 Sonia here live and in person and we're thrilled to be able to be sharing this with you guys tonight So without further ado, I am going to go ahead and just turn things over to you. Thank you I'm really nervous It's been a while since I've talked to a big group of people When I started posting pictures on Facebook a couple friends of mine said well Why don't you put some circus pictures on and I didn't think anybody'd be interested. That was also long ago So I did post a few pictures and I got a really great response from everybody and the museum Were we're getting calls from people that they wanted to hear a program. So that's why I'm here tonight I'm Overwhelmed by how many are here. I Was kind of afraid maybe there wouldn't be many people here my daughter said that's okay, mom The family's here. We'll do a wave and make them think the place is full Anyway, I think I'm going to give you a little background of my circus history not just me But so you understand where I'm coming from and what my family was about how it got started Actually, there was somebody performing in a circus or a fair for over a hundred years from my family It actually started in 1860 by this gentleman here. This is my great-grandfather This is Wilhelm Frederick lineman and he was a street performer in a little town outside of Han Germany and He also was a musician. He loved to play instruments and he actually worked on a farm in Germany for five years for free In exchange for music lessons so he could learn to play all these different musical instruments now in Germany at this time they had a Turner's organization. It was called a turn for eye. Does everybody know what the Turner's is You know what the shabuigan Turner's was well this started very early in Germany And the reason for it was it was like an athletic association and they wanted their men to be Prepared and strong They didn't like the leadership at that time in Germany. So The Germans decided that they are they started an athletic association They their motto was strong mind strong body. So my grandfather a great-grandfather was put through that Now as the years went on he married my great-grandma and they had seven children my grandpa was one of the seven and this is my grandfather here Pete and There were four boys and three girls Pete Bill Allen Carl three of the boys ended up Creating this circus. This is so sterling circus This picture was actually taken on the lakefront in 1936 here in shabuigan Was a very very big show and they employed almost 300 shabuigan people So it wasn't just a little thing and most of the The canvas was bought here in shabuigan a lot of the trucks Bax on the trucks were made at panzer lumber company. So it was a very local local thing anyway, when my great-grandma and my great-grandma came to shabuigan they Came around the turn of the century and the boys of course were enrolled in turners right away That was a German thing to do in a turner hall wherever the Germans settled The turner halls went up and that was a place for people that spoke German They could talk with somebody in German. It didn't have to be English They had all kinds of activities, but the main thing was strong mind strong body So all these kids learned to do all this athletic stuff and they worked on pummel bars And they worked on Juggling they did all kinds of things and of course my grandfather and his brothers loved every minute of it well my great-grandma had one of the first brass bands here in shabuigan and They would march down Penn Avenue anybody know where the old people's theater was in shabuigan Anybody have an idea? It was on Penn Avenue where Johnsonville summer sausage was and in fact part of the building is still there and They often had Varval acts and entertainment there, but there were no street lights So my great-grandpa his band my grandfather and his brothers they held torches and they walked with the band they left their way down the streets down Penn Avenue to the old people's theater and So the band could see as they were going anyway once they got to the theater as a reward They got to watch all the acts well between turners and learning all the stuff Are the things they watched at people's theater? They had no it there was nothing else they wanted to do was to be circus performers So they went home and they practiced they taught themselves wire they taught they could tumble There really was very little they couldn't do now. They both my grandfather met my grandmother. She's from Manitowoc Louise Stolz and was her name and they were doing some activity in Manitowoc with the circus and he met her She had never been in a circus before in her life they got fell in love got married and it was along and she was performing right along with him Are we all right now All right Anyway, this is my grandma Louise. This was a publicity picture taken in Chicago Most of the acts went to Chicago to have professional pictures taken She had very long hair and always wore it up. She said it was hard performing with all that hair But this is actually them performing the Roman ring act now This is my grandma here and she's holding up my grandpa my grandfather and his cousin Ted Now they're actually doing back planches, which is a very very hard trick to do But grandma was pretty agile. She was pretty bendy. So that's that's the act they started with As the years went on they had my father and this is my dad here horrible From little on of course he was on the circus So he learned to do everything but what he loved most was he was the man on the flying trip He's the flying act and at one time he had 18-inch biceps He was really really in very good shape But he learned to do everything on the show because his father owned the show my grandpa was I won't say cheap But it was very shrewd. Oh, so So He had my dad learn almost everything so my dad could put it up take it down he did 13 numbers in the show and Also on nights when the weather was bad and and on the circus you can kind of tell when there's a storm coming You can tell by the way the animals are acting and especially the elephants If it's they I don't know they can feel something and you can see it all of a sudden they start Moving a little bit and their ears are moving and you kind of know and the other animals are kind of pacing You know something's coming well My dad had to sit up all night some nights never got any sleep be so he could warn if there was a bad Storm coming because that was a very dangerous thing for a tent circus in those years For a while they had their winter quarters here in Sheboygan my uncle Al won the a Small farm outside of Sheboygan where the loves that Trucking places now it was right near there And they kept the animals out there when they first started their circus But then winters were very tough on the animals So they moved to southern Illinois and my dad had to move with them so he spent his first winter with the animals in Illinois and he loved to dance my dad was a dancer and He went to a dance on the weekend. This was an illy-lilithal Illinois and he saw my mom and he said That's it. She had black curly hair and big blue eyes and he said that's the one So they danced all night and three months later. They were married She had never seen a circus in her life And she said oh boy, I don't know what I got myself into when he he took her to winter quarters when they started Teaching her all the different stuff. She had to learn So she worked with the elephants. This is her picture right here This this elephants name is Lucy and the gentleman with her is Clowder Cross from Sheboygan He took care of the family owned three elephants But mom loved the elephants. She was good on horseback. She did all the aerial numbers So she did eight numbers in the show So everybody did double duty. So my grandpa didn't have to pay so much money they also employed a lot of Sheboygan people and That's where the turners comes in here in Sheboygan after my grandfather's circus We came off the road and by the way They were on the road 18 years and to be on the road with these trucks in the 30s with the roads They had it was tough tough going If it rained it was washouts and that was another good reason for the elephants Because if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't be you know pull everybody out of the mud They'd hook them up and the elephants and nothing to it. They could just you know run off with them Anyway, so when Excuse me. I'm gonna take a drink. I've been talking too much beforehand Anyway When they came off the road then my mother and my dad and My grandfather they stayed on the road Everybody else came home to Sheboygan and some of the people that were employed that were performers Harry Martin is one of them They actually joined the turners also and started teaching circus acts to people and that's how the circus acts started here in Sheboygan so in the 30s a lot of The local people from Sheboygan ended up being circus performers now a lot of you know the names The Lang family, you know, there was there's just so many different families from Sheboygan that ran through the Excuse me the turners the Fleck family There's just just so many I you know I it was Sheboygan was a big circus