America's Favorite Circus Weakly

Volume 2 January 29, 1973 Number 4

A NEW TRAIN,.ingling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Cir-

cus has a brand-new railroad train, theonly one of its kind in the world. It's atrain th^t will probably cause every dyed-in-the-wool TV fanatic to turn green withenvy.

The Circus streamliner consists of32 cars, each one bring equipped with aTV antenna for the enjoyment of the show's

personnel, who get to sample thevideo fare of states all acrossthe country* as well as in Cana-da. The show tours from Januaryto December so thnre's plenty oftime for TV watching.

~Wfiat do the folks with "The GreatestShow on Earth" watch most? Movies, according to a recent poll. Among their favor-ites ware» Great Train Robbery, LastTrain, Shanghai Express, Union Pacific*

One thing's for sure, on Sunday eve-ning, Fab. 25th all of the Circus1 TVsets will be tuned to the NBC-TV specialfeaturing "Highlights of Ringling Bros,and Barnum A Bailey Circus."

Treasure DividendThe Circus World Museum recently

announced they had been given two majorgifts of circus material for their refer-ence departments.

One gift, consisting of books, pro-grams, route books, lithos and pictures,was presented to the museum by Walter W.Tyson, of Guelph, Ontario, Canada* I hadto make a decision about where my collec-tion would go, Tyson said, and after see-

convention meetThe first Windjammers Convention,

recently held in Miami, Fla. was really agood affair.

The band wasn't as well rehearsedas one would hope for, but just the factMB heard numbers which are no longer played made up for any lack of practice. Goodcrowds were on h^nd for every performanceand especially the final one.

Archie Schlarbaum hosted the groupwith a steak cookout at his home, whichwas well attended. Incidentally, his wifeplayed clarinet in the band, the firsttime in years she has played.

At the business meeting Bob Hills,of Delaware, Ohio, was elected presidentof the organization the membership voteson a full slate of offi oars.

Charlie Bennett, Bob Hills, WardStauth and Paul Fitzpatrick were appoin-ted a committee to work out the group'sBy-Laws.

After this convention the writer,and his family, visited the old Ringlingsite in Sarasota, the Hannefords, Art Concello's home and the new Ringling quarter?in Venice.

.

ing the facilities at the Circus WorldMuseum I knew that was the place for mycollection.

The other gift came from BillboardPublications, Inc. of New York and con-sisted of 239 bound volumes of the Bill-board magazine, covering a period of 63years. It is one of the few virtually in-tact files kwnon to exist.

Page 2 January 29, 1973

show programThe Emmett Kelly, Jr. Circus fea-

tured a strong format, writes Pat Bisson-ette, who caught the show at both thewestbury music Fair and the Brooklyn Aca-demy of Music, ooth ln New York« Tn°V nadsome nice animal acts presented by Der-rick Rosaire in a relaxed and skillfulpresentation*

The show's program featured!Clarence Jr. - the cross-eyed lionJudy A Thoto - chimps from OaktariGentle Ben, wrestling a man on stageTony, the wonder horsePam's mad mod Dogs - skillful hurdle actTerri Lewis - dancing as Raggedy AnnEmmett Kelly, Jr. - Comedy magic/Juqgl.'.gmerlin, the magician (Phil Chandler)Les Thinia - trampoline (7yr. old Diana)miss Tina - single trapezeBlue Streaks - roller skaters

Austin miles - ringmaster/announcer

Clownsi whizzer Birdwell (producing),Billy Gowan, Kevin Hendricks, Frank Je-well, Henry Selman, Larry Salken.

trip to texasEarly this month, Shirley and Helen

Walters, along with Margaret McKay, madea trip from Hugo, Okla. to Texas. Therethey visited several show business friend

At WcAllen they visited with theWiegands, who traveled with Larson & Bar-nes Circus last season. Then they want onto see the Silver-lakes and the winterhome of the Clark & Walters and FisherBros, circuses.

