Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Mills Bros. Circus early 1950's (From Hal Guyon)


mill28, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Buckles,
Here are some pictures of Mills Bros taken in the 40`s, is that Hugo with the bulls ? If so I never knew that he work a chimp act also.
Hal Guyon


"Hugo was on the show for four seasons 1950-53 during which time he did indeed train a chimp act.
After so many years with just one elephant "Burma" the Mills Show added six more in 1950 "Lena", "Dixie", "Bunny" and "India" from Polack Bros. Circus as well as "Ringling Trilby" and "Wallace Jennie" from RBBB and in no time Hugo had a very good act put together.
In 1951 two more were added from the Ringling Show, "Minnie" and "Lelabardi" which I suspect was the year these picturtes wsere taken."
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 12/16/2008 06:33:00 AM

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Possibly a question that cannot be answered.

In regards to the lovable and cuddly Herr Schmidt - what was his particular(s) talent(s) that set him apart as an elephant trainer?

Seriously, what did he have?

16 December, 2008 13:16
Anonymous said...

By 1962 the herd was Burma, Bunny, Lelabardi, Jennie and Una "Little Burma". They did aquire a young punk that year but it died after a short while. They say someone staked her out in a field of clover and her digestive system couldn't take it.

16 December, 2008 15:17
Buckles said...

Going thru my dad's letters, someone asked him who the best elephant trainers in the country were and he answered:
"Mac MacDonald and Hugo Schmitt and the rest are a pretty sorry lot."

16 December, 2008 15:39
Wade G. Burck said...

Buckles,
You mean at one time, it was actually possible to have an opinion like that based on what you as a an elephant trainer knew of the subject?
I wonder if a different question asked of this knowledgeable man, something like "who's the cutest or the nicest" would have gotten a different answer. LOL
Wade Burck

16 December, 2008 17:30
Anonymous said...

To Whom it may Concern,
I believe around 63 or 64 would have been the last time I saw Bill Woodcock SR. To my knowledge,all who knew him spoke highly of him. A gent who was admired for not announcing his credentials and was dearly admired for his opinions. No LOL intended. I also recall once upon a time sitting in the seats next to Robert"Smokey"Jones during a visit to a show. While the elephant act was on he turned to me and asked what I thought about what I had just seen,and than added; "I'll bet you they are totally unaware that there is probably a better way to do that".
P.S.I always admire an intellectual critic L.O.L.
J.C.Hall

17 December, 2008 11:34

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