Africa's favorite Circus Weekly

Volume 2 October 8, 1973 Number 40

THE HOME RUNThe season mill end for the

John Strong Circus at Oxnard, Cal.on Oct. 14th, and thus concludes along tour that covsred the westernhalf of the U.S., plus several bigCanadian dates. The tour rates asone of the better ones for thisshow, with several unexpected suc-cessful stands.

Several changes in person-nel ware noted when the show returned to the Heat coast. Nally Bickwore was getting the top up anddown| Phil Shear was back on theshow ss a clown, after working ad-vance all year| Mrs. Davis is han-dling concessions, and Dick Cross,organist, is alao working schoolpromotions.

Some eight cities wsre playad at the same time RBBB was intown, which reportedly helped toboost business. Increases in at-tendance wee alao reported for thecities booked at the same time asBeatty-Cole was in town.

The program for the finalweeks of the tour featured! v

(Continued on last pagel)

CLOSING NEARWith the end of the season

cloae at hand detea for Lewie BrosCircus have been booked throughlate October end the advance crewhas' concluded its operations.

Ron Bacon is now booking date*for his magic show in the northernstatee, while Art "Doc" and Doro-thy Miller heve returnedtto theirhome in Florida.

Business for the show in Tenn-essee has been very good, playingin towns that had not aeen a cir-cus for many years. The show'squarters are already preparad forthe end of the tour and new animalacts for next year are expectedsometime in November.

tour end comingThe current tour fnr the Hu-

bert '-astle Circus will end atUtice, N.Y. on Oct. 27th, show of-ficials rsport. By that time thecircus will have traveled a totalof 35,000 miles, presenting per-formance* en 195 days.

Page 2 The Circua rtepertBEATTY-COLE GLITTERS

• • • by Joe VarnadoAfter an absence nf 7 years

tha Beetty-Cole Circue played £eaumont, Texas on Sept. 20th with twogood crowds. Tha canvas truck and•take driver were late getting in,which caused some concern* but theshow was etill able to get etartedon time.

I helped the 24 hour man -•Bob Cray — lay out the lot end asa result discovered the big topla really quite large. It is 90 ftfro* the center poles to the stakeline and about 300 feet long. Eachof the center sections is 50 ft.

Bubba Voss, former band mas-ter on the show visited here. Heisn't on the road this season* asha wanted to rest up from touring*

Everyone seemed to enjoy thecircus and so it was a pleasantday* Some people were even heardto sey that they'd like to see itover again.

The program presented herefeaturedt

Deve Hoover - wild animalsElbe & Rita - aerielieteThe Aerial ClorionsDon Fernando - balancingSilvia & Hajo - acrobaticsManual Ramos - one finger stsnd

THE CIRCUS REPORT is published ona weakly basis by Don Marcks, 525Oak St.* El Cerrito, Cal. 94530

Subscription ratesi $1.00 for eachmonth* $5.00 for six months and$10.00 for the full year.

SAME THIS YEARAccording to a recent announ-

cement, the fisher Bros. Circus lagoing to winter in the same quar-ters et Donna* Taxes, that theyused last year.

Good buainess waa reported atvirtually every spot thue far thisseason* which Included dates atTaxes* Arizona* New Mexico* Okla-homa and Nebraska. The show reliedheevlly on edvence sales* sponsorsand a good deal of advertising.

Prices during the year hevebeen $2.00 for adults and $1.50for children. Advance tickets wereeold et $1.00 fcr everyone. Allfood end drinks are priced at 35**with the animal annex going far50* and the anake ahow for 25*. Acolor book was sold for 50** whilethe peanut pitch was priced etjuet 25*.

Ethel Joyce - mixed animalsRon * Mltzie - iron jawCeline - hair hangLee Blocks - high wireSuerez Troupe - bereback ridingMademoiselle Maya - aeriel actPierre 4 Lewie - comedy ecrobatMario & Robert - comedy acrobatPork Chop Revue - trained pigsJack Joyce - doge end monkeysThe Ferrelas - perch poleSamudio - ladder balancingThe Ruwills - foot jugglingFred Logan - elephantsThe Crispins - teeterboerdThe Oscerians - acrobataThe Zerblnis - acrobatsThe Aztecea - flying act

October 6, 1973 Page 3

C.F.A. CONVENTION.... by Glenn Harrison

We flew up to the CFA Conven-tion at Seattle, Maah. and want I*-Mediately to the Convention Head-quartere at the Rooaevelt Hotel.They had a hoapitality too* end anexhibit room all eat up* the latteiincluded circus models end the col-lections of the late Harper Joyend Bob Tabor*

At the opening buaineea meet-ing the Mayor of Seattle welcomedthe group* The Ladies Luncheon in-cluded en 1690 fashion show, plusa gift for everyone present. This•aa folloved by e tour of "OldSoettl.e"

In the evening the Koo KooClub offered entertainment, withJack Painter serving aa MC* On thaprogram were George Buykan'a corned;number* Aden Ivory1a tamborine actand Louis (Teeny) Long, the magicclown.

