December 15.1980

111 m

\\\*. i /BILL WILLIAMS - COTTON CANDY

"... The Million Dollar CarlosTwins, from Berlin, Germany,former Olympic gymnastics con-tenders, perform atop a precar-ious perch with Circus Vargas."

... The Lawton (Okla.)Constitution

"... Defying the natural flexi-bility of the human body, Ger-man circus performers, The Car-los Twins, provoked oohs andaahs from the amazed openingnight audience at Circus Vargas/1

. . . The Laredo (Texas) Times

"... The ground provided justas much excitement and perhapseven more talent, as a pair ofGerman twins, both former Olym-pic-caliber gymnasts, performeda bevy of kicks, splits, rolls andcontorsions that would haveearned a '10' in any judge'sscore card."

... the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald

"... the twins contortionedtheir small frame bodies intoperfect balance for one of theevening's best received acts."... The Laredo (Texas) Times

Page 4 December 15, 1980

Joseph C. ReisingerA T T O R N E Y AT LAW

Entertainment Law - Civil Trials - Immigration

For Fret Consultation or AppointmentCall: 415 -472 -1050

EMMETT KELLY, JR. CIRCUS

BY JAMES A. CONLEY

This circus which was presented Nov. 27 toNov. 30 at Knott's Berry Farm was entirelydifferent from the one Emmett Kelly, Jr.presented last summer at the San Diego 200.This time the circus was staged in the large"Good Time Theatre", complete with watercurtain, dramatic lighting, novel ring curb,and artistic setting. The acts were booked byChuck Burnes of the Knott's Entertainmentstaff. Chuck is well qualified, having had anextensive background in the circus business.He has done everything from trouping as aclown with RBBB to managing Rudy Bros.Circus.Emmett Kelly, Jr. opened the show with the"sweeping up the spotlight" bit. The ringmas-ter, Mike Whitney, was flashily attired in aVegas type dress suit that reflected highlightsfrom the spots. This was his f irst experiencein this capacity, having worked for some timein the park at other jobs in the entertainmentdepartment. He showed an aptitude for ring,mastering when he had to ad lib to cover thelong cross-over of Emmett Kelly, Jr. on bothends of an exceedingly long rope. Incidental-ly, this old gag was extremely welt receivedby the audience.The Ferges Troupe were on next, billed as"Treacherous Tricks on the Trampoline".Theact consisted of two attractive girts and a manin a very stylish wardrobe, and a comic malewho kept interrupting and getting into trou-ble on the trampoline. He ultimately lost histrousers white attempting a stunt, ran offstage in apparent embarrassment, only to re-

THE CIRCUS REPORT is published each weekby Don Marcks. 525 Oak St., El Cerrlto. Calif.94530 - Phone: (415) 525-3332.SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $15.00 for the year.Overseas rate via surface malt is $20.00 a year.ADVERTISING RATES: (Per issue on a firstcome basis) Minimum Ad $5.00. Quarter P.I.,.$10.00; Half Page $20.00; Full Page $35.00

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turn in a more sophisticated wardrobe andto perform some very entertaining stunts onthe trampoline. It was a fast moving act andgot a lot of laughs from the spectators.The Saxons were next. He works on a unicy-cle and goes through some very showy mov-es before doing club juggling as he rides thewheel. He is assisted by Brenda (on theground) who styles and points up his tricks.They follow with club jugging snowing veryentertaining take-aways and club passing aswell as ring juggling under U.V. lights. Therings change color as they are juggled andthis was a big hit with the audience. He alsorides a tight pattern between clubs whilemounted on the unicycle. The Saxons sellextremely well to the customers.Spielzeug consists of Gary Baker in a toysoldier costume and Vickie in an old fashion-ed dress. The toy soldier opens the act doinga mechanical walk to a large overturned drumwhere he does a handstand. He gets off thestand and appears to run down. The girl en-ters with a small rag doll, sets it on a toy blockto watch her perform on the upturned drum.After her trick, she gets a large key, winds upthe toy soldier, who is directed upon the toydrum, given a toy stick horse. The soldierthen does a one hand stand using the stickhorse as the stick upon which he balances.The girl then sets the rag doll on the drumand does a one hand stand using the doll forsupport. The act finishes with the toy soldierdoing the well-known finger stand on the

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Page6 December 15,1980

Show DatesInt'l All Star Circus

Dec 15 Douglas, Ga.16 Tallahassee, Fla19 Bradenton20 Ft. Myers

• End of Season •

Wonderland Circus RevueDec 15 Cades, S.C.

16-17 Kingstree18 Greeieyville19 Summerton

• End of Season -

- - M A G I C -

Pf. Miller Magic Time USADec 16 Frederick, Md.

17 Gettysburg, Pa.18 Greensburgh19 Johnstown20 Altoona

• End of Season •

Circus AtaydeDec. 14-Feb. 2 Mexico City

Royal Danish CircusDec. 11 Atlanta, Ga.

14 Houma, La.16 Ocean Sprngs, MissISSIidell. La.

- - - O T H E R DATES —

Flight Into ImaginationDec 15 Fullerton. Calif.

17 Brea19 Pomona

Galactic DragonsDec 15-16 Tucson, Ariz.

18-19 Las Vegas, Nev.

Santa's Magic Sleigh (Red)Dec 15 Redondo Beach, Ca.

16 Inojewopd17 Culver City18 Santa Monica19 Westwood

- End of Season-

Santa's Magic Sleigh (White)Dec 15 Downey, Calif.

16 Norwalk17 La Habra18 Whit t ier19 Baldwin Park20 Montclair

- End of Season -

The SikorskysDec 14-20 Chicago, III.

