Monday, May 08, 2006

Words can't describe it!

The CHS Convention has come and gone. All that remains is to settle claims for damage done to the Motel rooms.
I was only there for the final day but I thought the highlight was John Zwifel"s tribute to the handful of remaining circus performers who appeared in the "Greatest Show on Earth" movie.
Jackie LeClaire did a terrrific job as host and chatted with Norma Fox, Mary Jane Miller, Jeanie Sleeter, Lola Dobritch and Rosie Alexander and others. The stories of their experiences with the DeMille crew in both Sarasota and LA were wonderful. They all seemed to agree that their favorite person was Dorothy Lamour, Charlton Heston and Gloria Graham were nice but professional and that Betty Hutton was a real Ass.....!
I was particularly interested in asking questions of Miss Sleeter since she worked in the center ring elephant act and was the one who normally did the "leg carry" and "foot in the face".
That movie has quite a cult following, several people exhibited memos and displays of wardrobe used in the production numbers.
Unfortunately I am not a great fan of the movie since when I first saw it in High School I was appalled at seeing the manager of the Greatest Show on Earth cruising around the lot in a Caterpiller then having fist fights with Flat Store operators on the midway and the "Desperate Housewives" story line.
But I must say, the footage of the 1951 performance is priceless, showing it's magnitude and quality, as well as the logistics in moving the show, a constant reminder of the sorry state of affairs we see today.

Well, the Sunside Boys concluded the days entertainment and there were so many people they couldn't laugh Ho! Ho! Ho! they had to laugh "Hee! Hee! Hee!.
It was a lot of fun particularly since we knew most of the audience it was like preaching to the choir but alas, what once started out as a few jokes, a couple of songs and a little soft shoe has now become a poor man's "Penn and Teller!".

12 comments:

Bob Cline said...

Buckles,
I consider it a Great Priveledge to have finally met you and I can't begin to Thank you enough for the help you have graciously provided over the years. It was good to see Roy Wells again as well as John Herriott. I met so many people face to face for the first time that I have heard about and read about over the years. It was like being at home with family, just a great feeling to be there with all the Historians of the Circus World. I completely agree that the highlight for me was the Greatest Show on Earth performers and their memories of the filming. I was deeply dismayed that I couldn't see Peggy Williams presentation or the fine display of Wit, Grace, Style and Showmanship that you and John presented. Thanks again for making a great weekend even better.
Bob

Anonymous said...

From Eric:

When Kenneth Feld is visited by the Ghost of Circus Past, the Ghost will show him the documentary footage that DeMille's crew shot of the 1951 performance and say "Now THAT was a circus!"

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with circus, but there is some neat footage of animals in this exhibit. The swimming elephant is from Sri Lanka, where they discovered that the work elephants were swimming across quite a wide channel to mate with wild elephants, and then returning to the work camps in the morning. They featured them in a Pepsi commercial a few years back.
Here's the link. Click on 'Animal pictures to take your breath away'
www.CNN.COM

Anonymous said...

Eric:

YOU'VE MADE MY DAY!



Buckles:

I am sure the damage to the motel rooms was not too great. How much damage can our walkers and wheel chairs do?

Anonymous said...

The CHS convention was three days of events and lectures which were enjoyed by all who attended, but in my opinion, the talk-a-thon by the Sunshine Boys, was the highlite of it all.
Not only are these gentlemen knowledgable about the care, training, and presenting of animals of the circus, for the past 60 years, they have more humouris story than anyone I know.
THANKS again Buckles and Johnnie.

Anonymous said...

speaking of the movie greatest show on earth, which i love and watch regularly after all these years, on several different occasions in the 70s and early 80s i talked with charlton heston, who always said he enjoyed the experience and had the highest respect for circus people. he was a total pro and like many other actors who took their work seriously, was never big on a lot of socializing, particularly when he was working; he spent most of his time getting ready to go on stage or before the camera, which is probably why he didn't have a lot of inter-action with anyone on the set. he had the largest role, not the flashiest, which meant he had to be solid in his character could support the actor doing the flashier roles. i just wanted to stress that he did have a great deal of respect for the performers he was working with.

Buckles said...

Mr. Edgar,
I too had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Heston 1994. I was with Ringling Bros. and when showing LA we had a Celebrity Benefit performance and he entered riding King Tusk led by Jimmy Silverlake. His introduction by Jim Ragona was "Welcome back to the Greatest Show on Earth". Also riding wih him was a small child.
I had a nice chat with him in the elephant tent before the show and like you say he had plesant memories of making the DeMille film.
King Tusk was a big elephant and even when couched down it was a job getting Mr. Heston up there, he had a pretty bad back at the time and walked with a limp. We finally got him mounted and the child was handed up.
Afterward he was in obvious pain and I asked why he bothered to go thru this and he answered that the child was his grandson and he had done this previously with his son at that age and it was important for him to relive the experience.
About that time we both realized that the infant had thoroughly peed in Mr. Heston's lap, didn't bother him in the least but for days I tried to come to terms that this could happen to Moses.

Buckles said...

I have seen quite a few well known people visit circuses I have been with but the one who created the biggest stir was again in 1994 with the Ringling Show.
On my way to the elephant tent I noticed a big crowd of people gathered outside the doorway, mostly show folks and the show girls were especially adither.
As I entered I saw that Silverlake had this statuesque blonde lady draped over Tommy's ivory and posing for pictures. I asked Tom Hafner who she was and he pointed to a short guy waring a Tshirt, shorts, sandals, baseball cap and glasses and said "It's his wife" and I asked "Who's he?" and he said "Claude Van Dam".

Anonymous said...

The folks at the Senior Citizens Center get such a kick from the pages I send for them in Nebraska. They can relate to the people we talk about. The Heston grandchild piece brought so much laughter. The Buckles Blog gives joy to so many people that you are not aware. Even my little pictures and storys lift their spirits. Something I had not thought of was talked about. They call me "Little Eloise" because of all the different animals I have cared for and performed with. I had never thought of it that way. They see a lot that some of us miss in our busy lives.

Anonymous said...

The Sunshine Boys were wonderful. Lot's of good insites of their careers in animal training. Too bad they can't go "on the road" with a weekly radio show. They are better than the two car repair guys from Boston. Thanks for the memories.

Anonymous said...

I know I am not up on movies. My idols were Joan Crawford, Betty Davis, Ruth Gordon and Charles Bronson. Who is Claude Van Dam? Joan Crawford made a circus horror movie that I liked.

Anonymous said...

I'm grateful Old C.B. made us a picture with so many of our friends featured, even being called by name. But like Buckles, I wish Paramount had done better work with the script. We have flat stores on the midway, which were never on Ringling. Then Lyle Bettger was mis-directed into wrecking the train , and Buttons the Clown hid behind makeup 24 hours a day. Lots of goofy Hollywood misconceptions.

If anyone knew Albert "Flossie" White, you can imagine him telling me in his special way that "Betty Hutton was just a prissy, prissy little missy". I'll have to work on my Flo White impression.

It was fun, though, to see James Stewart on The Tonight Show, relating to Johnny Carson his time on the picture. He highly credited Lou Jacobs, and spoke of how he loved putting on the makeup. If you didn't know, Stewart wrote DeMille a letter, asking to be in on this picture, and that he wanted to play a clown. That's how we got Buttons.

As some of you know, Mr. Heston is at home now on Coldwater Canyon Drive, in Beverly Hills, a victim of Alzheimer's.