Thursday, February 09, 2006

St. Leon Circus 1931


Dear Mr. St. Leon,
Your eMail is very interesting but I'm afraid I can't be much help to you.
My father was with the Sells-Floto Circus 1930-32 and Zack Terrell the show's manager was a close friend of the Robinson family, former owners of the John Robinson Circus and at that time still owners of the famous John Robinson Military Elephants.
It seems that the act was booked with the St. Leon Circus but the Robinson's had no elephant man, so my dad was sent over temporarily to work this engagement. This is a picture of those elephants with William Woodcock Sr. at left and written on the back is "St. Thomas 1931".
My dad gave me all the details of working the elephants but I never thought to ask him about the show they appeared with.
I have sometimes wondered if this show could have been affiliated with the well known St. Leons of Australia. Any information you could send this way would be appreciated.
If I might ask, what are the major circuses in Australia today?

Posted by Buckles at 2/09/2006 02:13:00 PM

1 comments:

Mark St Leon said...

Yes, we are the same St Leon family. We originally had one of the early circuses in Australia dating from the 1850s but the family had given the game away by te 1960s. I can't even ride a horse. Several waves of the family arrived in the USA between the 1890s and 1920s, so that explains the St Leon activity in the USA. The St Leon Bros European Circus of 1931 involved Phil St Leon (who was known in USA as Phil Wirth), the famous rider May Wirth and May's husband Frank Wirth, who was a well known New York booking agent and circus entrepreneur. The show seems to have been quite a good one but did not last long, I guess because of the depression. There was a good summary of the show in Bandwagon, the journal of the Circus Historical Society, about 1972 I think.

I understand that there are 11 traditional circuses in Australia today. The major ones would be Ashtons (estab 1851!), Circus Royale (Gasser family), Lennon Bros but I don't know the others.
You can check out my emerging website at www.pennygaff.com.au. Best regards from down under.

10 February, 2006 13:11

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