SAMANTHA

We're off for the holidays andwould you believe it • I met thisguy who said he was a magicianand needed me to help him inthe act.

t expected a real peachy andglamorous show, being a realmagician's assistant. It neveroccured to me that he wantedme to play Santa and worst ofall to make my entrance viathe chimney.

But, what's a girl to do onceshe's given her word. You justhave to go along with the idea.

It might be fun when all ofthe children shout "Hey, Santa!"Afterwards there is a party andthe magician says I'm invited,so that should be fun, too.

t *

« » • .'

DATELINE: Dallas: On Nov. 22, the anniver-sary of Kennedy's assassination in this city, an-other star burst from its place in the firmamentto soar off into the infinite, when MAE WESTclosed her eyes at 10:30 ayem on Saturdaymorning and died peacefully and painlessly.

Like my mother, Mae West had suffered firsta mild and then a massive stroke, but unlikemy mother who continues in grave condition,Mae returned to her Hollywood apartment andwas doing well. On the morning she died shewas having trouble breathing, a doctor wassummoned who said nothing further could bedone and the entertainment industry lost an-other of its Great Originals.

Inexorably we are losing our legends. Only ahandful of illustrious greats are left, some ofwhom like Dietrich and Hepburn and KateSmith are not in good health. Soon, they andGarbo, Swanson and Bette Davis will be gone.Who will replace these unique personalities?

Is it because these stars entered an era whenmovies were new that their personalities be-came so indelibly stamped on the industry?Or was it a time when rampant competitiondemanded only the absolute best from a per-former? To remain a star one had to havesomething very special, not the least of whichwas talent. And this applied to every showbusiness medium, not just the motion pictureindustry.

Mae was a kind and generous woman, hermanner was gracious, she exuded warmth, wasvitally interested in others. In private life shewas nothing like the brazen and brassy sexsymbol sashaying across the screen. That MaeWest was her act. Oh yes, some of this spilledover, but only when she knew her visitor wan-ted her "on stage", or when she was making apoint, being sexily funny, or witty, as wasmore often the case.This wonderful woman gave me her wisdom,

her love, her friendship. And I am richer forit, for having known her. Rest in Peace, mydear friend.

My first autograph party at Barber's BookStore in Ft. Worth was attended by circusfolks wishing me well - PAT and GWEN DA-VISON, BILL and TRUDY. WADE B R U C K ,EARL MICHAELS, MACK ESHLEMAN, andSANDY YOUNG with her friend PAT CRUM-METT. Author-columnist MILT NORWOODwas also on the scene and I was surprised by

an enormous basket of fall flowers from Wadeand Margaret Burck and Mack Eshleman.

MILT HOPWOOD, of the Ft. Worth NewsTribune, himself an author, also a spomcas-ter and sports columnist, penned a rave re-view of my novel. His great book "Great Tex-ans in Sports" is now in its third printing. Heis now working on a new book "Great Womenin Sports."Well, the surprise visit paid by RICHARD

ROSIO to KEITH Kl LUNGER and Rosin'sstory that he was escorting a Greek Heiressaround the USA turned put to be, so I am told,by eyewitnesses, something quite different. Ev-identally, the girl was from Florida and Rosio,calling himself Daniel Fleming, was up to hisgames again.

SNAPSHOTS: REX and SANDY YOUNG'sfriends, the CRUMMETTS (Don and Pat) in-vited Bill and Trudy, Bobby and me, to theirhome for a sumptous dinner party. Unfortun-ately Bill, working on the interior of theStrong's semi, couldn't make it... REX golf-ed every day he could during the layoff, sometimes joined by another golf enthusiast FRANKGALAMBOS.. .FRANK and DORIS, incident-ally, will do their aerial motorcycle act nextseason. The Galambos will again be with Ham-id-Morton. . .WADE BURCK's appearance onThose Amazing Animals was Aired Nov. 16thand was not the last show of the series as I re-ported earlier. Nevertheless ratings for theshow continue downward.. .Shots of theBAUERS. ENRICO WALLENDA, DAVEMERRIFIELD were especially well done butthose sensational airplane sequences stole theshow (The Daredevils).. .Clown DENNISSTEVENS visited the King Bros. Circus atSarafla. Word is that show goes out again in1981.. .My condolences to GLENN PAR-KINS whose mother passed away in October.

KEITH Kl LUNGER went into New Orleansto get the band organized for TOMMY HAN-NEFORD and then returned for our closingweek in Dallas.. .DIAMOND JIM PARKERis staying in Gibtown.. .High wire walker

DANIEL ACOSTA, a frequent visitor duringthe FW date, is suffering recurring health prob-lems from that terrible fall. Meanwhile he ispackaging a new high wire act featuring twogirls doing the same hair-raising routines nor-mally done by men, and, of course, those doneby Acosta himself.. .CHRISTOPHER JAMES

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Page 10 December 15,1980

and the PLUNKETTS played the Hadi TempleShrine Circus in Evansville over Thanksgiving.. .ERNIE McLEAN was bed-ridden for severaldays with a severe cold.. .HEIDI and JACKIEKRAUSE went to Florida.. .A new coffeetable book on clowns, printed in Canada andreleased by MacMillan is out and features anumber of photos on REX YOUNG and a fullpage color pix of BUNKO (Emie Burch). Mostof the photos, however, are of European clownperformers.. .You can look for a new columnlogo in 1981, created by that ingenious PATDAVISON.. .That catastrophic MG'M GrandHotel fire only made the fire officials tough-er at the Convention Center in Dallas (wherethey have always been strict) and made it dif-ficult for those os us using fireworks, flash potsor anything involving open flame.. .Ft. Worth/Dallas residents (performers and fans) who findmy book gone at Barber's two stores in FW, orat Cokesbury's in Dallas, can acquire same atthe main public librarues.. .At Murder by TheBook bookstore in Providence my book is amajor best seller, selling out two large ship-ments already. Step-by-step it is being distri-buted nationwide. Mainly the momentum wasbraked by spending too much time in Texas,so now I know all future engagements mustbe kept shorter.. .Show business has finallybecome a sideline.

