Saturday, June 01, 2019

APES #2


Posted by Chic Silber at 6/01/2019 12:01:00 PM

4 comments:

Roger Smith said...

On October 17, 1949, I saw this guy on RB, in Waco, Texas. He was then in poor condition, sitting slumped in a back corner of his wagon, his arms motionless, and his eyes barely seeing. I was 6 years old, and was saddened by his obvious illness. From the show, I remember the flyers and the elephants, and Emmett Kelly worked one of his gags in front of us, but my thoughts continued back to Gargantua. Read of the continual attempts to treat him in Doc Henderson's book, CIRCUS DOCTOR. Gargantua soldiered on like a true showman, and lasted out the season, to die on closing day, in Miami.

01 June, 2019 16:32
GaryHill said...

I took care of Mickey for 7 months in Quarters in Venice...spoon fed him supper most nights...He went to Showcase I believe? Or not? Buckles would know, I was at Great Adventure for 2 yrs..?

01 June, 2019 18:18
Roger Smith said...

I last studied Gargantua's specially-designed, air-conditioned cage wagon in Venice, Florida. In his day, it was fully state-of-the-art, with no expense spared. When I was there, endless discussions, authorized or no, roiled about its fate. Rumor later told me it suffered the indifference shown the Jomar, but that was rumor. Someone kindly tell us what became of it.

02 June, 2019 18:53
Mr.Lee said...

I believe it is on display at Circus world Museum in Baraboo ..At least that's where I saw it.

03 June, 2019 07:17

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