Monday, June 10, 2013

Clyde Beatty #1 (From Roger Smith)


CLYDE BEATTY
110th Anniversary of his Birthday

Clyde Beatty's life and career have been honored here many times. This 110th birthday marks another special milestone in reflecting over a career that found continual success for 43 years in the sawdust ring and beyond. I have not known another circus performer's seasons which could compare to this:

The Circuses: (With acknowledgement of the list of Everett Ritchey, The White Tops, Nov-Dec 1965)

1921 - Howes Great London and Van Amburg's Wild Animals - Beatty joined out August 16, in Washington Court
House, Ohio. He was 18.
1922 - Gollmar Bros. Circus
1923-1924 - John Robinson Circus
1925-1934 - Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
1935-to mid-1938 - Cole Bros. Circus with Clyde Beatty
1938 - Mid-season to closing, Robbins Bros. Circus with Clyde Beatty
1939 - Hamid's Million Dollar Pier, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Opened the Clyde Beatty Jungle Zoo on December 2, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1940 - Hamid-Morton-Clyde Beatty Circus
1941-1942 - Johnny J. Jones Exposition (Beatty produced his Clyde Beatty Circus unit)
1943 - Clyde Beatty-Wallace Bros. Circus
1944 - Clyde Beatty-Russell Bros. Circus
1945 - Clyde Beatty Circus (Motorized show)
1946-1956 - Clyde Beatty Railroad Circus
1957-1958 - Clyde Beatty Circus (Reorganized management. Motorized show.)
1959-1965 - Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus (Due to his advancing cancer, he closed his career in May.)

Posted by Buckles at 6/10/2013 05:58:00 AM

7 comments:

Harry Kingston said...

Roger,
Thanks so much for all the info on Mr. Beatty and well done.
It is a great way to start off a week remembering one of the best in the business.
Gone but not forgotten.
Harry in Texas

10 June, 2013 06:57
John Herriott said...

I agree with Harry and am pleased to have been on the Bill with nhim and watched his act numerous times. While in the Army at Ft. Sill I saw him with his RR show on a cool drizzly jnight in the Fall in Lawton, Okla with a very sparse crowd and he still put on the great act for which he was known.A credit to our biz. to be sure johnny

10 June, 2013 08:18
Eric said...

How many of today's "pop culture" stars will still be remembered on their 110th birthday?

10 June, 2013 11:19
Roger Smith said...

In regard to the circus history, I should add "as amended" to the season list of Ev Ritchey. He had a minor error in the Gollmar and John Robinson years. But we also find another one in Emmett Kelly's book, CLOWN. Written by Bev Kelley, Emmett's recounting of Beatty's joining out, on pages 87-88, have him signing on with John Robinson in 1923. His first day was on Howes, 8-16-21. His first boss was Louis Roth, on loan from the Barnes show. His next boss was Chubby Guilfoyle, and Beatty's first time in the arena, under Guilfoyle, was then on 1923 John Robinson, with a highly mixed-species act as a pre-lim.

10 June, 2013 17:01
Ole Whitey said...

Roger: What error are you seeing in the Richey list? The 1921 Howe's show went out in 1922 under the leased Gollmar Bros title, then for the 1923 season most of that show was merged into the existing Robinson show and Beatty stayed there two years: 1923 and 1924 and worked a polar bear act in the arena.

For the record the 1921 Howe's show was mainly the former Yankee Robinson show, purchased from Wm P Hall.

Titles do get confusing.

10 June, 2013 22:25
Roger Smith said...

Dave, the errors I'm seeing in the Ritchey list are: First, he didn't account for 1923. Second, he had Beatty on John Robinson for 1924 and 1925, when in 1925 Beatty went to Hagenbeck-Wallace under the aegis of Peter Taylor. On the 1925 H-W, Taylor suffered the injury to the nerves in his neck, and was not, as was sometimes wrongfully reported, the victim of a nervous breakdown. He could not continue, and Beatty, waiting in the wings and by now entirely capable, took over the big lion-and-tiger act for the sidelined star, and in the grand tradition of showbusiness, became a sensation.

11 June, 2013 06:33
Ole Whitey said...

Right- he definitely went to HW in 1925. Didn't you tell me an aunt of yours was present that fall when Beatty suffered his first news-worthy attack in Texarkana?

11 June, 2013 10:58

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