Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Unidentified #4

R.B.C.001 by bucklesw1
R.B.C.001, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr.

Posted by Buckles at 5/22/2012 05:35:00 AM

13 comments:

Bob K said...

You mentioned the Sousaphone in the first picture, this one also has a bass drum and the mouthpiece
on the horn is very large. Could they possibly have had a musical presentation? The St. Louis zoo had an elephant band on one of their postcards.
Bob Kitto

22 May, 2012 15:18
Chic Silber said...

Some years back I made up a large

mouthpiece on a Flugel Bugle for

Franz Czeisler (Tihany) that was

to be played by a punk elephant

22 May, 2012 17:04
Buckles said...

Jimmy Reynolds claimed to have trained one to fart the "Carnival of Venice" but he lied a lot.

22 May, 2012 17:27
Chic Silber said...

Reminds me of a story from Rex

years ago about feeding shavings

to an elephant that shit a plank

for another one to walk across

(He also lied a lot)

22 May, 2012 17:38
BOBBY'S LITL BRO. said...

I like your new picture Chic. Looks like you are dressed tot the NINES !!!

22 May, 2012 20:01
Chic Silber said...

Had to attend a nephew's wedding

22 May, 2012 22:29
Roger Smith said...

As Jim Cole noted, these are Hubert Castle ring curbs. He had, two white ones, with red diamonds, and the center was red with white diamonds. I watched Corky Plunkett and crew almost suffocate during the winter of 1972, in that Seagoville barn, totally stripping them down. They were fiberglass, and no amount of eye and mouth protection kept anyone safe. The work was done in the center section of Hubert's long stran-steel building, and the dust invaded the bunk and kitchen areas. When they were done, the curbs were beautiful. We got past Grand Rapids, Michigan, all right, since there was only room for one ring. But in our next town, Ft. Wayne, we had all 3 rings. Johnny Cline rehearsed his ponies in Center Ring, and their rubber hoof covers thoroughly scuffed the inside of the new work. Some genius decided the ponies might work better in an end ring, and sure enough, on our 2nd town, the inside of the curbs had black scrapes on every section. Corky almost collapsed of exasperation.

23 May, 2012 02:10
Roger Smith said...

This goes to show what the Colonel reminds us of--It's All Been Seen Before. Yes, Hubert Castle had his dearly cherished Elephant Brass Band, almost as if he thought it up himself. In his garage on Peavy Road, I helped him fit a new mouthpiece on the Sousaphone while we talked over my deal to take over his cats. He was like a kid, trying to get a noise out of the horn. When he did, he leapt around proclaiming what a hit this would be. In 1972in Valentine, Nebraska, the prop guy, Lee Noblett, forgot to load the band instruments. The loss wasn't discovered until unloading in Norfolk. While we all stood around laughing, Hubert angrily dispatched Lee to make a non-stop round-trip by showtime. He waited at the gate for Lee to return, and cussed him when he did, barely in time.

23 May, 2012 02:21
John Herriott said...

About those God damned Castle ring curbs. He had engineered them and they were made too small in height and width. Didn't fasten to gether and were light weight so one little shove would spin them out. In those days I had an excellent twelve pny liberty. Twelve running in the ring there side hooves would naturally scrape the sides of the fiberglass curbs and they "walked the ring curb. I made alot of dates for Castle and walking the ring curb was a no no, but when it becomes part of the routone they automatically step up on the curb and I would try to keep them going which just caused more confusion, plus the music was writtn for march of the toys,etc. I carried my own curb so finally in frustration hard headed Hubert finally gave in. Hubert Castle when he did his great wire act loved to ngamble in the dressing room and never watched the show, so when he had his own circus he ad no idea how to "lay out the program" and would have a bicycle act follow the Chimp act and so on. He called his circus a "Spangleland Fantasy" and did no carry any wardrobe, period. No Spec, aerial ballet or other production. Just act after act. He had some good people around him and they were very frustrated at nhis hardheadedness. Also he also liked having "stool pigeons" around as well. I did get along with him and believe he liked me [he and my dad were pals in the old days on Cole, winter dates, etc. Yes as Buckles said he was An extremely right wing conservative and predgidis against all minorities. But the Shriners loved him as alot of tem had the same characteristics. His show on the floor looked more like a construction project than a circus. He paid well but Pro-rata all the way and pay your own gas. He liked playing the tough guy and was not afraid to get in a fist fight. He drank very sparingly, if at all. He had a beautiful and charming sophisticated lady and she could influence him as a last resort. I do believe that she did not care for the circus biz. and rarely traveled with him, especially when he was doing his act on the road. Quite a guy.

23 May, 2012 09:01
BOBBY'S LITL BRO. said...

I remember those ring curbs well .When he built a new prop truck it was designed with racks over the fifth wheel for these to transport. We also had it built at 10 ft high so we could get it into most hockey rink buildings in Canada

23 May, 2012 15:57
BOBBY'S LITL BRO. said...

His 2 stool's were Jimmy Armstong and Cleo Plunket ! He used to get pissed at the Shriner's because they would get them both drunk and then they could not be relied on to snitch a good story.

23 May, 2012 16:04
Frank Ferrante said...

There's an early scene from "Billy Rose's JUMBO" Where Jumbo plays the tuba and Doris Day accompanies on the triangle. ~frank

23 May, 2012 18:08
Roger Smith said...

The Colonel is right again. Hubert's ring curbs were another concession to the prop guys--everything so light it was unsuitable for circus work. When he decided on a cat act, all the props were aluminum. The hooks on the pyramid seats fatigued, bent, and upon straightening, broke, leaving the seat unusable. I showed him how to replace them with steel straps along the seat, forged into stable hooks that would last, and naturally he disagreed. The barrel for the lion, Tyrone, was aluminum tubing--so light that when it hit the ring mat lacing, it turned under Tyrone's feet, throwing him off. He became so used to taking three steps and dismounting that the trick was threatened. I went around the barrel with heavy wooden slats to add weight and stability. At Hubert's complaint, I countered that you don't worry about weight when it's something you roll and never pick up. I learned never to consult with Hubert about correcting his design flaws, just do it without asking, paint it, and never point it out. He'd never notice.

I liked Jimmy Armstrong. He was our mailman, blew the bugle, and was a great little guy in the dressing room. But you never said a word around Jimmy you didn't want going straight to Castle, because he got it there quicker than Western Union.

23 May, 2012 19:30

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