town through those years and Everybody went out in the summertime and then they would come back to Sheboygan in the winter time Now my brothers and my brother there's a picture of the three of us over on that wall on the right side in the center That's my brother Pete and my sister Shirley and myself My sister Shirley was raised on cells sterling. She was born. She was 19 years over than I am. I never got to see all this I was born later and Which and I've heard all the stories of course From everybody that's all I ever heard at home with circus from the time I was born and My dad taught me to tumble when I was five or six years old he set up a thing in the basement and the Belt that you wear is called a mechanic and into ropes on the side and they had mats all along the Basement floor and that's how I learned to tumble some of the time. I was six. I was doing round off flip-flops I was doing all kinds of stuff which I loved and again That's all I heard so that's really all I knew and we went to visit every circus that ever came in fact My sister Shirley after cell sterling she went with ringing brothers barnman Bailey And she was actually featured one of the featured performers was ringing brother circus And she was a imagine an 18 year old kid She opened in Madison Square Garden on a big elephant called Modak very famous famous elephant She said it was like riding on a coffee table. His head was so big But what a thrill to you know be from shaboy and then open in Madison Square Garden Anyway, as I started getting five six seven years old I wanted to be in the circus also because that's all I knew and my mom She wasn't so thrilled about it But my sister After the ringly show she went to a circus called algae Kelly Miller brothers and it was owned by a gentleman by the name of overt Miller and his two sons Dory and Ila and our Dory and Kelly I'm sorry and They started their circus and they actually worked for my grandfather in the 30s So we were family friends our whole lives So when they had their circus and my sister went over there and she actually married the head elephant man Circus now algae Kelly Miller bars. Mr. Miller loved animals of all kinds They had 30 horses and they had 20 elephants It's just such a wonderful sight I used to love to go in the elephant barn and see all 20 of them all in there and they All look different to you. They all look alike. I'm sure these were all Indian elephants and The African elephants have the great big ears But they have a different temperament than the Indian elephant does so you won't you'll very seldom will see an African elephant Performing they're all right when they're teenagers, but as they get older They're a little tougher. So you will mostly always see an Indian elephant and mostly females Very few males on a circus because males go through what they call musk and that's breeding time so they go a little bit nuts and And it's not fun having one male and 20 females So That's the reason you very seldom will see a male elephant with the females When elephants first came to this country 150 years ago, they didn't know much about them They knew how to feed them, but that was it As time went on they found out they were susceptible to for many different things They can get TB. They can get intestinal problems. They have terrible amount of trouble with their feet They're very patted and they're very sensitive and when they walk They are very careful where they walk and what they do So their feet need a lot of attention people don't realize that and they sweat through their toenails They don't sweat like normal animals do they have little between their toes I should say they have little veins and that's where they sweat plus their ears why they have the big ears they've got thousands of Veins in their ears and when they do this that cools the blood in their ears And then that blood gets circulated through their body and that's how they keep themselves cool Also, they love to be in the water and oh boy, do they love the water? and they like mud and If you'll see a lot of times you'll see on the nature shows the elephants are throwing mud and dirt up on their backs They do that for a reason they can get sunburned that thick skin can have a lot of problems and to protect themselves They'd often if they head for water then they'll roll in the dirt and that keeps their backs and from getting sunburned So it's important. They have a bath too. They love their baths They'd line up and they just couldn't wait and they Lay down and they just love it, you know, and you would actually scramble with a scrumb brush To get to get them all clean. So I love to go down to the elephant by and watch all what was going on on days they Had foot care. They actually took nail files and they would file their toenails. It's like horses They can't let them grow out. Otherwise, they have trouble walking Also, their skin around their face a lot of people will look at the elephants and see those dark circles around their eyes If you noticed when you see pictures of it Some people say oh the poor things they're sick, you know They had nothing to do with that they oil their eyes their skin around their eyes are very very very dry And so they are always oiled and they always look darker when you when you see them You know, so there's nothing wrong with them when you when you see see those dark circles Anyway, I finally convinced my mom that I wanted to be on the circus So my sister was married to the elephant man and she was glad to have me come So for two summers, I just was on the circus. I didn't stay the whole year or anything But after that I thought oh, no, I want to stay. I want to perform. I want to be like everybody else. So They finally decided okay. I could go and try it So I had to go to winter quarters and the winter quarters for algae Kelly Miller Brothers was in Hugo, Oklahoma And in fact, it's still there The circus is still in Hugo, Oklahoma. They were there in the 40s It's just a tiny little town near the border of Texas about 25 miles from Paris, Texas The winter quarters is kind of a fun place It was a place for people to come when they were off the road The season is usually from April to October and then from October on you went into winter quarters But all the people that worked in the circus they went home to their homes all over the country But my sister couldn't do that because my brother-in-law was in charge of the elephant So we lived in winter quarters Winter quarters was kind of a busy place. That's where they fixed trucks for the next year Performers learn new acts. There was a lot going on in winter quarters And like I said, we had to live there. So I lived right there. They enrolled me in school It was Ben Franklin school, and I'll never forget my first teacher was mr. Perkins and They all kidded me about my accent. Well, I couldn't understand any of them And they were laughing at me because I talk so funny, you know But it wasn't but a few months that I was talking just like them. You fall right right into that Anyway, mr. Perkins was a wonderful man Big kind of robust man with red hair green a little bit. He had a big pimple on his nose But he was he was just the nicest man Hugo Oklahoma liked the show people there. They brought a lot of business into their little town And mr. Miller through the years has contributed to the school system there in Hugo He the last thing he did before he died He actually built a computer room on for the high school for them. They did a lot for the community. It's a pure Poor community, but very very very very nice people Anyway, when I got to winter quarters the first thing I was wanted to do was learn to work with the elephants Well, my brother-in-law said well, we're going to just start with one And so they had a big ring barn in in Hugo and in that winter quarters And you would practice your act. He actually had a ring set up like there would be in the circus And so he brought in the first elephant and it I'm having trouble with this They brought in the old elephant her name was Margaret and she turned out to be one of my favorite elephants And she's on all these pictures that I'm around all these pictures. You see that I'm on the elephant. That's Margaret Now she was one of the elder statesmen of the herd. She was about 45 years old She she just the sweetest thing and when they brought her in of course, I was about this tall and Freddie brought her over to be in on her I'm not quite sure about this yet, you know But we got acquainted he brought her in a couple days and I just we just visit, you know Kind of got acquainted with the other and he said take her trunk So I took her trunk. He said blow into it. So I did and that the Margaret would recognize me from then on. She had my sense. She had A lot of people don't know but that that a lot of people do that They blow into the trunk and they they get their scent But she was she was wonderful. But anyway, we practiced and we finally I learned I learned all the mounts I had to learn it wasn't easy because I was so little and Margaret was very very big and Most of the Tricks were like poses the elephant would sit up on a what they called the elephant tub It was round and she would sit up and