 Oddly enough Mr. Walsh lost his life some years later when struck by a car as he was changing a tire on the Cat Truck while with the Hamid-Morton Show. I might add that Ms Walsh is the lady riding the elephant in picture #1 below. |
Monday, March 28, 2016
To Chic Silber
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8 comments:
Thanks Buckles as I didn't
know anything about the Walshs
Wasn't Willy Storey part of
Court's original team & also
a cousin of his
That roadside tragedy reminds
me of Carin Cristiani's 2nd
husband Pete Mortenson's fate
My Dad took that pic many moons ago. The first trainer is Fritz Schultz, not Olsen. Circopedia has a long bio on him and the same pic is also in that article.
Bob Good
It was a John cuneo act that Walsh was presenting on Hamid-Morton when he was killed. Did they have retread tire's back then?
Wade Burck
John Cuneo told me this about Walsh's death. He was breaking in a bear act on a string of small fairs. Walsh was battling the drink, and was doing well by then. He had his wife, Charlotte (Zeke), and their small twin daughters, Linda and Leeta, aged 2, with him. He stopped across from a store and started across the road to get Zeke her cigarettes. He turned back and stepped up on the running board to ask what brand she wanted. When he stepped back down into the lane, a car he had not seen was coming, and hit Walsh, killing him instantly. The date was August 7, 1953. The incident happened on Highway 17, outside Lacon, Illinois. Walsh was 45.
Fritz Schultz was arrested in the dressing room by the FBI, and interred for the duration of WW II. He was not considered an immediate threat in terms of active subversion, but was a German circus performer who was loudly vocal in the backyard in his sentiments for Hitler. That was enough for the Feds.
Willy Storey was Court's nephew. He became a top-rated animal trainer. What a privilege it was to know him, and listen to his recollections of his uncle and their acts. He continued his career as among the most astute and highly-valued circus managers on the road, and was one of our great gentlemen on the lot.
Remembering roadside tragedies, we recall when Toni Ann Vitanza, Pat Anthony's daughter, died in an auto accident just moments after she and her new husband departed their wedding ceremony.
As per a Cuneo story, HE told me changing a tire. Odd, you would have to return to ask you wife what brand of cigarette she smoked?
Wade Burck
That was how John told it at the time.
BTW, I just had a long visit with the Duchess, who has current Cuneo stories of her own.
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