Hagenbeck Wallace GREAT WILNO (c.1930)

Hagenbeck Wallace GREAT WILNO (c.1930), originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Great Wilno - Hagenbeck Wallace (From Chris Berry) As Fred Pfening Jr. describes in his meticulously researched article in the Nov-Dec 1976 issue of The Bandwagon, "The Wilno act was booked for the 1930 season on Hagenbeck-Wallace, and he remained on that show through the 1932 season. During these depression years Wilno saw his salary reduced each year, and he felt he could do better on his own elsewhere. Wilno had settled and purchased a home in Peru, Indiana and following the close of the 1932 season he purchased an Indiana truck and motorized his cannon. Wilno went to Hawaii with his new cannon truck and then returned to tour with the Cetlin & Wilson Shows as a free attraction. This was the first of his long affiliations with carnivals. He spent later seasons with Johnny J. Jones, Rubin & Cherry, World of Mirth, Penn Premier, Sheetley, and Endy Bros. carnivals. Wilno appeared in 1937 with the Cole Bros. Circus at the Chicago indoor opening stand, but did not go on the road with that show. He also appeared with the Hamid-Morton Circus in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and was on the Tom Packs show in 1957. Wilno performed the act himself for 20 years and then used Henry Duchone as the bullet for another 10 years. Following his retirement the cannon was parked in his Peru, Indiana, quarters for four years. In 1960 he visited Beatty-Cole and Frank McClosky offered to buy the cannon. Luis Munoz had served as the bullet for Zacchini on the Cristiani show in 1958 and 1959, and a deal was made with Munoz to present the act on the Beatty show, buying the cannon from the show over a four year period. Munoz used the name Capt. Astronaut (a Beatty-Cole poster from that era was put on this blog over the weekend). Following his final season with the Beatty show Munoz took the Wilno cannon to Mexico to appear in a winter show. The cannon was sold there and last appeared on Circo Osorio, where a young man was killed while making a shot. The cannon was later lost in a wreck."