 Hugo Schmitt relaxing in the backyard of Mills ('50-'53) with one of his sons? Anyone know why he left Ringling and then went back? How many bulls did Mills have? Compared to RBBB, a small herd no doubt.  |
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
From Jerry Digney #1
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6 comments:
The reason he was let go in 1950 was obvious. Having arrived just two years after WW2, speaking almost no English and moving into an entrenched bureaucracy I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did.
In 1957 the NY SPCA guy, an Irishman (I forget his name)told me that back in those days, he arrested Hugo every year in the Garden stemming from outside complaints and even some from people on the show.
But by this time they were big buddies.
For the most part, prior to 1950 the Mills Bros. Circus elephant herd consisted of "Big Burma" however as soon as the deal was made with Hugo they bought two old cows from the Ringling Show "Trilby" and "Jennie" and four more from Louis Stern "Lena", "Dixie" (Powers Elephants) "Bunny" and "India" bringing the herd to seven and it stayed about that size the four years he was there.
Much more interesting stories however entail the choice of Arky Scott to replace Hugo on the Ringling Show as well as the ruckus on the Mills Show lot the day he left to return To Ringling in 1954.
I'll leave these tales to Col. Herriott.
So as the old circus adage goes, "I'll never hire that son of a bitch again.....unless I absolutely need him!"
Jerry - Great set of photos and clippings, you're personal comments ad so much to them. Thanks! ~frank
TO BUCKLES!
The name of the very nice Irish ASPCA officer was Inspector Ryan.
When I would sneak into the RODEO at Madison Square Garden, he used to drive me home in his official ASPCA truck.
Their headquarters was on 92nd Street, over by the East River.
He would drive through the two-way cross town street, 96th Street, to get from the West Side to the East Side. And would,kindly, leave me off.
Thus saving me from taking the subway and the crosstown bus.
He had fascinating tales to tell.
One time a horse broke his leg in the Wild Horse Race, the last event on the Program.
The cowboys put a rope around the horse, tied it to their saddle horns and drug the horse out of the arena.
I had been waiting for the inspector to drive me home and he called me over to where the horse was laying and writhing in pain.
He said "watch closely, so if you ever have to put a horse out of his misery, you will know how".
He then drew an imaginary line from the horse's right ear to his left eye and from the left ear to the right eye.
Where they intersected is where Ins.Ryan pulled out his pistol and shot the horse.
After a quick jolt, the horse died immediately.
KY Sagraves had the elephants at Mills for awhile around 1959. Lou Turner was the elephant Keeper. He would call for Burma across the grounds and she would come like a puppy. She was the only elephant I never had a fear of because when my childhood was clouded with the death of Jimmy Lloyd who was grabbed and killed by a bull. A flyer he had a fear of them also and told my dad he had a premonition that he would die not up on the rig but by one of them. I remember one time Doc Henderson asked me to leave the Ringling tent telling me they could sense my fear. I love all creatures - elephants are truly amazing but I still have trouble with them.
That was Dorothy that killed Jimmy Lloyd in 1958 in Texas. Howard Suesz let Jack Moore have her either free or for a song and she's the one who nailed Shipley in Hugo early in 1959. There was a semi with a little trap door on the side so she could be chained from the outside, but she ended up not going out with Carson and Barnes but to the Tulsa Zoo.
HIYA BUCKLES!
Just for your chronological awareness, my Inspector Ryan anecdote took place in the very early nineteen fifties.
Before I got my 1956 "go-fer" job for RBBB.
Now you can sleep well tonight!
PLEASANT DREAMS!!
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