IRONIC ITEM: A member of the Helta Tem-ple Shrine Patrol, WILLIAM McKEE, was shotto death by his wife during the crucial andmuch heralded showing of the "Who Shot J.R." segment of the TV series "Dallas." TheHella Temple, is of course, also in Dallas.

NOT SAFE ANYWHERE: During an activ-ity at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Ft. Wortha man emerged to find both back wheels of

his Thunderbird missing. The wheels werestolen in a lighted parking lot with plenty ofpeople about including BILL STRONG whowas rebuilding the interior of his semi and no-body saw or noticed anything until David saidto Bill, after the parking lot was cleared of allbut a few vehicles, "Dad, doesn't that car lookas if it doesn't have any back wheels?" It didnot.

CLOSEUPS: SANDY YOUNG has been tak-ing art lessons on the sly and showed Trudy,Bobby and me at least six framed canvasesshe had painted in oils. Some of them are verygood. She'd been taking lessons from her friendPATSY CRUMMETT, also an artist, and an artteacher.Well, high-flying HERBIE WEBER and MAR-

CELLA returned from their tour with SIDKELLNER's new opus "Old Time Vaudeville"and here's all the dope: Sid, who's had his problems the past few years, is finally back, aftertrial and error, on the Promotional Ball (andas everyone knows when Sid hits his stridethere isn't a better promototer anywhere).His new promotional endeavor, the Vaude-ville Show, is a sure-fire winner, attractinggood sponsors and large audiences. The cur-rent show featured MOREY AMSTERDAM(72) who closed the second half and workedanywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. Fea-tured in the program were: JERRY LAYNE,

vent and MC, the youngest member of thecast; CHARLIE RAINO (not so young) withcomedy juggling; JOHN E (in his seventies)with dead-pan comedy songs; JOHNNIE RO-MANO (95) tap-dancer whose energetic ter-psichpre brought the house to its feet for astanding ovation. This old-time star appearedwith Charles Chaplin around 1900 and with

(Continued on Page 12)

Gee Gee E L E P H A N T S

and

Z E L L M A R ' S L I B E R T Y A C T I N M I N I A T U R E

H A V E S O M E O P E N T I M E

A F T E R M A Y 3 1 g t

Contact: GEE GEE ENGESSERP.O. Box 1654Gibsonton, Florida - 33534

Phone: 813 - 677 • 2076

Page 12 December 15, 1980

Rudolph Valentino in the 20's! And, of course,the LOS LATINOS appearing second fromclosing (and NOBODY knows how old Herfoieis except Herbie and he ain't talking).

PERRY JOHNSON maestroed a nine pieceband, ED RUSSELL is booking spots aroundLos Angeles for a Spring tour, and this tourplayed Napa, San Francisco, Santa Cruz andWatsonville. Sid, by the way, now has newoffices in San Francisco's Orpheum Theatrebuilding. The Vaude show may possibly comeeast next fall. I hope so.

Other news on the Kellner front is that MATTand GEORGE are doing fantastically well withpromotional operations of their own involvingLabor. They put out their own newspaper andrecently bought a radio station in WalnutCreek. This station, apparently, broadcastsonly at night, is called the JAZZBEAU Net-work and features AL COLLINS talk show,on from midnight to 5 a.m. The boys haveluxurious new homes, and best of all, girls,they're still eligible bachelors.

LOVEY, Sid's ex-wife, now remarried, suf-fered a massive heart attack this past summer,was given up for dead. Only shock treatmentbrought her back. She told Hertaie she felt asthough she had floated through a pitch blacktunnel and then, suddenly, emerged in a burstof light She is fine now.Seen in Sid's office one day was RUDY JA-

COB!. . .DON MARCKS, who created Sid'sprograms, was just too over-worked to catchthe show. I'm told that, in addition to gettingCR out weekly, Don is involved in a heavywork schedule which keeps him hopping.

And, finally, veteran clown HARRY ROSShas retired and is selling his props. Harry, whois 76, is being treated for a skin cancer on hisback.

BACK TALK: Depressed over Mae's death,

GAYLORD MAYNARD's wonder horse 'BearPaw' got front page coverage in the Aug. 27thissue of the Ottawa Journal. The photo showsthe horse kissing his trainer.

EMMETT KELLY, Jr. Circus (Continued)

drum. It is a most unusual dressing for thiskind of act and makes for interesting varietyin the show. Gary Baker and Vickie have justfinished the season with the TNT & RoyalOlympic Circus.

The Shurrays are from the Redlands "Y" Cir-cus. They work from a trapeze and rings. Theydo a variety of stunts including a little ironjaw and finish with a helicopter head spin.The wardrobe was sharp and the audiencefound them quite acceptable. They are youngand will undoubtedly gain more polish withmore shows under their belts.The Circus Band consisted of leader, DonBeamsley on the electronic organ, Art DePaw, trumpet and Roy Roten, drums. Theymanaged to make the three pieces sound likea big band. The whole thing made a nice pac-kage quite in keeping with the standard main-tained at Knott 's Berry Farm.The performance ran a fast 43 minutes andproducer Chuck Burnes said he would tight-en it up to a speedy 39 minutes after thefirst show.

the precarious situation with my mother, I re-marked to Bobby as were driving to a restaur-ant that my father and uncle had lived intotheir early seventies and that my grandfatherhad lived to the age of 76. "I don't have muchtime left," I said, and then brightened, adding,"well, at least I'll outlive Herbie Weber!"

