The gentleman in the blue smock out side the cage has a typical "V" shaped fork, not like the wooden "U" shaped one Emile uses.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Unknown presenter--Jim Clubb Mixed act
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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54 comments:
Wade, when this mixed act was on the second RBBB "tour" of Japan with the Palacios, there was never a fork of anykind. It was a battle to even get a stick of any kind to to help keep the mess separated far enough in the chute, which required a double T configuration to get the gates closed without hurting one of the animals. Trying to keep a running wolf, who I loved - Lobo was a complete joy even if he wasn't the brightest star in the sky followed by two absolutely obnoxious hyenas (an animal I hope I never encounter again in my life), followed by a couple of lazy bears separated in a huge chute line with an inexperienced crew, making sure cages were secured, and getting this mess hooked up to a tractor or tug to get it out of the arena with Charly standing there was a mess.
This act arrived in Japan with Luis and Marsha and one groom who had no idea as to how to deal with this menagerie in a show run by a stopwatch and Charly Bauman. I was the ring one boss and half my cre pluss half the ring three crew just to work the chute - the ring two crew had to deal with the gazillion props and the mesh arena. How I got stuck with this mess - keeping Minnie on her seat, running the chute while the groom who was supposed to know the act stood in a complete fog, I do not know.
Maybe it is a RBBB thing - I was the prop boss on the second year of the Gunther Farewell Tour and helped Buffy out on the first couple of cages in the tiger act. Then one day in the elephant act, Robbie was missing and I suddenly becam the handler for Prince, that obnoxious little male. After I litterlly bull dogged him by his ear when he decided he was going home instead of backing up behind ring 2 and somehow got him back in line, I became an elephant handler for Gunther on a stand in basis - had to cover whoever missed the cues. I did make friends with Congo and always had to have some apple treats in my coverall pockets when I would check backstage to make sure that there would be no snags for the Manage and that all the crew and tubs were in the proper place (I had them collor coded and numbered to get them in the right place and could roll any one of them into position if necessary (you had to work this presentation to understand how critical this was) and still be ready to catch the flying bull hook from Gunther when he sensed something was out of place.
Thank you Rex, Buckles, Tommy, Gary, Johnny, Roy, Kaye, I wish I could have been as good at my craft as you were (are) at yours, and so many more of you animal greats for giving me the knowledge to do this stuff and trusting me to get it right.
Warren
Gary Ambrose
Rob,
Thank you. Who was the girl in the act, who is out of the shot in this picture?
Wade
Warren,
Great story. Email me at wburck3@aol.com
Wade
Wade ,that could be Jennifer Solomon.
Rob,
Thank you. I have never heard of Jennifer Solomon. What is her history, and how long did she work for Clubb? Is she still working with cage animals? Gary looks young in this picture. What is is history, did he come from a circus family? Thomas must be sleeping at the switch, to let you ace him on the answers. LOL
Wade
Sorry Wade,the only thing I can come up with,is that I THINK ,he is still working with tigers.Maybe one of the English readers??.
Misschien weet Thomas meer??
( Maybe Thomas knows more??)
Rob,
I was asking about Jennifer Solomon. Gary is currently on a Zavatta show with lions.
Wade
Wade,further know nothing about Jennifer or her whereabouts
Jenifer Solomon did the show with the mixed act 1987/1988 on Austen Bros. and the year before 1987 presented she some baboons trained by James Clubb this is the only thing I know about her.
Thomas and Rob,
I think it would be an interesting study to see how many trainers worked for Hawthorn and how many worked for Clubb. At last count which a group did 2 years ago, in 30 years there were 54 came and went at Hawthorn. LOL
Wade
Wade,
I think you're right, if you want I think I can give you them all of Jim Clubb...
Thomas
Thomas,
I don't think you can. All you can give is the list from an authorized book. You are still thinking that things like that are actually valid or unbiased. So the list in the self published book may not be true.
Wade
Hi Wade ,
Sorry to seem a little Retarded BUT, Why so many trainers?.
