I saw this movie when it first came out over fifty years ago while I was stationed at Ft. Chaffee. |
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
I watched "The Young Lions" on TCM last night!
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
From Chris Berry #1
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Chris Berry #1 Seils-Sterling Daub (1935)
Ole Whitey and others have discussed a time in the late 1950s when Central
Show Print of Mason City Iowa sold original 1920s lithos from the Christy Bros
Circus to collectors for just a few dollars. These were authentic lithographs
originally printed by Riverside in Milwaukee and far superior to the artwork
that Central Show Print was known for producing. Over the years collectors have
discussed how Central might have obtained this cache of posters, and this photo
may be a provide some answers, though it certainly raises
additional questions..
Most of the posters used by Seils-Sterling during the 1930s were offset,
printed by Central Show Print and without the rich artwork and lithography
associated with many circus posters of the early 20th Century (see #4 below)..
But that wasn't true in every case, and this daub promoting an appearance in
Madison, Wisconsin in the spring of 1935 is an example of Seils-Sterling posting
some very nice wall work, lithographs most likely shipped to the bill car from
Central Show Print along with the less-than-stellar one-sheets which were posted
in windows..
If you look at this daub for a date in early 1935 you will see that while
the name of the circus on this nine-sheet menagerie bill is Seils-Sterling, the
artwork is identical that used by Christy some ten years earlier (see
#2 below). The four-sheet of the lion on the horse is also the same as the
Christy/Riverside artwork seen below (#3), only the title sheet is
missing.
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From Chris Berry #2
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From Chris Berry #2
Christy.Bros MENAGERIE One-sheet (c.1925)
This is the Christy Bros Menagerie one-sheet which was sold to
collectors by Central Show Print of Mason City, Iowa decades after it was
originally printed by the Riverside Printing Company of Milwaukee Wisconsin.
Note that it is identical to the Seils Sterling nine sheet seen above. When
Riverside closed its doors at the start of the Great Depression, was the
remaining stock purchased by Central Show Print? Was those one-sheets shipped
to Mason City Iowa with much larger posters - some of which were reworked
and used by Seils-Sterling?
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From Chris Berry #3
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From Chris Berry #3 Christy Bros LION AND HORSE
Four-Sheet (c.1925)
While the Christy title has been cut from what was once a four-sheet litho
on the Madison daub seen above, it is clearly the same artwork that was
originally produced by Riverside for Christy Bros. some ten years before.
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From Chris Berry #4
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Seils-Sterling HODGINI FAMILY One-Sheet (c.1938)
This one sheet was printed for Seils-Sterling about the same time that the
rehashed Christy wall work was posted in Madison Wisconsin in the spring of
1937. This poster is more indicative of the quality (or lack thereof) of the
artwork which came from Central Show Print during that period. We may never
know for certain, but it appears that the leftover stock from Riverside,
especially the Christy paper, was moved from Milwaukee to Mason City, Iowa at
some point with some of the old stock being reworked and used by Seils-Sterling,
and the remainder sold to circus fans and collectors years 20 years later. Many
of those posters remain in collections today, a great example of fine poster
lithography for a title that is now only remembered by those of us who read
circus history, and of course Buckles' Blog!
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From Harry Kingston #1
"I once showed this picture to Hugo Schmitt and he said his name was Philadelphia and if I recall correctly, was still around the Hagenbeck Zoo when Hugo was an apprentice."
Buckles
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From Harry Kingston #2
"This date might be in error, the youngster in the background would be "Daisy" the elephant I later knew with the "black-jack" tail."
Buckles
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From Buckles #2
Taken in Peru in the 1930's, Mr. Stiles third from right.
Letter from Bill Woodcock to Col. Sturtevant 1/8/41
"I was with the S-F elephants for three seasons and of course closely associated with the boss animal man Emery Stiles who started in show business in the 1870's but Emery was not much of a talker and I was never very successful in drawing him out.
On the contrary when I worked for Bert Noyes on the H-W Show, I found that he liked nothing better than to get an audience of punks, such as I was at the time, and relate many heroic and thrilling experiences incurred with Wallace & Anderson, Gollmar Bros. wagon show, etc.
