SHOWFOLKS TENT 122 MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY

SARASOTA--FROM MIKE NAUGHTON

First meeting of the season, Wed Oct 5 at the club house, doors open at 7pm, meeting promptly at 7:30 pmDESSERTS and RAFFLE ITEMS, please.Bob Collins, founder of BIG TOP TOURS (highly recommended) and Board Member of Circus Sarasota will be our speaker and will share the inside scoop of the merger of Circus Sarasota and Sailor Circus, this is going to be interesting.BRING A GUEST if you like, your friends are always welcome.

Jackie LeClaire
leighketchum



Biographical slide show of the life of Jackie LeClaire.

Big E's Wayne McCary lives out his dream as president of the Eastern States Exposition

G. Wayne McCary is marking his 20th year as president and chief executive officer of the Eastern States Exposition.

Sunday, October 02, 2011

By Cynthia Simison, The Republican

From: MASSLIVE.COM

The intricately-carved carousel horse in his office is a major give-away.
So, too, are the vintage Cole Bros. Circus poster framed on one wall, the elephant lamp, the shelves of books about the history of the circus and the plastic bag filled with Bello Nock clown dolls that sits near his desk.
G. Wayne McCary loves the circus. Really loves the circus.
“At some time in your life, I think everyone feels like running away to join the circus,” McCary says. “Not everybody gets to fulfill that dream. I really have.”
He caught the circus bug in childhood. As a real-life kid of the 1950s, McCary would help tear down the merry-go-round for New England’s popular Coleman Brothers traveling carnival as it made its way through Connecticut.

Big E president G. Wayne McCary is shown here in 1996 with circus ringmaster John Herriott, left, and Sylvia Zerbini. Dave Roback
Fresh out of college, he was booking circus and entertainment acts up and down the East Coast for a Boston talent agency.
Today, McCary is living out a dream-come-true job as he marks 35 years of service to the Eastern States Exposition, the last 20 of which have been as president and chief executive officer. It’s a job which has taken him from the White House to the royal palace of Monaco; he’s a hall-of-famer for state, regional and international associations in the fair industry; and he’s producing shows that now feature a second generation of circus stars he’s booked over the years.
McCary is just the sixth CEO of the exposition, an enterprise which has annual revenues approaching $20 million and pumps nearly $225 million into the region’s economy each year, according to an independent survey of the fair’s economic impact.

The Big E Super Circus is produced by exposition president G. Wayne McCary. This 2002 photo shows McCary conferring with the late Tom Hanneford of the Hanneford Royal Circus which provides the equipment and personnel for the Big E Big Top. Hanneford died in 2005. David Molnar
The exposition is a non-profit organization established in 1916; its federal stax records show it “provides year-round opportunities for the development and promotion of agriculture, education, industry and family entertainment.” The exposition gives 1 percent of its revenues annually – last year the amount was about $184,000 – to a trust fund established under McCary’s guidance in 1994 to aid local charities.

Bello Nock, left, clown-daredevil and star of the 2011 Big E Super Circus has some fun with the man who produces the circus, G. Wayne McCary, president of the Big E, during a performance. - Don Treeger
The exposition is a non-profit organization established in 1916; its federal stax records show it “provides year-round opportunities for the development and promotion of agriculture, education, industry and family entertainment.” The exposition gives 1 percent of its revenues annually – last year the amount was about $184,000 – to a trust fund established under McCary’s guidance in 1994 to aid local charities. In 2010, the exposition’s gross revenues were $18,460,049; McCary, who earns a base salary of about $400,000, oversees a staff of 1,000 (along with another 1,000 who volunteer and 2,500 who work for vendors and concessionaires). read more at:http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/big_es_g_wayne_mccary_lives_ou.html

Children of All Ages Trailer
susiefilms

CHILDREN OF ALL AGES is a three-ringed documentary that pays tribute in Barnumesque style to America's most important entertainment form: The Circus. 1) The country's OLDEST YOUTH circus! 2) The world's LARGEST MINIATURE circus! 3) The LAST ORIGINAL Ringling performers!

Plane Hits Ferris Wheel: No Injuries

By Russ Niles,

Editor-in-Chieffrom: AVweb.com "Wold's Premier Independent Aviation News Resource"October 1, 2011The 52-year-old Australian pilot has answered the obvious question. Paul Cox told rescuers he didn't see the ferris wheel. "The next thing I knew, I was stopped inside the Ferris wheel," he said. "I had no idea for a few minutes and I was just hoping no one got hurt." He's likely to face some more probing inquiries from Australian authorities in coming days, such as why he was flying less than 50 feet above a country fair in the small coastal community of Old Bar, about 220 miles north Sydney on Friday when the Cheetah S200 (a type our limited research didn't find) he was flying with his 32-year-old passenger hit the smallish, as ferris wheels go, carnival ride. Neither the plane's occupants nor the five children on the ride were hurt at all but the Cheetah will never be the same and the ferris wheel will need some work. "Thankfully, everyone was taken down and were able to walk away from it," local firefighter Ben Shepherd said.

