Sunday, January 09, 2011

From Buckles #1


Scan00000010155, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Claude B. Webb
Russell Bros. Circus Manager

Both this picture and #3 below are dated June 15, 1941 Beloit, Wis.
Indicating they were taken by Charles Kitto.

Posted by Buckles at 1/09/2011 05:34:00 AM

3 comments:

Buckles said...

He must have twisted his ankle.

09 January, 2011 06:47
Buckles said...

Anybody remember Charlie Webb?
Funny guy.

09 January, 2011 07:01
Ole Whitey said...

Claude Webb's wife Pauline had a sister Irene, who was married to Bob O'Hara- I think the patch on the show.

Anyway Pauline and Irene's maiden name was Russell, hence the name of the show. In the early days it came out of Rolla, Missouri. One year they stayed in Donna, Texas, down in the Valley and they took out a small winter unit called Rosselli Bros- they lettered the very few trucks on this opry by changing the "u" in Russell to an "o" and adding an "i" at the end. Topsy the chimp was a feature of this outfit. They billed her in the valley as "Hombre Chungo" loosely meaning a male terror or demon but according to Francis Kitzman it was meant to imply a male ape.

Eventually they went to the Coast and debated long and hard about the wisdom of playing the Washington and Hill lot in Los Angeles. But they were very successful and the show moved into the big money after that.

When word got around that the show could be bought, at least one buyer was represented by a former RBBB man named as I recall Wallace Love and he spent weeks around the show counting stakes and measuring canvas etc. I assume you have all heard that Arthur M Concello walked down the midway, through the big top, out through the back yard and came back and made the Webbs an offer- he was on the lot something like fifteen minutes. Unlike the other guy he wasn't thinking about how much the equipment was worth but how much he could make with the show. Webbs accepted his offer and the rest is you-know-what. Today's Cole Bros is the heir to this enterprise.

09 January, 2011 22:08

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