Friday, May 08, 2015

Wire Acts! #2


6 comments:

Chic Silber said...


I think this is Con Colleano as

a "Toreador"

Ole Whitey said...

We had Con Colleano on the Cristiani show- I'm glad I had the chance to see him work.

Chic Silber said...


He was 1 of very few & maybe the

1st to do a forward somersault

Paul Gutheil said...

I have the "Wizard of The Wire" , ala toreador hanging on the wall over my right shoulder. Wish I had seen him work.

Unknown said...


Saw Con on the Cole show along with Terrell and Hoppie who I do remember in the backyard.

Con had relatives in the Allentown area. Katie, his one sister, lived with Jimmie O'Donnell in Allentown. Jimmo, as he was known was boss canvasman on Hunt when I was a kid. Some of my earliest circus memories were on that show.
The sisters and Jimmie Junior lived in the area as well. Jimmie was a juggler and wirewalker but no Con. The family used the name the Juggling Colleanos.

Buckles worked with them on Kelly Miller, I believe. If not correct on that please let the funambulist fans know.

Bob




Roger Smith said...

I'm a fan of wire acts. I'm grateful to have counted Herbie Weber among my lasting friends. It is still my regret to have missed seeing Colleano work. Hubert Castle was long retired from the wire when I came on to take over his cats, but his bitterness came to the surface often, as many recall. Everyone he didn't like was "a communist queer", and that included Elvis Presley--whose show Hubert was on in 1957, Jerry Lewis, Barbara Streisand, and our own Billy Barton. Billy retorted his disdain of Castle, saying this name-calling didn't matter, coming from a man who never had the flash of Con Colleano, or the class of Harold Barnes.