Tuesday, October 04, 2016

#1 Franzen Bros.


Posted by Buckles at 10/04/2016 06:20:00 AM

4 comments:

Harry Kingston said...

Wayne Franzen was a showman and his cat act, horses, and elephants were the best.
Wayne drove the whole show one year to open in Winne, Tx down the road from me.
It was late Feb. and cold, rainy and muddy. There were about 30 or more pairs of shoes lost in the mud.
I tried to catch his show when he played my area and got to take him to lunch a few times.
Always had a great visit with him but he was a work aholic.
Towards the end when times were tuff for him D R Miller gave him a tent to help out.
Sure miss this fine circus and Wayne.

04 October, 2016 06:45
Bob Karczewski said...

I always enjoyed Franzen Brothers Circus when they were showing in the Traverse City area. The first time I saw the show was when the UAW would buy a week so that all of their union members and the public could see the show, which was set up at the Genesee County Fairgrounds. Wayne had a liberty goat act at that time that was really fun to watch. All of the animals on the show were trained by Wayne, who dreamed of having his own circus showcasing his training abilities. Wayne was an industrial arts teacher in Wisconsin. He had great mechanical abilities, that really helped when he was building the show. Wayne really enjoyed working with horses while growing up on a farm that relied on horses for all of the work that needed to be done. Wayne told me that he was really sad when his father replaced the horses with a tractor. When I was working at Chef Pierre here in Traverse City, I would always take cakes to Wayne as a treat. The cakes were Lemon Creme, Carrot Cake, German Chocolate and Chocolate. One year I helped Wayne and all of his help tear down the show after the evening performance was finished. Franzen Brothers Circus was always worth the drive, to see the show. I was really sad when I learned of Wayne's passing.

04 October, 2016 22:13
Hal Guyon said...

They use to say that the soul singer James Brown was "The hardest working man in show business". But, for those of us who knew Wayne Franzen we would have to disagree, Wayne did it all, what a great showman.

05 October, 2016 14:14
Harry Kingston said...

Yes Wayne was a workaholic and did it all.
He would do the cat act after it was over go put on a robe and man handle that heavy steel arena with the rest of the crew to get ready for the next act.
After Wayne died I know we all miss him greatly and years later got to meet his son and told him we all miss Wayne and he was as friendly as a striking cobra.

05 October, 2016 16:11

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