Lockhart and the Performing Animals Act 1925

Image via Wikipedia

I was recently shown a link to an interesting academic paper about racism and animal abuse in an historic context. The paper, "Racial Prejudice and the Performing AnimalsControversy in Early Twentieth-Century Britain" by David A. H. Wilson of the University of Cumbria,  makes an interesting argument for the way racist ideas were common among both critics and defenders of animal trainers. Amid the all-too-familiar arguments on both sides we note that there are also the usual racist arguments heard today. Fear of losing work to immigrants is just below the surface of certain protestations. This, however, is combined with the bigotry common at the time. For example, species of animals are compared to different races of people and being post-World War I Germaphobia is a hot tactic. Interestingly animal rightists, who these days tend to cite the odd notion of speciesism as an extension of racism, also make a distinction between foreign trainers, who they consider to be cruel, from British trainers.

Damoo Dhotre's 109th Birthday

Readers of this blog might be aware that my father is currently researching a book on Alfred Court, his trainers and his animals. Here and there we have made contacts with the many people that are part of this legacy. As with "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" the experience is most rewarding when we put the pieces together and discover how much a cultural impact the story we are investigating had on people. Damoo Dhotre was an Alfred Court animal presenter that has been mentioned on this blog before. In India his position as an historical and cultural icon is on the ascent and there have been several celebrations done in his name. Today I am delighted to report that a descendent of his, Anand Dhotre, is holding a celebration of the great trainer's 109th birthday with the launch of new website.

Anand told us -  "In present condition of Indian Circus Industry, due to ban on animal performances, we can not expect that any brave artist will rise up like Damoo Dhotre.

Really, Damoo Dhotre was the only Indian who put India's name on world map by showing fearlessness and great determination.

Let's salute this noble son of India today and every day and hope Golden Days will be back to Indian Circus again." 

Circus Industry in India Blog (Damoo Dhotre page)

Birthday Celebration on Buckles Blog

Damoo Dhotre.Com

Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

The Pride of Larry Lamb

Image via WikipediaIt's not even a year on from the Welsh TV show, "Coming Home" revealing the wild animal training ancestry of actor Michael Sheen and the nationwide equivalent, "Who Do You Think You Are?" has established another celebrity circus connection. Larry Lamb, who used to play "Eastenders" soap opera villain "evil" Archie Mitchell and as Mick Shipman in the hit comedy series "Gavin and Stacey", told The Mirror and Daily Mail newspapers that he didn't know much about his heritage due to his mother being adopted. Press reports of the show reveal that Lamb's great-great uncle was Thomas Day known as "Martini Bartlett the Lion King". What they don't expand - and hopefully the show will - is that Day was married to Pauline "Kit" Chipperfield. Chipperfield, a relation of mine on my maternal side, and therefore part of another circus family famed for wild animal training and presenting. Day was also the brother of James "Wild Beast" Day of the once famous Day's Menagerie.

Tom Norman on the BBC

Image via WikipediaTom Norman was a pioneer of the fairground industry in Victorian Britain. He was famed for his presentation of the freak-show. Norman was known for the way he would blend the accepted "science" of the era with outright fantasy to provide a back-story for the various "freaks" that were exhibited on his fairs.

The most famous of Norman's employees was Joseph Merrick "The Elephant Man". Contrary to popular belief, largely put across in David Lynch's* fictionalized account of Merrick's life, there is scant evidence that disabled people were especially abused or used like slaves. Often the opportunity to earn by exploiting one's condition - and Merrick was on 50/50 box office split with Norman - was a better alternative to begging, hawking goods or a life in the workhouse. Details of this and the bad representation that sideshows, circuses and their closely related forms of entertainment endure to this day were presented in my article "Circus and Other 'Low' Arts: A Defence"