Uncapable. or have they just Bullshited there way into the Job?
PS. Why Did You stop Training?
I can count the Real Animal Trainers without the use of a calculator,
Thanks Anonomous<5
PS. I saw the mixed group work in Batersea Park With Austin Bros circus, It was worked by Jenifer Solomen and Michael Howes, sorry i dont remember the year the Act was bought by Circo Mundial in Spain, and was last worked By Marnie Dock, Billy Wilson Smart, and i think Catharina Gasser,
Anonymous # 5,
I don't think you are retarded, probably just listened to assumed spin from a thousand miles away over the years. LOL They are trying to come up with an elephant list, but it is so extensive it may never be completed. A lot of "few month contracted agents" and even a 2 day one in that deal.
You were right on both accounts but did not understand the salary factor. Qualification's are not a factor if you want the money. I have printed the figures in the past on the "history channel" and Show biz Daves blog, but in case you missed them, here is how it worked. My son took over an act, and was given that salary as there is one salary regardless of whether the person had 15 years experience. She made 50.00 more then Susan Lacey because she started in 2001 and Susan Lacey started in 1993. The act's are offered 50.00 to renew contracts every two years. If you start today you start at the salary of the person you are replacing. The salary for all during off time is the same 350.00 which it was in 1984.
In 1988 I was paid 400.00 as the first house trainer. That was the salary for every house trainer after me, and I was offered the same thing in 2002 to come back. As my son wanted to return to the business, I negotiated for 600.00 which remained the salary until 2008. If you took the job today you would get 600.00 because that is the "new" amount.
In 1991 I was making 1500.00 to perform, and 750.00 off weeks. In 2008, 17 years later, I was offered 1200.00 a week to perform, and 350.00 as that is what others there made. 1200.00 for a big act(15) and 850.00 for a small act(7). The 350.00 is the same for all.
It works like this if there is 1200.00 you offer it to GGW, if he doesn't want it you offer it to me, If I don't want it you offer it to somebody else. Eventually somebody will want it, but you may have to go to Europe. Don't ever think for a moment "qualifications" mattered.
A young man who responds on this blog was offered a job two years ago, and asked "what do you think he will offer?" I told him and he was stunned when the letter came a week later. He said, "how did you know." And I said easy, "it's the same thing Adam was given 3 years ago when BLANK left, and he signed the last contract." LOL
You must be retarded, if you ask why did I quit in 1993. I must to be retarded because I came back. But I love my son and would do anything for him is my alibi. LOL
Wade
Very insightful Wade.
Very seldom does anyone want to talk circus wages.
I knew circus work was not to get rich but your figures are shockingly low for such a responsibility.
I remember when I sat down to talk about the cage act with Dory Miller in 1977.
"The cage act is $65.00 a week" he said from across his desk. I replied, "Ok, but I can't pay any more than that." LOL
Point is I guess, if you love doing something, salary takes a back seat. Dion
I disagree. If you truly love doing something....you won't do it for less then what it's worth. By doing something that should pay $1,000 dollars a week, for $500 (these are not relevant figures, just examples) it is in turn teaching the producer that saving a few bucks with his animals might be worth the risk of not having someone with more experience. I am sure Bret Farve loves playing football, I am also sure he won't do it for a penny less then what he feels he is worth.
Dion,
It is a darker secret then the contents of the Vatican Library. That is how the populaces are "in check". Half are embarrassed at what they are paid, and the other half wants to give the illusion of great salary's. I actually had a show threaten me with expulsion if I kept telling reporters what I made when they asked. Irvin Feld is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, they "paid a great fortune for my services" but he couldn't divulge the terms.
In 1994 when I addressed salary's publicly, I was scoffed as a "disgruntled employee" although I have been a contracted agent my whole like. When I addressed it over a year ago on the "history channel" and challenged anybody to come with "proof" of their figures, there have been no takers as of today. It is something I have addressed as a possible reason why there is no new blood coming in, and why there are so many leaving. I also have suggested it may be why there has been such a downfall of quality acts but each time that has been discredited also and the blame is squarely placed at animal rights, economy, tv, video, etc. etc.
