| Photo of our cage man the late Ron Jaques was with us for about 12 years the most reliable and honest man i have ever known. The press used to come to the circus site and no they did not want photos of pretty show girls they preferred Ron every time i wonder why. robert.perry3@bigpond.com |
Sunday, September 09, 2007
From Robert Perry
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3 comments:
Brings to mind a great story John Herriott tells about a Rhesus monkey he had in the camel act with the Gil Gray Circus.
He kept her on a long leash and for some reason, developed a relationship with with one of the camels and spent most of the day sitting on it's head and picking thru the hair. The camel seemed totally oblivious.
Taking advantage of this, Johnny added her to the act by fastening her to this camel and she made the entrance and opening drill sitting on it's head. The audience loved it.
To top it off, Mayme Ward made the monkey an Arabic costume similar to Johnny's.
Johnny Peers adopted a capuchin monkey while in Clown College in late 1989 and trained it do do a couple of stunts. But when it came time for Johnny to join up with the Red unit in early 1970, he was told Ringling would allow no animals in the people cars. Of course, Lou Jacobs had his dog, Knucklehead, aboard.
Just shows you what star power counts for, as Johnny learned early. He gave the monkey to a friend and spent the next three years on Ringling Red. Jacobs, his principal teacher at Clown College, continued to mentor Johnny on the road. Johnny finally adopted his first dog, Freckles, in 1974, whom he incorporated into his act on the Vargas show.
The rest is history, as they say, and Johnny is now into his 37th year of clowning and comedy. He and his Muttville Comix will appear with the Hanneford show at Big E Fair in West Springfield, Mass., starting next week. Lane T
Johnny Peers is also an excellent trumpet player, Paul Binder can testify to this.
Erik Jaeger
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