Buckles Blog: MORE HOOPS

Saturday, April 06, 2019

MORE HOOPS

9 comments:

Chic Silber said...: The new diamond pattern mesh arena

with the old square pattern framed

sections at the Haines City Park; 06 April, 2019 00:37
Chic Silber said...: Manfred Horn was Ursula Bottcher's

partner for many years but he was

killed by a bear in another group

he was presenting himself; 06 April, 2019 09:32
Chic Silber said...: The blue rod diagonal brace

on the right pedestal is bent

the rods weren't a good choice; 06 April, 2019 12:35
Larry Louree said...: Lots of weight moving from one platform to the other. Lots of stress, but hard to do and keep it light and small; 06 April, 2019 16:13
Roger Smith said...: This revisits the truth attributed to Colonel Woodcock, who spoke of real circus being "Wagons of wood, men of iron" (or steel, you name it). Bent rods didn't happen when honest-to-God wild animal acts assembled their props with oak and steel. The old school trainers thought first of the animals, who deserved stable floor seats, pedestals, and stretch irons for props that didn't move, and sufficient weight and construction for props that did, like barrels and balls. For those who recall the Beatty act of the mid-60s, his props remained with him from the 1935 Cole-Beatty show. The back-wall pyramid seats, the floor seats, and the folding seats for the front, were welded with 1/4" stock of 2" x 2" angle iron. I witnessed the indifferent prop guys slinging and banging these props on and off the wagons and trucks. The props held up, the welds didn't crack, and the basic same set served in Beatty's cage for over 30 seasons. Two of his floor seats survived into my act at Jungleland, from '65 to '69.

We had a trainer at Jungleland who got a Dobritch date at the L.A. Sports Arena. She had her new floor seats made--I'm not kidding--of shower curtain tubing, evidently to make her the darling of the prop boys. Two of these were 5-foot tall pedestals, intended for a twin sit-up. When the first lion clambered up, the tubing collapsed, telescoping downward into a pile, surrounding a bewildered animal. The lesson being, have the presence of mind never to short-cut the wild animal act.; 06 April, 2019 18:45
Chic Silber said...: These magnificent tremendous

Polar Bears were the property

of Communist East Germany at

that time & they kept Ursula

& Manfred under constant threat; 06 April, 2019 21:50
Roger Smith said...: Even at the time, a lot became known about the Iron Curtain acts. For each contingent they'd have a Polish Director, an East German Director, a Romanian Director, etc., who like Chic relates, oppressed each performer relentlessly. If anyone attempted defection, any and all relatives and friends back home were to be arrested, imprisoned without trial indefinitely, and tortured. In nearly all cases, no one was allowed to leave the circus venue without permission far in advance, a strict itinerary, and a set time limit. Ringling paid full price for the acts, but each performer was allotted only $7 per day to live on.

At Jungleland, we learned even more. In July of 1968, we took in the Blaszaks--Klaudiusz, Adela Smieja, and 3-year-old Bruno. Everyone there went out of our way to provide safe harbor, thinking we were shielding them from Communist horrors. This quickly dissolved into an ugly story we came to regret. Rather than be appreciative, Klaus, in particular, at once demonstrated contempt for everything American, pointedly for those of us working with them. The incidents of his attitude created a bitterness in the Compound that clouded what was once a with-it-and-for-it cohesive atmosphere. We had thought he'd be grateful to escape such dark sentiments, but they were so ingrained that he retained them all and brought them with him. The Blaszak's insolence created incessant heat, and there was strident anger that we had allowed them through the gate.; 07 April, 2019 04:52
Charles Hanson said...: ROGER: Thank you for sharing this information...Who would have thunk it???? New meaning to "No Kind Deed Goes Unpunished". I would have guessed they would have been grateful beyond words....Dark side of the circus...Painful to even think about. Great Information...Thanks again.....; 07 April, 2019 16:49
Roger Smith said...: CHARLES: There is far, far more to this story. The above barely touches the surface. The question is, how much of it can be told in a given forum. I've recounted the Blaszak chapter in fuller tellings, as have others who were there. I know these people had admirers, but then so did Red Hartman. We can realize those who are gone cannot answer for themselves, but when they were confronted with their behavior in real time, they refused to make amends, and the memories of their conduct have not faded.

I bore further witness exclusively, since a bedroom wall in a duplex separated the Blaszak's living quarters from mine. In Old Town, on Crescent Way, I lived at 2883-A. They lived behind me, at 2883-B.; 07 April, 2019 18:12

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