Bobby glanced sideways at me and said, "Whatdo you want to bet?"

SEE YOU down the road, luvs.

Page 14 December 15, 1980

BRITISH CIRCUS SEASON OF 1980

BY JACK NIBUETT

1980 is not a year which will be rememberedwith affection by most British circuses.

Economic conditions, aggravated by inflationand unemployment, atrocious summer weath-er, the tack of foreign tourists, all contributedto poor business generally and a few early clo-sings.

Gerry Cottle's Circus went bankrupt in earlysummer and came off the road; it came outagain in a revised form for a few weeks latein the season. Then, surplus equipment wassold, and the circus announced its intentionof moving to South Africa.The much publicized Hassani Circus (Circuswithout Animals} had a checkered careerwith many cries for help, but stayed out un-til the end of September, although its futureseems very doubtful.Jimmy Chipperfield's Circus World experien-ced poor business in the early weeks of itstenting tour. However, a summer-long engage-ment at the Great Yarmouth Hippodromeproved much more satisfactory, and the poorsummer weather helped here, often drivingholiday mak ers into this charming old circusbuilding in search of shelter and entertain-ment. This circus did not resume tenting af-ter the indoor engagement this year as it haddone last year.As regards the other Chipperfield circuses,Richard's show with a big animal content en-joyed good business generally, through-out theyear; as did Sally, whom with her husbandJames Clubb with their fast-growing circus,were well satisfied with their summer tour,mostly alnnn the south and west coasts. The

smaller Chipperfield Bros' Circus (Tommyand Charles) started out rather late, and cameoff the road in late August, one reason beinggiven was the difficulty in finding suitablelots.The other new show, Fusserfield's (Tom Fossett) found business very spotty, and a pro-jected summer season at Heysham Head wascurtailed owing to poor business; the showresumed travelling with moderate results.Among the old established circus families,the Robert Bros, tenting mainly along theSouth Coast resorts, did not do the businessexpected mainly owing to the lack of sum-mer visitors, being piit off by the dismalweather.Sir Robert Fossett's and Austen Bros, circus-es both did average business while tenting inthe Midlands and North, and both did verymuch better when they moved into Scotland.There was much battling with the mild wea-ther here, but occasional "house full" noticesfor both shows made the tour wothwhile.The Circus Hoffman fielded two units thisyear, managed by brothers Peter and JeffreyHoffman, and the other by sister Valerie andher husband Colin Timmis. The second unithad a summer season at Margate, which wasmoderately successful, and when it resumedtenting was converted into a "Thrill Show"which toured the London suburbs, but wasnot an outstanding success.

The smaller shows, Pinders, Gandeys, andWeights all circuses with a small "nut" managed to make a living. All three of theseshows which play the smaller towns had lar-ger and more enterprising programs this year.The show which everyone was watching wasDavid Smart's new and very expesnive Super

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- M U S I C A L C O M E D I A N -

F E A T U R E D IN K A R L W I N N ' S PRODUCTION OF

- V A U D E V I L L E 1980 -

Permanent Address:1400 Market St., Apt. No. 303, Tacoma, Wash. - 98402

Page 16 December 15, 1980

BRITISH CIRCUS REPORT (Continued)

Circus with its 12 weeks run at Battersea Parkin London. From a personal observation I .would jay that in this difficult year, businesswas reasonable, but I do not think that thisfine show got the audiences it deserved, t sin-cerely trust that this circus was a financial,as well as an artistic success. David Smart de-serves it for his courage in these uncertaintimes, and the fans are looking forward to theChristmas show which he will be producingat the same venue.The Blackpool Tower Circus had its usual goodseason, the first program for many years with-out the late Charlie Cairoli. The Tower waswise, and fortunate in securing Rastelli's oneof Europe's best clown groups to take Char-lie's place and they have been a tremendoussuccess.Not a very cheerful report on the season of1980, but the British circus proprietors are aresilient lot and I expect that most of themwill be out on the roads again next summer.Christmas circuses are being held in London,Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester,Glasgow and a few of the smaller towns.Some outstanding British acts will be seen atthe Monte Carlo Circus Festival this Decem-

FIGHT OVER BIG CATS

Officials at Longmont, Colo., have turneddown a request for a permit to keep exoticanimals on a nearby ranch. Dr. Robert Haw-kins, sought the permit for his exotic animalfarm."I'm going to fight this tooth and nail," saidHawkins, an osteopath who has lions, tigersand leopards quartered on his 80 acre ruralhome. He said that he was ready to spend asmuch as $50,000 fighting the commissioners

MiscellaneousThe Olympic Int'l 3 Ring Circus wilt openits 1981 season at the Florida State Fair (Feb.4-15), and then goes on to play Milwaukee,Chicago, Green Bay and Nashville.

her. Richard (Dickie) Chipperfteld will beseen there with his impressive group of 17lions and lionnesses; while his cousin Marywill be there with her four acts, involvingelephants, horses and exotic animals, so here,at least some fine British acts will be seen bylarge and knowledgable audiences in suitablyrich surroundings.

JOEY JORDAN

'CONTEMPOSY JUGGLING ARTISTRY"

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Page 18 December 15, 1980

RAIN IN TEXAS??

