Saturday, November 05, 2016

#5 Kelly Miller

The step of authority!.....caption says "Jim Royal".

Posted by Buckles at 11/05/2016 06:03:00 AM

2 comments:

Bob Swaney said...

Jim was long a mainstay on Carson & Barnes prior to K-M. Easy guy to work with.

05 November, 2016 08:44
Patricia said...

I may have told this story before, but it's one of my favorites:
My first year on C&B, 1981, Jim Royal was the ringmaster. I had a mish mosh of cats, three of whom were leftovers there, a random Cuneo tiger, and three from Josip Marcan after he had dissolved his lion act. Anyway, I'd thrown them together shortly before we opened (I wasn't exactly sure how to mix cats, but thank God it worked).

One of the neutered lions from Josip was Rex, who had been trained to do the head in the mouth. I, however, was NOT trained for this trick, and was pretty reluctant to try. Jim and Mr. Miller encouraged me to try; not pushy in any way, more like good natured cheerleaders.

A few weeks into the season as I began to realize what an extraordinarily quiet tempered lion Rex was, I began easing into doing the head in the mouth. Rex didn't seem to mind, it was more a matter of me screwing up my courage just to do it.
So, one day I did. When the act was over and the cats watered, I went home to change. There was a card taped to my trailer door. Puzzled, I opened the card which read:

Congratulations, Pat! You really know how to get "A HEAD" in the business!

It was signed Jim Royal.
He must have had it prepared for weeks, waiting for me to take the plunge.

Should you read this post, Jim, I want you to know how much your support meant to me, and that I still have that silly card...!
It still makes me laugh

05 November, 2016 12:01

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