The three gals report they had anice trip, but t^ere was a lot of coldwind andrrnin during the trip. Later whenth?y arrived back in Hugo they discoveredthat city had also had bad weather.

THE CIRCUS REPORT is published everyweek by Don Marcks, 525 Oak St., El Cer-rito, Calif. - 94530

Subscription prices are: $1.00 per eachmonth; S5.00 for six months; or $10.00for the full year.

PEOPLEANN and TED AKEMAN have been visiting

some show business friends in Texas.

THE STEPHENSON FAHIILY, along with H.Ross, an investor, plan to open a new zo»at Bowie, Maryland.

POPOV, the Russian Clown, was a gueston the mike Douglas TV show last week*

LOLO, the clown, will be a guest at thewhite Elephant Sale, on Jan. 29th, to raisemoney for the Oakland, Calif, museum.

CARL FLETCHER, comedy lion and tigecact, is with the Busch-fioland Circus nowplaying in Bucharest, Rumania.

THE FLYING FERCOS (acrobats) and LESQUATRE TONYS (Jugglers) are currently atthe Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.

STAN KRAmiEN was KIC for the Sherri Le-wis Puppet Show at Pleasanton, Calif, onJan. 20th. He is ulso touring his magicshow in the Pacific Northwest.

NRS. PHYLLIS ASHTON and her daughterJAN, of Australia's Circus Ashton, wererecently guests of the Paul Pughs at Wen-atchee. Wash.

CARLOS FAR FAN plans to take out his owncircus this year. He will call it the "LasVegas International Circus."

PUNCH JACOBS had his Candyland Circusin the Seattle/Tacoma and Portland areasover the holiday season.

THE ALCETTY JUGCLEHS were featured onthe "Tonight" TV show on Jan. 15th.

Tim COONEY (Pockets the Clown) andCYNTHIA HOVEZAK will be married in VanNuys. Calif, on Feb. 3rd. They were bothwith miller-Johnson Circus last year.

DICK wESTEN, ventiloquist| LOS HIOS,tumblers, and milo & Rogers, magicians, arecurrently playing the Stardust Hotel inLas Vegas, Nevada.

LOUIS KNIE and GEHflMINE THErtON weremarried last month. He is the son of HolfKnie circus owner, and she is a member ofThe Dollies, a cycling troupe.

GUNTHER GEBEL-WlLLIAmS is featured ina photo exhibit now displayed in many Cali-fornia shopping centers*

January 29, 1973 Page 3

NOTESRBBB's Red Unit will play

Madison Square Garden for 63days this year.

The Oakland (Cal) MagicCircle held their InstallationDinner on Jan. 26th.

Britain's Chipperfieldcus closed a months engagementat Birmingham, Eng. on Jan. 20

The life of John Ringlingis to be featured on an upcom-ing American Life Stye TV show

The New York City Library,Theatre Collection, has a partof the RBBB big top for 1923.

Circus sequences in a re*cent "Nodical Center" TV showwere arranged by Bob Yerkes.

The Oakland (Cal) Museumhas a painting of the ChiariniCircus, painted in the 1890'sby W. Hahn. The picture showssome boys peaking under thecanvas.

The Hamid-Morton Circus isset to open its 1973 season atufichita, Kans. on Feb. 22nd.

Abbott's will hold theirannual Magic Get-together onAug. 15 to 18th.

Rumor has it that the Har-tzell *"amily is planning totake out their own show thissummpr *

That winter circus in Pue-rto Rico, now underway, is a40 day stand*

An American Legion groupwill sponsor a Hee Haw Jambor-ee at Pleasanton, Calif, onJune 3rd. Proceeds go to helplocal crippled children.

Some $14 million has beenlaid tor rontals for the film

-'Greatest Show on Earth."

Cole's All Star Circus wiUplay Warren, Pe. today (Jan.29th)

Storm Warnings —Is the End Near?The Seattle, Wash. City Council is currently working

on legislation to control door-to-door and phonR salespromotions. At the present time they are hearing argu-ments for and against such legislation in effort to workout a suitable program.