"if you love doing something, salary takes a back seat." That's not a point as you suggest Dion, it is an example of how something has just about been destroyed over personal wants/needs. What business could survive, if the infrastructure did it just because they loved it? All of them, but that is not the real world. That is a make believe world.
What industry would survive hiring and paying relatives and friends a larger salary to gain something in return or for favoritism with no thought to qualifications. What industry would survive hiring only one race of people regardless of qualifications? What industry would survive hiring a certain sex regardless of qualifications? What industry would survive telling the staff, men have to do it but the women don't, yet they make the same salary regardless of qualifications. Those practices are all against the law, Dion. In the real world. In the circus world they are standard operating procedure. Is this beautiful industry thriving, with new blood coming in to take it to the next millennium?
Wade
Casey,
Far more important, then what he thinks he is worth, is how much he is worth in comparison to other "skill" players at his position. That amount is a given and how cute or how nice or loyalty is then the negotiating perks, which gets the extra to keep him from going some other place. There is a "price for all positions" the good ones have the negotiating power. The rest stay at a great "standard" salary.
Wade
Wade, you've been pretty upfront for a couple years about the numbers -- and there's no arguing that you were badly underpaid over the past decade. Casey's certainly right that when anybody works for less than they are worth it gives Producers/Owners/Etc an edge. But then there's the reality factor...so long as "somebody" will take the job for the lower wage, holding out only gets one so far. (And Casey has an advantage in that he owns his act rather than working for somebody else.) What's scary in the current economy is that wages that have already declined for ten years will decline even further because there's security in just having a job, and there are fewer town jobs available for the act that stays home. Ironically things were better in an era when Irvin Feld paid for talent and skill rather than merely somebody who could fill a slot, or when a Cliff Vargas was willing to pay X dollars for a base act and XX for each additional degree of difficulty (or number of cats.) There's no need to "blame" anybody other than producers -- but when you hire a clown out of someplace like Panama and pay them $200 a week plus $50 more to drag electrical cables -- what the heck, why not offer them $450 to stand inside the tiger cage? ... You've figured out that they'll work cheap. We all know that you get what you pay for, but right now that bar is pretty low.
Wade, I tried to e-mail you but it came back as unroutable. Try me at warren@everydaycircus.net or rig2@aol,com
Warren
Wade,
Jim Clubb had not so many presenters as Hawthorn I think and if I took all presenters of the book and all the presenters found on the internet, I think I can do it. And on anoymous I don't think Catharina Gasser ever worked with the mixed act. Tina Michon did the mixed act in 2000/2001 then was replaces by Marnie Dock and in 2003 Marcel Peters presented the act.
Thomas
Wade,
I think these are most of them but yes I'm not sure and I think their are much more, and yes you were right I cannot give them all because I just have the book but here are some:
1. Gary Ambrose: Mixed act
2. Jennifer Solomon: Mixed act/Baboon act
3. Marcia Palacio: Mixed act
4. Luis Palacio: Lion act/ Mixed act
5. Emile Smith: Tiger act/ Leopard act/ Lion act/ Exotic act
6. Trevor Bale: Horse act
7. Alex Clubb: Elephants with Jim Clubb
8. Jimmy Spencer: Lion act
9. Larry Allen Dean: Lion act
10. John Campolongo: Lion act
11. Jana: Alligator act
12. Miss. Alexia: Dog act
13. Alex Larenty: Zebra and Mules act
14. David Hibling: Pig act
15. Susan Lacey: Bear act
16. Estel Smart: Bear act
17. John Illig: Bear act / Mixed act
18. Amanda Sandow: Bear act
19. Marco Peters: Tiger and lion act
20. Louis Knie: Tiger act
21. Sandrine Le Bris: Mixed act 2/ Exotic act
22. Sara Smith: Exotic act/ Lion act
23. Andrea Carr Jewell: Mixed act 3/ Exotic act
24. Patricia White: Mixed act
25. David Lowrie: Mixed act / Exotic act
26. Tina Stiff: Mixed act / Exotic act
WADE So, being a first of May, and not knowing a thing about fair salaries in the circus or for working a cage act in particular do you suggest I should have sat there and tried to negotiate with D.R.? That would have been the fastest, in and out meeting with the circus magnate ever seen by man.
