Circus to play four shows at Nelson Center

Carlos Torreblanca entertains his granddaughter, Ibana Torreblanca, 2, as her parents load groceries into their camper Monday outside the Nelson Center. Five generations of Torreblancas perform in the Piccadilly Circus. Jason Johnson/The State Journal-Register
By JOHN REYNOLDS (john.reynolds@sj-r.com)
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
May 02, 2011
The Piccadilly Circus, which includes elephants, clowns and contortionists, will be at the Springfield Park District’s Nelson Center today and Wednesday. Two shows will be held in the ice rink each day.
Bruce Blanshan, general manager of the Nelson Center, said the ice has been removed for the show. There are two ice rinks at the Nelson Center, and one usually is taken offline during the summer. This year, it’s the older rink, where the Junior Blues Hockey team plays is.
“We’ve taken the ice rink down a little earlier than usual to accommodate the circus,” Blanshan said. “We’re excited to get the Piccadilly Circus here.”
The circus, based inSarasota, Fla., will set up today. Shows are at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. both days.
“We have elephants, a boxing kangaroo, monkeys and a great clown act,” said Cuinn Griffin, promotional director for the circus. “We also have all kinds of contortionists. They stand on each other while they spin plates. They can make different shapes with their bodies.”
The circus has a trapeze act, but the roof in the ice rink isn’t tall enough to let it perform. This isn’t the first time the circus has run into this problem.
“Most of the buildings we’ve performed in don’t permit the trapeze act,” Griffin said.
The circus has played other ice rinks, Griffin said.
“We’ve actually had a fair amount of ice rinks on the route – probably one every two weeks,” Griffin said.
Blanshan said booking the circus is an attempt to better utilize the Nelson Center.
“What we’re trying to do is get more events in the summer, after we have taken the ice down,” Blanshan said. “For two days, we are making $4,800 on the rental. That’s not a bad deal.”
Blanshan doesn’t expect the circus to damage the floor.
“The cooling system is under the cement. They won’t damage it in any way, shape or form,” Blanshan said.

Ringling heirs go to trial over bereavement fight

By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press

05/03/2011

WASHINGTON—The late multimillionaire owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, Irvin Feld, left a renowned business stunningly at odds with a bitter family legacy. He built an empire of wholesome entertainment meant to bring families together, yet his own two children are so estranged they couldn't even mourn with one another in peace. The often sad family history behind "the greatest show on Earth" is poised to go on trial May 9 before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in a Washington courtroom. Karen Feld filed a $110 million suit against her younger brother, Kenneth, for assault when they came together in the Jewish rite of sitting shiva for their dead aunt.
The suit filed by 63-year-old Karen Feld says her 62-year-old brother long wanted to harm her and control her life because he feared she would reveal facts about their father and family that could tarnish the image of the family business. Irvin Feld created Feld Entertainment, which Kenneth Feld now runs and bills as the world's largest source of live family entertainment, including the circus, Disney on Ice, drag racing and monster truck shows. "What is more wholesome than Disney and the circus, on the surface? But I think what people have to realize is sometimes there's a big difference between appearances and reality," Karen Feld said in an interview with The Associated Press, the first either sibling has given on the case.
Karen Feld says her brother's vendetta against her led to his ordering guards to throw her and the toy poodle that is her constant companion out of their aunt Shirley's shiva in the Washington penthouse where they grew up. She said the guards beat her, inflicting severe injuries that required surgeries on her brain and knee.
Kenneth Feld, who lives in Tampa, Fla., declined through his attorney to be interviewed, who said his client would prefer to make his case to the jury. But in court filings he denies Karen Feld's allegations and has filed a counterclaim against his sister for trespassing, accusing her of desecrating their aunt's memorial with a blasphemous outburst. "She acted in an absolutely outrageous manner, completely disregarding the feelings of myself and everyone else that was in attendance at the shiva service," Kenneth Feld said in a depositionread more at: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17980819?nclick_check=1

A circus tragedy lost to history

A passing reference in 'Water for Elephants' reopens a tragic — but largely forgotten — chapter in Chicago history, and leads to the true story behind a mysterious memorial

The scene of The Hagenbeck-Wallace train crash in which a military train crashed into the The Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train. (Courtesy Circus World MuseumRobert L. Parkinson Library)

May 2, 2011

By Christopher Borrelli, Tribune reporter

May 2, 2011

Richard Lytle tapped his cane against Mary Rudnick's headstone. "She was a performer," he said, reading the name on the grave. "Equestrian tricks, I want to say." The morning was wet and cold, and clumps of spring snow flattened the grass. He wore sandals and socks, and pulled his black satin jacket across his chest. He tapped on another grave. "Baldy," it read. Like the other headstone, it was dated June 22, 1918.
Lytle thought for a moment, then spoke. "Baldy was a driver," he said. "Probably. Nobody knows for sure. That's why it just says 'Baldy.' Most of these people couldn't be identified. Because of the fire, of course."
Or rather, most of these people couldn't be identified because of the train wreck, which led to the fire.

