Friday, July 19, 2013

FromEric Beheim #10

Posted by Buckles at 7/19/2013 05:59:00 AM

4 comments:

Roger Smith said...

Does anyone have an update for Bill and Ginny?

20 July, 2013 15:51
John Herriott said...

Ginny was a vocalist on Polack circus and met animal trainer George Kellar. A romance took place and they married. His untimely death left her with the cat act. Bill Horn was a cage man for Kellar and he worked the act and she traveled along and booked and managed the act. I was said they also had a personal relationship. It seems a wreck with the cat truck and it destroyed the act. No Roger I do not know what became of them. Maybe someone out there will tune in. PS. The act worked O.K. but he was a big guy and dwarfed the small fcats in the act. Also he did not have the showmanship and smaltz that Kellar had. I worked with both. johnny

21 July, 2013 08:50
Roger Smith said...

The wreck occurred June 8, 1967, when the truck hit a landslide in Colorado, and went down a mountain. Assistant and driver Al Lapchak, 50, was killed, and a number of the cats escaped into the countryside. A tiger was shot, and others which could be located were euthanized. Bill and Ginny were following behind and were not involved in the accident. The act was never re-built. Ginny worked for a time at the DVM practice of Drs. Miller and Humphreys, in Thousand Oaks. Bill worked on Props at NBC, down in Burbank. Bill visited us several times at Jungleland, but it was after this time that I lost track of them. I think they are both still with us, somewhere in Ventura County.

22 July, 2013 20:51
Roger Smith said...

I meant to add that according to most stories, Bill and Ginny eventually married.

22 July, 2013 20:52

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