Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Blue Show 1970 #9


Ringling 100-24, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 4/14/2009 06:00:00 AM

14 comments:

J Goodall said...

Flo, on top and Diane Stevenson

14 April, 2009 08:08
Jack Ryan said...

Maybe, just maybe, the best dog act of all time. Certainly the best I have ever seen. It was so beautifully staged and precise. You could set your watch by it. And, bless the Stephensons. Lovely people all.

14 April, 2009 10:48
Iain Macpherson said...

Having seen European circuses for nearly 70 years. The Stepenhson dog act was THE BEST no competition!

I saw them tenting with Bertram Mills and at Olympia and at the London Palladium supportng, if I remember, rightly Johhny Ray but I could be wrong

14 April, 2009 19:10
Buckles said...

I personally enjoyed Victor Julian's dog act as much if not more.

14 April, 2009 19:14
jerry digney said...

I loved these guys, super people--Diane gave me my very first pair of clogs (red!)--long before they were popular in the states...their act had a lot of energy and comedy and lots of dogs and I loved Mama in the act--a great combination; i worked with Victor Julian too and he was a nice man but his act had a totally different style and energy, a little too Las Vegas for me.

14 April, 2009 21:01
Jack Ryan said...

Victor Julian's act was excellent. No dispute there.

I just have a personal preference in dog acts when dogs are being dogs and not dressed up like bridesmaids, Vegas showgirls or whatever.

14 April, 2009 21:48
Buckles said...

My dad always spoke highly of Alf Landon who had dogs that ran down a ramp and did leaps that included twisting somersalts over a distance of 15 or 20 feet to a pad.
I trouped with both Sonny and Dwight Moore whose dog acts were great crowd pleasers.

14 April, 2009 21:58
Sue Lenz said...

Just thought that I would mention that Victor Julian was my father's brother.
At one time they did a trapeze act together.

(Julian was my Grandmothers name.)

Sue.

14 April, 2009 22:11
Jack Ryan said...

Just for the record: the lady's name is Diana Stephenson, not Diane.

14 April, 2009 22:17
Chic Silber said...

Didn't Gerard Soules either buy

or inherit Victor Julian's dogs

and rename the act "Poodles of

Paris" (Paree ?) after he stopped

doing trapeze

My exwife had a pink poodle act

Nice dogs but dumb as rocks

Chic

14 April, 2009 22:32
jerry digney said...

I worked with Victor in his later years when his health was declining but he remained the elegant, dashing showman that he was and his act was unique and a real crowd pleaser--he appeared on all the top TV shows and played many venues other than circuses as i recall...I also worked with Sonny Moore on the Carden Johnson show where I was the announcer; Sonny was a true character in his Lord Fauntleroy (sp?) outfit and cast of show biz mutts;

15 April, 2009 00:39
Frank Ferrante said...

The whole family was wonderful and like so many others - I had a teenage crush on Diana with the sparkling eyes. It was the first dog act that I saw where the dogs acted like dogs - every kid in the audience went home to train their pets after seeing that act!

15 April, 2009 13:08
Mike Naughton said...

Billed in the Ringling program as "THE WORLD'S GREATEST DOG ACT".

16 April, 2009 19:40
Mike Naughton said...

Billed in the Ringling program as "THE WORLD'S GREATEST DOG ACT".

In Europe, the act was billed, for a time, as LOUISE AND HER DOGS, being Mrs. Stephenson, of course, known Lucy.

16 April, 2009 19:43

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