The conventioneers attendedthe W a l l a c e ft Rogers Circus etMercer island, where an enjoyableshow was preaented. In the after-noon everyone, including the showfolks* enjoyed e barbeque salmondinner.

During the second businessmeeting Mel Olsen waa elected pre-sident of the CFA for the comingyear. At the same time it was an-nounced that Springfield, Ohio hadbeen selected aa the site of tha1974 convention*

Paul and Kay Pugh were thebenquet speakers. They told about

SHOW VISITWas,able to visit Hoxie Bros,

Garden Bros, snd George WetthewaCircus this year, writes CordonBrown, all thanks to your up-to-date route lists.

Tha Lions Club sponsored theGeorge Matthews Circus at Calgary,and business MS really good. OnSept. 18th they had atrew houaoe,with greet weather| while goodcrowds were on hand to see theshews on Sept. 19th, deepite coolweather and some rein.

They mads tha big Jump toCranbrook just in time to eecepesome really heavy rain and coldweather here*

The audiences especially lik-ed the young bulls, who do a oneleg stand end hind leg walk.

Original Billboard sized circusposters from the 1940's. 6$ ft. x10 ft in full color - $35.00 sech.Free picture* Writs tot L. Koltnow165 west End Ave., New York, N.Y.10023 ^Phonei (212) 799-9065

the beginning of the WenatcheaYouth Circus and ita struggles togain its present position.

The convention wound up witha visit to the Menatchee Youth Circue and a trip to Victoria, B.C.Everyone agreed it was fun ane1 nowwe're looking forward to the 1974convention.

<ROUTESArabia Shrina Circus

to Oct. 14 Houston, TaxesBeatty-Cola Circus

Oct. 8 Pleinview, Texas9 Vernon10 Wichita Falls11 Lawton, Okla.12 Norman13 Stillwater14 Enid

Boas Bros. CircusOct. 6 Patsrstown, W.Va

9 Pnarlburg, Va.10-12 Cristiansburg

13 StuartHubert Caatla Circus

Oct. 10-14 Colo. Springs,ColClyda Bros. CircusOct. 12-14 Toronto, Ont.

Or. Pappar Circusto Oct. 21 Dallas, Texas

Fisher Bros. CircusOct. 8 El Dorado, Texas

9 Bronte10 Rotan11 Aapermont12 Off13 Jayton

Hoxia Broa. CircusOct. 8 Anniston, Ala.

9 Fairfiald10 Tuacaloosa

11-12 Open13-14 Naw Orlaana, La.

Int'l Boys CircusOct. 10-11 Syracuse, N.Y.

12-14 Troy

Kliller-Johnson CircusOct. 8-9 Springf'd, Mo.

Polsck Bros. CircusOct. 13-14 Hsrlingen,Tex.

Ringling's Blue UnitOct. 9-10 Dayton, Ohio

12-14 Champaign, 111Rinqling's Ked UnittoOct. 20 Chicago, 111.Royal Lipizzan Show

Oct. 11-12 Hershey, Pe.13 Scranton14 Utica, N.Y.

Tommy Scott-Tim McCoy ShowOct. 8 Ponca City, Okla

9 Miami10 Ft.Scott, Kana11 Carthage, Mo.12 Neosha13 Springfield14 Harrison, Ark*

John Strong CircusOct. 8 Porterville, Cal.

9 Kingsburg10 Dinuba11 Off12 Thousand Oaka13 Ventura14 Oxnard— End of Tour —

.... SPECIAL ROUTESFiesta FolkloriCOOct. 1-10 Mexico City, Max

13 Akron, OhioHoliday on lea (Int'L)Oct. 9-14 Richmond, Va.

Holiday on Ice (Nat'l)Oct. 9-14 Richmond, Va.

Ice CapadesOct. 9-14 Odessa, Texas

Ice ClassicOct. 10-13 Winston Salem

Small World (Disney)Oct. 10-14 Baton Rge, La.

.... CARNIVALS

James H. Draw ShowsOct. 8-13 Cordele, Ca.

Rose City RidesOct. 8-13 W. Plains, Mo.

Farrow AmusementsOct. 8-13 Ruston, La.

