Dominic Jando, supposed circus historian has penned a super biography about Gunther Gebel Williams on the great Big Apple Circus supported site, Circopedia. Never being able to keep his impartiality hidden, Mr. Jando has used the opportunity of writting about GGW to hang more paper of his boy Gilbert. LOL The photo above is included in GGW's bio because as Mr. Jando has always said, the best is in Europe, and below is the "paper" hung for Gilbert Houcke:
In this program, which was particularly rich in star acts, the legendary tiger trainer Gilbert Houcke shared the bill with Gunther.
Houcke had entered his new "Pirate" period (following his "Tarzan" period), and had staged a groundbreaking act, in which the cage was free of requisits, beside eight low stools distributed around its perimeter to mark the place of his tigers. Houcke presented his tigers like a liberty act, chambrière in hand, and using only the natural movements of his charges. A particularly striking image was that of the eight tigers marching abreast in a perfect line around the cage, like the arm of a clock whose axle would have been their trainer.
Gunther was indeed familiar with the work of Gilbert Houcke, who had been a major circus star in Europe since the 1950s, and had worked extensively in Germany. But he had now the opportunity to observe his work closely for a full month. Houcke had a great elegance in the ring, and a quiet and soft manner with his tigers. Although he had an extraordinary charisma as a performer, he always gave the spotlight to his feline partners, leaving an impression of connivance between him and them. His acts always had nice little touches of humor, too, and every now and then, the tigers looked as if they made fun of their trainer. There is no doubt that Gilbert Houcke was a major influence in Gunther’s subsequent style as a cat trainer.
"Heaven's forbid it should be America, Ringling Bros, and Irvin Feld that was a major influence on the rise of the 20th Century Circus Hero, right Dom?"
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1 comment:
Wade,
always admiring your impartiality, knowledge and fairness in critic, and also rarely disagreeing with your opinion, I'm very surprised about the style of this post.
First of all, is pretty unfair to call Mr.Jando a "supposed" historian, as nobody can call you a "supposed" trainer and artist. It a statement that offends him and risks to ridiculize yourself.You have the right to dislike him, but you can't deny the deserved title of historian to a man who wrote seminal works on the subject in the last 30 years, widely translated and recognized by the international community. Honestly, I can't think of many other people having a so deep knowledge and writing of world circus history. After that, you can of course dislike his work, but without delegitimate a profession.
The Houcke-Gebel point, now.
In the full respect of your opinion, I don't find nothing wrong in the Jando theory. Please give me a stronger inspiration on young Gunter's approach to tigers (in the 60s Europe) than Houcke's. Simply because Houcke was the recognized trendsetter of the generation previous to Gunther. Point.
Last, I still can't see what you find wrong in the Circopedia project. Ok, is linked to Big Apple Circus: but still, tell me what's wrong in the quality and credibility of this project, slowly growing with a really poor budget.
With all my respect,
Raffaele
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