Friday, July 10, 2015

Hagenbeck-Wallace #11


3 comments:

Chic Silber said...


The original George Hanneford family

riding act featuring Poodles Hanneford

Ole Whitey said...

George had already left the family and had his own act by the time this was taken.

Roger Smith said...

We've ID'd the line-up before, but for the convenience of blog vets and in service of newcomers, we have, L to R: Charles Clarke, Gracie (Mrs. Edwin "Poodles"), arguably the greatest "riding fool" of them all, Poodles Hanneford himself, mother Elizabeth, Elizabeth Rebecca(Mrs. Ernest) Clarke, and the famed triple-somersaulter, Ernest. Their daughter was affectionately known to our generation as Ernestine, or Ernie, names not on her birth certificate. She was formally Laura Elizabeth Clarke, who married actor Parley Baer. Her grave marker includes her long-accepted nickname, and reads Elizabeth Ernestine Clarke Baer.