Jennifer Walker

Jennifer Walker, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Our best wishes to Laura and all her wonderful family. Jennifer's more than capable presentation follows her family's tradition as seen in this photo taken just last week. Dick Flint

From John Herriott

Buckles; I would advise you and your blog that our daughter Laura Herriott Ortiz recently had major surgery at the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center here in Sarasota-Bradenton. Her mailing address is, 7804 Barr Rd. Myakka City, Fla. 34251. Her mixed animal act on Kelley-Miller is being capably presented by her daughter Jennifer and her overall animal DEPT. supervised by her husband Fernando. With thanks to the owner and management of Kelly-Miller Circus for their understanding and cooperation. Thanks, John and Mary Ruth Herriott.

Bite the bullet!

I've been putting it off as long as I can but try as he may, Shannon can't get the new computer to accept the old scanner. Once again I must face the tiger and come up with a story that would bring a tear drop to the eye of a Sphinx.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #23 Vol.3 (From Hal Guyon)

C&B-23, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #24

C&B-24, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #25

C&B-25, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #26

C&B-26, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #27

C&B-27, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #28

C&B-28, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #29

C&B-29, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #30

C&B-30, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 # 31

C&B-31, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #32

C&B-32, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Carson & Barnes Circus 1981 #33

C&B-33, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Buckles

Just had an interesting telephone conversation with Ned Toth who mentioned that as opposed to the recent statement made on the Blog, the Clyde Beatty Circus is alive and well and has a route booked for this Fall.

From Richard Reynolds

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Ron Kagan is the anti-zoo zoo director, the darling of PETA. Among other things he supports anti-circus demonstrations, was one of the first to argue that elephants should never be kept in cold climates. He has said that zoos would better serve animal-kind if they would de-access exotics and act as a rehabilitation centers for abandoned and mistreated domestic animals and pets, including animals held by circus trainers who, a fortiori, mistreat them. RJRIII _________________________ Detroit Zoo director may lose job for lying about Ph.D June 28, 2007 By JOHN WISELY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER UPDATED AT 5:58 P.M. Detroit Zoo Director Ron Kagan could be disciplined or fired after acknowledging that he never received the doctorate degree in zoology that has appeared on his resume for years, Zoo Society Chairman Gail Warden said today. Kagan said he completed his course work at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in the 1980s with an average in the 90s, but was never formally granted the degree because a second advisor didn’t approve his thesis.

From Robert Perry

elephant_on_old_solid_tyre_truck, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. hi buckles photo of perry bros circus solid tyre AEC truck taken in Brisbane Queensland in 1920 left to right joe marconi ted perry my father alby perry man in uniform jack stephens the baby elephant in this photo is( tommy) A BULL killed jack stephens 17 years after this photo was taken in parkes New South Wales. Robert Perry

From Pat White

IMG_0094, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Hello Buckles, Visited Brian Boswell's Circus June 3-7, 2007. Photo taken in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. An established, well run one- ring family tent show with a fun, fast paced performance. Cat act trained and presented by Georgina Boswell, daughter of Brian and Jane Boswell. Two African elephants, Wankie and Tembi, lots of horses with an emphasis on animal care. Also had a wonderful visit with Jim and Silvana Stockley with their movie animals. The hospitality extended by everyone was overwhelming! Also visited the Natal Zoological Gardens, the Singapore Zoo, and went skydiving. Now back in Japan, had a visit yesterday from Mike Taylor, writer for Kingpole, investigating Kinoshita Circus' transport system. It's been a busy summer so far! Patricia White

Taras Bulba (From Henry Penndorf)

