Thursday, December 15, 2005

Dalilah and "Charlie" #2


After the elephant display and cross mount had concluded Dalilah would return for a final style and Charlie would have to take her out.
I had no shame in those days.

Posted by Buckles at 12/15/2005 06:50:00 AM

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Were your children ever tempted to stay in the circus business?

15 December, 2005 08:54
Buckles said...

Dalilah works for Verizon in Tampa and Shannon for BrightHouse in St. Pete and both doing very well. The subject of going on the road never comes up.
I am often asked if I miss the circus and I always reply that I miss it terribly the way it once was, but not at all the way it now exists.

15 December, 2005 10:07
Anonymous said...

There are no shows at all that would tempt you if you weren't retired? They've all fallen that far from a state of Grace?

15 December, 2005 15:30
Anonymous said...

I don't see how any circus can make a go of it now. The price of gas, permits, lawyers, someone wanting to sue at the drop of a hat, No land to raise a tent, workers hard to find. Things we never thought about in the old days. Not to even mention the p word. I can see how you would not want to be in the business now. When my ship comes in I will build a permanet stone tent and have all the old timers perform whenever they want, doing what they do best. F ree food and a sleeping car for all the retirees. A rest home for the folks so they could be together to jack pot the days away.

15 December, 2005 17:15
Buckles said...

Circus business today is little more than an excuse to have a 45 minute intermission.
Book pitches, candy pitches, light pitches, moon bounces, pony rides, camel rides, elephant rides, etc. rule the day.
During the remaining 1 hour and 15 minutes, if you see three outstanding acts you picked a winner.

15 December, 2005 17:28
Anonymous said...

when you retired what was your last circus that you did and do you have any pictures of it?

thanks
Greg

15 December, 2005 23:36
Anonymous said...

Message for Roger S.
You probably know all this. In fact, you may have been there. But at least two major films were shot on the Clyde Beatty Circus. "Ring of Fear" (a kind of Micky Spillane mystery/adventure)released in 1954. And Martin & Lewis' "3 Ring Circus" also out in 1954. (The web site www.imdb.com has lots of details on each film.) In the latter film, I remember all the wagons were cleverly repainted to read: Clyde Brent. The Clyde Beatty railroad circus never came to where I lived as a kid. And so I was thrilled to watch these films. These films were, for me, the best pictures, the best record of what the tents, wagons (many of them, former Sparks wagons built in the middle to late 1940s), trains, animals,and people on the Clyde Beatty show were like. In fact, the films are probably a terrific historical record of Clyde Beatty's railroad circus in the 1950s.
ToddR

16 December, 2005 16:29
Anonymous said...

A reflection on Buckles's answer. People sometimes ask me if I miss it. Yes. I want it back like it was. When the industry followed the example of a Feld performer and began surgically altering the cats, eventually there was nothing left to work in good conscience. My mentors never did this, and I could never do it. There is nothing like locking an arena door behind you and cracking a whip above the sawdust floor, to the swinging claws and threatening roars of the cats...when circuses and the animals were real. Every day, I want it back.

18 December, 2005 03:58
Anonymous said...

Roger I think my arrangment here with my animals would make you feel right at home. Sawdust and everything. I crack a mean whip also. Of course all of the animals are spade or neutered. No declawing ever. Dutchess

19 December, 2005 12:25
Anonymous said...

Roger, I forgot, No money either. Its the love of the animals that keep us going. Just like a circus. In fact one person even said that it was like a circus around here. And they had no idea of my background.

19 December, 2005 12:29

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