Buckles Blog: Kludsky elephants with Cirque Amar 1935

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Kludsky elephants with Cirque Amar 1935

9 comments:

Raffaele De Ritis said...: Circus Kludsky bankrupted in 1934. At the circus auction sale, the four french brothers Amar bought part of the elephants. If those are the Amar elephants, probably only part of them came from the Kludsky sale.; 18 January, 2007 06:50
Anonymous said...: Aurelia Hall (JCHall's mother) always had stories to tell about Kludsky and his circus; 18 January, 2007 08:59
Anonymous said...: I think I am getting closer to PINK GOATS here!!! What was JC Halls fathers name?; 18 January, 2007 11:47
Anonymous said...: Who was it who lost a herd of elephants in Hugo years back. I think they were gone for a couple of days. I have a newsclipping here somewhere.; 18 January, 2007 19:29
Anonymous said...: The Kludsky elepjants sale to Cirque Amar triggered a wonderful chain of events that was told me directly by the late Joseph Bouglione ("Monsieur Joseph"), the patriarch of the Bouglione family, owners of the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris.
The Bougliones were actually the original buyers of the Kludsky elephants after the Austrian circus went bankrupt in 1932. In 1934, they had made a deal for 16 of Kludsy's 24 elephants, and were supposed to go to Austria to get them and bring them back to France. But there was a political unrest in Austria at the time, and the Bougliones postponed their trip.
The Bouglione brothers main competitors were the Amar brothers, then running the largest itinerant circus in France. Both families had originally made their fortunes in the traveling menagerie business, and had always been in direct competition (and would remain so until Cirque Amar was sold in the late sixties – although it had become a friendly, and even complicit, competition by then!).
When Mustapha Amar learned that the Bougliones had delayed their trip, which certainly didn't ease things for Kludsky, he decided to make a counter-offer: not only would Amar buy the 16 elephants, they would also get them out immediately, whatever the present conditions in Austria. Relieved, Kludsky agreed, and the Amar brothers got the 16 elephants, and, of course, loudly publicized the event.
At that time, the Amars were also negotiating with Gaston Desprez, the owner of the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris (the world's oldest circus building), to buy the legendary building. The negotiations were slow: A huge debt was attached to the building, generated by the cost of the nautical ring that had been installed just a few years before. Amar wanted Desprez to pay his debt with the profits of the sale. Desprez wanted the debt included in the sale.
Alexandre Bouglione, then the family's patriarch (this was – and still is – a Gypsy family), decided to take his revenge; he contacted Desprez, and out of the blue, offered to buy the Cirque d'Hiver at a better price, debt included. And in 1934, the Cirque d'Hiver passed in the hands of the Bouglione family, where it still is.
"The funniest thing about it all," Mr. Joseph told me, "is that we didn't know what to do with it. We are Gypsies; we never had a sedentary place..."
Eventually they did well...; 19 January, 2007 13:30
Anonymous said...: Gosh Rebecca, it wasn't a herd. It was two. Give me some credit, I caught three. Cowboy Bob Grubb, went to "rope" the two when I left. Has anybody heard if he has returned yet? It was 30 years ago, you would have thought we would have heard something by now. Wade Burck; 19 January, 2007 14:23
Anonymous said...: THAT was YOU???? I assumed it was OKIE CARR. Wonders never cease. How on earth can you lose an elephant?? I guess it can be done as my friend Murray Hill hid three for five years. Buy the way Susan is really looking forward to retirement in California. Two more weeks. She has interesting tales to tell. We have just got to get her started on the blog.; 19 January, 2007 15:52
DanKoehl said...: This seems to be indeed 16 elephants, but then its more likely that this photo was taken in Vienna 1934 by loading the group for France?

The group Amar brothers bought from Kludsky (through Firma Ruhe) was 12 cows and 4 bulls (Piccolo, Borneo, Charly and an unnamed, maybe Vejvrtka, who was the smallest elephant (70 cm) at Kludskys 24 elephant pyramide in 1929.)

Joseph Haak went and fetched them, why I think it my be Haak on the photo. The bull with longest tusk may be Piccolo.

Piccolo sired six (maybe 7) babies between 1936 and 1945.

3 kludsky bulls was bought by Harry Barlay (Bhutan, Bosco, and Alfeld)

Have no idea where they last 5 elephants went...?; 10 April, 2010 22:06
DanKoehl said...: I misspelled the name, it should be Joseph Hack. I just made a page about him at https://www.elephant.se/person.php?id=228; 10 November, 2021 02:07

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