then I go underneath her and just stand there or we dance Margaret could she did a little shuffle up on the tub And then I would dance along the next side of her and then they read the mounts though that when you had to get up On their head that was hard Where is that one I gotta see which one I had there's one where I am on sitting on her head I think it must be over there Anyway to learn to do that She has to lay down on her side and Once they lay down it's hard for them to get up So they kick one foot like we do sometimes to get you know to kind of get a start Well, I had to lay down on the side of her and she has a harness on her head And I held on to that harness now Freddie kept saying now when she starts to move you you hold You hold back go back as far as you could don't go forward with her go push push back Okay, okay, so all first time she lays down she gives a kick and I'm hanging on and boy we flew I it was like a slingshot. I went right over Right over her head in a heap and now my brother knocked him over and he looked at me said lesson learned And I did But anyway, it went went real good after that. I just love working with the elephants I did and in fact the first year I was on the road We didn't stay in the trailer they fixed a compartment in front of one of the elephant trucks and it was pretty it was small but it was comfortable and The elephants were Picketed between the trucks so at night when I go to bed. It was wonderful at night That was my favorite time anyway on the show You could hear the elephants talking and chirping to each other It isn't that bell ring like you see in the movies They kind of gurgle and they chirp and they They understand they talked to each other and that went on all night almost all night long And the truck would move once in a while if they moves, you know It was just a wonderful way to go to sleep at night. Also at late at night the light plant was on all day to keep electricity on going and At night after everything was done and over the last show at night The light plant was turned off. Well, then you could hear all the wonderful sounds The lions would be roaring and like I said the elephants would be talking The polar bear she'd be jumping in her cage like this in the wild They break ice so they jump and they do this and she'd often do that then she had an air-conditioned kid She's the only thing that had air conditioning on the show. What was the polar bear? She was pretty comfortable they actually had an ad with frigid air for air conditioning and they had a special frigid air had a beautiful beautiful wagon made for her and now she was quite comfortable, but you'd hear her at night She'd be she'd be jumping So it was just kind of comforting sounds to go to sleep at night with it was hard when I finally came off The road to go to sleep at night To hear cars whizzing by you know, it was just it took quite a while to adjust to that But anyway, I ended up being on the road with my sister for quite a few years My day would start our days would start about 4 30 5 30 in the morning. We moved every day a different town Every day and put it up took it down. It was a well greased machine believe me it had to be or would have never been able to do all that and so we'd get up at 4 30 or 5 30 depending on how far our jump was and the jump was how many miles to the next town I Wrote with my sister and my job was to watch for the arrows And if you wonder what the arrows are, that's how the whole circus move from one town to the other 24-hour men would go ahead in the circus and he would put up arrows and Every circus had their own kind of arrow and their own color arrow and It really sounds stupid, but it worked He would Put arrows on every telephone pole, you know from town to town and that's how we followed We got from one town to the other just by following the arrow Once in a while you blow the arrows which wasn't so much fun because half the time We don't know where we were what day it was this was in the 50s. There was no cell phones no TV There was no, you know, no nothing really so you were kind of on your own and I remember one day We when we had the trailer and not the compartment my sister made a wrong turn I made her do the wrong turn and we got down a one-way street with a 45-foot trailer Narrow street little church at the end of the well the street. This is a true story and this was a Sunday Sunday was our day off. We only had one show instead of two that was our day off So after the matinee we would often go to the next town that way we could get a motel room and stay in a You know a motel room instead of the cold bucket baths. We always had a take the room on on the road Anyway, we get down this The street and she's got this big trailer now. What are we going to do? You know, I mean, I'm a kid. What am I going to do? They're singing away in church. It was so pretty the windows were open. We could hear them, you know, so Shirley said hang on So she gunned it we went we went tearing around the church yard, you know making all kinds of rackets and We buzzed around and got back back and found the arrows again But you never knew what was going to happen from one day to the next But the arrows were good also on a circus Every two weeks you got a route card and this is actually a route card from self sterling my grandpa circus and I was going through my pictures the other day and I found this and My grandma's had a note on the back of it. I hadn't seen her writing in years and years So I'm thrilled to get it, but I made a coffee so you can kind of see it's usually the route was two weeks Where you were going to go and what town you were going to be in and how many miles it was to go from one end to the other So that's the only way we knew where we were going to be Also, you would send this home to your family So if they wanted to write letters they would write ahead two weeks and say hold for the circus So that's how we got our mail if anything bad happened at home The only way they could get a hold of us is if they would call the police department or something like that to come out of the lot And get us and tell us, you know, if there something bad had happened at home So that was really the only communication we had So this route card was very important Because like I said some days we didn't know where we were one day it was You know when you just it it seems to run together one day after another, you know, so Yeah It just was so much fun though And we had a lot of kids on the circus and we all performed in the show and once a year We all got together the kids and we put on what we call a kids show and we all had to learn a new act for the show And then we would perform for the performers they and we had the band played we had our own music and Everybody had to learn to work work in the act mine was I learned to work with three elephants instead of one Which was very exciting My sister Shirley and her husband though actually had a wonderful what they called the five act and they were the Five elephants were teen teenagers. So they were two ton instead of four ton and it really was An act that was very much in demand in the winter time When they were at winter quarters The big shrine circuses all over the United States had shrine shows for the kids for their shrine hospitals And they were in big arenas. So they would hire circus acts from different Places and then you would perform there for a week or two now I remember one year we were going to the st. Louis and and we also went to st. Paul Houston Fort Worth So they had a special truck made that five elephants would fit in and we had to drive the elephants and so we They got ahold of us and said this year. We're doing something different in st. Louis we're going to do strobe light and So Freddy said well, what the heck is that you know and he said well Everything is going to be in color and when you turn the lights out everything's going to glow and we want the elephants to glow also And my brother-in-law said no, I don't think so. He said their skin is kind of touchy He said he didn't want to you know put anything on him So they kept it up finally. They said well, let's take a patch So they sent the stuff down and they did a patch on one of the elephants legs And they waited a couple weeks and it was fine and it was a vegetable kind of base So okay, here we go. We've got five elephants one pink one green one blue one yellow They really look pretty cute but So we had it was a nine-hour drive Which is a long time for the elephants to be in the truck But like I said these were teenagers they were smaller so they filled the truck with hay which they love And two in the front one in the center and two in the back So fine. We loaded up. We got colored elephants My my brother-in-law and his help were in the big truck my sister and I followed back with the car So we're on our way and all pretty similar get into Missouri Well, you know the mountains can be pretty high in the Ozarks And with the truck with five elephants, it's a little hard to get up some of them hills So what do we do? We unload the colored elephants and my brother-in-law and His help took the truck up and there in the middle of the road are Five elephants