Petoskey, MI 45 miles. Dirt lot. Hot.
Sad news from Florida where it’s reported that Fred Logan has passed away. Coming out of Canada as a young man in the 1940’s, Mr. Logan went on to become a fixture on circuses in the 1950’s through 1990’s managing and presenting cats, then elephants. His long career on circuses like the Al G Kelly-Miller Circus, and the Clyde Beatty Cole Bros Circus made him one of the best known elephant men in the country and perhaps the last presenter worthy of the honorific “Captain.” We will all miss him.
Alpena, MI. 110 miles. Dirt lot. Hot. Humid.
Nearly two weeks ago our Parts Buyer Robert Rader went into hospital in Wisconsin and was immediately transferred to a larger facility to the south in Green Bay. Days of testing followed. Today Robert is scheduled for open heart surgery. Post surgery, when he is able to travel he will going home to Hugo, OK for further recovery. Ideally he hopes to rejoin the show sometime in the Fall. Robert is in our thoughts today. Also in our thoughts, we are half way through the season. The price of diesel continues to punish every circus on the road this year, while the price of gasoline adds an additional burden to every household and eats away at dollars that might otherwise be spent on entertainment, like a bigtop show. When travel by rail became logistically difficult and prohibitively expensive circuses moved to trucks. In seasons to come we move to smaller trucks, like European shows? Will fuel prices lead to the next evolution in the traditional circus? Maybe. Like the bellweather seasons of the early to mid-1950’s it’s probably fair to say that the next model suggesting what circus will be for a generation to come is somewhere just around the corner.
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Sad news from Florida where it’s reported that Fred Logan has passed away. Coming out of Canada as a young man in the 1940’s, Mr. Logan went on to become a fixture on circuses in the 1950’s through 1990’s managing and presenting cats, then elephants. His long career on circuses like the Al G Kelly-Miller Circus, and the Clyde Beatty Cole Bros Circus made him one of the best known elephant men in the country and perhaps the last presenter worthy of the honorific “Captain.” We will all miss him.
Alpena, MI. 110 miles. Dirt lot. Hot. Humid.
Nearly two weeks ago our Parts Buyer Robert Rader went into hospital in Wisconsin and was immediately transferred to a larger facility to the south in Green Bay. Days of testing followed. Today Robert is scheduled for open heart surgery. Post surgery, when he is able to travel he will going home to Hugo, OK for further recovery. Ideally he hopes to rejoin the show sometime in the Fall. Robert is in our thoughts today. Also in our thoughts, we are half way through the season. The price of diesel continues to punish every circus on the road this year, while the price of gasoline adds an additional burden to every household and eats away at dollars that might otherwise be spent on entertainment, like a bigtop show. When travel by rail became logistically difficult and prohibitively expensive circuses moved to trucks. In seasons to come we move to smaller trucks, like European shows? Will fuel prices lead to the next evolution in the traditional circus? Maybe. Like the bellweather seasons of the early to mid-1950’s it’s probably fair to say that the next model suggesting what circus will be for a generation to come is somewhere just around the corner.
Enlarge