Councilman George Cooley .wants to restrict fly-by-night operations that cheat the public and invades theirprivacy. He has asked for the licensing of all door-to-door salesmen, as wall as bonding and requiring identifi-cation badges.

His plan calls for bondfees of $1,000 and $2,000for both small and largedirect sales operations. Civil and criminal penaltieswould be established as ameans of enforcing the pro-posed legislation.

William Clark, assist-ant attorney general forconsumer protection, saysthat "direct selling is oneof the major problems con-fronting our office.'Thislegislation is needed toclean up the industry."

Robert Porterfield, dir-ector of the Seattle consu-mers protective office, re-ports that complaints con-cerning door-to-door andphone sales ranks fourth inthe total number of compla-ints handled at his office.

Last year a citizen'sadvisory committee, appoint-ed by the Council, recommen-ded that door-to-door endphone sales be outlawed inSeattle.

Those opposing the leg-islation were reprasentat-ivea of such firms as FullerBrush, Stanley Products,Tupperware and the local nonewspapers. They maintainedthere is a big turnover inpersonnel because so manypeople come to work for thecompanies for only a briefperiod of time.

THE LAWGothic Tale

Stanley Herein was born with hisarmless hands growing directly out ofhis shoulders, and he is known, in thecruel world of the carnival, as "Scalothe Sealboy." Norbert P. Terhune is adwarf. 3 ft. 6 in. tall, billed as "Poo-Bah the Pygmy." Both of them workedfor World Fair Freaks and Attractions,a sideshow that toured various South-ern county fairs. In the summer of 1969World Fair was preparing to open inNorth Bay Village, neur Miami, whenthe local police threatened to prosecuteunder a 1921 state law against freakshows, which calls for up to a SI.(XX)fine or a year in jail.

Freak shows have been in a long de-cline—there arc only live such showsof any size left—but a number of statesstill have laws designed to protect cit-izens from displays of deformity andto protect the deformed themselvesfrom exploitation. Bcrent and Terhunewere not grateful. Along with WorldFair, they went to the Florida SupremeCourt to argue that the state was in-terfering with their right to make a liv-ing: neither, despite their normal intel-ligence, had been able to find any otherjob. By a 6-to-l vote, the court found:"It may be that certain malformations,perhaps those relating to private areasof the body or some which may be re-pulsive or vulgar in nature, would so af-fect the morals and general welfare asto lend themselves to a prohibition." Butthis was not so. said the court, in thecase of a dwarf and a "sealboy." De-claring the law unconstitutionally broadand imprecise, Justice Hal Deklc ruledthat "one who is handicapped must beallowed a reasonable chance within hiscapacities to earn a livelihood." ForTerhune. 46. who was appearing lastweek in Beaumont. Texas, this meanthe could work again without harass-ment in Florida. But Berent. the seal-boy, retired last year at the age of 70.

TIME. OCTOBER 30, 1972

Page 4 January 29, 1973

really exciting. . by CHUCK SATEJA

The Moscow Circus played at the Spec-trum in Philadelphia, Pa. on Jan. 4-7 andit is by far the best show to come to thestates. They have top quality lights andacts and costumes that are much betterthan the prior shows.

The volzhansky Troupe of Highwire Ar-tists are the best. Their three levels ofwalking the highwire not only makes yougasp, but at times one wonders how fool-ish an act can get in trying to presentsomething different for ths public.

The Valentin Filatov Bears is an actthat I doubt any other such act can top.It is really delightful to watch thesealmost human bears work for their tidbits and occasional honey.

Oleg Popov's clowning is also verygood and offers something different allthe time.

Business at Philadelphia was verygood with packed houses for every show.Unfortunately opening night was marredby some local protestors, but there wereno incidents during the rest of the showstand.

