From Richard Flint #4

Konyot%20troupe%20on%20B&B%201911, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr. Here is a photo of the Konyot Troupe of dressage riders in 1911 on the Barnum show. Arthur, who later settled in the US, is at far left. Fourth from the left in a girl’s costume is Oscar. Because Max Konyot and his wife decided to return to Europe after the first season, younger brother Oscar, then aged 14, was brought into the dressage and riding acts. For the dressage act, he had to replace a female and so the costume seen here. Oscar also returned to the US with a unique comedy lion act featured on Ringling in 1952-53. He later had a chimp act with his young wife Pat and again returned to the Ringling show in 1966. I had the pleasure to have a long talk with him about his family’s remarkable past when I met him in Sarasota shortly before his death in 1975. Briefly, the Konyot circus dynasty began when Leopold Konyot ran away from home. He married into the Blumenfeld circus family but soon took out his own Circus Leopold. He had 12 children, the first being Arthur born in 1888. Arthur had two children through his first marriage, Dorita and Alex (born 1915). Alex married the great wire walker Josephine Bersoni and one of their children is today’s Olympian equestrian Tina Konyot. Certainly, few can claim such an illustrious and long heritage!