Thursday, September 22, 2005

Barnett Bros. Circus 1934/ Harry Carey #2


It is said that John Wayne claimed to have gotten his first big break thru the efforts of Harry Carey and it is probably true since he and his son Harry Carey Jr. appeared in most of John Ford's Westerns throughout their careers.

Posted by Buckles at 9/22/2005 06:36:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckles: In 1966, when Adolph Atlhoff brought his horseback-riding tiger to Ringling Bros, it made LIFE magazine. And in 1969, when Gunther Gebel-Williams brought his elephant-riding tiger to Ringling Bros, it became a national sensation. To many people, these acts seemed like something brand new under the big top. But when I look at old programs and articles, I see that in the 1930s Dolly Jacobs had a horseback-riding lion. And Laverne McClain presented an elephant-riding tiger. And Harriet Beatty had an elephant-riding big cat. Despite the difficulty of creating these acts, were they more common back in the 1930s than today? And did they seem so new in the 60s simply because we didn't have them in the 40s and 50s? Thank you. ToddP

22 September, 2005 19:06
Buckles said...

Clyde Beatty and Terrell Jacobs had big cat acts with a lot of lions and tigers. The lion and tiger riding the elephant and the lion on the horse were secondary acts presented by their wives. At the time no one ever considered have them do anything other than walk around the arena.
The Althoff and Williams acts were truly remarkable and much more sophisticated, I saw them both many times.
The Althoff tiger would actually vault up and down from the horses back as it galoped around the arena.
I was standing with John Herriott when I first saw this African elephant turning slowly on a pedistal with Gunther standing astride the tiger on her back.I was amazed and Herriott leaned over and said "Buckles, I have to follow this with my little ponies".

22 September, 2005 20:41
Anonymous said...

Thank you. Now I understand the difference between the presentations of Jacobs and Beatty in "old days" and the more modern, more sophisticated presentations of Althoff and Williams. I only saw the latter two...and each time I was amazed.
ToddP

22 September, 2005 21:45

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