Circus elephants lend a helping trunk in Missouri

Cover via Amazon“Hike! Urgh! Hike! Urgh!” My toddler daughter is addicted to Dumbo and the words of that song, along with most of the others, now regularly haunt my waking thoughts. Romanticists would say “It’s in her blood”. True, her grandfather, great grandfather, great uncle and cousins have all been circus elephant trainers at some time and she has a potential unbroken performing lineage on my mother’s side that stretches back 300 years. However, the more sceptical would say that other influences around her might have something more to do with it. Anyway, for those of you who know the film might recall that the song I was referring to is the “Song of the Roustabouts”. Roustabout isn’t a term I have ever heard used in UK circus culture, but it refers to what we would call “tent-men”.  As the name implies, these are the men who put up the Big Top along with the rest of the show. In “Dumbo” the fantastical scene that accompanies this song sees the tent-men being assisted not by the show’s fellow human performers, but by the circus elephants.

Water for Elephants - An Impression by Jim Stockley

Image by LiuTao via Flick
It's been three years since "The Legend of Salt Sauce" was published. Since then I have noticed circus elephants appear in the media on a few occasions. This year sees the release of the movie "Water for Elephants", a Hollywood adaptation of Sarah Gruen's circus novel of the same name. I haven't seen the film yet, but my cousin, a wild animal trainer in South Africa, got to see the film before its release in the US and UK. Here is his "impression" of the film. I think it provides a rather unique insight given that his respective backgrounds include a background in traditional circus (both Jim and my family were working on circuses during the Prohibition era the film is set) and a strong working knowledge in the film industry.  

 

Coming Home

Image via WikipediaJust a reminder to everyone that my father, Jim Clubb, will be interviewed on Michael Sheen's programme "Coming Home" tonight, 24 November 2010. This show is much like "Who do you think you are?" with Sheen tracing his roots back to a wild animal presenter/trainer. It is of particular interest to this blog not just because it involves my father, who was the main researcher for my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", but because it involves circus history. 

Before this blog starts looking like Michael Sheen's fan site, this is the link for programme details. It can be viewed on BBC Wales channel, BBC iPlayer and through Sky. 

Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

Jim Clubb with Michael Sheen on Wed 24th Nov

Image via WikipediaRecently on here I was happy to announce that my father, the wild animal trainer and circus/zoo historian, Jim Clubb, would be featured on a TV show with the critically acclaimed actor, Michael Sheen. Despite having a very respectuable career in front of live audiences for serveral years my father's main area in entertainment is usually behind the scenes, training wild animals for the media industry. He did some stuntwork a few years back, doubling for David Jason in "A Touch of Frost", episode "Endangered Species", but that job is often given to his senior trainers.

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Sam Lockhart

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Sam Lockhart

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Salt and Sauce helping the war effort

I am very grateful to George Pinder Snr, whose family feature quite heavily in the early part of my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", for posting up this archive piece from a Wolverhampton newspaper on his Facebook profile. George told me "my grandmas sister aunt nellie, lived in wolverhampton, and sent her this cutting, i came across it today sorting out some old stuff, its from the 1940s ww2". I don't have the full details yet, but it reveals new information to me about the two famous elephants, Salt and Sauce's activities during the 1940s. Prior to this I understood that the elephants, who were still owned by John "Broncho Bill" Swallow, were touring during the war years (1939-1945) with Paulo's Circus and engaged at various theatrical venues during the Christmas seasons. We did have an unsubstantiated report that they had helped clear a site for the war effort. However, this article shows the two elephants leading a plough for Kingswood Bank farm during the 1940s as a matter of "national importance" for farmer, Robert Wilkes. It was more than likely a type of publicity stunt, which John Swallow - a consumate promoter - would have dreamt up. 




Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

Passport to yesterday? The Trefoil Guild and exploring the "other country"

With “The Legend of Salt and Sauce” now reaching its second edition’s second anniversary, it has been a little while now since I have attended any signings. Therefore my father and I were delighted to visit the Trefoil Guild to give a one hour talk and PowerPoint presentation on our book. When we launched the first edition of the book it was in front of the Circus Friends Association. When we launched the second edition it was in front of the Wolverhampton Historical Society. Both institutions obviously had a strong interest in the subject. On other occasions we have done signings for zoo enthusiasts and historians who were either interested in the general subject of performing animals in music halls, zoos and circuses or in how the legend of these two elephants impacted on their locality. However, from time to time we get requests from societies – like the Ladies Probus Club – who booked us on the basis of the unusual quality of our subject. The Trefoil Club was this sort of booking.
It is always interesting to not only help bring people’s memories alive again – some of our audience members were into their 80s – but also to listen to their accounts of the times I only know through researching documents, books, photographs and newspaper articles. The era Salt and Sauce lived in was one that dramatically changed around the time their demise thus helping to condemn these once exceptionally well-known elephants to the “forgotten history” archives. Although none of those who attended our talk remembered these elephants - despite one contemporary author quoted in my book calling them the most famous elephants of their time - they did have very fond memories of my family’s elephants. One lady even had several photographs she had published taken in the early ‘60s of my family’s elephants being walked from the now non-existent Chipping Norton station. Despite being interested and buying plenty of copies of our book, much of the discussion and questions centred on my father’s involvement with my grandparents’ large number of elephants.

Michael Sheen: descendent of a wild animal trainer

Image via Wikipedia

I very rarely write anything publically about my parents' business. They work in the media all the time, so it would be  an overwhelming task to report on their activities. It would swamp my already very tight schedule and keep me away from writing about my main areas of interest. To put it simply, my heritage and the other work I do on a day-to-day basis are sources of proud inspiration, but not the main source of my writing material.

However, I am delighted to announce that my father has agreed to be an expert on a television programme on Michael Sheen's lion training great-grandmother (details to be confirmed) on Bostock and Wombwelle's Menagerie.

Norman Barrett receives his MBE

Following on from my post regarding Norman Barrett place on the New Year's Honours List. Yesterday Norman received his MBE at Buckingham Palace.

Fighting the Historical Airbrush: This Time it's Personal!

One thing I got very used to during my research for my first book was the unreliability of witness testimony in the circus world. Much of what had been told and published was purposefully designed to enhance the career of the narrator. After all, that is the nature of showbusiness. It is not always excusable, but at least understandable. My job was to present as honest a picture as I could by using my lived knowledge of being a part of an old circus family and my evolving skills as an historical investigator. However, as I began to delve deeper into the old reports, show programmes and reports from independent eyewitnesses I began to uncover a reality that has gradually been erased from my country’s consciousness. Forgotten histories, in general, are an interest of mine, but as time goes on I have become more shocked than ever at how much my culture has been purposefully airbrushed out. There are many examples, much of which I put down to the UK’s collective cultural flaw of snobbery, are discussed in my book. However, recently the whole issue has come closer to home than I find comfortable.

Circus travelling connections: a ramble

Image via Wikipedia

Newly Discovered Salt & Sauce Postcard in Hastings

Early in March 2010 I was contacted by a postcard collector called Mark Pearce. Mark had come across an historical postcard picturing four young elephants stood with a group of people outside a possible Music Hall venue. According to Mark the street is one in Hastings, East Essex. He reports that the message on the card’s reverse has been partially erased, but “Lockhart’s Elephants” is clearly visible. The stamp was dated 1906, but Mark was aware that didn’t necessarily indicate the year the photograph was taken.

The venue looks like it might have been the Empire of Varieties, built in 1899 by Ernest Runtz. According to “theatre buff” Alan Chudey it became known as the Hastings “Hippodrome” in around 1907. The turn of the century was a very common time for circus and Music Hall buildings to be constructed, and we can see this happening all over the UK. It was later used as a cinema and then gutted in 1978 to be used as an amusement arcade.

