Sunday, January 24, 2010

Wonderful vintage 1974 footage of the Texas Shrine Circus



This was two years before I went to work for the Hawthorn Corp in 1976. In this great footage you will see Bill Golden with the Hawthorn Tigers, as well as Herta Cuneo's great bear act, and the Hawthorn elephants doing the banner walk with the Tina bringing up the rear.

Courtesy of Mike Naughton

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It took exactly 30 seconds from the time the lion was seated until all the tigers were in the cage and doing the stretch. What a difference from the acts where seating the animals takes as much time as the rest of the act.
Also, I remember those days when the big Shrine shows kept all 3 rings filled most of the time. Not always the highest quality acts, but it sure created a busy, non-stop excitement.

Jim A. said...

Just a quick look at the second bear act. Didn't look like Wally Naughtin or Jimmy's. Did John Cuneo work a second act?

Wade G. Burck said...

Anonymous,
The act consistently worked 23-24 minutes. Did it look like a 23-24 minute act? No because the camera was started and stopped, just as the opening was.
Wade

Wade G. Burck said...

Jim,
No, Hawthorn didn't have a second act. Possibly Horton or Gibbs?
Wade

Mike Naughton said...

The white ponies with the blue plumes looks like "Al's Pals", presented by Al Vidbel. In the back of the ring it looks like Sharon Vidbel.
Just supposing.