I have told the story many times of us being lured away from James Bros. by the colorful Charlie Germaine in 1972.
He said that an act with just "Anna May" and Barbara would be perfect for his show.
At the time I was training an elephant for John Cuneo "Billie" and when I told him of this arrangement he immediately called Germaine and made a deal to include his elephant.
So off we went for California and while stopping over at Bucky and Gee Gee's place in Dallas, Smokey Jones told me that he had enough money to buy a baby elephant (the standard price was $3,500) so I called Chet Juszyk and shortly after our enlarged caravan reached the West Coast "Tika" was added.
I might also add that at the opening day gathering Mr. Germaine made the stunning announcement that he had just sold the show and introduced us to our new employer Clifford E. Vargas.
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Thursday, July 31, 2014
1972 Miller-Johnson #1
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3 comments:
Is the man in the lower right hand corner Pat Anthony?
Indeed it is.
Better known as your friendly neighborhood wild man!
Or as Gee Gee called him, "Pat Agony". This came from his intense manner of expression, further described by Bill Johnston as "this crazy Wop". Me, I liked Pat from my first time to meet him. Many of the generation following him will remember his approachability, his openness, and his generosity in imparting his knowledge to help aspiring young trainers over their hurdles. In '72, in Memphis, he assisted me in continuing efforts to retrieve a lion's performance abilities from having been driven nuts by the insane drunk Hubert Castle had hired. I took the lion in for practice 6 times with Pat standing guard. When the lion tried to tear down the arena to get at us, Pat said conclusively to write him off. I appreciated and accepted his counsel, and respected the time and acumen that he gave me. God rest this man, wild, colorful, skilled, and unforgettable.
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