Sunday, August 21, 2005

Ringling-Barnum Circus/ "Goliath"


This is an odd picture showing Ira Watts with the elephant seal "Goliath", I can't imagine what their connection might be.
Watts was on the Kelly-Miller Show in 1950-51 when I was there as a candy butcher, I didn't like him at all, he was referred to as "Paddlefoot". Us seat-butchers had to put up the horse top (menagerie) each morning and just as we would finish the side wall he would arrive to set up the big top connection so he could defraud the public with his "seat check" scam. More often than not we would have to take down a section of side wall and put it back up to accomodate him.
I made the "Paddlefoot" crack in front of my dad one day and got a pretty good ass-chewing.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckles, you mention several times haw STERN your parents were while you were growing up circus. Look at the results! We should all have had your up bringing. I remember how very gentle your mom treated my little sister at two years of age. I see them completely different then you do. But then don't we all see our parents in a different lite. They were wonderful and look at the respect you show them now. You and everyone who had the good fortune to know them.