Photo from 1975 Great Yarmouth Hippodrome
Friday, July 4, 2008
Jim Alexander do you know of this trainer. His name was Max Morris and he was an American
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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3 comments:
Yes I do. In fact a few years ago when Max was in St. Louis he called me up at the Zoo. It was like getting a phone call from Roy Rogers for some people.
Max was one of Captain Harold Winston's "boys" along with Bennie Kirkbride (San Diego Zoo) and Art Thomas (Marineland of the Pacific). Winston did a lot of work on the west coast, especially parks, but he did appear in some circuses. I'm guessing that it was his father who had sea lions on the Barnum and Bailey show as early as 1900. Art and his wife Barbara presented sea lions on circuses and sport shows into the 1970s. Like his "Winston brothers" he was an excellent trainer. Some refered to Art as Deep Sea Red (I didn't get the impression that he liked the nickname). He retired up near the Jacksonville, FL area.
Jim,
Thank you. He was just a tad before my time, which is why I hadn't heard of him. I understand he did a lot of water and land work with the sea lions, which may explain why he spent time in England. A lot of the old circus type buildings had water shows also.
Regards,
Wade
I had the pleasure of meeting Max Morris at several CFA rallies in Britain, including Great Yarmouth. The Hippodrome there did have a sinking ring, but its use was not revived until the Jay family bought the building after the 1978 season, and even then it took a while for the mechanism to be updated. I'm not sure if Max showed sea lions in the water at Balckpool Tower, but Barbara certainly did so. The mechanism at Blackpool differs from that at Great Yarmouth.
John.
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