Wednesday, July 11, 2018

THE PLUNKETTS


Posted by Chic Silber at 7/11/2018 12:14:00 AM

3 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Very much resembles the backing arch

shown in "Big And Little" #2 above

11 July, 2018 00:56
Wade G. Burck said...

John Milton trained the pinto pony act, named the Lone Star something or other for the Plunketts a short time after he had finished training the famed Ian Garden Grey Welsh liberty act. I was still at the Herriott farm getting ready to leave for Canada with the Grey Welsh when the pinto's started arriving. It has been said that John Milton was the only horse trainer in the world who could wake up in the morning and decide he would train a new liberty act, walk out side, pick 6 or more out of the pasture, and by night time have a new act.

Incredible folk'a, the Plunkett family. In 1975 when my camper was destroyed by fire, along with all the money I had, in Milwaukee, Wis. on a Clyde Bros. Carden and Johnson winter date James's mother and father Corky and June, who had registered a suite of room's for the family at a nearby hotel, gave me one of them to use for the duration of the date. The Plunkett's are true "show folk's."

Wade Burck

11 July, 2018 17:48
Roger Smith said...

In '72, when we were heading into the big CNE date, in Toronto, Castle knew the Prop Boss we had couldn't cut setting up a 7-ring show. He tapped Corky Plunkett to fly up and oversee the whole thing. Corky dreaded flying, so when I lent him a suitcase, I packed in a pint of brandy and a roll of toilet paper, which he told me wasn't funny. When it came to meeting day-to-day circus demands, the call continually went to Corky, and for '73, he became our full-on Prop Boss.

I was there in '72 to witness James catching his first back somersault on the tightwire. He had been given Castle's rigging, and worked diligently to perfect his talent. James may assist my memory here, but I believe this accomplishment came on July 24, in Valentine, Nebraska, population 80.

11 July, 2018 18:37

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