Friday, April 28, 2006

Big Apple Circus (Date unknown) #2


This trick has always been called the "whirl".

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so spoiled, There are some beautiful, talented ladies in the circus. To me no matter who or why, there will be and never has been a better team then Buckles and Barbara. And thats the truth. And this is not brown noseing. It cames from knowing the two of you and watching you grow together, making a life in the circus.

Anonymous said...

Did you ever have an elephant wanting to perform a new trick you had been rehearsing, wanting to add it to that day's show just because she liked doing it?

Or did any of them cue to music during off hours when you weren't expecting it? Not looking for your best secrets, just elephants trying to steal the show or other showbiz personality quirks in them.
Lotliza

Buckles said...

Elephants aren't big on volunteering tricks unless it is easier then the one you want.
But if you have a full season with a show with the same music and when you are holding them before the act, they will start to move as soon as their music begins. I'm sure they can't tell tunes apart but the sequence of sounds is like an alarm clock going off to them.

Anonymous said...

Before the bird lovers made us stop, we (Disney) would do dove releases at the drop of a hat. I was always amazed at the way these white pidgins knew their cue and sort of came to life only moments before the release. Different shows, different music, it didn’t matter, I guess that they sensed that it was almost dinner time.

Anonymous said...

L.J. Of all the fancy riding, dances, different horses, etc, The one trick that got to the audience was when two grooms stood outside the ring curb and released from wicker baskets white fan tail pigons. They flew on to the glass, gold trimed box on the back of a Spanish Lipazoner stalion. It was beautiful and one of the easiest to train. FOOD. The sight brought tears to your eyes. I always thought of a Disney Film. Snow White when I watch this trick. HORSE FANTASY REVIEW. This stallion did that "Capreawl Jump" after the pigons were removed. One of the hardest tricks to teach and the audience just kind of looked, so?

Anonymous said...

Rebecca, that reminds me of Mike Ashton, the musical son of Hoodie Ashton, from the well known foot juggling family from Australia. He would practice hours to keep a trick that he and a lady from China were the only people in the world to ever perform. But the audiences didn’t care, they went crazy for the purposely sloppy Arabian side flips he do over his cushion and the way his family and he masterfully milked the crowd. Also I remember another Circus Kid who was my age at the time, the son of a famous French clown. He did a plate spinning low wire act, and he’d start the act with a front somersault on his wire knowing that the audience didn’t realizes the difficulty, and he ended his act with an elementary back somersault. These things like this were done to impress the show folks; the suckers never knew the difference BUT I think they must have felt the energy or something. Thank you for indulging my side bar away from the animal acts, the town came out to see the elephants and y’all gave us a place to show off.

GaryHill said...

Were they related to Dougy Ashton??

Anonymous said...

Yes. Dougy was Mike's Uncle.