When Clyde came back to the East coast for a short time he did not have an airstream and dressed in a makeshift dressing room in the back of a truck. In a few weeks he was up and running.
He always had a smile an a handshake for everyone. He never turned down a snapshot or an autograph. Boys of this age who got to meet him had the thrill of a lifetime.
It is well-known that Beatty was an avid fisherman. A story seldom told is that in the '30s, during his Hagenbeck-Wallace era, he and some friend were fishing on a river when they realized two young boys were drowning. They got their boat to the boys, but one had gone under. Beatty dove in and brought the boy up. They got him to shore, and he survived. In the hospital, the kid went wild when he learned his rescuer had been Clyde Beatty.
In '64, I drove the Beatty family white Cadillac and pulled their Airstream. For those who know the biz, it's a major thing in the backyard over who has the bigger trailer. I purloined the Big Top's tape measure one afternoon and discovered the Beatty Airstream was 33' long. Frank Orman's was smaller, but I didn't dare try pranking around his on the Front End. Miss Edna Antes' Airstream was described by Jane Beatty as "such a darling little trailer", indeed a boutique size.
On film locations, I've seen stars get cranky over having a bigger private Winnebago than the other stars. Anyone remember Carol Burnett's TV heart-throb, Lyle Waggoner? He was smart, and when his glory days were done, he branched out expansively into studio lot and location vehicles. These included honey wagons (you guessed it), hair and make-up trailers, and of course, the luxurious wheeled palaces for the leads. His company thrives today as Star Waggons.
Carol Burnett is beyond wonderful. Talented. Extraordinary. I used to love the skits with she and Mr. Waggoner, I thought of that often in later years with the unrequited love of Niles for Daphene on "Frazier". Absolute hilarity, good clean fun. Glad for Lyle he found a niche beyond being gorgeous funny man.
That's me when I first got up early to go see the big top being set up and, after the show, knocked on Beatty's Airstream to get him to autograph the program, inscribed to me. Of course, I still have it 56 years later!
8 comments:
The One & Only in his much
older Airstream trailer
with jalousie windows
Likely in the 40s or 50s
When Clyde came back to the East coast for a short time he did not have an airstream and dressed in a makeshift dressing room in the back of a truck. In a few weeks he was up and running.
Bob Good
Early 60s he had a 24 ft Airstream
along with Frank Ormand & later
Jimmy Harrington but Frank McClosky
had a 30 ft Airstream Nonpariel
He always had a smile an a handshake for everyone. He never turned down a snapshot or an autograph. Boys of this age who got to meet him had the thrill of a lifetime.
It is well-known that Beatty was an avid fisherman. A story seldom told is that in the '30s, during his Hagenbeck-Wallace era, he and some friend were fishing on a river when they realized two young boys were drowning. They got their boat to the boys, but one had gone under. Beatty dove in and brought the boy up. They got him to shore, and he survived. In the hospital, the kid went wild when he learned his rescuer had been Clyde Beatty.
In '64, I drove the Beatty family white Cadillac and pulled their Airstream. For those who know the biz, it's a major thing in the backyard over who has the bigger trailer. I purloined the Big Top's tape measure one afternoon and discovered the Beatty Airstream was 33' long. Frank Orman's was smaller, but I didn't dare try pranking around his on the Front End. Miss Edna Antes' Airstream was described by Jane Beatty as "such a darling little trailer", indeed a boutique size.
On film locations, I've seen stars get cranky over having a bigger private Winnebago than the other stars. Anyone remember Carol Burnett's TV heart-throb, Lyle Waggoner? He was smart, and when his glory days were done, he branched out expansively into studio lot and location vehicles. These included honey wagons (you guessed it), hair and make-up trailers, and of course, the luxurious wheeled palaces for the leads. His company thrives today as Star Waggons.
Carol Burnett is beyond wonderful. Talented. Extraordinary. I used to love the skits with she and Mr. Waggoner, I thought of that often in later years with the unrequited love of Niles for Daphene on "Frazier". Absolute hilarity, good clean fun. Glad for Lyle he found a niche beyond being gorgeous funny man.
That's me when I first got up early to go see the big top being set up and, after the show, knocked on Beatty's Airstream to get him to autograph the program, inscribed to me. Of course, I still have it 56 years later!
Forgot to note the photo was taken in June 1961 in Springfield, Mass.
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