I don't know who this is presenting the act. Can anybody offer insight? I assume this is the Bouglione building in Paris. Note the unusual "safety cage" at the front of the arena.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Bouglione Circus--1974
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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14 comments:
Hello Wade,
Regarding the trainer on the Bouglione building(cirque d'Hiver),
I know that Daniel Suskov worked there in the winter of 1974.
But must admit, I can't tell by the photo.What you refer to as
"safety cage",is and was mostly used as the entrance of the cage as well,
specially when the animals were in before the trainer.So that makes some sence.
The safety cage I mean.Why it was often on the opposite side ,I never understood.
I also saw one ,that had it on the side of the cage.
Greetings,
Rob.
Pat Anthony always had one and would use it with his charging male at the end of the act.
Pat had a great female "door lion" that would charge him to the door. The cat would really hit the door and shake the arena. One Saturday morning show in Cincinnati she hit the door hard and bounced Pat into the safety cage door knocking him out.
Rob,
I just don't know if this is Daniel. He normally wore white boots, and not straight legged pants, and this gent appears to be "balding" and Daniel had a full head of hair when I worked with him in 1984.
I don't understand what you mean by "often on the opposite side." Opposite side of what?
As Casey and Jim explained the purpose of a "safety cage" this one is the strangest I have ever seen, and doesn't seem like it would be very "safe."
Wade
This is surely not Daniel Sukow. He had other pedstals. And only worked male lions.
Have to agree with you,in that I think it is not Daniel.But he performed there in 1974 in winter.
Could it be Wim Vos ???.The picture is to small for a good identification.With the opposite side I meant ,that normally in Europe ,cage entrance is next to the shute from which the animals enter the big cage and performers enter the ring.In this picture ,you can see ,that part of the ring is open on the side of the safety cage.Hope you understand what I mean.
Greetings,
Rob
welovecosmetics,
The two on either end are still "males". They have just had their "boys" removed. But you are right, I have only seen Daniel with maned males.
Wade
Rob,
William Vos may be a possibility as that is the style "costume" he wore, and it is similar to his hair line.
Initially I was confused because in the Colonies, traditionally the presenter always entered through the front of the cage, and the animals through the back. That changed after the invention of the net pull up cage, and trainers entered in the back. A few do it today with a net section cage.
In the old day's of barred cages and fighting acts with safety cages they were always at the front(rare exception at the side), because as Jim and Casey explained, it's purpose was for the trainer to get bounced/chased into it for safety, and then fight his way back into the arena. In the Colonies the animals always sat at the back of the arena by the chute, and in Europe the sit in the front of the arena opposite of the chute.
The odd thing about this picture is they are sitting in the back by the chute, like an American act. Also the cage is very small or was made smaller for some reason for this date. Note it is sitting of center. Depending on what size that permanent ring is, the cage would normally be up closer to the ring curb. If it was a net pull up cage, it would come out of the ring curb. The "safety cage" it's self is very odd to me. It would offer no protection at all, if it's intention was to be used as part of the act. It looks like it has an entrance door on the side, so if as you say, the animal were loose in the arena and the trainer entered, it may be just an area to enter making two doors between the lions and freedom instead of one if a standard door was used. I just don't know, and it is the oddest thing I have ever seen. In a couple of day's I am going to send the picture to Jim Clubb if he doesn't see it here, and maybe he can offer insight.
Why the ring is open at the front is odd as you point out. I don't have the answer for that either.
Wade
This is Alexandre Bouglione,5 male lions,ok act for the time.I saw it several times.
Jim Clubb
Jim,
Thank you for the id. Any thought's on the "safety cage" or it's use. Have you ever seen one designed like this with the "half round" shape?
Wade
Your right Jim it was a female that did the door charge.
Casey and Jim,
The one I remember so well was a lioness named Mama. Absolutely terrifying. I remember Pat bounced a male out of the lay down from the right, and as he was backing down, Pat would flip his whip over his shoulder and Mama would bounce him from the opposite direction so Pat was fighting a male and a female at the same time. I can't speak to Beatty's skill as a "fighter" except movie clip, but I will say Pat was the greatest, bar none that I have ever seen live. The three months I spent with him in Mexico City in the early 70's were some of the greatest of my animal career.
Wade
Re: The Safety Cage. I must admit I have never seen another safety cage that looked like this one. The first time I saw this act, it was in use. The second time they had done away with it. As I can remember, it served no purpose, as the lions never bounced the door. In fact, the only act that used to have lionesses fighting the door was Captain Tommy Kayes, who Jamie has commented on with me on his blog previously. He was the greatest in Europe for this particular trick. A number of other trainers, like Clem Merk and Dick Chipperfield Snr. Also had "fighting" lionesses at the door. I had one male lion that stood at the door and wouldn't let you in until you gave it the right cue. Clem always broke a lion to do this, so that no other trainer could take over his act without difficulty. However, none of these used a safety cage. The particular cage pictured had two sections joined together with hinges and was also quite small, as you can see in the picture. This group of lions was trained by Henri Dantes, but is not the same group as we see in the film "Trapeze". However, it is the same group that is in one of the Joe Cates (sp?) TV shows that feature European circuses. It is the one where the lions have a fight and they turn the fire hoses on them. The act was then presented by Catarina Blankart.
Jim Clubb
Please see links below for more on this subject:
Jamie's King Pole magazine article on the bouncer wagon http://jamieclubb.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-kingpole-article.html
Other posts
"Did Grandad Bounce?"
http://jamieclubb.blogspot.com/2009/09/did-granddad-bounce.html
"The Bounce: Revisited"
http://jamieclubb.blogspot.com/2009/08/bounce-revisited-in-kingpole.html
"Dick Chipperfield Jnr – The Last Man to Work the Bouncing Lions?"
http://jamieclubb.blogspot.com/2009/05/dick-chipperfield-jnr-last-man-to-work.html
"Captain Tommy Kayes - Master of the Bouncing Lions"
http://jamieclubb.blogspot.com/2009/05/due-to-popular-demand-not-to-mention.html
"The Bouncer Wagon: A Uniquely English Invention?"
http://jamieclubb.blogspot.com/2009/05/bouncer-wagon.html
Jim,
This statement "Clem always broke a lion to do this, so that no other trainer could take over his act without difficulty" tickles me because when I first started grooming for Lou Regan, he would regale me with wondrous tales of Jungleland/Thousand Oaks. He told me a great story about Chubby Gillfore. Chubby had been hired to train, and then present a lion act, and the people wanted all the official "fighting and bouncing" that Chubby could muster. A couple of months into the gig, Chubby caught wind that they were going to fire him, and present the act themselves when it was complete. Chubby decided "f**k them" and reversed his bounce cues. Traditionally, chair up meant bounce, and chair down meant stop. Chubby spent some time flipping it, and cued chair down bring it on, and chair up stop. Sure enough, two weeks later the people who had promised Chubby a contract presenting the act on completion, came out an informed him they were letting him go, and one of them would finish training the act and present it themselves. The next day they came to Chubby's hotel room where he was packing his bags, and begged him to come back. It seems the gentleman who fancied himself a "bounce master" had gone in with the cat's the day before, and almost didn't get out with his life. LOL He was quoted afterwards as saying "I have never seen such a G*d d*mn stupid bunch of lions who don't know how to fight right, after 4 month's of training. LOL
Any young "cage act fans" who haven't heard of Chubby Gillfore, he ended up losing an arm to a lion, from the elbow down if I recall correctly, and for much of his later career trained and presented lions holding the stick under his arm pit.
Wade
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