BIG TEX

TEXAS STATE FAIR

Gene Baker, with the State Fair, leans out on the shoulder of Big Tex to unfasten the lift cables on the north end of the State of Texas Fair's Midway in Dallas, Monday, Sept. 26, 2011. The 2011 State Fair, "A Timeless Tradition", is also the 125th anniversary of the Fair in Dallas. (AP Photo/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Paul Moseley)

Before Big Tex was Big Tex, he was Santa Claus in Kerens, first displayed in 1949. He's world famous now as the centerpiece of the one of the largest state fair celebrations in the United States.

FROM:: Corsicana, Texas Daily Sun

DIXIE CLASSIC FAIR--WINSTON-- SALEM, NC

You can eat healthy at the Big E: wwlp.com

Takabisha( Photo by YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images / July 10, 2011 )

People ride on Fuji-Q Highland amusement park world's steepest roller coaster 'Takabisha' with a free falling angle of 121 degrees, at a press preview at Fujiyoshida city in Yamanashi prefecture on July 8, 2011. The Takabisha stands 43m tall and is 1,000m in distance and will open at the park on the foothills of Mt. Fuji on July 16.

Rabbit hopping competition

( Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images )

A Rabbit jumps over a hurdle at an obstacle course the 5th Open Rabbit Sport Tournament in Rommerz near Fulda, Germany. Eighty rabbits competed in light-weight, middle-weight and jumping-for-points categories at the tournament in Rommerz that is based on Kanin Hop, or Rabbit Hopping.

Chimp feeds tiger bottle in Thailand.

(Sukree Sukplang/Reuters / July 10, 2011 )

Two-year-old chimpanzee "Do Do" feeds milk to "Aorn", a 60-day-old tiger cub, at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Samut Prakan province on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Circus Novelty Stand Midway and novelty (garbage) stand. June 15, 1949.

Children at Novelty Stand Photographer's Note Two children at novelty stand on the midway. Black top parking lot on the lakefront south of Soldier Field. July 30, 1949.


Jimmy Armstrong sounding the first bugle near the lakeshore. Lakefront lot. July 23, 1951.


PHOTOS FROM THE MILNER LIBRARY ISU DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

RINGLING NOVELTY STANDS PART 2

Dolls on doll rack in concessions stand in backyard. The concessions are called garbage by circus people. July 26, 1948.

The front yard and midway. July 15, 1949.


Novelty Stand Interior view of the novelty stand in the backyard. July 26, 1948


Title Performer at Novelty Stand Photographer's Note Rose Wong at novelty stand. July 22, 1951.

Children at Novelty Stand Photographer's Note Norma Wright of Hammond, Indiana, and her brother and sisters at novelty stand, black top parking lot south of Soldier Field, July 21, 1951.

ALL PHOTOS FROM THE MILNER LIBRARY ISU DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

Ringling Museum showcases old circus posters full of promise and hype

By Lennie Bennett, Times Art Critic

In Print: Sunday, October 2, 2011

SARASOTA — The circus is coming to town!
Back in the days before instant gratification ruled our lives, people across America felt a sense of anticipation build over weeks as the extravagant road show neared their city. The event was trumpeted by the most direct and effective form of communication (and advertising) at the time: big color posters promising the thrills of a lifetime that were plastered on any available wall.
A collection of those posters at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art takes us back to the era when circuses were the premier form of populist entertainment, bringing exotic sights and experiences from around the world to people who might have never ventured past their own city limits.
The 80 on view are culled from the permanent collections of the Ringling Museum and the Cincinnati Art Museum and were created between the mid 19th and 20th centuries by the Strobridge Lithographing Co.

