Evolution of a cage act when it refuses to change completely!!! LOL

Above is Josip in 1969 and below is myself in 1976. I was expected to do it like Josip, as the one after me was expected to do it like I did, which will very seldom work.


Above is Josip in 1969 and below is myself in 1976. Evenually Josip made the act 9 animals and in 1974 Bill Golden added 3 tigers and the lion Solomon. In order to have "all" the tigers in the pyramid, an additional bar was added to the bridge so that they had a place to go. This cause many problems, because if somebody jumped off the pyramid and ran to their seat, you had no way to get to the back side and bring them back because the middle was blocked. It necessitated John Cuneo coming in the back occasionally and standing behind the pyramid so that they were blocked, which is one of the reasons, in my opinion, why I think you see two people in some cage acts. If you enlarge the pictures you will see an "extension" on the bottom of the bridge. This was added for Josip, because of his short stature, so he could lift the bridge off. On the below photo, you will see that that "extension" was cut off in 1976, as I was tall enought to lift the bridge off, and kept hitting my head on it. Because I had too much hair to put under a turban, I didn't have to wear one. LOL The old barred arena in the top picture in 1969 is the one that sit's to his day in the training barn. I took it down in 2003, to give a "modern" look to the training barn with a mesh cage, and put it back up in 2005, because I grew tired of hearing about how it had been there since 1977, and it was better for training. LOL


Below is the bridge I designed in 1977 when I had to get 17 animals into the same space where there had been 9 and then 13, eventually making the act 15. You will note between, the bridges open so I could go in back of the pyramid, and put animal back if they jumped off. Soon enough they quit jumping off early, when they learned I was going to put them back. The sad thing is, and this is why audiences grow tired, this same configuration was used in some shape or form well into the early 2000's.