I had waited 20 years to work with cats. Do you suggest I should have walked out in a huff when offered that salary?
I was happy to get in the arena instead waiting another year as cat groom.
You have lofty and idealistic wishes for a industry that supported you for many years. It never changed during your time and it won't during your son's time. You have to live with it or leave it. However, you have every right to struggle for changes.
By the way, did my humor in the last post go over your head? Dion
Casey
There are lots of people working for peanuts because they love it, not because it pays a respectable salary. Aid agencies for one example.
Would you give up K-M if you thought the salary fell short?
I'm guessing the answer would depend on how much you enjoy, or not enjoy working with animals. Dion
Thomas,
Catarina Gasser and Tina Michon are the same person. Louis Knie rented an act, did not "work for". Also there is a difference between an "employee" worked for, and an "independent agent" paid to perform a service.
Jennifer Solomon had other "responsibilities" in addition to presenting an act.
Wade
Dion,
The history is full of ones who "just had to do it." and they were allowed to. Most unique "skill" opportunity an industry has ever allowed. They muddied it up and left, and should accept responsibility for much of the current problem, animal rights, and financial. Why did the Greatest Show on Earth, have so few trainers, and why was it the Greatest Show on Earth. Where the back end opportunities were offered, is indicative of that end of the industry. They all got lumped together, and animal rights had a field day. No it didn't go over my, given what I know I question it was a valid figure.
Wade
Jennifer Solomon was Clubbie's root on the side.
Wade,
Louis Knie worked togheter with Jim Clubb from 1994 untill 1997. They had the tiger act afer the leopard act, lion act and then the mixed act. Didn't knew it was the same person Catharina and Tina.
Thomas
Thomas,
Not much of value is learned from autobiography's or self serving paper. That is why discussion, without anger is of value. If you have 10 tigers, and I rent them from you for a year, and I working for you? I am giving you money for the tigers. Maybe you are working for me?
Wade
Thomas,
Catharina/Tina is the daughter of Jean Michon,but maybe you knew that already.
just rember there is a mexican out there who will always work for $500 less than you...lol
Anonymous,
You are very wrong to stereotype "Mexicans". The only reason I let a sad statement like that pass, it to point out it is not exclusive of any nationality. In an industry that the unanimous conclusion is: the acts suck, the performance is terrible, and the talent of before is no longer there, who is responsible for this current state of affairs. The folks who took the 500.00 less to be a trouper, the folks who offered it to have a show, or the folks who accepted what they saw as the best available? How bad does the industry and the public want this thing to turn around?
Wade
Not to get too personal, but when you bring an act to a show (your own, or one you're leasing) does the show pay for the animals' bills (food, bedding, transport, vet, shoes, etc.) or is that included in the trainer's weekly salary?
-Chris
Chris,
Nothing is to personal in a quest for understanding and knowledge. Very,very, very seldom are the animals rented by the presenter. The act's are either owned by the presenter, or by a company such as Clubb or Hawthorn and the presenters are contracted to them, and the act is leased/contracted to a show/circus. As a rule all expenses are borne by the owner of the acts, with exception. Often times to not pay as much for an act in dollars, a show/circus will offer to pay for the food for the animals or a percent of the transportation costs. It is a trade off, goods in exchange for dollars. It benefits a Clubb or Hawthorn, who have less expense, but the presenter can't get more money, because there is not as much money paid!!!!! It is left to you to try to get those goods once you get there. It is as dark, deep of a mystery as the actual salary's paid, which is why the issue of where are the good acts is debated in such odd context. Every one, everyone will tell you they make more then the other, but no one knows or says what that is, because in a industry with no standard it can be what ever it wants to be. That is a fact that has not changed in hundreds of years.
