Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Blue Show 1970 #16


Ringling 100-33, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Jacki Althoff's Wonder Bears

Posted by Buckles at 4/15/2009 06:08:00 AM

6 comments:

Frank Ferrante said...

I had forgotten what a great bear act looked like. This picture also shows the old light boxes that sat around the track, the spot guys were all local union guys, Red worked the lights, (he also had a scene in The Greatest Show on Earth with Betty Hutton at the train wreck.) I don't remember any other lighting other than the house lights. This was the year that they used the Blue diamonds on the Blue Unit ringcurb and Red diamonds on the Red Unit ringcurb - I think I was most impressed that the rings lit up. (I was a very impressionable child.) ~frank

15 April, 2009 09:40
Chic Silber said...

The track light boxes shown

were open troughs designed by

Art that accepted cut color

in segments in front frames

These were used until I built

several sets of track lights

that had separate glass color

some of which were special pink

molded custom for the show

In the early 70s I also built

some custom sets of quartz

lights that hung on the frames

I still have some of the last

Super Troupers used on the show

if anybody wants them

Chic

15 April, 2009 09:53
Chic Silber said...

The ring curb lights were very

hard to maintain as the end

mounted connectors kept getting

ripped out and the sections

were very roughly handled

mostly in the loading in & out

We had much better luck with

the recessed chaseable lights

in the Monte Carlo gold edged

upholstered top tall curb

Chic

15 April, 2009 09:59
Jack Ryan said...

The ever witty Bill Pruyn used the song "Wunderbar" from (I believe) "Kiss Me Kate" as one of the tunes for the act.

15 April, 2009 11:15
Buckles said...

I never met Mr. Althoff despite the fact that he owned a place for some time less than ten miles from where we live.
Heard that once when the Ringling Show was playing the old Uline Arena in D.C. a couple of the citizens decided to lay in wait beneath the bear truck and mug Jacky as he approached from the building.
One of the few cases where the Police received an emergency call for help from the perpetrators.

16 April, 2009 13:43
johnny said...

The square aerial frames designed by Art Concello that had the flying act franes built in and were over the end rings. In the center was a smaller frame for the feature aerial star [Elvin BALE AT THAT TIME] But there were no lights attached to them, so each set up 1200 quartz lights would be bolted on. Quite a number of them, abd they would aLWAYS BE REFERRED TO AS "THE FELD LIGHTS". aND we had the track lights for spec, etc. I forget the elec. trish, on the blue show, but on the Red we always had Congo, plus the floor people of Dummy and Dave Mulanney. What a grooup. Lighting director was Frank Perry, Son of floss machine wizard, Whitey Perry. Frank is live and kicking in the local "stage hands"

17 April, 2009 17:37

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