Taras Bulba.1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Taras Bulba's appearance on "Circus" was about ten years before I purchased my first VCR, otherwise I might have a video of Taras Bulba's performance to share. I thank Bill Strong, Erik Jaeger, Marco, Sue Lenz and Raffaelle DeRittis for the new information and their comments. The information provided by Mr. DeRittis was very helpful. It proved that both Sue Lenz and Bill Strong where correct with their information. Taras Bulba is Alfedo Beautour's brother, Emilien, and the young Alfredo Beautour's father. Some of the confusion may be due in part to the fact that both of the Beautour brothers were performing at the same time and used several different names. They also performed on the many of the same circuses. I found this additional information on a French web site describing the Beautour family. The entire Beautour family is well rooted in Circus tradition. Here is a paragraph from that web site that mentions both Alfred! o and Emilien Beautour... "De cette famille, plusieurs sont devenus des artistes parfois, internationaux de renom, en particulier: - Henri, en plus de sa charge d’ Administrateur, présentait sa cavalerie et parfois ses éléphants. Ses fils :- Emilien qui présentait un numéro de fauves sous le nom de Willy Marc, puis sous le nom de Taras-Boulba dans la présentation d’un numéro de tigres. - Alfred dit Frédo ou encore Fred Jackson, Jalson, voir Tarzan. Il est équilibriste, trapéziste, sauteur, puis pour finir dresseur de fauves, et tout particulièrement de panthères". The translation of the French text... "Of this family, several became artists sometimes, international of reputation, in particular: - Henri, in more of his load of Administrator, ! presented his cavalry and sometimes his elephants. Its sons: - Emilien which presented a number of deer under the name of Willy Marc, then under the name of Tared-Boulba in the presentation of a number of tigers. - Alfred says Frédo or Fred Jackson, Jalson, to see Tarzan. He is equilibrist, trapezist, jumper, then to finish adjuster of deer, and particularly of panthers". I found these four new pictures of Alfredo and Emilien (Taras Bulba) Beautour on a European web site, Las Galerias del Circo. (www.amigosdelcirco.com/coppermine/). From what I have learned, the gentleman in the Tarzan loin cloth would most probably be the the senior A! lfredo Beautour. The next two pictures are of Emilien Beautour a s Taras Bulba. The two pictures of Alfredo Beautour are imprinted with a name "Villar". Could that be the name of a circus, or maybe the photographer? The color picture of Alfredo Beautour previously posted as "Alfredo Beautour #2" (on June 13), had a caption of "Papa Beautour". The picture's caption also contained the words "Circus Frankrijk". Is anyone familiar with a Circus Frankrijk? On the BurgusCircus web site I was able to find a promotional picture (attached) from Circus Britanic featuring a Willy Marc. In the above passage about the Beautour family, it mentions that Emilien also performed under the n! ame "Willy Marc". Could this be the same Willy Marc? From what I have read, I think the Circus Britanic was either owned or operated by the Beautour family. From information that I found on the Internet, and from the comments posted by Bill Strong and Erik Jaeger the young Alfredo Beautour is a multi-talented and gifted trainer. Besides his tiger presentation, Alfredo Beautor has trained and presented horses, elephants and exotics. From previous comments posted to your Blog, Alfredo Beautour also helped create a dramatic elephant and tiger presentation. The last that I read about Alfredo Beautour, he was scheduled to appear with the Welteihnacths Circus - Stutgart earlier this year. On the Weltweihnacts Circus website they described Alfredo Beautor as "the gentlemant of the cage". They went on t! o say that he is an animal friendly trainer controlling his animals wi th only his voice. The web site characterized Alfredo Beautour's performance as stylish. Bill Strong's post that Alfredo Beautour by far was the best tiger act that he and Trudy saw in their six years in Europe, is high praise. If anyone knows where Alfredo Beautour is currently performing, has any additional information, or pictures to share of Taras Bulba, both Alfredo Beautours, or Sandor Komlos I would appreciate it. Some Other Circus News items... The reputation of "Buckles Blog" has gone international. A German circus web site is featuring a link to "Buckles Blog" in their list of circus web pages.