One thing about ajl these performersis the fact they a^l smile and act likethey pnjoy their work*

PROGRAMThe 'tew International Circus, pro-

duced by Victor O'Olara, opened at theGrove Theatre in Belfast, Ireland, onDec. 25th. The show will be playing therefor the winter months*

The show's program features:

Hanna Cluck - Five African lionsElla Stey - aerial trapezeFossetts - llamas, ponies, elephantsThe Salskys - Dive of Death/tumblingHans Vogelbein - comedy dogsChristine flartell - jugglerFossett's libety horses and poniesCongo and Nadia - gorilla parodyBobo, Barney, Pedro - clownsHans Vogelbein - trick pony "Sander"

VET AGENT DIESJust recently it was reported that

Clarence Auskings, a veteran aqent Tor ov-er 50 yrs. had passed away. The sad pertis that when Auskings died at Afton, Okla.on Jan. 17, 1973, there were no known re-latives.

Thia writer once had an opportunityto visit with Auskings and to make somenotes on his career. His files were alllost in a fire, but there were some mem-ories he could easily recall.

The first show he traveled with wasthe George W. Ely Circus, in 1903. Thisshow had come out of Harrisburg, 111. Thefollowing year he had the Thardo FamilyCircus, a wagon show, out on the road, anoutfit from Linesville, Pa.

He worked for George (Popcorn) Hall,when William Campbell was the manager,Later he worked for Campbell when his twocar Minstrel show was out.

In 1912, he was with George Christy,who was operating a movie show under cen-vas. The next year he added vaudeville tothe show and called it The HippodromeShow.

Auskings worked for Felix Hermann,the magician, and a cousin of the famousAlexander Herrmann. Once they ran intotrouble in the coal field ^rea of SouthernIllinois, but Auskings wild-catted theshow into new territory and eventuallybrought them into N-?w Orleans. There Her-mann got a government job, while his wifecontinued to tell fortunes.

He also worked for Golden Bros, andBible Bros, and in later years worked forschool shows, carnivals, etc*

His last real road work was beingout ahead for R. P. Crotser, a one-handmagician from Talala, Okla. He was well-known in Oklahoma and was booked for alonq tour.

by BILL KUESSKAfnP

Bobo's Craxy TaxiEduardo Stey Troupe - highwire

Show staff: Victor O'Clara, Ringmaster;Edward Fossett, Equestrian Director andIris Tate, Musical Director.

January 29, 1973

ROUTESBelle Vue Int'l Circus

thru Fel.>. 3 Manchester, EnglandBusch-Roland Circus

thru Feb. 5 Bucharest, RumaniaHubert Castle Circus

F9b. 2-4 Fort Wayne, Ind.L. N. Fleckles Circus

Jan. 26-Feb. 11 Detroit, WichWilier-Johnson Circus

Jan* 28 Hollywood, Fla.Moscow Circus

Jan. 30-Feb. 4 New Haven, Conn.Polack Bros. Circus

Fab. 3-4 Cherry Point, N. C.Rinqling-Barnum (Rad Unit)

Feb. 1-4 Jacksonville, Fla.Tommy Scott-Tim WcCoy Show

Jan. 22 Anderson, S. C.23 Fayattevilla, N. C.24 Smithfield25 Kinston26 Goldsbor*27 Roanoke Rapids28 Off29 Charlottsville, Va.30 Washington, N. C.31 Wilmington

Feb. 1 Georgetown, S. C.2 Wanning3 Orangeburg4 Off

Golden Gata Dog ShowFab* 3-4 San Francisco, Calif.

The PacemakerIn addition to featuring a very

good program, the annual winter produc-tion of the Kelvin Hall Circus (Glasgow)featured an outstanding ringmaster. Al-fred Delbosq was celebrating his 21 at yr.with this show.

He reportedly keeps a firm, but yetflexible command over the show, directincits performance in a calm and efficientmanner. All to often good ringmasters areoverlooked, and it is not until a ring-master is bad that one realizes how manythings can come up during a circus show.

