Thursday, December 28, 2006

RBBB 1955 "Smokey" #4



I was chatting with Frank Curry on the phone yesterday and mentioned that I was going to run 1955 elephant pictures today and he asked "Isn't that the year they had the Mama's in the Park elephant number?" and started in singing the music written 51 years ago.
Can anyone hum a few bars from the crap played with the Incredible Show last year? Posted by Picasa

Posted by Buckles at 12/28/2006 06:17:00 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frank Curry's recollection is correct, as Ringling ballyhooed a 55-elephant herd in 1955, when one of the performance specs was introduced by Ringmaster/Announcer Angelo (Count) Nicholas as "Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey presents the largest herd of elephants ever assembled! Not 10, not 20, but more than 50 mastodonic marvels in 'Mama's in the Park'!" That song was one of 5 written for the '55 edition by show president John Ringling North, with lyrics by Irving Caesar. Show vocalists were Ricky Dawn & Harold Ronk. Circus Windjammers have cds of '55 performance's musical score, recorded by Paul Tharp, available for sale, as does Tharp.

RBBB '55 route book lists "Capt." Hugo Schmitt as "chief elephant trainer," with Benjamin White & Joseph Grassi as "assistants."

The herd had many young elephants, & some would break & run during performances, as I witnessed such a big top incident in week of May 23-29, '55, at Philadelphia, PA. Some punks collided with the stands, injuring & briefly hospitalizing a handful of spectators. 'Twas a quick but troubling show disruption.

28 December, 2006 08:17
Anonymous said...

Fabulous Buckles. How can you top this. Especially this baby buggy shot showing such great detail. It blows up great and what grat stuff for model builders and historians. I just keep looking and can't get over it. And of course such a massive herd of elephants. Awesome.

28 December, 2006 08:32

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