Wade
Wade, this is surprising and shocking! If I am understanding this correctly, sometimes a show/circus will promise elements of animal care to the owner of the act/animals in lieu of part of the rent paid, and then renege on the promise of this care while on the road? And the trainer has to scrounge for the care promised, but not delivered?
Mary Ann
Thomas,
Why is Michael Howes or Billy Wilson Smart not on your list of presenters, as Anonymous #5 says? I don't think your list is valid, and who ever wrote it is not being truthful.
Wade
Mary Ann,
More times than I can even recall. It is why the trainer is often blamed or associated with care of the animal. He/she is the one the public sees or is in the public eye. As common as "fresh" cotton candy in a bag. There is not "internal affairs division" or "grievance committee." But there are also animal owners who buy 1.00 sawdust and then demand that the circus/show provide 10.00 sawdust, because "their animals deserve the best!!!" I can honestly say, Ringling is the only show I was ever contracted to that it was not an issue, and the best money could buy was provided.
Wade
Dion,
I have, as Ben points out, the advantage of booking my animals to the highest bidding show. That said, the minute I can't get what I feel the act is worth, it would be over. I love working with animals, but it is not animal specific (I get as much satisfaction teaching my fish to go to certain parts of their tank when I cue them as I do teaching a tiger to roll over or jump another) I am not in this for the applause, strictly for the money. And if I didn't need to make money I would still train animals but it would probably be hamsters or mice (something cheap and low maintenance) DR and other show owners made a great profit over the years using guys like you, who did it just because they wanted to do it. That doesn't make it rite though.
Casey,
I suppose if I asked you what do you think it is worth, you would respond, what ever I can get. I have had folks tell me "I make a decent living doing my act" and when I say "what is a decent living" they don't know. Is decent in comparison to other life threating occupations? In comparison to 20 years at another occupation, forgetting something special like a quadruple somersault, or one of a kind.
Wade
Way back in the dark ages, as an aerialist, who enjoyed my work as an entertainer, I wanted to work as much as I could. However, when it came to pay, I had one advantage when it came to accepting an offer of a specific amount. If the date would fit into the route, would cover the expenses, but not pay what I wanted, we had a bare bones routine that left out the dangerous / high risk sequences and the producer got what he paid for - a simple to do act with little risk, we got a few bucks, and went on to the next high paying date. I don't think this is easily done with animals. If you leave an animal or two out - if possible without disrupting the routine, those animals still have to eat, receive care, be transported, etc. The basic nut for the act remains the same no matter how many of the animals actually work. If you can't meet the nut why do the date? This, of course brings up the question of is something coming in better than nothing. For animal acts, I believe the answer has to be NO. Hopefully, when accepting the responsibilities of animal care, thought was put into how they were to be fed, transported, receive vet. care, and all those expensive things and you are prepared. Precedents, once set, are hard to change. I would like to believe that the public wants the best and that producers want to give them the best but I also am realistic enough to know that this is not the case in the industry today. If a producer failed to provide something contracted to mewith my aerial stuff, we could adapt easily. If you have animals and receive sub standard hay or meat, you are screwed. I've spent some time tracking down good hay and meat for people and know it is a hassle but you are better off doing it yourself and insuring your charges are getting what you need, not depending on some guy in the shrine temple to bring in the stuff from his home chipper for bedding, scraps from his meat packing house, or bailed wheat straw for hay. All of which I have seen happen.
I do not know the current situation on RBBB but when I was there both as a performer and as a technician, everybody got the best available. Be it a Crosby shackle, MacWhyte wire rope, pure timmothy hay, fresh bread and produce, and it was there when you needed it, not whenever Nobel Billy Bob could get off work and make it into town.
