Monday, April 27, 2009

Gee Gee's albums #10


Scan11610, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

I recall reading back in the 1950's that JRN was bringing over an act from Europe similar to this when the show was still under canvas.
You can see that when the apparatus reaches it's peak the bottom opens up.
Obviously the rigging would have had to remain suspended during the entire performance.
During his final revolutions, he would remove his jacket and cast it away in reckless abandon as the audience cheered.
Legend has it that on his final performance the jacket became entangled in the rear wheel and he fell to his death.
Fascinating story but more likely they couldn't get together on a salary or the logistics didn't work out.
Maybe someone can shed some light on this.

Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 4/27/2009 06:32:00 AM

7 comments:

Jimmy Cole said...

In the movie "The Greatest Show on Earth" during the teardown scene, you can see what looks like a motorcycle globe being wheeled away.

That is the only reference or documentation I have ever seen of such an act being on Ringling while under canvas.

27 April, 2009 07:09
Buckles said...

I remember that act, "The Great Morituras" actually a cradle act.
He held a pretty good sized globe by means of a neck loop while his wife attempted to pedal a bicycle around the interior.
She couldn't make it very high up the wall but did succeed in jerking his neck violently from side to side for about three minutes.
I thought the act was incredible but DeMille must have thought otherwise.

27 April, 2009 07:35
24-HOUR-MAN said...

This rigging was stored at the Trenton, N.J. Fairgrounds in the late '50's, in the opposite end of the building that served as the elephant barn up front where the trailers parked.
The description I heard at the time was after the bottom opened, they did a "break-away", through the hole, with the motorcycle attached to a cable.

27 April, 2009 08:13
Anonymous said...

On Boxing day 1951 during a perfrmance of the Bertran Mills Circus at Olympia,London Arno Wickbold was performing an act similiar to this.
Part of his act was to remove his shirt but at this show his shirt got entangled with the rear wheel ,The bike stalled and he fell to the ring. I believe that he passed away three days later.

This show was being broadcast by the BBC on the radio.

27 April, 2009 11:44
Buckles said...

Might this be Mr. Wickbold in the picture?

27 April, 2009 11:54
BritCircus said...

I already posted this comment on another photo but I think its worth repeating (with a little extra detail) here...

This looks like "Wickbold's Aerial Sensation" Performed by Arno Wickbold in Bertram Mills Winter Circus at Olympia, London 1951/52 He died while perfroming the act when the tail of his shirt got caught in the back wheel of the bike just as the cage opened and he plunged to his death. Later reports suggested that Wickbold could have saved his life by aiming for the safety net, but this would have left the bike falling uncontrolled towards the crowd. Valiantly, he chose to stay on the bike and direct it into the ring, he died 48 hours later in hospital.

Info taken from the book "Riding The Wall Of Death" by Allan Ford and Nick Corble ISBN 0-7524-3791-7 (a book I would recommend to anyone with an interest in the wall or globe of death) It has 1 picture of Wickbold riding in/on his Aerial Sensation, which was taken from below and interestingly doesn't show the floor/doors at all, just an open space. Even with the floor open they should still be visable hanging below. Perhaps the photo was retouched and the doors were edited out?

A brief clip of the act can be seen at... "http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=34323"
or go to...
"http://www.britishpathe.com" and search for "Wickbold"

Searching the Britsh Pathe site for "circus" will bring up a whole load of interesting clips.

28 September, 2009 15:46
Wade G. Burck said...

Buckles,
This act sounds as much like a "rubiks cube/chitty chitty bang bang type of deal as the Hanssini/Attebury Rocket Car. LOL
Wade Burck

29 September, 2009 07:25

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