In 1972, the Polack show played San Diego’s historic old Balboa Stadium on behalf of the local Shrine. There was no live band, and the acts worked to music that had been taped at an earlier performance.
Although the Stadium was not the most ideal place to get good photos, Don Covington and I were on hand to shoot movie footage at one of the matinees. Here are some frame enlargements from the 16mm Kodachrome footage I shot that day. That year, no printed programs were being sold, so many of the performers shown in these photos are listed as “unidentified.” (Many of you probably know who they are, so please help by providing their names. Thanks!)
Eric |
9 comments:
Elephants are "Stella", "Louie" and "Opal" under the direction of Tommy and Pom Donoho.
Dear Buckles, do you know what Tommy and Pom Pom are doing now? Wasn't PomPom originally with Scott's unrideable mule act? I forget her mom and Dad's name. Thanks,Gordon
Tommy has been deceased for quite some time.
Pom Pom is remarried and resides in Sarasota where she attends many of our social events.
If memory serves me correctly, PomPom's family, the Riding Dorchesters, came to Ringling from England in the 1950s.
Lane Talburt
The Riding Dorchesters were with Tom Packs in the mid fifties and I had the impression they had been on King Bros.
You are right, the Dorchesters first came to the King Show in 1955.
Also the first year in America for Tony and Inga Smaha.
Thanks for the correction, Buckles and Whitey. I should have consulted my notes. PomPom is one of those classic examples where the family ties are endless. When I first met PomPom in October 1999 in Montgomery, Alabama (she was helping her hubby with his great comedic lion act), I discovered that I had seen her sister's poodle act on Serge Corona's sidewaller in Birmingham the previous night. And only last year did I learn that PomPom's husband, Vincent von Duke (Whatley) is Adam Burck's cousin--their mothers were sisters from the Duke family. I'll leave it to the better informed bloggers to fill in the blanks and make the further connections.
A geneologist could go crazy in this business.
Lane Talburt
Speaking of family connections(and going crazy)..Buckles posted a picture of 2 more of Vince and Adam's 2nd cousins..Jose and Elizabeth Ayala..Their mother Maria is our sister Pauline's daughter..(Are you totally confused yet.??.)
Ay, yi, yi
Lane
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