Be it aerial, ground, or animal, it is in your best interest to not depend on the show for anything. Hold your ground, get your price for what you do. When the public realizes they are being shortchanged for thie money by getting less than the best, things will change. Or, I'm still a dreamer that the American public will one day learn to appreciate the circus and its performers, animal and human, as true artists and worthy of recognition and support.
This is turning into an off topic rant so I had better shut up now.
Warren
Warren,
I don't think any thing is a rant off topic or otherwise. But it is confusing. You talk about the public, accepting anything and not appreciating the artists, yet you mention doing, less of an act to have the work. What did it to the industry, is again a question I pose, the producer who wouldn't pay what something was worth, the act who did anything to get the work or the public who at some point said this is nonsense and went away. How long would the Spanish Riding School survive, if all their horse died, and they quick hired a bunch of grey horses and ponies to keep the date. Is it better to fill a ring with something sub par to have a complete circus, or leave it empty rather then publicly showing something inferior.
Wade
Wade, you bring up the question of "a decent living." Pretty vague. But there actually a way to measure these things. Through much of the world the "bar" as it were for measuring "middle class" is based on teacher salaries. Why? Because teachers generally have a certain level of education and can be classified as "professionals" but their incomes are at the lower end of the "professions." From state to state here in the US the starting salary for a teacher is around $30K. Some state may be as low as $22K some as high as $36K. I use this number because it seems pretty clear to me that if you aren't earning something in that range as an animal trainer you aren't being treated like a professional in 2008. (And bear in mind that number doesn't include any expenses, so if you own the act and cart it down the road the number number needs to be $90K +.) Clearly a talented, experienced trainer/presenter/animal manager ought be earn more. The fact that there are people working animal acts for well under $20K is appalling if indeed they are professionals, because the kid slinging coffee at Starbucks is making $16K his first day through the door, and he can get a health plan. In 1982 teh starting salary for a zookeeper in NYC was $18K. That may still be around the starting salary in some zoos, but again, the job comes with security and benefits and dental. It's all well and good to find somebody to work as a groom for $200 a week, but what kind of experience, and excellence does a show buy when they hot the road with a $200 groom, a $350 animal super, and a $500 presenter? Maybe one of those guys will be good -- but he'll get pissed off and leave during the first month. Half the stupid non-compliance issues that arise are rooted in carelessness stemming from the false economy associated with hiring on the cheap. The $1000 the show saves this week gets paid out later in USDA stipulations. Casey is absolutely right. Even somebody who genuinely loves working with animals can't let that cloud sound business judgment. If it comes down to eating ramen noodles every day so that you have enough to keep the phone turned on... it's time to ask for more $$.
Casey. Well, owning your own animals does put you in a better position for getting the $$ your act deserves.
When I started I had no idea if I would spend a few years or a lot of years herding big cats around in a circular cage. So to find out if I liked it, I took the first act owner that would hire me to present it. If I 'mucked it up' as Wade suggests for those to follow so be it. I can't look out for the world. I hope to see you at the lakefront grounds in Milwaukee this July. I will be there signing my new book. Dion
wade
I said the list was not complete . How more presenters you add how more the list become complete . Happy new year to all.
Thomas
I never heard about michael witch act did he presented and in witch circus. I think the mixed act was just one time with austen bros and that was 87-88 with jennifer and Gary. before the act was on Pitney show in training with jim clubb.
Thomas
Thomas,
Where did you get your list? Maybe the person didn't know for sure who had worked for Clubb.
Wade Burck
Dion,
I don't begrudge you taking the job. I fault the person who offered it to you, and am sickened that there was never a standard that prevented it. If there had been, it may have prevented today. What is the name of your book, and what is it about.
Wade
Hi Wade
It didn't take me long in the circus business to see that management was taking huge advantage of people who wanted to be around a circus. I could understand those who craved attention from audiences, the performers, but was mystified by those who had the hardest jobs. Especially the mechanics. Climbing under trucks in the cold mud for sub-standard pay is beyond my comprehension.