Cumberland Valley ShowsOct. 6-13 Ft. Payne, Ala.

Royal AmuaementaOct. 8-13 Cumminga, Ca.

Louden AmusementsOct. 8-13 Clackaton, Ca.

Ml. D. Stanley Show*Oct. 9-14 Oak Crowe, La.

Murphy Bros. ExpoOct. 12-21 Norman, Okla.

Gene Ledel ShowaOct. 9-13 Nacogdochas, Tax

Little Richard*s ExpoOct. 8-13 Cheeter, S.C.

Reithoffer ShowsOct. 8-13 Spartanburg,SC

Big H RidesOct. 8-13 Walterboro, SC

Belle City AmuaementaOct. 8-13 Griffin, Ca.

Amuaemanta of AmericaOct. 8-13 Florence, SC

8-13 Chase City, Va.8-13 Clinton, NC

•o003

<S

October 8, 1973 Pag* 5

NEWLYWEDSCongratulations are in order

for the former Ethel Romelfangerand Paul Luckey, both of Bareboo,Wise. Nuptials ware performed byJudge Gollmar - and it was a reelcircus affair.

The new Mrs. Luckey is knownas "Miss Ethel* by her many circusfan friends, and has been e long-time calliope player et the CircusWorld Museum.

Paul Luckey also has a largefollowing and is Ring Master andAnnouncer for the circus shows atthe museum.

FINE SE'After pleading "no contenders

to criminal charges filed by theu. S. Attorney on behalf of theOept. of Agriculture, Preach Flem-ing (Shelbyville, Tenn.) was fin«d$250 on Sept* 18th, at Birmingham,Ala.

The charges wsre filed afterMr. Fleming prevented e veterinar-ian from inspecting his TennessesWalking Horse after it had been ondisplay on July 29th* Inspectionsare made after ehowinge to insurethat the horses have not been de-liberately injured prior to thedisplay.

NOTESBertha and Tina (elephants) are

feetured with Eddie Fisher at TheNugget Caaino (Sparks, *ev) thismonth.

The Emett Kelly Jr. Circus

plenty of work lined upThe election of Meerl N.

Johnson (Central City* Pe) as pre-sident of the newly forced Int'lTelephone Seles Promotion Assoc.,was announced laat week. Other of-ficers elected et the Nashville,Tenn. meeting werei Harry Peeble*(Wichita) first vice president;Bill English (Seresotn) secondvice preeident and John Bodin (ofNashville) secretary-treasurer.

In addition to electing aboard of directors, the organize-tion chose two targets — increaseit* membership and fight the Nin-neaota anti-solicitation lews.

An initiation fee of $100 we*announced, along with an assess-ment of $5*00 par day for all showengagements as a weans of buildingup the treasury. Publishers willbe asked to pay $20 per issue,and $?0 for annual advertisingprograms end journals.

Membership classificationsaret Producers, promoters and pub-lishers — |100 initiation fee.Office managers, phonemen end con-tracting agents — $25. Sponsors— $25. The latter two groups willnot have voting privileges.

played Meat Lafayette* Ind. Sept.28th and New York City Sep. 28 toOct. 8th.

W. 0. Stanley Shows suffered ablowdown at Bird Island, Minn, onAug. 21st. The merry-go-round, fer-ris wheel end light towers werebadly damaged*

Pag* 6 The Circus ft•port

REMEMBERINGWas interested in reading that

recent article on "Lewis Broa. Circus" in your paper. This gave me anostalgic feeling as I had my showtroupe on that circus back In 1935when Paul Lewis owned the show.

I had the "After Show" undercontract and Betsy and I workedmenage horses in the main show, Iwas also assistant £queatrain Dir-ector.

I still have a group pictureof the whole troupe, including thebandmen. Aa you probably know, Padused to fight as "Sailor Lewis"and that's where he got the namefor his show.

That winter I stayed at Alamo,Texas, then started the season of1936 with the Joe B. Webb Circus.But when they didn't pay off Itook my troupe to Seal Broa. Cir-cus (Bud Anderson's show) and hada nice season over there.

J. King Ross

YEARS AGOPlttsfield, Mass. - June 7,

1916 - Buffalo Bill show.

The Buffalo Bill and 101 RanchWild Meat Show went through herethis morning at 5i30 a.m. enrouteto North Adams, **S8. from Albany,New York.

They have one train of 8 horsecars* nine flats, seven sleepers,one of which is Buffalo Bill'sprivate car. There are 33 wagonson the train.