colored myself and my sister only in the middle of nowhere So we're standing there and what you know watching the truck go up and she's on one end I'm on the other and the five are just Standing there, you know, and you they teach them to tail up So when you see them holding on to the trunks get them in trouble They can touch and they can they you know, they want to grab everything And so if you teach them to tail up they behave. It's like little kids. They have to have some rules So they're tailed up like this and we're both on the end all of a sudden this truck come fly and buy and He you could just see he was going pretty fast and pretty soon off the side of the road it went The door opened up and he Turned her out and he was he was staring at us, you know, like what am I seeing and He said I've been driving these hills for 40 years He said I'm gonna give up drinking It was really funny and just then my brother know yells tail up Well, the girls were already tailed up So Barbara the head one she leads around and we're walking up the hill one on each side of him and going up the hill and that guy who just was I often thought if he was a drinker when he went home and told his family what he saw What happened? We had a lot of crazy things happen with the elephants another time. We were going to St. Paul and The elephants are used to Hugo, Oklahoma where the climate is better and it was this was in the middle of winter And again, we had the five act in the truck and things were going good and we had stopped and watered and fed it and They usually route the truck away from wait stations. You can imagine with five elephants. We were we were not legal Anyway, we get maybe a half hour out of St. Paul and here's a wait station. Well, they had a stop So we oh, we were just dreading it So we drove in and Freddie tried to explain We were just a half hour out of St. Paul to police just let us go the heater had gone out on the truck And we needed to get the animals to the arena Oh, the guy was nasty. No, who do you think you are? You know, he says well, I He says what am I going to do? You know, he said well move him around Maybe if you change the weight over the axle, it'll be better Well, it's starting to snow It's cold Shirley and I are standing on the side. Here's Freddie unloading these four elephants. Well, two of them didn't get along Had he was in front and Jenny was in back those two That's like the elephants are like people some get along and some don't they didn't so they always had to be a part Well, they're unloading these elephants and it's snowing and they're slipping around and then Hattie and Jenny got together and they started to fight Well, it was some ballering and slipping and the cops were oh my god. Oh my god Oh my god, my sister took me into the station to get away from the commotion. I was sitting there and One of the officers say help help we got elves and fighting here Then it was dead silence Just dead silence and pretty soon pardon my English it comes back on what the hell are you guys drinking? Finally Freddie he came in he said they told us just just the loading go and get out of here So we did and we made it to say St. Paul just fine everything was fine Sometimes bringing the elephants into the arenas was hard. They weren't used to that They were used to be on the road in the tent and inside a building is completely different for them and another time we were in st. Louis and We were bringing the five down into the into the building and like I said, they're careful It was going downhill and a working guy had a pile of lumber on his shoulder and So we're coming in, you know nice everything going good We got him out of the truck and they were okay and he takes that little lumber and he drops it on the cement floor Well elephants spook real easy. Well Barbara had been known to run anyway She decided I'm not staying here So she turns around and of course the rest of her had followed her out they went We're chasing elephants downtown st. Louis It took it took two hours to catch them One had wash on her head where she was we have we have no idea But but it wasn't always that way honest But when you're working with animals and wild animals things are going to happen, you know and Barbara was known She was kind of skittish and One other time she ran and it really wasn't too funny. It could have been very very dangerous I'm going to show you this picture. It's gonna be hard to see I'm gonna put some other ones over there when you're done You can see we were playing in sock prairie, Wisconsin and we were next to a cornfield Well Barbara decided That looks pretty good to me so off she went into the cornfield all you know and So the other ones didn't follow. I don't know why but Barbara she headed in there and Then the news got out that the elephant was away from the circus Well town people came they had brooms and shovels and they started to chase her To get her out of the cornfield. Well, she was terrified. Well There was a nursing home right next to there on the outskirts of the town and she was so scared This is I know it's hard to see but you can I'll put them over there You can see this is the nursing home that had a big plate glass window She thought it was open and she went through it Well, thank God it was at noon because all the people were in eating otherwise They'd have been in the hall in their wheelchairs She was terrified. She ran down the whole way Nursing home took the whole ceiling out with her and went out the other end Well, my brother-in-law Took Tina then that was another one of the big ones her herd mate and was waiting on the other side And then they got her and they took her back to something but With a animal you never know what's gonna happen and people didn't understand you don't run after an elephant with a Rake or a broom, you know not knowing what was going on. So that's just a few of the things that That could happen Most of the time life was pretty pretty easy. We'd get up at 4 30 in the morning. Like I said go to the next town Set up we would have to wait for water But the animals were all watered first So we had to wait for our water and it was important because that's the only water we got So everybody had like eight nine buckets of water and that we would they would be all filled up in the morning So we would clean the trailer or the compartment whatever we were in that year We would sew wardrobe There was always a lot to do now there were two shows two and eight o'clock at night and About 11 o'clock or so people were starting to get hungry and the cookhouse usually got there first And they furnished food for people on the show a lot of the working men just had compartments They didn't have trailers like we could cook in our trailer and stuff So about 11 o'clock people start looking for the flag and the cookhouse would put up a flag There was a high pole and once that flag went up then it was time to eat dinner So everybody into the cook house, you know one side was the cook house the other side was what it's called a Pie car. I know it sounds stupid, but it's like a short-order restaurant They could get coax or sodas or a sandwich or something to fill in between if you couldn't eat in the cookhouse The cookhouse food was furnished. It was free. Also your gasoline was furnished. They guessed you up You didn't have to buy your own gas But the cookhouse was a special, you know a special place everybody kind of gathered there at noon But once you were done eating then it was time to get ready ready for the show So the gals of course would be putting on makeup and picking out their wardrobe and stuff All of a sudden you would hear somebody yell doors and then they would yell that all through the big top all the people That were selling tickets we knew we had just a short time to get ready for the show So that was like our clock and then about 15 minutes before the show the trumpet player would come up from the band And he'd play a little riff the same thing all the time and that meant you better be ready for the show So anyway at two o'clock we worked that show and it's about two hours long Then at the end again everybody was waiting for the cookhouse for supper at night and waiting for the flight to come up Then it was time to get ready for the night show and I always enjoyed the nights much much better We had full houses or what the show would call a straw house meant it was a full house And if it was so full they put straw down for people to sit You know if they had to sit on the ground. So that's why it was called a straw house Anyway, everybody wore their best wardrobe their most sparkly stuff because of all the lights We usually had a full house because people in the afternoon and then we're working the nights were always much fuller at night So it was really nice. I really loved the nighttime shows By 10 o'clock we were done again Then it meant we had to put it all away Which was another very big job The prop people went into the big top and you could just hear all the slapping all the seats going down They were loading the seats all the ring curves all the props There was a lot of stuff and then the canvas had to be rolled But before they could do that the elephants