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k*Sunday, March 18, 1956Circu - an Club Tub ThumperfTells^ ‘Of Colorful Members As Confab OpensAnyone dropping by room T10 in ; ber of fans present for the Sara- j making satisfactory recovery. He of all is the one bf Charlie (“Ele the Orange Blossom Hotel during sota get-together. They also dia- did a lot for us fans and we'llthe past few days would have cussed with some warmth, the rel- never forget him,**pliant) Davis, Hartford. Conn., music,Del., has a large library of circuswhich he collects, Mon-gotten himself a pretty good preview of the 25th Annual Convention of the Circus Fans Assn. ofative merits of several TV circus Some circus fan hobbyists, Billshows. said, collect elephant replicas inBy the way.” said Bill Mon- the form of ash trays, door stops.America, which officially begins tague. breaking in, we under- paper weights, etc. MadeleineHe has, Bill said, several hundredelephant tail hairs filed away in envelopes. These hairs come fromtague said, and George Chindahl, official historian of the organisation, makes his hobby of collect-st 9 this mdrning with registration. b],. *Room 710 is where BUI Montague. publicity director for the or-stand both the Big Top and the * Park Supercircus programs are going to salute us this week. I believe the Supercircus will be broadcastSpractically all the elephants In jng historical data about the ctr-#Katonah, N.Y., is famous ! America. On most of the animalsi cusganization, has been hanging out from the Orange Bowl in Miami.**while getting ready for the gather- a a *ing of circus fans whose group in- ; Back to the subject of hobbies, eludes persons from all over the : BilJ said the • fan group includes a United States and Canada, and' number of people who clown withother countries. Here Bill has been the circus as amateurs Just for busy ae a ringmaster, answering the fun of it.” Among the clowns the telephone, reading telegrams are two women, Florence —I tweWif OK *MMMftMland Louisawho rush hia door.if if ifSmith, Gaintivitle, Tax., whose husband Morton helped found thaHere, too, te-twera introduction* Community Circus in that city.III**spouse of circus talk a la comuMs-seur, Bill bright-eyediy briefs thev4sitor on what he quickly calls ‘‘one of the most colorful organisations in the country.” j Moat of us circus fans have a hobby within a hobby,” he will tell his listener. First off. he will point out, there are the “photogs.” those who take still pictures or make movies about the circus andGil Cor. imn Hartford, secretary-treasurer of the organi-ration, is also an amateur clown, and as such was the subject of a United Press story some monthsago, Montague said.♦ * ★Running through hie Met ofamazing statistics, he spoke of Art Crampton. Flint, Mich., who “has probably made some kind of ; record” traveling 58.555 miles togive illustrated talks around the R!v* 318 talk* on the circus, ap-country. Among these isHerb P®arinF in clown make-up.”Georg. Springfield, XU., a man who “took a lot of stills for The Greatest Show on Earth, “Bill aaid. Al-Some of the circus fans, he said, make miniature circuses as their hobby within a hobby. Bill Brin-90 among the photographer group Meriden, Conn.. spent over 20Father Edward S. Sullivan, Rox bury, Maas. “Father Ed.” as everyone caUs him. is the chaplain for the association, which is non-sectarian.♦ h *years, starting at the age of nine to complete his miniature, for which he carved about 100 animals during his spare time in World War II. Others in this category i are John Walling, Springfield,Another ”p*K»*og‘* is RJ1I Judd. Tenn- **** Ed Feldman, Miami.former president of the fans lt;1939-} ^ i *• 441) and at present chairman of For a brief interlude there was the board of directors of the New sad but affectionate talk about Ed Britain National Bank, New Bri- j Knoblaugh, who suffered a cere-tam, Conn., where he has worked bral hemorrhage in Cuba while* * *Bill Montague, who come* fromWest Hartford, Conn., which he calls the bedroom of Hartford”because so many Hartford business men have their homes there, beamed like a true Saraaotan when inted out that local membersMM- f,v warm ■« *•**»Bill Montaguefor her sculpture, which is predominantly of circus animals.★ * ★There are about 158 marriedhe has complete histories says.★ ★ ★BUIof the circus fan association in- ' ■ - ■ 1 . -■»*».-■ -m»elude Col. B J. Palmer of St. Armand's. John Sullivan of the Cir*sqi g( Fame and Bill Rutland.. —Til ii'rcn ‘t‘ ~ ** .lt;wm » w .............................who created the Sarasota HighSchool Sailor Circus.The fan* have their own bimonthly magasine. The White Tope, the only publication in America devoted exclusively to the eir» cus, Montague said, explaining that atate organisations are called Tope and local units Tents.” The association will be 10 years old this May 10, he said, although this is only their 96th annual convention.★ ★ ★“Putting 14 cofMervwtfvely,” Billaaid, ” I'd say we expect from 125to 150 people. And you know, wereally wouldn't need a program. We just get talking about the circus and the hours go by so .fast you don’t know or care what timeit is.”“Yee,” said Mrs. Judd, from h«r seat on the window sill, “you’vejust had a little sample of what we call normal fanning. Sometimes, as I said the other day, you just Walter Krawiec, cartoonist on aj have to turn off your hearing aidfor 60 years. Judd and his wife working at his job as head of the couples in the circus fan organiza- Polish daily newspaper In Chicago,« tLet’s get up a gang next week,M»•were present in 710 at tne time of public relations department of the tion, he said, and many couples specializes in painting the circus, ; said Jim Schuster, and drivethe interview, having a friendly Ringling Bros and Barnum A Bai- and individuals have special cir- and has a very large collection i cross-state to see the Chrietiani's.cus rooms in their homes in which ef circus paintings in his home. If the talk goes on long enough,Peoria they display their collections of Ray Wolf, Manatee, also paints you call it a convention, of thelittle argument with Jim Schuster, ley CircusGrand Rapids. Mich., as to whether the latter city or the former would have a greater num-“He's back home in now',” Montague said. And he's cirrusiana.I circus subjects.completely lost his voice but is Perhaps the most curious hobby 1 Chris Viohl, Jr.,! unstereotyped” variety, eeWilmington, Montague says.Bill
Newspaper Details
Sarasota News
Sarasota, Florida, US
Sun, Mar 18, 1956
Page 20
Full Page
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USA 20 Nov 2018
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