The Lost Lockhart

Henry James Lockhart (real name Locker) was an elephant trainer/presenter born to Sam and Hannah Lockhart in 1861 in London. Henry, known mainly as Harry, was the youngest of the Lockhart brothers. His elder brothers, George and Sam worked together as bareback horse riders and tumblers in the circus before a riding accident broke George’s hip and severed the brothers’ working relationship. Sam sought his fortune at the tea plantation in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), but impressed by the locals’ work with elephants decided to embark on a career as an elephant trainer, which brought him back to the world of circus and Music Hall. Having recovered from his injury George followed suite and developed his own elephant act. Both these brothers became very famous in their own time, in Europe, Russia and the USA. A descendent of theirs, James Pinder has argued that jealousy inspired the elder brother, George, to become an elephant trainer and it is implied his desire to match his brother’s celebrity status, which he almost did, drove him to the tragic end that saw him crushed to death by an elephant at Walthamstow goods yard. What is rarely talked about, however, is the life of the last brother who met a tragic and far earlier demise than George.

Captain Fritz Schulz - The last of Alfred Court's Trainers

The following is a response written by my father to a post on the excellent "Circus NO SPIN Zone" blog by Wade Burk. Fritz Schulz died on 1 February 2010 at 7am in Australia at 99 years of age. He was a celebrated and highly talented trainer who was once employed by the legendary Alfred Court, the man who inspired my father's circus career. The response my father dictated to me was at the request of Wade to give more details on this exceptional trainer's life. Please note it was written for a circus historian and trainer audience. However, it will serve as the basis for the obiturary we will write together for the "King Pole" magazine:

This was very sad news. He was the last of the "Alfred Court Trainers". He joined Court from Circus Sarasani on a recommendation by Max Stolle, where he had been presenting a group of 12 tigers. He took Court's best mixed group over from Louis Kovac (not to be confused with Harry Kovar). It consisted of six male lions, two tigers (one spare tiger), three leopards, three polar bears, two Himalayan black bears and two Great Dane dogs. Occasionally it included a jaguar as well, but this particular animal moved from group to group, so it is hard to keep track of it. It was in the Harry Kovar mixed group when they opened with Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, as Court took the leopards out of two of the groups to put into his mixed panther act.

By the time Schulz's act reached USA there were only two leopards working, as he lost one, Lisha, in 1939 when working for Circus Scott, Sweden. His booking with Circus Scott was a sudden decision based on an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Switzerland in 1938 when he was working for Circus Knie. Although the disease didn’t affect his animals it curtailed the tour for Knie. The assistant for the act was Joe Walch who later took over one of the mixed groups. Walch was also billed as Zappell.

The picture showing the sit-up was taken in 1939 in the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus winter quarters. You can see a Himalayan bear standing up on the far right. This was Violetta. The other Himalayan bear that stood up next to her was killed in a fight upon arrival. The other bear was substituted by an American black bear, as they couldn't find any Himalayans in USA.

Schulz was interned in 1943 along with the other famous German trainer, Erik Hagenbeck at Fort Meat outside Baltimore. Schulz was eventually released in 1945, but never returned to Alfred Court. He went to Australia to take over from May Kovar on her recommendation. She was working a group of male lions and was having problems and wanted out. Harry, her husband, had already died as a result of the Hartford fire.

The captain corresponded with me during the mid '80s when I started making my first big mixed group. He was a great help. He even contemplated coming over, but it never happened. I was planning to visit him this year, which is something I now wish I had done earlier.

Alfred Court had a very high regard for Schulz's work. He was impressed when the act had opened at Blackpool in 1938. He asked Schulz if he could try to train one of the tigers to roll over. By the time he returned it was already doing it in the show! In those days the roll over trick, just with one animal, was quite an achievement.

I intend to write a full obituary for the King Pole magazine in the UK. We will post this up on the blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

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Belated Congratulations to Norman Barrett MBE

Norman Barrett, or Uncle Norman as my generation of circus children know him, made circus history in January 2010. He was awarded the MBE for his “services to entertainment”. Norman will go down in history as the first circus ringmaster to receive this award. Speaking to the World’s Fair newspaper Norman, who was born into the circus, recognized the significance of the award:

“As well as being over the moon personally, I am also delighted for the circus industry, and all my friends and colleagues within it. Awards of this nature are very rarely given to individuals in my profession, especially when compared to other forms of entertainment such as film and theatre. This is a real boost for circus and in my view gives the art form the recognition it truly deserves and, sadly, in modern times so rarely gets”.