BY BOB STODDARD

It doesn't rain in Texas! Right? Wrong! Some-times it does - and not always at the right timeOne example of this is that the rain on Satur-day, Nov. 22nd sure did put a damper on theelaborate plans and the 52 units that were setto parade around the Red Bird Mall in Dallas.They had their parade all right, but it was in-side the mall with wall to wall people.Naturally, they had to eliminate the horses,motorcycles, floats, go-carts, cars and trucks,etc., but they had their parade and broughtSanta Claus as planned.Maybe Kay Graves, the mall promotion dir-ector, didn't pull out all of her hair-and Godknows (and everyone here understands) thatwe needed the rain.

The Folks at Richardson Square Mall knewthat Santa's arrival in Richardson, Texas, wasa very special event. They realized that anyhappening as important as this would abso-lutely have to be handled in a first class man-ner.The question of who should introduce Santawas answered without hesitation, by a groupof experts on the subject of Santa Claus."Clowns should do it," the children decided."So be it," said Joanne Lynes, marketing dir-ector of the mall, and that's how Checkersand Patches wound up introducing Santa toa huge crowd of "children of all ages" at themall in a giant celebration between 10 am andnoon on Saturday, Nov. 21st.A very special feature of the day was an invi-tation to the young and the young at heartto have breakfast with Santa and the clowns.An estimated 800 to 1,000 people acceptedthe invitation.It was a great show, but then, that's how itshould be when you are presenting a reallybig super star like Santa Claus!Thirty-five miles to the west, in Ft. Worth,another clown was selected to do the honors.Edna (Crackers) Flanagan lit up the Christmastree in Burnett Park and presented and intro-duced Santa Claus with the help of the Texast i i r - l s Choir and a host of dignitaries on Nov.28th.

NEWS FROM BARABOO

FROM WM. L. SCHULTZ

Our season of 1980 was a good season. At-tendance was up as well as income. The showclosed on Sept. 14th. The work crews thenimmediately started to prepare for 1981.The tents are down and drying out as theyhang over the rafters in the big parade wagonpavilion. The outdoor displays have been dis-mantled and put in storage.The inside displays are having their faces lif-ted for next year's showing. A beautiful newcarousel shelter is being erected, which willadd a lot of color to the carousel display. Itwill be by far the tallest building on ourMuseum grounds with its high shingled roofand cupola with the Museum flag in its fullcolor.New bleachers have been erected on our dailyparade route. The flat cars that are used forour loading show exhibition have been sand-blasted and are being repainted with brightnew colors and new signage. The horse bam,the hippodrome building and the train shedarea for the animals is all being given coatsof paint. New asphalting is being spreadthroughout the Museum grounds with spec-ial emphasis being placed in the wild animalmenagerie under the tiger and lion cages.All in all, the Circus World Museum is spend-ing approximately $120,000 on these im-provements. This is typical, as each year theCircus World Museum improves its facilities

(Continued on Page 27)

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The Circus Report Page 19

MAGIC FOR THE 80's

BY JACKIE BIAS

"Magic for the 80'$", featuring Master of II*lusion, Byron Bowman, played to a sold-outhouse at the Logan Field House for the Lo-gan. W. Va., Jaycees, Nov. 23rd at 2 p.m. Thisnew show, just started this year, played for 6weeks in the spring and 5 weeks in the fall, theLogan show closed the tour. The show offersd45 minute school show and a 114 hour organizat'on sponsored show.Line-up of the show was: Chuckles (ChuckHager) the clown with audience warm-up;Byron Bowman with patriotic Drum produc-tion with flags and Miss Red, White and Blue;Introduction of show by announcer and co-illusionist. Louis Zoll; Dove Magic featuringdove pan, balloon to dove, dove to silk, doveto rabbitt and dove cage vanish; Special guestventriloquist from Logan, Ed Flowers andWillie with dentist and patient antics; TheTemple of Benares, sword box; The Magic ofMovement, a company of 3 dancers with ahat and cane number with Jim Maggard, Lee

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Kelly and Madonna Mitchell; Chuckles theclown with disappearing cane, balloon to rub-ber chicken and appearing cane; and the finalillusion in the first half, the Substitution Trunkwith Bowman and Zoll and audience participa-tion.A color book and picture pilch was made bythe announcer during the 15 minute intermis-sion.The second half opened with Byron Bowmanand small illusions. Needle thru Balloon and3 colored ropes into one; next was the "Tube"Illusion, 4 large aluminum tubes passed thrua cabinet with Zoll chained inside, billed as"Flaming Torch thru a Human Body"; Ma-gic of Movement with Maggard and Mitchellin a disco number; Chuckles the clown withproduction box and tube in his comic ladieslingerie revue; Introduction of Thumper, theWorld's Fastest Flying Rabbit, in a drawerbox transfer; Circus Cage tear-down transferwith disappearance of 4 doves; and endingthe show, the flashy Person to Pony illusionproducing Mr. Bucky, the performing ponystar of the circus world with the best hindleg walk seen anywhere; the show finishedwith a cast call and curtain.Lighting and flashes of fire smoke were utiliz-ed for the show and wardrobe was dazzling,with the two illusionists doing 3 complete cos-tume changes. The show is very fast pacedwith a minimum of announcing and filling be-tween acts, and received quite an enthusiasticresponse from the crowd."Magic for the 80's" leaves its audiences inWest Virginia, excited enough to buy ticketsfor the next magic show to come thru, whichis more than can be said for some of the showsthat play the area.Many people in the business would probablyknow Byron Bowman as "Barney" who waswith the Royal Lipizzan Stallion Show for anumber of years.

