Buckles Blog: #5 Elephant Acts

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Malonga and Johnny Cline with "Dell".
My father did a little work on this elephant, called her "Dill Pickle".

Roger Smith said...: Milonga, as I've seen it spelled, was among the very few women on the Beatty show who became close to Harriett Beatty. Harriett was excessively protective of her husband, who was routinely beset with female admirers. Milonga was genuine as a friend, and the two kept good company. When Harriett died on the train, of heart ailments, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 1950, word came to the lot just as Beatty was about to go on for the act. It was agreed not to tell him until after he worked. Back in the dressing wagon, Johnny Cline had been chosen as the one to approach Beatty with the difficult news. Beatty had the step-daughter, Albina, flown down from Hillsdale College, in Michigan, and had a Mass said for Harriett there in Kosciusko. He could not continue, and for the last 10 days of the season, Joe Arcaris came down from Benson's, and worked the Beatty act he had so heavily contributed to training. Harriett (by that spelling) Beatty, is buried in Lauderdale Memorial Cemetery, in Florida, due to her great love for Fort Lauderdale during the Clyde Beatty Jungle Zoo era, 1939-1945.; 13 August, 2016 18:11

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