[CHRIS ZUPPA Times]
Clown Lou Jacobs’ famous car, top, is on display as part of a new interactive exhibition for the Tibbals Learning Center at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Acrobatic Animals

Popovich Comedy Pet Theater

Paul Wellman (file)

Gregory Popovich

Friday, September 30, 2011

from: The Santa Barbara Independent

By Michelle Drown

In December 2007, Gregory Popovich brought his entourage of human and animal performers to Santa Barbara, delighting audience members with feats of juggling, balance, and training. Four years later, the World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater is returning to S.B. to perform two nights at the Lobero Theatre.
A master of the art of herding cats, Popovich’s act doesn’t consist of silly pet tricks; it is a top-notch variety show that includes the juggling, physical comedy, European-style clowning, balancing, and jump-roping talents of Popovich and his four-person ensemble, as well as feats of skill by his highly trained animals. Popovich’s menagerie includes plenty of cats and dogs, as well as doves, white mice, and ferrets. All of the Popovich animal stars are adopted from shelters.
Born to Russian circus performers, Popovich started juggling when he was six. By the time he was 17, he’d earned himself a spot in the Great Moscow Circus Group. Mind you, the Moscow Circus isn’t dancing elephants and clowns with big shoes and water-squirting plastic daisies but rather a serious art form that, in Russia, is regarded as on par with the ballet or opera. In addition to performing, Popovich — who has several gold medals and holds multiple world records in the art of juggling — spent five years earning the special degree of circus creator and producer.
Based out of Las Vegas, Popovich and his troupe have toured the world, won numerous international circus competitions, and been guests on television shows such as the Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Arkansas/Oklahoma State Fair

Carnie Happy Traveling U.S.

Frankie Smith, 22, right works at his booth Balloon Prize Factory at the Arkansas Oklahoma State Fair. Smith travels with the show.

By Jeff Arnold

SW TIMES RECORD

Most people probably don’t think about a motel room in Nebraska when they’re thinking of a winter home, but Frankie Smith isn’t most people.
Smith, 22, left home in Anaheim, Calif., when he was 18 years old after he answered an ad in the local newspaper for carnival workers. He applied for a job operating rides, Smith said, but the boss told him he was too small to move the equipment and instead gave him a job working at a game booth.
Four years, 48 states and at least 15 bosses later, Smith is working at the Balloon Prize Factory on the midway at the Arkansas/Oklahoma State Fair.
Smith said he generally works about 100 hours a week during the carnival season, which lasts from February to November. There are some opportunities for carnival workers in the “off season,” but Smith said the money isn’t worth his time.
“I make about $2,000 a week during the season,” Smith said.
But it wasn’t always that way. Starting out, Smith said it’s hard to make much money, until you reach a certain level and start operating the most profitable games — the trade-up (or build-up) and tub games.
Tub games are variations of throwing a ping-pong ball into a tiny fish bowl or bottle up, where the customer tries to toss a plastic ring around the neck of a bottle.
Smith works trade-up games, which he said are what they sound like, a game where the value of the prize increases the more you play and win.
When he’s working, Smith said, “There is no niceness in my heart. I want your money,” and he’ll talk every person he can into playing as long as possible.
Although he’s been all over the continental United States, Smith said he rarely sees much if any of the cities he visits; instead he works, rests, saves his money and then moves on to the next city.

read more:http://www.swtimes.com/news/article_99244e9e-eb78-11e0-903b-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story
September 30, 2011

US cat with 2 faces lives 12 years, sets record

By RODRIQUE NGOWI

Associated Press

Posted: Sep 29, 2011
WORCESTER, Massachusetts (AP) - Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes - and lots of doubts about his future.
Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being euthanized because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving, but has also made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.
"Every day is kind of a blessing; being 12 and normal life expectancy when they have this condition is one to four days," Stevens said, stroking Frank and Louie's soft fur as he sat on her lap purring. "So, he's ahead of the game; every day I just thank God I still have him."

Frank and Louie's breeder had taken him to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, where Stevens was working at the time, to be euthanized when he was just a day old. Stevens offered to take him home, but experts told her not to get her hopes up.
Janus cats almost never survive, and most have congenital defects, including a cleft palate that makes it difficult for them to nurse and often causes them to slowly starve or get milk in their lungs and die of pneumonia. The condition is the result of a genetic defect that triggers excessive production of a certain kind of protein.
But Frank and Louie did not suffer from most of the common Janus problems. Stevens used feeding tubes to nourish him for three months, hoping that would also save him from the danger of choking on food going down two mouths.

It turned out she didn't have to worry about him choking, because Frank and Louie used just one of his mouths to eat.
"The condition itself is very rare, and I think that the fact that this cat became an adult, a healthy adult, is remarkable," said Dr. Armelle deLaforcade, an associate professor at Cummings and head of the emergency services section.
Colleagues at the veterinary hospital told Stevens that trying to raise Frank and Louie might not be good for him - or her.
read more at

NBC4, Richmond, VA

J.Duffy Circus Ireland
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