BENJAMIN L. (Dinky) MOORE (72) died inPoplar Bluff, Mo. on Nov. 6th. He troupedwith John Robinson, Hagenbeck-Wallace, theSells-Floto, Bobbins Bros, and King Bros, cir-cuses, as a clown. He had been retired since1938. Survivors include two sisters GladysMcAllister and Eva Mae Lewis.

Page 22 December 15, 1980

PEOPLEKARIN STEWART DAVIS' Happy Days Pro-ductions has been awarded the contract tobook circus entertainment at King's Produc-tions, which supplies live shows for King'sIsland in Cincinnati, King's Dominion in Rich-mond, Va., and Wonderland in Toronto.

VELMAand ADEN LOWRY, of Kansas, havebeen visiting relatives in Southern California.

THE WAZZAN TROUPE will tour with theIan Garden show next year which opens nextmonth at Roanoke, Va.

The M & S Bl RDS will tour with GardenJohnson for the 1981 season.

REV. DAVID HENNESSEY, chaplain to theRingling-Barnum Circus people, was the sub-ject of a special article in the Cincinnati (Oh)Enquirer on Sept. 16th.

TEX and M A R C Y MAYNARD have takenover the Valley View Diner in Union Center,NY, just six miles north of Endicott, NY, onRte. 26 and 38-B. When Allan Hill's showplayed Johnson City the show people parkedon the parking lot over night.

MARTIN (Lancelot Goodperson) REEVESand eighteen other clowns entertained at theScottish Rite Crippled Children's Hospital inDallas and were surprised when the hospitalpresented them with a plaque and then un-

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veiled a permanent plaque on the wall con-taining all of their names in appreciation ofpast frequent shows.

CHECKERS & PATCHES, clown team, willMC and be the feature act in three ChristmasVariety Shows at the Las Vegas (Nev) Con-vention Center on Dec. 22nd.

PETE LUVAS was at the Calve* Mall in Gal-veston, Texas, with Kenya the elephant, dres-sed up like Santa Claus. The real Santa rodeon Kenya's back.

CAROL (Punkin) HILL clowned in the RedBird Mall parade in Dallas on Nov. 22nd.

LARRY WlLCOX, star of the TV show Chipsis also a professional rodeo rider, appearing inmost of the nation's major rodeos.

HOVEY BURGESS, author of "Circus Tech-niques"; JOHN TOWSEN, author of "Clowns"and PAUL BOUISSAC. author of "Circus andCulture" will teach a seminar/workshop "Cir-cus As A Performing Art" at the New YorkUniversity, New York City, starting Jan. 12th.

The Circus Report Page 23

MMX UMIUD HO!* E lONfS -

BY LLOYD E. JONES

At long last we've received Lewis Ganson's"The Three Card Monte As Entertainment"which is published in England and it is pric-ed not at $10 as I thought, but $8.00 (airmail postage is 67c or book rate at 59c). Itis a great classic and offers full coverage withsleight of hand methods and variations andthose with special cards. If you haven't seenthe Kiwon Miracle, rather, if you HAVE seenit done, then you'll certainly want this book.Wonder how much has been won - or lost-on this gambling, betting trick?Writing in TOPS, Frances Marshall announc-es the date for the Magic Collector's week-end to be April 23-25. The guest of honor isLit/a Raymond Gibson, and quote "the fa-mous and highly controversial Lloyd Jones,of California." Well,! So, I'm famous too!After the stupid printers had the "More ofMagic" book by Dr. Frank Blaisdell over-printed locally, we can now offer it for sale.Imagine, printing a book and leaving the au-thor's name off the cover! But then on Bar-bi Walker's book, they failed to furnish extrasheets of the miniature cards sending dust ja-

ckets instead.Oh, me, the life of a publisher. Wanna buy abook business? Barbi Walker has big 25cdown and 25c a week, but Don Marcks has-tened to double that price on his own! May-be if they'd move the decimal over a halfdozen figures we could talk business.

Steven's Magic Emporium has announced its4th annual Desert Magic Seminar featuringSlydini and Dai Vemon. It will be held at theAladdin Hotel, Las Vegas, March 29-31 andthe charge is just $100. Those attending theseminar will visit the home of Siegfrid andRoy one afternoon.Paul Diamond has cancelled his current lec-ture tour and is in the hospital

"More Of Magic" features some fine ropeand general magic and a fine cups and ballsroutine. It is $10.00 (postage 81c) clothbound, 104 pages, illustrated with the au-thor's name on the cover. Tsk.Barbi's book "Miniature Mysteries WithCards" is also cloth bound with a colorfulcover and a beautiful set of end papers andeven perforated pages (2) of miniature cardsso you can get right to work entertaining. Itis priced a; $17.50 and already it is being talk-ed about. (Postage is 81c).

WASHINGTON TUBES II By Crane

&£

^

Page December 15,1980

NEWS FROM BARABOO (Continued)

with approximately the same number ofdollars per year.The big top show for 1981 should be one ofthe finest shows produced at the CircusWorld Museum. Ada Smieya and her tigersand lions will be back once again to openthe Big Top Show. Along with Ada will beGabriel and Martha Flores and their familywho will be doing their aerial acrobaticsboth in the big top and outdoors. BucklesWoodcock with his prancing pachydermsand his entire family will be spending theirfirst year at the Circus World Museum in '81.The nationally renowned Jimmy Wil l iams,Circus World Museum's Happy the Clownwill of course, be with the 1981 show withsome new clown numbers and illusions. Theringmaster for the next season will be PeterSturojs.The public relations department under thedirection of Dale Williams is developing allnew brochures for the coming season, whichincludes well over one million brochures de-

picting the Circus World Museum as one ofthe outstanding tourist attractions in themidwest. This brochure outlines the programfor a day at the Museum. The other majorbrochure that is being developed by the pub-lic relations department is a new and colorfulpromotional piece in which in a very drama-tic way shows the total story of what theMuseum has to offer for groups such as sen-ior citizens, churches, youth organizationsand schools.