brought the canvas down at night and I think that was my favorite part I'd sit behind the trailer at night and it was getting quieter And the elephants would be pulling one side down and then the other and the air would kind of gather under the big top It was really pretty to watch this quiet all come come down again. It was really a really nice nice feeling Anyway, then the canvas is all rolled up again and everything put away And then you would start over and do the whole thing all over again Those were really some of the really happiest years of my life I did have a fall But it wasn't performing. I did three aerial acts besides working with the elephants I had a fast change between numbers about four minutes and it was raining And we were on our feet. They called they're called slop shoes And actually it was to keep your feet clean and dry off the muddy lots And I had those big high shoes on and with my costume and I'm hurrying out and I Went off the top step and hit the bottom just as hard as I could but at first it seemed okay But little by little it got worse and worse and worse and finally I couldn't work anymore They brought me home and I saw Dr. Van Driest And in the 50s back surgery was quite a thing to have and I was so young They were afraid to do the surgery on me So they decided to put me in a body cast. I was in a cast from here to here weighed 30 pounds Now it wasn't much fun Being being a teenager and I got this 30 pound cast on and wearing maternity clothes You know and then coming off a circus and she had her ears pierced. Oh boy The old times we're way again But anyway They they changed the cast a couple times in between and they were hoping once the cast was off that I was Realigned things would be all right by the time they took it off a week later. I couldn't walk again So I ended up having a fusion and I had three slip deaths Yeah, all that from hitting one step, you know, we'll fall and as young as I was you wouldn't have thought that And it's limbers. I was you know, I could do a hundred chin-ups. I mean I was in good shape So anyway, that kind of brought my my circus career to an end. It was nine wonderful years I do it again if I could And and but I still keep in touch with a lot of circus friends I go to Bear Boo and Some old-timers are still there and I know a lot of the people at Bear Boo at Circus World Museum Which by the way has a wonderful circus under a big top just a wonderful In fact, the gentleman that has the elephants there is I used to babysit him Armando Doyle And so for the last few years we've been going over there a lot and this year I had the pleasure I got a phone call from Bear Boo and they asked me if I would like to be in the circus parade this year So I can't tell you what I'm gonna be doing But it's gonna be pretty nice It's the parade is June 25th, and it's actually the old circus parade like was in Milwaukee not quite as big They can't afford to bring all the wagons and animals and stuff into Milwaukee anymore, and there's no help So everything's right there in Bear Boo. So in June, they're gonna have the big circus parade And I hope some of you can get to see it So now we'll have some questions and answers if there are any questions. Yes Well, that's another whole story. My sister surely was on Ringling Brothers when the terrible Hartford fire was 163 people died Now this was in the 40s and to waterproof the tents they had Wax on them And there were no smoking regulations in those years My sister had just gotten back to the show That day I know two days before the terrible fire somebody they still don't know for sure exactly They're still arguing over it somebody afflicted a cigarette It started the sidewall on fire And of course it's spread like wildfire because of the wax on top of the canvas of the tent you can imagine now The show was going on and make oval who was a wonderful animal lion trainer And she was in the ring with her lions while this was going on and the lions are brought in on small shoots they're about this wide and Maybe that long and that's just to get them in the big top. So they were lined up. So they were actually blocking a way to get out and of course people Were panicking because it went up just terrible. It was just terrible. Everybody was running with buckets of water And with Kelly the famous clown he was Throwing water, but it was good to do no good. It just it just went so anyway over 160 people died So that's why now if you see a circus the lion act is either opens the show or it closes the show It's never that the shoots are in there during the performance So nothing is ever blocked again that changed and of course all the regulations later in life things You know change that are better. You can't smoke in the big top, you know that kind of stuff Any other questions Judy? Oh That was a wonderful experience then the Miller family that known the circus I work for Mr. Miller was Like I said, he loved animals and he just was a showman showman and very well thought of His daughter Barbara who was my friend grew up and she ended up running the circus as he got older well He passed away and We all got word that mr. Miller had passed away and of course we wanted to go to his funeral We knew it was going to be something spectacular So a couple friends of mine from bearable we went down for the funeral and we got there and in Hugo The schools were closed for the funeral. That's how much they thought of mr. Miller The kids were able to be off of school and come to the funeral. They had the big top set up Three rings and in the center ring is mr. Miller in a candy apple red coffin I mean it was just you know everything he would have wanted and flower tributes from all over the world The ring was just solid and the band was playing all his famous hymns all the hymns that he liked It was just something you wouldn't believe just to see this then that wasn't enough a barber rented three Greyhound buses And all the elephants they brought up they had were all of draped in black and gold And they had how does fix for the top of the elephants That's a little like rack and it was just covered with flowers hanging down So here were all these elephants in these black Morning outfits with the gold. I mean it was just you couldn't believe it to see it So anyway, we all loaded on these huge greyhound buses and it was like a parade And that's what he wanted and he was actually in a one of those 1890 hurses with the glass on the sides being pulled by six white horses Then all the animals behind all draped and then here come the elephants with their black I mean it was just something you would never ever see in your life again And they took it down to the cemetery mr. Miller bought almost all of the cemetery And he donated it and that's for show people when they pass away to be buried together And it's really something to see if you go to Hugo, Oklahoma You have to see the cemetery. It's spectacular. It's all the gravestones are beautiful big round wheels Intense and it's just really something to see but it was really really an experience to Experience that and then all the kids were lined up all the way down, you know and waving and it was it was really something quite quite nice Experience yes No, I'm having a hard enough time trying to get a book together You know what I've just told you tonight. I just Scraped the the the top there's so much more To what went on and there were more things that happened on a show something. I really didn't cover was bad weather If there was a windstorm That was that was dangerous because we didn't know if we were going to lose the big top What was going to happen? And I remember we were in Pierre, South Dakota and The elephants were the whole line was acting crazy and we knew something and you could see often the distance something was coming I was in the big top with all my friends and we were just jumping on the trampoline just having fun We were being kids between shows and all of a sudden my brother-in-law came running in and he grabbed me by the arm And he said come on get out of here. That's what's the matter? You know he's just come on so he took me and he threw me up in one of the elephant trucks They're very heavy and locked the door. You know I scrambled up looked out the little window and just as I looked a whole Big top blew over the whole thing That it was in shreds My sister got hit by a quarter pole from them. She was putting her dogs in the car She ended up in the hospital there for a week So then what do you do your big top is a mess what are you going to do? So you show outside without a top and that's what we did for almost a month We showed outside that heat up in North Dakota and South Dakota and Montana and Wyoming And actually the performers and all the help sold the thing together again We had a sale maker that was on the circus who took care of the canvas But of course he couldn't do all of that so even as kids learned how to use the big needle with the stuff and the wax and Everybody so it and by golly in a month. We had it back together again. So we were under canvas again, but you were You never knew what was going to happen next, you know on a show, but majority of the time things were good rainy days