These words echo the sentiments expressed in my article, “Circus and Other ‘Low’ Art”. Despite being celebrated by royalty at the annual Monte Carlo Circus Festival, the British circus tradition is often swept under the proverbial carpet for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, this is a significant moment in modern circus history as audiences start looking more towards live entertainment again and the fascism of political correctness starts to settle down.

Norman Barrett has several connections to my book “The Legend of Salt and Sauce”. He knew the elephant Sauce when she was Cody’s circus and I cite him as a witness source. Furthermore, he is acknowledged as the successor to the famous archetypical ringmaster George Lockhart Jnr, the son of the elephant trainer who was killed by Salt and Sauce, by being Blackpool’s ringmaster and also working at Belle Vue. Both venues had made Lockhart famous and Norman took the mantle on with style, becoming synonymous with the Blackpool Tower Circus.

My parents were among the guests on the celebrity documentary series, “This is Your Life” focusing on Norman Barrett. During the programme Norman was acknowledged for saving the life of one my parents’ trainers at the Blackpool Tower Circus. Louis Pallacio was attacked by a lion during his performance of my father’s lion act in 1986. It was Norman’s experience, pragmatism, quick wits and courage that enabled him to save Louis that day and the Mexican trained acknowledged this on “This is Your Life”. The show, filmed in 1989, was a very emotional experience as the extent of Norman’s influence and his involvement in the world of circus was revealed. Most of the main circus families were in attendance and Cyril Mills, then head of the famous Mills Circus family, was the last guest on the show to pay respect to Norman. Mills were the first family to promote Norman to senior ringmaster.

However, in addition to being a ringmaster Norman is an animal trainer and this was the career he began in. To this day he still presents his famous budgerigar act on Zippo’s Circus along with his ringmastering.

Belated congratulations, Uncle Norman!

George Sanger: Pseudohistorian? Making a Circus of History

In recent times I have become almost as interested in methods to study history as I have in the actual subjects. This has led me to read Richard J. Evans’ book “In Defence of History”. So far, it is an engrossing read that details the history of history and the various competing methods that have evolved over time. I was particularly fascinated in the many attempts to define history as a science, even a social or “weak” science, which it does not happily fit. Nevertheless, the struggle to keep history as an objective study of the past and to establish “facts” is a valiant one, especially in the face of postmodern ideas that have challenged the validity of history altogether. Anyway, having only got through the first few chapters I was delighted to come across a passage that mentions a member of my historical culture, a circus man, “Lord” George Sanger.

Sanger crops up in my book “The Legend of Salt and Sauce” and a relation of his, George Sanger Coleman, in “The Sanger Story”, gave me an interesting if dramatic description of one the characters I was researching, “Lieutenant” Frank Taylor (Aka Alpine Charlie). “Lord” George and his brother “Lord” John Sanger hobnobbed with royalty and ran a circus in the later 19^th and early 20^th century. George is known for making a presentation to Queen Victoria. A disease similar to the one that almost killed the elephant Salt even bore the Sanger name when it wiped out of their herds. George was murdered in 1911, providing a dramatic ending to a dramatic life.

“In Defence of History” cites Sanger as being a notorious source for another murder, the alleged kicking to death of a gingerbread salesman by a drunken mob in 1850 at the Stalybridge Wakes. His memoirs had been read by historian, George Kitson Clark and referenced in his book on Victorian England. The report was then repeated as an historical “fact”. According to Richard J. Evans no contemporary reports support this story. There are detailed newspaper reports of the fair, which included archery, morris dancing and a description of an ascent in a balloon. In fact, very little drunkeness was reported at all. We cannot just dismiss Sanger's report, but its validity should be held in question. I spoke quite extensively in “The Legend of Salt and Sauce” about the way fanciful tales were woven around various events in circus history. This helped contribute to my fascination in the way fiction becomes “fact” if a certain story is not checked, but repeated without question and then passed on.