It's one of the Chicago area's great forgotten entertainment tragedies, and the irony is that we probably wouldn't even be standing here, in a cemetery on a cold day, considering its victims, if the accident hadn't received a mention in the best-selling novel "Water for Elephants" and the new movie adaptation, which opened April 22.
"The Hagenbeck-Wallace train, before the accident," says Hal Holbrook in the opening scene of "Water for Elephants," playing an aging circus hand scanning a wall of photographs, each an image from a long-gone circus, as his eyes well up.
Lytle is a librarian at the Hammond Public Library. He is 63, and last year he wrote "The Great Circus Train Wreck of 1918." Most of its victims are buried here, in this cemetery. As if to illustrate the severity of the disaster, he swung his cane, ringmaster style, underlining what was evident: He was surrounded by rows of graves but only a dozen or so of the headstones had names. The rest had a generic identifier: "Unknown." There was "Unknown Male No. 15," "Unknown Female No. 43" — all the way up to "Unknown Male No. 61."

There are rumors about this place, just off of Cermak Road in Forest Park, just inside Woodlawn Cemetery, a plot bordered by five granite elephants, each with its right front foot on top of a circus ball.

Indeed, if you grew up around here, chances are you know the rumors better than the facts: You probably heard that the stone elephants in Woodlawn mark the graves of five elephants, casualties of a long-ago Forest Park circus train derailment. As legend has it, the elephants, who used their trunks to extinguish burning circus cars, only to die as heroes, were too heavy to be moved and were buried near the spot where they fell. The Brookfield Zoo is down the street; animal sounds occasionally carry through the air here. Nevertheless, ghosts of elephants (never) buried in Woodlawn Cemetery are said to trumpet late at night.The facts are more harrowing.READ MORE AT:http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-live-0503-showmens-rest-elephants-20110502,0,5998226.story

Days after Bolado visit, trapeze artist injured in fall

An acrobatic wheel spins around as performers walk along it at the show Tuesday at Bolado Park. Photo by: Nick Lovejoy, Staff Photographer

May 2, 2011By Connor RameyA Carson & Barnes Circus trapeze artist was airlifted to a Bay Area hospital after falling during an aerial performance at the Northridge Mall in Salinas on Sunday - days after the same circus performed in San Benito County.
The man suffered from a dislocated knee, dislocated shoulder and broken fingers, said David Rowls, marketing manager for the circus, who did not have the person's age. The man is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
The accident occurred when there was a miscommunication between performers, and one of them fell and missed the safety net, Rowls said.
"They just lost their grip," he said.
Rowls did not know how far the fall was, he said.
The performance, called "The Flying Trapeze," was the final act before the finale where all of the performers go on stage, he said. But the show ended after the man's fall.
The accident occurred in the first circus performance of the day, starting at 1:30 p.m., Rowls said. There was another performance later in the day with a backup.
"Our thoughts go out to the performer and his wife," he said.

The Carson & Barnes Circus spent two days at Bolado Park last week - on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born terror boss who plotted and funded the 9/11 attacks nearly a decade ago, was shot in the head and killed in a 40-minute firefight, President Obama announced Sunday night.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/index.html#ixzz1LBU1oYt0

Circus trapeze artist performing in Salinas falls from aerial act

May. 1, 2011

Written byGriselda D. Ramirez gramirez@thecalifornian

A circus trapeze artist is reported in stable condition after falling several feet from his aerial act during a performance this afternoon at Northridge Mall in Salinas.

One circus official said the male acrobat was speaking to paramedics on the scene and was conscious, telling them where he may be injured.

The man was later flown to a San Jose hospital, a circus official said.

The two-person aerial act, named “The Flying Trapeze,” was the final performance of the 1:30 p.m. show, according to Josie Loyal, a former circus performer and member of the Carson and Barnes Circus.

According to the circus office manager Kristin Parra, the act was near its ending, the acrobat had performed two flips and was about to catch the second person in the act but a faulty grip of the hand caused him to lose his grip and fall.

The acrobat clipped the edge of the safety net and fell to the pavement below, Parra said.

One report said a circus employee on crowd control may have partially broken the actobat’s fall.

The circus is set up in the back parking lot behind JC Penney and adjacent to the Century theaters on the west side of the mall.

Salinas police and firefighters responded to the emergency call at about 3:30 p.m. and were investigating the cause of the fall.

Loyal said the 4 p.m. show would be performed using a stand-in acrobat.

“The show must go on; it’s a tradition,” she said. Even the injured acrobat would want that to happen, she said.