were hard because of the muddy lots and the elephants would pull us on pull us off again So a lot of experience, but I I just had a wonderful childhood I think I'm more Liberal because of the upbringing I had I worked with so many different kinds of people, you know I I worked with Mexican people. I worked with Chinese people. I worked with gay people I worked with you know, everybody had a job to do you all work together and there was no trouble You know, it's really hard nowadays sometimes to hear all the stuff that's going on So that was kind of hard for me when I came back to Sheboygan because Sheboygan was a very conservative And there's nothing wrong with that. I don't mean that But a black person couldn't even sleep in Sheboygan until 1960s you know, so I Had to keep my mouth shut And and after all that with my back and school was a mess and I finally got back into school and I didn't have many friends at all, you know, where do I start and Thank goodness and most of them are here tonight. I Found a really wonderful bunch of gals that just kind of took me in and we've been friends ever since Love you all Thanks Anyway, any more questions Carol? None, I'm it I'm the last my sister passed away a couple years ago My brother Pete also passed away and my brother Bill died young he my youngest brother was on played be circus Excuse me for a while, but he had diabetes really bad. And so he he wasn't a performer. He didn't really You know enjoying in much, but no, they're all gone. Everybody's gone. It ended with me It ended with me But like I said, I keep touch of all my old friends yet from show business and In fact in July, I'll be going to Florida and I'll be going to Sarasota for a few days And I'll get to see a lot of my old friends and Facebook. It keeps it all alive For me, and I have a wonderful family my daughter's here tonight my grandson and his wife are here tonight Hello Oh, you are Oh, how wonderful some more circus people Anymore questions Oh The aerial acts I did okay one was called with Spanish web and that's it over there I'm on the rope upside down My leg and that's high in the air There's actually after you're done if you want to look in the circus room There's it's called Spanish web and that was a aerial act You would climb way up and there was a like a loop at the top you put your hand or your foot in and then you Tricks and somebody held the rope tight or loose depending on what you were doing the Web Center was very important I wasn't so important, but the Web Center was My brother actually sat my web for quite a few years and it got to be kind of a joke He'd see how fast he could spin me at the end To see if he could make me dizzy so one I Probably shouldn't even be telling this So I had a costume on and he was spitting me and I was really getting dizzy and my elastic broke On the top of this it but she didn't see So I'm flying around and my top is flying around And when we finally stopped I'm like this and you try to get your foot out of a foot loop upside down Hold yourself and crawl down Well by the time I got down I was so dizzy I Styled and what they call style is you know when they when they they do all this stuff You know I did it to the back of the crowd and still drive was so dizzy But it was just fun having you know my brother with me It was just that kind of stuff that went on all the time And then I did swinging ladder and that there's a ladder in the circus room to when you're done You're welcome to go peek in there And that was a aerial act to and then I also did cloud swing and that was another aerial act with a long rope It went this way with loops and it was fun And then he'd swing me to and on days when the tops the top of the canvas was muddy He'd swing me so high so I'd hit it, you know, and then all that dirt would fly Fly on me. He thought that was so funny So we were taking baths all the time and and another time when I worked with the elephant We did an act and she would Walk over me. I had to lay under her And she would walk over me and then come around and then lay down this way on top of me Well, there's a lot of room under here. I could just where she came down I could just wiggle, you know but sometimes With the elephants before the performance, they would stand them up to make them go to the bathroom and Because it was heavy They would that was normal before a performance the elephants they would stand up and that's how they would make them Get rid of what they had and was usually a lot Anyway Couple times it happened She would let loose There I was And what choice did you have I just get up in style and smile like nothing happened And beat it to the trailer to take a bath But I was just part of it every day every day life on the circus any more questions My sister Shirley was really really she was a big star She actually did heel and toe catches swinging now a lot of people did heel and toe catches what hang on the trapeze bar but she did her swing and She actually would swing to the front really fast She's like this on the bar and when you it's all timing and when she got out to the front She'd leap out and catch by her heels she She she really was a big star and Shirley was a kind of a sad situation Because she was performing for so many years 35 years and when she had to come off the road It wasn't easy for her. She wasn't happy. She didn't do well she I Was maybe the lucky one because I made my friends, you know, I Established things. She didn't have girlfriends. She didn't have she didn't know how to be with Towners that's what everybody would call people that weren't in show business, you know She never got over being off the road. So it wasn't good for her for many years. She had a hard time just getting along Yeah, there was a lot lot went on there there was a suicide. Well, anyway, she had some sad times. So anyway, I Ended up much better Now you mentioned that circus fire before there's two excellent books So if anybody wants to look them up online one was called the day the clowns cried. Yes The other one is just called circus fire. Yeah, and there was one little girl that they identified most everybody from that circus fire In the ring the show but one little girl they called her little miss. No name. Nobody came forward to claim her And they couldn't figure it out. Well the people in Hartford felt terrible and they actually Had a grave for her Gave her a marker The whole business and finally about ten years ago or so they figured out it was her parents died in the fire Lost the whole thing and so it was a there was a very very sad Sad day for the circus very sad and that was one of the worst things that's ever happened Anyway, Judy Explain the back door and when the circus starts and everybody comes out and goes around the ring Oh, okay. Well the beginning of the show the first number usually that a circus opens It's called spec and that's short for spectacular and the only thing it is is Everybody that's going to perform in the show And there's usually a theme like coming to America or Disneyland or something It's that everybody's in costumes from that theme that just gives everybody a chance to see everybody That's going to be in the show and all the animals so the elephants We know we're all decorated and the girls would be riding them and they would come in too and the back door is Where the all the performers would come in and the front door is where the people but bought tickets came in So the back door was for the performers and the front door was for people when they came in came into the circus And yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah My Boston was a very very conservative and when my sister opened with wriggling brothers and Madison Square Garden Boston was the next town and my sister Well, how can I say this? John wriggling north actually picked her to open and She kept asking about her costume where's her costume? You know and she needed to be fitted and all this and that then she said one day She got a envelope in the mail. It was this big And I mean nowadays it'd be nothing it was you know, it was like a 50s bathing suit But then that was pretty racy and she was actually abandoned Boston They wouldn't let her ride and she was so mad because she had a ride on a float with Emmett Kelly If you can imagine being mad that you had a ride with them at Kelly Things that yeah, she was banned in Boston and in fact Her and Emmett Kelly were really good friends and I'm friends with Emmett's daughter now And we talked back and forth but my sister was actually a bridesmaid at one of Emmett Kelly's he was married twice She was a bridesmaid and they were married in the big top in the center ring and she was one of the bridesmaids at Emmett Kelly's Wedding any other questions Yes Not nothing that I know of we never took pictures of ourselves never the only reason we have pictures is because of the circus fans and That was a big big group and they followed circus from town to town And they're the ones that take all the pic took all the pictures now They would take them and they would send them to us for free I have a thousand pictures And most of them are from circus fans and through the country there are clubs that I just love circuses