Here on the circus no spin zone I am announcing the publishing of ' WILD ANIMAL CIRCUS' True tales from the Carson & Barnes Circus.
Available June 2009 when I return to the states from Thailand.
Happy New Year and further success on your blog. DION
Dion,
What's to understand? Napoleon almost conquered Europe, defeating great armies, until Wellington slammed the door in his face at Waterloo, with only men/soldiers that humanity had shunned as rejects, derelicts, thieves and scaliwags, by giving them a sense of self worth, comradeship, belonging and family. Most remained loyal to Napoleon, at great personal sacrifice and hardship until their deaths. Throw in free cook house and a bunk and your seasons underway.
Good luck with the book. Between you and I and nobody else, can we really count on "True" tales from the Carson & Barnes Circus, or are you just goofing on the folks to peddle copy? Not that it has been done before with circus animal genre books, but I am just asking for my own curiosity.
Wade
Wade
First off, I seldom read anything fictional. So, I am not likely to write fiction.
From the get-go I decided to 'tell it like it was'.
What I saw that was bad, I wrote about it in the book. What I saw good, I also wrote about that. I did not write to 'grind my axe'. It is merely an account of how it was to travel and work on the five ring circus.
Writing is akin to working in the circus industry. You don't do it to get rich - so no need for me to lie to sell copy.
Professionals probably won't get much, if anything, out of the book. It wasn't geared to any particular part of the populace, however, it will be most appreciated by circus fans rather than others . DION
Wade, as an aerialist, it was quite easy to have different routines for different situations. In those events where I described taking less money and doing an easier routine, it was never just to work. Sometimes work was available that would cover some of the expenses to make jumps if time was available and it was not out of the way. In every case, the producer knew what he was getting. As I did not produce the date, I had no control over the content of the show. Sure, I would have rather performed somewhere where we could be featured with our release and catch stuff, or other high difficulty skills, but if somebody asked for a four minute act to work in a display to strike the cat arena, and offered half our normal fee, then that is what they got. I feel it is easier to do this with aerial stuff than it is with animals.
Although I haven't seen him work, I hope Adam gets top dollar for all his work. I know he learned from a master. I wouldn't want to take a dog act on the road these days and those who are making it with animals, especially exotics, deserve praise and honor.
Warren,
Right now it is a sellers market for exotics. That wasn't the case 30 years ago when there were a couple of dozen of them. If there had been a some type of standard, a lot of the good ones may have stayed around, and it would not be the sellers market it is today. What is left, and that is about a half dozen, is pretty uniform as to quality and because there is not a lot to choose from are getting a decent dollar. What they are worth. No that will never happen, and the industry is headed for implosion because of that mentality. Exotics are right now at the top of the money game, and if they are lucky it should hold or at 5 years. When there were 8 white tigers in the US they sold for about 100 grand, when there were 300 they sold for a thousand. When there were a thousand you couldn't give them away.
That is is normal is the production game unless you are producing to a certain standard. It is too bad the circus in an effort to be big let quality go so that there were a lot who earned little. No there is a little earning a lot and it doesn't matter what it is, because they have to have it. The situation in Europe dumped even quicker to to the over production no quality of years ago. Folks quit buying the product so today those who want it will take what is available.
Wade
hi my name is jennifer solomon and have been reading your page,first i work with jim clubb for over 15 years,from 1979 up to 1994,and i work along side jim all those years the first group i help train was the lepord act which emile smith work, i would like to set you lot straight on a few things yes i did work the mixed group and the baboons jim clubb didnt train them i did,also i work tony hopkins tigers i also work falcos elephants and that was on gandys circus,i went to japan and work the bears,which i also help train,in fact their are so many groups that i help train to many to metion, i work very hard to a
get were i got nothing was handed to me , and what does it mean i was clubbies root on the side,THAT IS BAN OUT OF ORDER in 1990 i met mark austen and went on o have 3 children with him, you lot really need to do your homework ,how can you say things about me when you lot dont even know me or nothing about me JENNIFER SOLOMON
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