The 70's and 80's, what a magnificent time to be a young wild animal trainer in the circus!!!! The competitive fire's were burning a hole in a lot of bellies around the world. Everybody drove and pushed to be better then the best(note my jacket is longer then either Louis's or Gunther's.LOL) What happened to that world, what happened to that time???? Why am I sounding like an old geezer???
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Joyce, Rajah and myself--1977
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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12 comments:
Because WE ARE old geezers
I'm ahead of you but feel at
least as strongly about those
terrific times in the business
At least we got to experience
them and now I'm afraid they
are gone forever so this and
future generations will never
know except by our rewritten
history (gilded in memory)
You probably know that Jean
Charles' (Tarzan) top mount
male was also a Rajah flanked
by Sheba and Soriah
Did you trained this act by your self?
Thomas
But of course cherie. we all remember all the beautiful time we had.
not to many peoples did wath we did.
we are all very fortuned
to have experience it all.
and now is the time to relax's and enjoy our memories's
Have a great day to all.
the old Geezers.....lol.
mireille...
Thomas,
John Cuneo pulled the cart that had the saddle on it to teach the tiger and lion to stand on the saddle while it was moving. Later he held the elephant as they learned to go up and down.
Wade
hi wade
and welcome to the CLUB
emile
wade - next to some of us you're not quite an old geezer yet -- us really old geezers remember the spark you gave the show when you came into the arena like the crown prince taking over his throne. you may be close to becoming an old geezer but never forget -- you were part of that time when the circus was still the greatest show on earth and gave us old geezers the memories we still cherish.
Mireille my love,
I just so wish younger ones, like my son, for example could have experienced it. If you think today is something, baby you should have seen it yesterday. That is when it truly "Rock and Rolled!!!!"
Emile,
Welcome to the Club? Did you just get here, because I have been here for a while. You, my respected friend were a big part of that competitive time. I spent many hours cursing you, knowing I could do it as good as you, if I just worked harder. LOL
Henry,
The proudest moment of my life was when the film critic from the New York Post referred to me as "The heir to the throne of Gunther Gebel Williams." You Henry, and silver tongued scribe's like you were a part of making that magical time. We did it for each other, and it was indeed my honor and pleasure.
Wade
Although I never achieved your level of "stardom" (whatever that is Wade, I consider being a part of the circus industry in the 70's and 80's an incredible experience. I treasure the memories and friends I made. It was an honor and privledge few got to experience working the the shadows of the true greats of the modern circus era.
Long gone are the backyard barbeques, pot luck suppers, and late night jackpot sessions. Seems like now everyone runs into their fancy motor homes to watch satelite tv.
My advanced students are performing with Circus Flora in St. Louis right now and I am enjoying being in a backyard like I remember. Every day has had some kind of social event, people hang out and just visit, the old timer's welcome the kids and treat the as respected performers. So for these couple of weeks, the kids do see what it was like. It is an ensemble "new circus" type show in a single ring but with many long time circus families represented. Our kids get to become friends with The Wallendas, Omar Chinibekov, Alesya Gulevich, Willy Pages and family, Giovani Zoppe, Johnny Peers, as well as "new circus" performers such as Terry Crane (great comedy corde lisse), and Andrew Adams.
No elephants or big cats on the show but lots of horses, ponies dogs, a goat, minature horse, a donkey, and even a roster that the kids get to work with, enjoy, and handle. For the inner city kids, especially, this is an eye opening experience. Some of these kids have never seen a live horse before and they get to sit on them as they are walked to warm up or cool down.
It may not be the greatest show on earth but David Balding has created a backyard that feels like home to this soon to be old geezer if I don't already qualify.
So, Mr. Silber, those great times are not gone forever, in my opinion, they are just hiding in little nooks and corners we have to seek out and find.
Bless you Warren and all your
friends young and old
I truly wish all of you only
the best of the experiences
you talk about
In all forms of show business
if it were not for the new
folks to carry on at least
some of the old traditions
we might lose all of it
I am not melancholy only
grateful that I've had so many
opportunities that I feel
might never come around again
I'm sure folks long long ago
had similar feelings and I'll
bet folks your age might one
day feel likewise
I truly wish you the best
(and it's only Chic)
Warren and Chic,
I would like to share a private email with you from someone who never spent much time in the circus, but has seen a few. I'm sorry, but I will never feel anything left of something great is better then nothing at all: "Went to the big horse expo in Sacramento today and there on the corner lot was a tent circus with "ban the circus" human patrols. Just a tiny segment of the great Carson & Barnes down to a small tent and few trailers. Never were they able to pitch in the city, always their tent standing enormous outside of town. I don't think I want to see what this world will be in 20 years, I want to remember it the way it was. Unquote.
Wade
when i was younger, i felt that any circus was better than no circus, but times were different. many of the tiny mudshows had more than most of the big shows today. there were certain elements that everybody had if they called themselves a circus. if it were only 10 acts, you could always count on elephants and ponies if not horses, dogs, chimps, seals or monkeys, single trapeze or mexican cloud swing, maybe webs and ladders as fill-ins, but no acts the kids next door did in their backyard. today things are way different. i will always love the circus. i miss not being able to attend many shows any more because of my limited mobility. but then i think about the last few shows i've seen, other than cirque du soleil. at the end, i feel empty, like i missed most of the show. a tiny part of something great is never something to accept just because there is nothing great anymore. i feel like the peggy lee song "is that all there is." every so often, i still try to go and see what's left, and i always leave thinking i'd have been better off to remember what we had a few years ago than to accept what we have now. i will never believe what we have now is the best we can have. i still believe the circus could once again be the greatest show on earth if management wanted it to be, even the tiniest of mud shows.
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