Tuesday, July 29, 2014

From Chic Silber #1


7 comments:

Cindy Potter said...

Chic,
I worked in the Beatty-Cole Office Wagon for a number of years with (then, treasurer) Harry Hammond. There was always a twinkle in his eye when he spoke of his memories on the Tom Mix Show!
:-)
Cindy Potter

Paul Gutheil said...

I just mentioned Harry Hammond to Elvin a few weeks ago. How long has it been since he passed. . .10-12 years ?

Paul Gutheil CFA

Chic Silber said...


Yes Cindy & I think Harry was

born with that twinkle as he

always seemed to be jovial

He had worked on many shows &

he knew where all the bodies

were buried but never let on

Roger Smith said...

I kept my Christmas card from Harry, on which he celebrated 50 uninterrupted years on circuses, naming each show and its owner. He closed his career with Acme Circus Operating Corporation, working on all three of their shows--Sells & Gray, King Bros., and from 1978 with Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Harry died in Brunswick, Georgia, on March 29, 1995, at 78, after completing his 61st season.

Anonymous said...

I always heard from old timers that the Mix Show was the toughest show on the road, wish I could've been there but it was before my time. I thought the Beatty show was pretty tough. Harry Hammond was on the Cristiani Wallace Show. We saw him at Tammy's Bar across the street from the Cristiani Winter Quarters and he had been drinking Martinis all day long. So much so that we decided he shouldn't drice so we took the distributer cap loose from his engine. He got angry and called the cops, they told him... Your friends don't want you to drive drunk... He yelled...I'm not drunk and I demand a sobriety test. So they arrested him and he slept it off in jail that night. Next day he couldn't recall anything.

Harry Kingston said...

When I Visited Cole last Fall Harry is still on the circus as his picture is hanging on the wall, the back wall just before you entered where his office was.
Not many shows today would do that for anybody.
I have many memories of our visits and stories of his past circuses and from getting invited to there eat outs with the Sloans and Bales.
God bless him and gone and sure the heck not forgotten.
A real credit to the circuses business.
Harry in Texas

Cindy Potter said...

HARRY WAS AWESOME!
I was driving for him for a short time, while I was (very!)pregnant, so it had to be 1983 season. I remember getting to the lot in Allentown, PA. there was a Friendly's restaurant close so we went in for a quick bite. The hostess asked if there two in our party, and I replied, "Yes...my husband and I!" I thought Harry would wet his pants!!!
:-)
Cindy Potter