Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Human Projectiles #4


Jim Cole and Hugo Zacchini II in 1988.

Posted by Buckles at 10/31/2006 06:10:00 AM

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally a JIMMY COLE picture. Nice looking dude. Really am enjoying your input on the blog.

31 October, 2006 08:39
Anonymous said...

A wonderful salute to a great and thrilling closing act. Elvin Bale's canon on Cole Bros. is still outstanding after so many seasons there. I do miss seeing a photo of what I believe was the best presented of all with the beautiful sisters Egli and Duina doing the double shot. One brunette and the other blond looking so sexy in those leather form fitting coveralls and selling it for all it was worth and then Poppa Edmondo calling in broken Italian "Egli ready,Duina ready" count down and go. They both married and retired much too soon. They were the hit on the Shrine circus tours. Hugo jumped over that whole city park in downtown Atlanta when we were part of the debut of the ill fated "New TASTE of coke. uNLEVEL TERRAIN of little hills and valleys. He worked like hell blocking it all level and then did an increditable long shot over everything. All of us performers gave him a standing ovation

31 October, 2006 09:13
Anonymous said...

A side note on my comment you might find interesting. I am sure that all of my fellow ringmasters and announcers will agree. Be prepared when you announce a canon to maybe have to make a very long annoucement even if all appears ready. Adlibbing everthing you can think of abought a canon. Also in our modern day I found it useful to use the term "Making sure that all systems are go". That day in Atlanta I exhausted my complete repatoire but it was well worth it. Please excuse my lousy spelling once again.

31 October, 2006 09:36
Anonymous said...

We were playing a twenty five day engagement at the Long Island Garden Circus in Whitey Carlson's Arena. Hugo was there with flying act and canon. Walter was there with his Walt and Wendy act, also catching the flying act and triggered the canon. Early in the run Hugo on his dismount bounced from the net thru the spreader and landed head first on the concrete floor. Immediately ambulanced to the hospital. He came back the next day with his head wrapped in bandages. Naturally he would be unable to preform for awhile. Whitey wanted the canon in the show as it was highly publicised. Hugo had a young guy working for him named George who had done practicing as a canonball and was going to shoot out George. Now he had to reset the canon and spent hours like a mad scientist adjusting and before the show came to me and asked if I would get all the grooms and hold a net on one side of the main net and he would have the prop dept. do the same on the other side. The announcement and here come George. When he stood at the top of the canon and looked at the net and all of us holding nets on both sides it must have been upsetting. So Walter called "George are you ready" countdown and boom. He landed perfect and as we rolled up our nets and walked off I asked Walter if he didn't think George was scared he replied, "When I called George are you ready and he screamed. He was panic stricken". But all systems were go and everything went well until the motorcycle on the incline cable blew the clutch and motor in the middle of the cable, but thats another story.

31 October, 2006 11:50
24-HOUR-MAN said...

Can you imagine that Hugo is now into BallRoom Dancing!!!!
Again not trying to put any other Cannon Acts down, I miss the mystic the Zacchinis had of shooting a man out of the cannon. The leather suits, the goggles, & helmet, & the boots, the smoke out of the mouth of the cannon. Did you know at one time "Papa" used a dynamite plunger as a switch, that's showmanship.

31 October, 2006 20:23
Anonymous said...

I remember the Shrine Circus in Detroit had a "press night" when the media came and the acts worked for the reviewers. Hugo had damaged the cannon on a gas station overhang and returned to Tampa for repairs. He missed the media show, but having been there for several seasons, he got a better review than the other acts. Lee

04 November, 2006 22:11

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