HOXIE BROS. CIRCUS... by Pat BisBonette

An old-fashioned bally truck isused by Hoxia Broa. Circus to an-nounce throughout aach town thatthe circus haa arrived. This, plusa variety of nlca advartiaing haateen bringing out good crowde foraach performance. Three-quarterhouses ware recorded at Keyport,N. J. on Aug. 13th, with Idealsumer weather*

The 160 ft. round top le blueand white* while the ring curbsare red and white* Moat of the bigtop seating consists of seat wa-gona. All prop wen wear knee-lengfrwhite coots while working*

The aide show la opereted byStuart Millar and opens with twonumbers by the brass band. Millarla inside lecturer as well aa theman who does Punch & Judy and «a-gic. He la assisted by hie wife,Sara, who worke aa Electro, MiaaSerpentine and the girl in theblade box.

Clowns on the ehow includetMike Bourbon* producing, assistedby Jeremiah Weiner, Art Reecigno,Bob Cerdelli, Pede Crietiani, PepeYoung and Gerald Peltzman. Allhave fleehy coatuoaa and do a nicejob of presenting some standardroutines.

The sleepers are dark green,the horse cere are yellow trimmedwith red. the flat cars are yellowand all the wagons are red.

Octobar 8, 1973 Page 7

PERSONNELRUBY LAMORUS la at a Tucson. Arz,

hospital, while bar husband JACK larecovering fro* an illnaaa at a lo-cal raat home. They are retired cir-cua

JEAN GORMAN (acrobat) la Maltingfor a call frost RBBB, where aha hopto Join the ballet corps.

BOB MATTHEWS ia back home afterapanding aavaral weeks in a hospitalfollowing two haart attacks.

SMOKE Y JONES ia planning to havehis baby bull "Tike" at the PaulEaglea Luncheon Club (Los Angel aa)on Oct. 23rd.

ISABEL HALL (booking agent) re-cently underwent surgery for the re<•oval of a leg*

CHARLES MASON (circus hooker)•as recently elected president ofthe Businessmen's Aeaoc. at Milpitaid

PERRY LUTH has returned to hiehone following an operation on hielag*

CHARLIE ALLEN reports he'll endhia Petting Zoo's current tour inthe Loa Angelee. Calif, erea onDec. 23rd.

SHELLY GREENE recently left theHubert Caatla Circus and was re-placed In clown alley by SANDYYOUNG, the wife of REX YOUNG.

MURRAY HILL will have hia anlstalahow working for JAMES HARGROVEduring the cowing holiday Jjaason.

it Bros, laliberty

ourriRumor haa it that

going to add elephants'act to its 1974 aeason?s*p*4>grem.

The Grand Nationals will be heldin Sen Francisco, Cal. Ocf* 26 to

Nov. 4 tlfta year.

The HappytimeCircus is playingthe City of Hope inthe Loa Angeles area

Foley & Burk Show*played San Leandro,Calif, on Sep. 19-23

In 1923 the Spark*Circus traveled atotal of sows 15.261wiles.

Butler AmusementsSOME showfolk who were on tour with Hagenbeek-Wallaee Circus, were in Oakland, Cal.

Mason of 1915. Left to right are Bert Cole, Oscar Lowande, Mr. and Mrs. fQr a benefit eventRobert Cottrell, Louise Powell, lames Robinson, Mrs. Oscar Lowande, Mrs. ja8^ month.Dallie Julian, Fred Ledjctt, Gilbert Eldred, and Mr. and Mrt, Bud Gorman.

Oct. 6, 1973 Pege S

TO THE EDITORI've meant to congratulate you

for a long time on tha "Circus Re-port". You've improved It tremend-ously (especially the nan aize) andtha photos, old ads, ate. brightenit up* To my mind ita superior toanything that's available, and itvauldn't surprise ma if you event-ually become the really big paperof the clrcua world*

.... Robert 6. Johnson

Have you sent in yoursubscript ion to The Cir-cus Report?

Better do it today aoyou can keep up on allthat's happening in the

world of the circus.It's Just $10.00 for • year. Writetot Don Marcka, 525 Oak St., El Carriot, Calif. 94530

JOHN STRONG CIRCUS (Continued)Clark Craig - liberty poniaaMias Robin - swinging ladderMr. Meatball - comedy ladderWandany Family - acrobatsZippo, the clown - balloon gagClark Craig - dog and ponyMiae Robin - aerial webMlse Heidi - dogeZlppo - trained macaw "Arthur"Tha ulal-Tima - rialey/acrobatPatches, the clown - JugglingRobin end Meatball - tight wireMica Jan - single trapezeMiee Heidi - jugglingClowns - hair growingClark Craig - elephant "Neene"