Incidentally good old Bert never failed to give himself the best of it in these tales."
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From Eric Beheim
Attached is a scan of a slide that I’ve had
for almost 43 years. (When I used to do
slide shows as part of my Navy duties, this would come in handy if there was an
equipment malfunction or some other SNAFU.)
I recently found it while sorting through some of my old Navy slides and
thought that you might like to have a copy on hand too, for those VERY RARE
occasions when your computer and/or Google acts up, impacting the Blog’s daily
appearance.
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Monday, April 28, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Circus Girl #17 (From Eric Beheim)
Billed as “The Suicide Act,” everyone is enthusiastic
about it accept Kay.
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Circus Girl #18
Before the new act’s first public
presentation, and while allegedly giving the rigging a final inspection, Charlie
partially slices through one of the ropes on the trapeze that Bob will use for
his final trick over the lions’ den.
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Circus Girl #22
Fortunately Bob is able to keep a grip on the trapeze bar
but is left dangling over the steel arena . . .
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Circus Girl #24
Seeing Bob’s valiant attempts to save himself, Charlie
has a change of heart. Climbing up into the rigging, he throws Bob a rope . . .
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Circus Girl #26
Just as Bob reaches the safety of the opposite platform,
Charlie loses his balance and ends up dangling over the lions’ den, holding on
with just one arm – his bad one.
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Circus Girl #28
. . . and Charlie plunges to a hero’s death in the big
cage. (It is doubtful if Bob and Kay
ever suspected that he was the one responsible for the rope breaking.) One addition scene shows Bob and Kay leaving
on their honeymoon, which ends the film on a happy note.
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1977 Movin' On #1
I wonder how many movies Keenan Wynn made in his career? I saw him in "Annie Get Your Gun" a few days ago and a dance movie last night.
Here he is with "Anna May" checking into the motel on location in Charleston, NC.
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Saturday, April 26, 2014
Circus Girl #1 (From Eric Beheim)
There is evidence to suggest that the character of “the
Great Sebastian” in DeMille’s TGSOE was partially inspired by a
character that appeared in CIRCUS GIRL, a rather obscure B-movie
released by Republic Pictures in 1937.
(DeMille’s writers allegedly screened every circus film they could find
while preparing the script for TGSOE. If that was the case, then CIRCUS
GIRL was probably one of the films they looked at.)
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Circus Girl #2
The star of the Roebling Circus (a railroad show) is Charlie Jerome
(Donald Cook) a daring trapeze artist who works without a net and who has a
reputation for being a ladies man.
Charlie’s current love interest is a young aerialist named Kay Rogers
(June Travis).
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Circus Girl #3
While working aloft, Charlie catches and holds Kay and
then proposes marriage to her, refusing to release her until she agrees. (This
scene might very well have inspired the scene in TGSOE where
Sebastian catches and holds Holly until she agrees to kiss him.)
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Circus Girl #4
Charlie is also involved with Carlotta, a rather
hard-boiled blond who is the show’s tiger trainer.
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Circus Girl #5
Just before the flying act is to go on, Charlie is
confronted by his catcher Bob McAvoy (cowboy star Robert Livingston.) Bob, who is also in love with Kay, has just
learned that she and Charlie have been secretly married. Aware of Charlie’s
involvement with Carlotta, Bob warns him not to be “stepping out” on Kay. Charlie responds by knocking Bob down, giving
him a bad gash just below his eye.
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Circus Girl #6
With Bob temporarily patched up, the flying act goes on,
working as usual without a net. (The
principals in this film were doubled by members of the Escalante
Family.)
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Circus Girl #7
As Charlie prepares to execute his final trick, the gash
on Bob cheek opens up and blood streams into his eye, temporarily blinding
him.
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Circus Girl #9
Although Charlie survives the fall, the doctors tell him that the damage
done to his shoulder and arm is permanent, and that he will never fly
again.
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Circus Girl #10
Hearing of the accident, Carlotta rushes to the hospital,
where she learns that Charlie and Kay are married. In an angry outburst, she reveals to Kay
something of Charlie’s womanizing past.
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