The show's program featuredi

Thp Duo Dobritch - perch actThe Balkan Troupe - trempolineThe Alexandro A Co. - Russian swingPpter Santos 4 Co. - clou<ns

The Long JourneyJust recently Tex Dreyfus and Harry

Kingston (of Houston, Texas) headed outto visit the shows that were wintering inthe southern part of their state. On theway they stopped at Richmond, Victoria,Corpus Christi and Kingsville, but wereunable to find a single circus litho des-pite the fact that the Beatty-Cole andCarson 4 Barnes circuses had played someof the towns not long before.

From Kingsville they drove to Hay-mondsville (65 miles) via the Big KingRanch highway. They then moved on to Har-legin for a visit with John and Ethel Le-wis, whose 1" scale model wagons are saidto be truly beautiful.

The next day they drove into Donnaand a raging rain storm, but it was downa side road to the quarters of the fisherBros, and Clark & Walters Circuses. Therethey found refuge in the private trailerof Wei Silverlake. Aft^r coffee and a vi-sit, del proudly showed the two men hishuge hippo, and other circus equipment.

Later they went to see John Lewiswho was readying his own show for « 1973opening. Then Wei's father-in-l^w arrivedand he's a real old-time trouper, thusthe day turned into a real talk session.

Before heading for home, some 300miles away, both TPX and Harry were givena big variety of circus items for theircollection. "It was as if someone hadhanded us a million dollars," Tex reports

That long drive ho-ne, says Tex, wasmade in a pouring rain, but while it waswet outside there was certainly sunshinein our hearts, thanks to John Lewis andWei Silverlake, some reil great people.

The Rosaries - unsupported laddersRudy Horn - JugglerRudolfo Stey Family - high wireThe Four Gerardins - cyclesLes Raluys - bar actThe Gciy Ghezzis - comedy knockaboutBilly Wilson - elephants (4)Kitty Roberts - dogsKatja Schumann - ponies (8)

The shoe's hand leader was BernardWeller; while the clowns included! CarlPint«;r, Noe Noe 4 Son and Clo»in

Page 6 January 29, 1973

Transit from CALIF*Last waak a/ally Ross, Ben Avars and Bud

Moore were seen driving East across the na-tion last week, enroute to the Wilier John-son opening yesterday (Jan. 28) at Holly-wood, Fla. Each man was driving a semi witha Hyder tractor and in the three vans weret5 elephants, 2 tigers, 1 black leopard, 2mountain lions, 2 camels and 10 horses.

smart's goes onThe Billy Smart's Circus is aliva

and kicking, despite reports to the con-trary. Although the show did not tour in1972 and will not be on the road in 1973they are still quite actively involvedin the world of circus.

This past winter season (Dec. 26-Jan. 20) the Annual Holiday presentationof the Billy Smart's Circus was present-ed at Fairfield Hall, in Croydon, Surrey,England.

The show program featured!

The Five Cervai - acroabticsAlun Davies - dogs (10)Blandini - cloud swingJohn & Beverly Roberts - plate spinningClowns - washing a carBox KangarooVivi Schmidt's sea lionsThe Arota - high wireMiss Atlas - strong lady

The starsSpecialty acts playing with the Harlem

j Globetrotters during their Jan. 20-21 dateI in Oakland, Calif.

Charlie Charles & Family - bicyclesA table tennis teamMarco Brunn - juggler

Both evening shows for the Globetrot-ters was sold out well ahead of time andthey drew the largest crowds ev/er seen atthe Oakland Coliseum.

Our folks all read theCircus Report iveryMonday. They say it isthe bust circus news

in the country - you ought to be readingit each week too.

Subscribe to The Circus Report today itis only 110.00 for the full year - thatway you can keep op on what 's new.

Writei Don Narcks, 525 Oak Street, ElCerrito, Calif. - 94530

Duo Milik - hand voltageLes Coudoux - balancingBrenner & Beverly - aerial ladderThe Flying Oscas - flyinq act

Clowns included! Michael Austin, GrahamBland, Beano, Mario, Carl Banner.

Staffi Hingmaster - Chris ChristianRingmistress - Yasmin SmartBand leader - Ken Griffen