Alfredo Beautour.1

Alfredo Beautour.3, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Alfredo Beautour.2

Alfredo Beautour.2, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

BRITANNIC CIRCUS

BRITANNIC CIRCUS, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Dave Price

KbCrOwn, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Buckles: Nice pic here of the top King-Cristiani people, I believe taken on the far side of that new ticket wagon. Arnold Maley with his trademark diamond stickpin, the great Lucio Cristiani and wife June and the good doctor himself Floyd Randal King. I knew all these men for years; nice people. Whitey

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #1

SAVE3032, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. All the symbols are new today so I picked out something simple for the Blog however I'm not 100% sure the date is correct on all these. After all the lobbying I have done over the past week, these pictures had better be aligned perfectly.

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #2

SAVE3033, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Someone wrote on the back "new ticket wagon" maybe one of you Georgia boys could affirm the date on this

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #3

SAVE3034, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #4

SAVE3035, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #5

SAVE3036, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. This is the only picture with my father's hand writing and it states: "King-Cristiani, Burlington, Vermont 1952."

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #6

SAVE3037, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. I have mentioned several times that in 1954, my family and Fred Logan joined this show with six elephants for the final month while the shows elephants played the Texas dates, only "Alice" and "Mona" remained. By this time this hippo den had caved in and the center only cleared the ground by inches. It bottomed out on most every lot.

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #7

SAVE3039, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. These must be Floyd King's three elephants "Alice", Mona" and Margie". Something wrong here, where are the nine Cristiani elephants? Elephant man at left looks like Capt. John "Rags" Pugh.

King Bros.-Cristiani 1952 #8

SAVE3038, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

The Horrid Deed Is Done!

Picked a good day to do it too. Baby Kay's second birthday so our banker was in a good mood. The new, upgraded black box cost almost as much as the entire original set. Shannon even got a new monitor. I came straight home while everyone else remained at the Mall. Don't know when Shannon will get the new box installed but he seemed to think we should be able to return to Picassa.

From Dave Price

GeLett, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. I've always assumed that the sides of Truck 17 shown here were copied from this old Gentry letterhead. Anyone know of an earlier version? By the way, notice those band seats on top of this truck. Whitey

From Randy Paterson

Richard and Traci, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Buckles, After Seeing the post of you and John at the Ringling Red Show In Hershey,With Richard Flint trying to sell you two cotton candy. I was able to spend some time with him in Baltimore while on Universoul Circus, and tried to change him from the floss dept.. over to the animal Dept.....here is a photo of Mr Flint working hard in that Dept. lucky for him it was a slow day with the wheelbarrow.. Randy From Richard Flint: Met Randy Peterson for the first time when Universoul played Baltimore last week. One of the nicest guys I've met! Good family, too. We talked a lot of Baraboo though my years working there were before he was born! He was lucky to have been in Baraboo the years you were there. He surprised the heck out of me when, as we were talking after the elephants came out of the show, he just handed me the hose to water them! Good luck at Best Buy today. Dick

From Richard Flint

Downie clown band truck001, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Here it is. This photo should go with the text you ran as photo #1 suggesting viewers enlarge it to better see the crude wooden cab. Dick Flint

From Richard Flint #1

Downie big show band truck003, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Ole Whitey's comments on the early trucks whose cabs were constructed by their owners shows up well in this Kelty photo of a Downie truck with a 1927 license plate. If viewers click on the image and then enlarge it, they'll clearly discover the wooden construction. They dirty side windows are quite evident but it appears that the front window is hinged on the middle sides to flip open, probably for the driver to have a better view! Dick Flint Baltimore Good mornin', Buckles! Before I go downstairs for my glass of Florida orange juice, I log on to your blog just like some many others do. The text with photo #1 you ran this morning of the Downie group I sent should have the picture of the clown band, not the big show band you ran. The text mentions the crude cab that is really best seen on that clown bandwagon which picture does not show on this morning's blog. Nice group of additional Downie shots you added! I really enjoy the groups you assemble from the various contributions and your own collection. I like #4 with the old cross cage pulled by the well-painted truck. Dick Flint