and they're called tents not clubs and Sell sterling my grandfather's tent Was lucky enough to have a tent here in Sheboygan named after him and there were a lot of members So each area of the United States had their own tent named after a famous circus family of some kind in fact my Grandfather and his brothers were inducted into the Circus Hall of Fame in, Florida, which was the biggest throw in their life because that's kind of the elite of Show business to be inducted in the Circus Hall of Fame Yeah, they The circus fans got together with the state of Wisconsin and they honored sell sterling circus with a plaque And it's at the post office here in Sheboygan a lot of people don't even know it's there But it's there permanently and it gives a little bit of history about the sell sterling circus Well, they timed the dedication of that to when Carson Barnes came here the circus that used to show there And that actually was algae Kelly Moey the one I was with they changed the name And they showed down here in Sheboygan for 20 years on the lakefront and we always had big reunions Oh, we had such a good time Anyway, the day of the dedication. Mr. Miller said I'm gonna bring them all up So he brought all the elephants up from he walked them from down in the lake shore up to the post office in Sheboygan They all lined up And that was the background for the picture they took for the paper. We had 20 elephants in Sheboygan Yes Well, my dad like I said he had to learn to do everything and he started from a little tiny guy And he was actually in his late 30s by the time he retired But he ended up with an enlarged heart and it was from all the physical activity He actually did it to himself for being in such good shape He was very sad when he had to come off the road In fact, he tried to go with another circus just to do concessions and stuff But that wasn't like performing. He only did that one year, but my grandfather There was no keeping him home He was on the road until he was in his late 70s In in different capacities. He was a question director A question director is the man that keeps the show going with the whistle And he blow and then the the band knew when to stop or when to play or whatever He ran the show so he did that for many years And a lot of years he also was 24 hour man And that's the man that went ahead of the circus and he would arrow From town to town and then he made all the arrangements for the feed and water That that was waiting for all of us when we got into the next town that that was all taken care of My grandmother lived upstairs from us and we lived downstairs And because grandma was alone a lot, grandpa was going With the circus all the time. He'd come home and visit in the winter But so grandma lived upstairs from us So any other questions? Yes Yes, it was just the three of us I actually had a brother bill who was younger than I am But he was diabetic and he didn't do very well. So he never really He was on on Clyde Beatty cold circus for a while But he got sick and come home and because of diabetes. So he didn't really and actually we had I had another brother, but he died shortly after he was born. My mother was 45 years old and We had My mom had Pete after my grandfather And then my brother bill that was after my grandpa's other brother And then she had a little boy and he was Albert, but he didn't make it. They'd have had the three brothers again But it didn't work out that way Any other questions? Yes I was just curious if you knew any stories about the elephants living in like, michigan Well, I don't know any stories about like michigan. I'm sure they went down and took them down there But that water is so cold They wouldn't be in there very long But they loved water and in fact a couple times On the road. We were next to a Pond in the barber again the trouble maker She had it and they all went with her. Well, it took them all day to get them out of the Out of the water. They just love it And like I said, they always look forward to getting their their baths in the morning and getting scrubbed and They they're very well behaved elephants are very very smart Very very smart isn't true that they never forget, but they As a herd Never forget each other. They can talk to each other up to 10 miles away and you'll never hear it Um, that's how sensitive they are They're a wonderful animal very very very smart and they're like us. They're like people Some you like some you don't like Tina was kind of Grumpy and you had to be careful with her One day I was out and I came up behind her And it scared her and she turned like this with her trunk and she let me have it And knocked me six foot in the air And then again my brother-in-law said lesson learned Carol Very few in fact, I was just going to talk about that Very few have animals now because of all the commotion with beta And if beta only knew what terrible things they have done because so many of these animals had had to be put down Because they can't work no more People that love their animals and there was nothing you can do about an Elephant eats two to three hundred pounds of food a day You you know you have to feed it. You have to be able to pay for it So what's happened in oklahoma the miller family now the older generation of who I work for is gone But barbara the daughter She has started a foundation in hugo oklahoma. It's called the endangered ark Now they have 20 elephants down there And what they are doing They're thinking ahead of the game so they can keep the elephants and they've teamed up with oklahoma actually and it's a tourist destination What it is they have hundreds of acres and the elephants can roam at will and And now they're starting to build cottages And what they're doing so and able to keep those animals and pay for their care They're renting the cottages on weekends And you can come and rent the cottage and it's in the middle of where the elephants are And then they will bring your breakfast and your dinner down to you So you can have dinner or breakfast with the elephants. They they come carrying baskets And you can actually feed them And interact with them and then they give you a tour of the property that if the weather's nice They're just out doing their own thing If it's bad, they have a beautiful new building and they actually have showers They walk through like a car wash Talk about they have a really good life We were Richard and I were there a couple years ago and Richard had never been around That many elephants and we took a tour of the place down there We went in and I wish you could have seen his face when we went into the 20 elephants standing there Actually, and then they had a side room and I asked Barbara what that was and one of the older elephants She has arthritis robot. They're like humans. They get sick. They get old, you know And they had one I think she was 65 years old But she had arthritis robot So the room was padded completely and she was away from the herd So nobody would bump into or hurt her and you know, they kept her and she said it's a hard decision When it's time to put them down It's hard to part with them when you've had them so long But most like I said, most the elephants you see now were born in captivity. They don't know what the wild is You would take them out in the wild. They would die They're used to humans. They're you know, they're used to the interaction. They're smart. They learn things So anyway, Barbara's thinking ahead of ahead of the game So someday when there maybe can't be any performing elephants and they're going to be extinct someday If people like that don't do something the zoos are doing wonderful wonderful work now with having them Having little ones born because for years and years they did not breed in captivity But we didn't know about them in their cycles and stuff and that's why now they know more about it So some of the babies are being born in Hugo now. They've had two born and they're adorable We got to see them when we were down there Um But anyway, um Barbara, uh It's it's open to anybody that wants to come it's expensive to rent the cottages for the weekend But it's expensive to feed the elephants And they do give you a tour of every place and you can go to the cemetery to see the showman's rest where all the circus performers are It's really quite a circus town. It really is And it's a tiny little town and normally you wouldn't pay any attention to it probably But it was a it's a wonderful little community and it's known as Circus USA Any more questions? Yes Well, if they get old they go to winter quarters then and they're still taken care of if they're very ill, of course They would be put down The elephants, uh, they're all staying together in Hugo. Some of them that I worked with are still there Not many but a few are still there And they like I said, they get sick just like other people, you know things happen to them It isn't that they're being mean or whatever they get ill too and they could perform for years Oh, yeah, they can perform, you know, like Margaret. She was 45. She was still working and happy She'd come and she'd hear music I'd stand with her at the back door and waiting to go in and work and she'd hear a music She knew it before