SHAPPI, comedy and balancing act, HALHAVILAND, dog and pony and THE SI-KORSKYS, jugglers/unicycles, were the actsworking for the Caterpillar Christmas Partyin Decatur, III. on Dec. 14th.

CAROL BUCKLEY and "Baby Tarra" ap-peared in the Oxnard and San Pedro (Calif)Christmas parades and then were at the GiftFairs in Long Beach and Los Angeles for theholiday season. They'll open at Lion Coun-try Safari Park for a two week engagementon Dec. 24th.

Page 21 December 15, 1980

HUBLER CIRCUS DATESPontiac, Mich. • Nov. 15-16 - Acts working

were: Wetde's Leopards, Miss Lydia, trapeze.Bronco Billy King's Mixed Animals, Karinas,trampoline, Victor Julian's Little Stars withLeo Coffey. Sir Chadwick Chase and his RollsRotten, Chris King and Queenie the elephant,the Burketts, aerial perch. Clowning was byWayne Liikala.

Visitors included: Gracie Mclntosh, JimmieDouglass, Walt and Barbara King, Also clown-ing was George "Skinhead" Lewis.

Troy, Ohio • Nov. 1-2 - Acts were: JorgeBarreda's lions, Lou Ann Jacobs, trapeze,Karinas, trampoline, Joselito, high wire, TheValencias, flying act, Knock-about act. SirChadwick Chase and his Rolls Rotten andthe Tony Diano Elephants. Clowning was byWayne Liiakala.

Hubler has 8 days of circuses that begin onNov. 23rd and are in Schenectady, Fonda,Troy, Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs, Saranac,and ends up with two days in Ptattsburg, Onthe show were the Karinas, Sir ChadwickChase and his Rolls Rotten, Welde's leopards.

LLAMAS ARE FUN!Excellent pets and pack ani-mals, lovable and ii-ntk-.Adaptable to all climates.ea^y to raise A bus-ness in-vestment Less than 3,000 inU.S.A. Prices start at S<00.Largest herd in U.S.A.Wool for sale $2 00/^uncc.

PATTERSON LLAMASBox 188. Sisters. Oteton97759. (eve.) (503) 549.3831.<days) (503) 549-3391.

MARK WILSON, magician, was on the JohnDavidson TV show aired on Dec. 3rd.

MICKEY RODNEY will star in a soon to befilmed TV movie called "The Clown." It is aCBS-TV special.

TED ZACCHINI, builder of dark rides and aformer cannon act performer, is featured ina special article which appears in the Amer-ican Showman magazine for Dec. 1980.

the Gutis Family Jungle Fantasy, The Char-lies, Gracie Hanneford's dogs and WayneLiikala, plus others.

.. Kami Davis

THANK YOU

Shirley and AIStencell

FOR A V E R Y GOOD SEASON

Page 28 December 15, 1980

FOR SALEBeautiful Fox Terrier Trick Dogi14 months old - Doing 12 tricks

Dress Dogs - Hand Balancing DogsYou Want The Best?

Call: 1 -218-624-9664

FROM JOHN ALBERT!

My wife. Chris and I just recently returnedfrom a visit to West Germany. During ourstay there we had the pleasure of running in-to the Busch Roland Circus, which was play-ing in our home town of Braunschwieg.Arturo Segura is with the show, and he andhis lovely wife and family welcomed us.Theymade us their guests and had us seated in thebest seats in the house.Busch Roland Circus is a first class EuropeanCircus that runs from March thru November,with sold out shows all season. One has thefeeling of entering a fine theatre, and not acanvas tent. They have their own privateschool trailer where a licensed teacher, teach-es the circus children. They, also have theirown 28 man Fire Oept., with three fire fight-ing vehicles. The tent has a controlled climatefor year round touring with heating and air-conditioning.We thoroughly enjoyed the show. The pro-gram line-up was as follows:Trie Rosetti's, leap over four elephants; theTwo Saratogas, plate spinning; Sascha Hou-cke, mixed animals, camels, zebras; Duo Ver-ess, double trapeze; Marion & Marco, comedycar; Franco, rola bola; the Segura Family,trampoline; Ruppert Bemmerl, Bengal tigers;

WANTEDCABOVER CAMPER

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KEN "Turtle" BENSONBox 123 Monroe, La. 71201

(318)387-1803

ELEANOR CRAFTS (80) died at her homein Toluca Lake, Calif., on Sept. 4th. She wasthe widow of Orville N. Crafts, owner of theCrafts 20 Big Shows. She had been an insur-ance agent and broker before getting intoshow business. Survivors include a step-son,Roger Warren, who is with Foley & Burk.

BOB PERRY (92) died recently at his LosAngeles, Calif., home. Me was a retired mo-tordrome rider and is credited with havingtaken the first motordrome to Europe. Sur-vivors include his wife, Jennie, and a daugh-ter, Berry Kelly.

Intermission.The Four Mario Jarz, flying act; LuczynaBruning, roller skating bears; Codrellis, mu-sical clowns; Arturo Segura, bouncing rope;Mecky and Ruppert Bemmel, elephants andteeterboard; The Bogi's, acrobatics and TheGolgojews, Cossack riding act and Russianwolfhounds.The ringmaster was Ludwig Lehner.We were also told by several of the performersthat the Canadian CTV-Circus show is shownin Europe.

