Saturday, August 26, 2006

Bertram W. Mills Circus 1925-26 #6


"A remarkable photo of Alfredo Codona in the process of flight."

The Flying Codonas come of three generations of acrobats. Their father was a trapezist who became a circus proprietor in Mexico.
The present trio started their training at the age of four and by dint of years of unremitting practice have come to be unanimously regarded as the greatest aerial artistes the world has ever seen.
Their work has taken them three times round the world and they have appeared in practically every country. For five years they were a star attraction with the Ringling Bros.- Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth.

Posted by Buckles at 8/26/2006 10:19:00 PM

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

One quiet afternoon, between movies on TCM, they ran a short titled "The Flying Codonas". It was presented by MGM, and featured the full Codona act, by then featuring his third wife, Vera Bruce. I shot up all standing, never having known of this film, then billed in picture shows as a "Short Subject". Notice here the sheer elegance of Alfredo's pirouette, still so high above the approaching bar. Watch for it on TCM, or better yet, e-mail your requests for its re-run. Leonard Farley, late of the lamented Hertzberg Collection, allowed me to hold in my hands the fly bar Alfredo gave Harry Hertzberg. Holding that bar sent a thrill through me unlike any other until the day I shook the hand of my new boss, Clyde Beatty.

27 August, 2006 16:12

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