Sunday, January 09, 2011

From Tim Tegge #1

Hi Buckles -

The Russell photographs on your posting of January 8, 2011 were terrific, as always, and have inspired me to forward images of a few of the many original Russell Bros. posters I have in my collection. All were printed by the Donaldson Litho Company of Newport, Ky, just across the bridge from Cincinnati. I hope your viewers will enjoy these.

The old-timer contortionist had his own bill: W. H. WHITLARK was his name, and legend has it that he was still working into his mid-seventies, probably about the time your photo was snapped and this half-sheet was issued. Although the date tag isn't shown completely in this picture particular I snapped some time back, the bill was posted (and date tag reads) Madison (WI), North Street/Madison Airport - Monday, July 1 - Twice Daily - 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm.

Posted by Buckles at 1/09/2011 05:51:00 AM

3 comments:

Frank Ferrante said...

Tim -

Thanks for the scan. For a contortionist to work into his mid-70's is quite a feat. I've read where most contortionists die at a fairly young age. ~frank

09 January, 2011 17:01
charles mathias said...

How long did contortionist Rudolph Delmonte work who was with RBBB in 1987? He was 25 at the time so he would be around 48 now. Is he still working? Where is he now. Got to meet him in Richmond Va. and he seemed to be a very nice person.

10 January, 2011 12:23
Opa said...

William Henry Whitlark was my great-grandfather. The poster was one of a series of 3 printed for the 1934 season. Whitlark started the 1935 season for Russell Brothers, but became too ill to perform by the beginning of June. The performance in Madison was in 1935 after Whitlark had left Russell Brothers. Whitlark was featured in a 31 August 1931 Ripley's Believe It Or Not cartoon as the "world's oldest living gymnast." He was actually 7 years younger than he claimed to be. However, he was performing into his early 70s.

08 April, 2011 20:07

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