Page 30 December 15, 1980

FALL FUN FESTIVAL

The annual Fabulous, Fantastic, Fall Fun Fes-tival of the Felix Morales Tent No. 85, washeld Nov. 1st at Casey's East Restaurant, Troy(NY). Albert House, eastern vice president ofthe Circus Fans Association, was the guest speaker. He described some of his adventures inbooking circuses in New Jersey, and his talkwith its appropriate humor was well received.The TV documentary of the 1979 GettysburgCFA Convention was screened and enjoyed.Scenes at the convention, interviews with wellknown circus personalities and views of theClyde Beany-Cole Bros. Circus comprised thefilm. Excellent slides showing the Baraboo cir-cus parade were shown by Mr. and Mrs. DavidJohnson, as an added attraction.John (Tiny) Phillips, a former national presi-dent of the CFA, and Mrs. Phillips, wereamong the many who attended. Charles Elwelltent president, conducted the meeting, and thenext dinner meeting will be held April 25th atthe same restaurant.

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Page 32 December 15, 1980

For Sale1978 • 40 ft. Kountry Aire 5th wheel

1979 Brown Ford Pick-up

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BETTY PIDOINGTON34 Leith Hill Road-No. 317

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SHOWS MERGE

Circus Berlin and Borger Bros. Circus has beenconsolidated into the combined Borger Bros.-Circus Berlin.The decision to consolidate the two circuseswas made by owners Norman J. Borger andElton Berlin after difficulties experienced inoperating two separate shows after the firein May, 1979, which destroyed most of theshow equipment.The combined show's fall tour ran from Sept.28th to Nov. 22nd. Acts were: Princess Pele.

For Sale40 ft. Aluminum Office Trailer, single axle,

Fum. van semi.- S3,500.00 Cash -

60 ft. x 90 ft. Khaki tent with poles andstakes. Excellent condition, used only 5times, Push pole with wall. Complete.

- $ 3,500.00 Cash -

JOHN LEWISP. 0. Box 331302 Miami, Fla. • 33133

web; Arwood's Dogs; Rickie the Clown; Johnny Joker; The Burketts, aerial; Tommy com-edy trapeze; Cherie Troy, roman rings; HardLuck Harpo, break-away bicycle; The CrazySailors, acrobats; Joyce Rice, baton and whipact; Sunshine, mime; Claudie, juggling andCleo and his Magic Review.Props and rigging for the combined showswere designed by Claude Crumley and werebuilt by the Ye Old Drop Shop. Costumesand special effects were designed by TommyOberlettner and executed by Feather BrainCostume Co

Page 34

CLYDE BROS. GARDEN JOHNSON

BY ALLEN BABCOCK

The Clyde Bros.-Carden-Johnson Circus piaved for the Shrine in Springfield, III., Nov. 2123rd. The weather wasn't bad for this timeof year. We had a fine rainy mist on Sundaymost of the day and duhng the teardown inthe evening.We've had a dry summer and fall here, so weneed all the moisture we can get It mighthave affected attendance since the crowddidn't seem as big as last year, but overall attendance was good with three close to fullhouses, two just 100 short and the othertwo being three-quarters full.The program as presented featured: Bookpitch; Mirror Ball; Bob Top and Edna, rollerskaters; Joe Via, lion act; Kathy English, ontrapeze, Mark Pilger, trapeze and Anne Pike,rings; Cuccillo, comedy trampoline; BobbyGibbs and Yo Yo pitch; Bobby Gibbs, dogs;Ed Steeples, bean (5); Dino, one finger stand;Clowns (Clancy and Maxo); Anna, Jems, theFrench trapeze; Olga, balance trapeze; Gibbs,

December 15,1980.—4^— ̂ ^^^—^—_^_^__^^^^

camels, Rizzi, llamas, and Symanki's chimps;Aerial ballet featuring Edna and Anne on thewebs, Kathy on ladder and Olinka, upsidedown walk; Intermission.The second half included: David, rola bola,Toto, sword balance, Dino, juggling; Clancyand Carol, clown vocal; Bobby Gibbs, pon-ies (6); M. Rizzi, ponies (6) and T. Navarro,ponies (6); The Cavanaughs, cradle; TmoZoppe, lamp post; Miss Marki, doves; MissKathy, doves; Rolling Dan, featuring DavidConnors; Clowns; Bobby Gibbs, elephants.and Tmo and Ol'mka Zoppe on the high wire,Cleo Plunkett was the ringmaster, Mike Pike,was performance director, Paul Jackolina wasband leader and Carol Sanchez was the showvocalist.

BOB EMER1CO, presented his clown magicas part of a big show presented in TraderVies in San Francisco early this month. Itwas a private party for the holidays.

Page 36 December 15,1980

OLD TIME VAUDEVILLE

The second tour this year for Sid Kellner's"Old Time Vaudeville" completed a success-ful run last month in the Northern Californiaarea.Featured on the show were: Jerry Layne andFamily, ventriloquist and MC; Nobel Curl,singer; Johnnie Romano, dancer of the 20'$and 30'$ (age 95); Constance D'Gray, sopra-no; Edward Jackson, juggler; John E, singerand comedian; Los Latinos, wire act andMorey Amsterdam, star of TV, films andstage. The placing of the act cards was han-dled by Sheri Forgey.The band consisted of six talented musiciansdirected by Perry Johnson. Conley Hall, thedrummer and Tommy Fewless, trumpet, hadbeen on the Kellner operated Great LondonCircus, in 1975.Vergie Johnson and Barbara worked on thefront door and sold program books.After the tour, Sid, Barbara and Sheri, alongwith Herbie Weber and Marcella, and Perryand Vergie Johnson got together

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