Wednesday, January 02, 2019

CLYDE #12


Posted by Chic Silber at 1/02/2019 12:04:00 AM

2 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Waiting for Roger to wake up

& fill us in on the many details

02 January, 2019 09:56
Roger Smith said...

Beatty transferred to Robbins Bros. to close out 1938, when the Cole-Beatty show closed early due to the Depression. Adkins and Terrell could not pay him, so they gave him instead the cat act and all its equipment, and three elephants. Clowns Kinko and Florence went with him in a package deal. They booked the entire 1939 season on Hamid's Steel Pier, in Atlantic City, and he opened his Clyde Beatty Jungle Zoo, in Fort Lauderdale, on December 2nd.

This photo has never ID'd everyone, but I can name Al Fleet, with chimps Mickey and Minnie, kneeling in front, with Beatty in his whites. Kinko is seen behind them in makeup. Standing just @ L of the car, in the short skirt, is his sister-in-law, Jean Evans. Oddly enough, Harriett Beatty is not in this photo. Between the 2 left elephants, the tallest of the elephant men is Arky Scott.

Fort Lauderdale was literally put on the map with Beatty's arrival, but as the city grew, housing developments began to crowd his location, and complaints arose about the loud speakers and the roaring of the lions. After a long court battle, the City Council at last voted down Beatty's zoning, in 1945, and he and Harriett left in lasting bitterness. It was hardly Beatty's undoing, however. That year, he took out the Clyde Beatty Circus on trucks, and the next 10 years saw him owning a rail show.

A fine article on the zoo was written years ago by Charles Sprague for BANDWAGON.

02 January, 2019 23:56

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