From Richard Flint #2

Downie side show band truck002, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Guess I should send along the Kelty photos of the other two bands that made parade for "The Largest Motor Circus in the World." Same year, 1927, as revealed on the Maryland license plates. Andrew Downie's shows wintered in Havre de Grace, Maryland, then a sportsman's paradise with great duck hunting, booze, horse racing and easy woman if you had the money. Dick Flint Baltimore

Downie Bros. 1930's #1 (From Buckles)

SAVE3027, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Downie Bros. 1930's #2

SAVE3030, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Downie Bros. 1930's #3

SAVE3028, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Downie Bros. 1930's #4

SAVE3029, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Downie Bros. 1930's #5

SAVE3031, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Buckles

What a day! I finally got this stuff wrapped up around 2 o'clock. Computer working in fits and jerks, quite an ordeal. Shannon only works a half day tomorrow so we are bound for Best Buy, this time for sure. I have some interesting Downie Bros. pictures from Dick Flint laid out for tomorrow but if it starts out like today did I'll pass until Shannon gets the new innards are installed.

From John Whitfield #1

FINE GENTLEMEN, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Here are some more photos. One has 4 fine gentlemen. Mssrs Herriott, Jimmy Harrington, Jimmy James and Jerry Collins taken in Pittsburgh, Pa in 1980. Second is picture of me and Tina Storey with our pomeranian dog act in Memphis, Tn in 1994 at Joe Bauer's Libertyland date. Next is a group photo taken in 1980 of the aerial ballerinas on Beatty-Cole - how many can be named. As of last week, the Clyde Beatty office of Ned Toth was officially vacated. Regards, John

From John Whitfield #2

dog act, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From John Whitfield #3

AERIAL BALLET - 1980, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Aerial Ballet 1980

DeLand, Florida #1 (From Jim Elliott)

SAVE3023, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. While on the subject of the Beatty Show, Jim took these pictures 10 or 12 years ago of Fred Logan reorganizing the elephants for the one-ring format they were going to. Who would have thought that this would later become the benchmark the Ken & Nicole units are trying so unsuccessfully to accomplish. Buckles

DeLand, Florida #2

SAVE3024, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

DeLand, Florida #3

SAVE3025, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

DeLand, Florida #4

SAVE3026, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From P. J. Holmes

William P Hall and camels, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Enjoyed the Hall farm photos this morning,didn't remember if I had sent you a copy of this or not. Keep up the good work, P.J.Holmes I have seen his picture before, in fact it is included in the series of excellent articles done on Hall by Tom Parkinson and appeared in Bandwagon in the 1970's. I might add that Tom, along with his brother Bob and Chappie Fox made a trip to Lancaster and by arrangement with Hall's daughter, unearthed an incredible amount of material at the Hall Estate. Also while there, they made a tour of the grounds, nothing left of the elephant barn but the foundation but to their surprise the flop rings still remained. Chappie rounded up someone with a torch and liberated a few and was kind enough to send me one. Buckles PS: There was no mention as to the name of the Hall's daughter. He had two, their names were Sidney and Wilma, one was a school teacher that Hall tried to set up a relationship with my dad but nothing came of it.

From Bill Schreiber

SAVE3022, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Buckles, I note in your history of Major that your father owned him in 1928 and afterwards Major was in the ownership of others, principally Hall. Did your father ever say why he relinquished ownership of him? Bill Schreiber This telegram might be part of the answer, fifty bucks wasn't much, even then. Buckles

William P. Hall #1

SAVE3011, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Col. William Preston Hall "Horse King of the world" Lancaster, Missouri

William P. Hall #2

SAVE3012, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Hall's Farm 1915.

William P. Hall #3

SAVE3013, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. I don't have a date on this picture of Hall posing with an act in training. I think that is Al Langdon behind him.

William P. Hall #4

SAVE3014, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Bill Woodcock and Guy Smith with "Mary", "Sidney" and "Wilma" in 1925.