Quaker Square sends circus to Michigan

Creator's grand-nephew comes to Akron to reclaim a piece of family, and Northeast Ohio, history

This big top was one of 1400 items that was big business at the Quaker Square auction Courtesy of University of Akron
Monday, May 02, 2011
by WKSU's KABIR BHATIA
James & Miriam Tucker traveled to Quaker Square this weekend to try to re-join the circus. WKSU's Kabir Bhatia has more on the Michigan couple's unusual trek... Quaker Square in Akron was once home to "The Greatest Little Show on Earth," a mini-circus hand-carved by Akron rubber worker Robert Harned. James Tucker is Harned's grand-nephew.
He came to Akron on Saturday to reclaim a miniature replica of family history.
The circus was auctioned by Ron Hickman and Paul Wingard, along with hundreds of the model train pieces that once buzzed throughout Quaker Square when the grain silos were converted into a hotel.
When the University of Akron bought the building in 2007, most of the attractions had been mothballed for years. Tucker didn't even know his great uncle's circus still existed until 2009, when he read an article about the University's refurbishing some of the pieces for display in the former Quaker Oats General Store.
He’s kept tabs on the tag sales since then, but his chance to bring home a piece of family history didn't come till Saturday.
After 7 hours of pieces ranging from custom-built O gauge engines to a wooden Thomas the Tank set, the Harned circus went on the block.
And despite the large crowd, only one other bidder emerged to challenge Tucker.The other bidder disappeared soon after James Tucker spent 12-hundred dollars to bring home two large tents, circus rides, figurines, mini train cars and a table full of spare parts. Once refurbished, Tucker says he plans to donate the working circus to the Henry Ford Museum.

AL G KELLY - MILLER BROS CIRCUS

1950's

FROM JIM ELLIOTT

AL G KELLY-MILLER BROS CIRCUS

1950's

FROM JIM ELLIOTT

CAPTAIN FREDDY LOGAN

(ON LEAD BULL)

BOBBY "DIRTY NECK" CLINE

Circus maneuvers cap a five-day camp

JOHN ROTTET - jrottet@newsobserver.com -

Jada Hall-Stanger, 14, of Durham practices. She was participating in The Starfish Circus camp from April 18th to 22.
BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES - Correspondent
May 1, 2011
DURHAM -- To prepare for her first circus performance before a live audience, Natalie Braun, 9, coated her eyelashes with mascara, covered her lips with shiny pink gloss, and had her face painted with glitter.
A few minutes before show time, Natalie and fellow performer Jada Hall-Stanger, 14, hid behind some stored costumes at Legacy Studios off North Duke Street as the audience - their parents - entered.
"Welcome," coach M.A. Harrison said. "Without further ado, we present a beautiful partner acrobatics routine by Jada and Natalie."
The performance capped a five-day circus camp offered during Durham Public Schools' spring break. The camp was taught by Starfish Circus, the teaching arm of the Aerial Angels, a high-flying show based in Kalamazoo, Mich. that performs acrobatics, fire-eating, whip-cracking, trapeze swinging, and clowning across the world, according to the company.
Starfish Circus has taught skills to students from Alberta, Canada, to Tampa, Fla. Jada and Natalie's coaches included Harrison, 24, Zay Weaver, 27, and "Figo," 28, a man with a Scottish accent.
Harrison and Weaver said Aerial Angels performances fall somewhere between the traditional big top and the complex Cirque du Soleil.
"We are not as cheesy as the big top," and more approachable than Cirque du Soleil, Harrison said.
By the end of the week, Natalie and Jada both had blisters on their hands - a rite of passage in the high-flying circus world that was celebrated with high fives, they said. The girls said that while the acrobatics are much more physically demanding than they expected, they are achievable.
"There is nowhere to go from 'can't,'" Natalie said, echoing a phrase repeated throughout the week.
Also, you should maintain a cheesy smile no matter what. "You have to look competent," said Jada, an eighth-grader at Durham School of the Arts.
Jada's parents, Robert Stanger and Libbie Hall, said they were not concerned as their daughter, who sported pink hair,hit various poses on the spinning hoop.
"She's always been very adventurous," Hall saidRead more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/01/1166762/circus-maneuvers.html#ixzz1LBNVbgv7

The circus comes to town

John Clarke Russ BDN

NO CLOWNING AROUND: Flip-Flop, Piggy and other Anah Shrine clowns in stand at attention as Stephani Erb (not pictured) of Brewer sang the Star Spangled Banner at the start of the Anah Temple Shrine Circus' afternoon show a the Bangor Auditorium Friday, April 29, 2011. The annual circus runs Friday through Sunday.

NO CLOWNING AROUND: "Fou" (left) joined other Anah Shrine clowns in saluting the U.S. flag as Stephani Erb (right) of Brewer sang the Star Spangled Banner at the start of the Anah Temple Shrine Circus' opening show a the Bangor Auditorium Friday, April 29, 2011. The annual circus runs Friday through Sunday.


John Clarke Russ

Daria Saveva of Bulgaria, a member of the Ritmos Duo with her husband Georgiev Seveva, gracefully envelopes herself in a flourescent veil during their performance at the Anah Temple Shrine Circus a the Bangor Auditorium Friday, April 29, 2011. The annual circus runs Friday through Sunday.

VIDBEL'S OLD TYME CIRCUS

OPENED FRIDAY EVENING IN SARASOTA

http://doverdaysfestival.com/