from the Ringling Show at various times over the years, starting with "Dolly" in 1927. In 1949 they purchased five punks that Louie Reed named "Chandre", "Sita", "Rani", "Muna" and "Dinnu", only four are included in this picture for some reason. So they would have had the same eight elephants at the Palisades date you mentioned.

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.