I didn't my head would go down and up I'd go, you know in a way we went and she loved performing and especially she liked to dance and That I was getting dizzy there also She'd put me in her trunk and they played Walls, you know, and then she'd turn really fast. Well, then she'd get going and we would turn and we would turn I'm trying to look decent, you know, but she loved the music. She was just just a wonderful animal And again, like I said some were, you know, we had to watch they were a little bit grumpy All have different person and they all look different All look different. You could look down. I could look down the line I could tell you every name, you know, Margaret, Jane, Tina, Kathy, you know, all the way down You get to know them all Anybody else My brother Pete, um, Pete. Oh gee He I was on the road actually a little longer than he was Uh, he but he was on the road before I was he actually was on a circus with my dad And I told you my dad tried one year of being concessions And that year Joe, Joe Lewis the boxer was on the circus They traveled with him the brown bomber and my brother Pete and him got to be very good friends That was the thrill of his lifetime to be friends with Joe Lewis and he was a really nice man But Joe had a troubled life. He didn't have much education And he had white promoters which really took advantage of him When he died, yeah, he was a greeter in las vegas. He really had not much left and they had taken most of his Most of his money It was was he married to Ion? Yes, Pete was a mentor. I used to pick me up and take me to work. I came for a great date with him. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was a long time ago We won't go into that Any other questions anybody have? Yes No, Armando takes them back to Hugo. That's where they're from from the circus I was with And that's why I used to babysit Armando when he was just a little boy His mother and I were really good friends. They were from a very famous writing act called the Loyal Rapinsky and they were on Ringling Brothers for a lot of years And then they came they all split up got older and the family came to the Kelly Miller circus and His mother's name was Lucy Loyal and she was a famous bear back writer But anyway, I used to babysit him while she was working and now I gotta look up at him And he's in charge of the herd now in Hugo and then they bring them up in May and they will perform in variable From May until the end of august. I believe it is and he brings three of the girls up And we call them girls because they're all females. So when we talk about them, we say girls And I think this is the last year though that he'll be coming with them I don't know what they're going to do after this year. He's been here three years in a row So if you want to see a really wonderful elephant act and the kid I used to babysit for They'll be performing this year So any other questions? Yes Oh, that's an interesting story They Ended up having when my grandfather circus finally broke up after 18 years. They had an auction And what happened our very rich man from sheboygan or chicago his name was king minus He came up and he was it was his idea just to buy a few animals for To entertain the orphanages and stuff like that. He ended up buying almost all the show It was a hard time for the family to see to see that go my sister especially because she had A horse buster that she worked with for years and he had to go with the pony act because he was the lead horse He had to go She was crying. I mean it was a very very sad day in sheboygan when they had to have the auction But they did auction everything off. Um, there is one truck left from sell sterling And i'm going to take this with me It's actually pictured on here this truck here. They found a few years ago chappy fox who Started circus world museum. They found it in ohio in a ditch In very bad shape, but uh Chappy said, uh, we got a habit. There's nothing here from sell sterling. They really feature ringling brothers at Because of ringling was from barefoot But they do have a few things from other circuses there all my wardrobe. I donated There and we have a circus room here and I have nothing to give them Anyway, um Excuse me. I'm getting you dry It's it's it's a wonderful place in bare boot That really is so if you get a chance to just go in and the show is wonderful and they have a Some extra little side shows that are fun. It's a real family show You know you can take your whole family and have a great day and spend the day there in bare boot Judy No, uh, ryan, okay for a couple years there was a gentleman there His name is ryan and he didn't actually perform with them but he shows How to train and what their methods were training and he had 12 beautiful beautiful tigers And you could actually come up and watch and he'd explain how they Took care of them and everything and that's another I'm glad you mentioned that because now he is in hugo oklahoma also And he has partnered with the state of oklahoma and he is permanently there with his tigers now And that's another place you can go to get educated about animals So he has a permanent home with all his beautiful tigers. Yeah a couple years ago He was actually showing how he did the prints on the Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah a lot of people just love that, you know and the cats they get so He had to wrestle with it. It was kind of like no give me that paw. That's kind of a show You know They don't treat those animals right. I mean, yeah, I I'm a shriner and I've been oh, you know I've seen the backside of when the shrine circus is here and let me tell you They take care of those animals because they were not do that for those people Well, I when I try to get through people said there's good pet owners and there's bad pet owners That don't mean they're all bad pet owners 95 of the people love their animals and take care of them There's always a few bad ones in the bunch and we're not responsible for them But I can only tell you what I know from my experience And in the 20 20 years my brother-in-law was with the elephants. I can honestly say I never saw him leave the lot once Shirley and I went to the next town He stayed with the animals And he he never went to a movie. He never did anything. He never let them out of his sight and uh Their vets were there. They had their shots. I mean, they're taking care of their feet were taken care of And they had very good care and like I said, they're used to humans. They're not used to the jungle So there's a very good interaction between the animals and humans Well, you know how it is with the dog. You love the dog. He loves you You know, it's no different with other animals Yes From the parades He was walking in costume to go into the circus and the the tigers did not like it They did you've got to go different way. They didn't know his smell Now the shrine All the Shriners did wonderful work and um A lot of the Shriners now aren't doing the circuses because of pita and all the trouble In fact, I was in Milwaukee at a show and I went up to one of them that were protesting One of the kids he was yelling terrible things and I said, you know, what What are you objecting to him? He says, I don't know somebody paid me to yell and scream That shows you how how ethical How ethical some of these people are I'm not saying they're bad apples there are but the majority of them are not Yes, uh, I don't Well, I could have some made These actually were made here in shibuya again at the what is that called the map where they make great lakes printing You can take anything in and they can blow them up any size and very reasonably priced So I used to do smaller presentations And so these worked really good and I did a lot of senior citizen Programs and I found it's easier for people to see these and you know It just smacks you in the eye. You can sit and look at slides. That's fine. But I think this has more impact When you when you look at them Okay, well most of most of them all of those are me The one in back we in back by the cameraman that's me under the elephant Yeah, that's that's Margaret my buddy The next one of me on swinging ladder and then on my bareback horse and then that headstand I was telling you about in the corner There where it's through me like a shop. That's that picture And then the picture of my brother my sister myself together I often wondered what my mother thought when she came to visit My grandfather was on the show my brother pete myself my sister sherry and she'd sit in the audience I often wondered what she was thinking and she saw all of us performing together so Anything else I think we'll take one more question and then we can kind of wrap it up So you have some time to take a look at the photos and check out the circus exhibit and I'm sure sonya will Talk more with you. Yeah. Yeah, if you have any more good Michael That's my grandson Well, this was wonderful. I can't believe how many people showed up Yeah, how many wonderful faces that I do know and then I don't know and some new ones that I've met on facebook It's just been wonderful I can't tell you this night meant a lot to me and I want to invite you to look at the circus room