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-JOURNALSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1926.WHIG-JOURNALSawdust and ’Baccy StemsSchool of QuinArtists in Days of Yorekinds of performers in those (lay*., fa 11 on tho crowd and show folks •10 or 45 years ago, especially circus |alike.and vaudeville ' performers known lt;Heard Hoy Robe' Calf,then as ‘vodvil' men. j ‘'Wore than once I have heard thoThose were the days of the one I rallying cry, ‘Hey Iiitbe,’ resound, ting circus when leaping, which is calling out tho husky razorbneks turning single and double sower j with tent pegs to battle with the saults over a number of elephants ■ gangs that were trying to wreck horses, etc.. was a leading feature: the circus.of many shows. . Twice In my show days 1 saw tt“The big feat fire of circuses in the ’ cyclone whisk the big top away, llko (lays of I’. T. Barnttm. Adam Fore-Ip was only a tissue paper doll. The paugh. Sells Bros.. \V. \V. t'ole and fjjsi time tit I’cnsticola, Fla,, the the Batchelor and Dorst circus was cyclono hit us during tho afternoon the bareback rhllng nets for meni slKlw. Away went the canvas and and women. Qu'ney did not furnish j ln (l ],elt;1Um of falling poles, shriek-bareback nets because there was nojj,tft and women. screamingring barn or a barn with stand J |,4.a8ts alMj roaring winds, all hell tp-d slr.e circus ring with overhead! seemP(1 llOKP. ,.\ woman and little apparatus attached to the rider s glr, werP Kn,olt;t that time, belt to sfive !»int from fnlls. In town*blit Quincy was a leading school for j Trunks Sail Away,leapert*. tumblers, contortionists “We were lucky the second time Black wire. horizontal bar and t the big wind hit tho show I was trapeze acts. 1 with. This was at Storm Lake.All Top Notchrrs. Iowa. The show was over. Wo• Some of the top notchers in tlio | were in the dressing rooms getting circus world who went out from into street clothes. Our trunks were 1 Quincy in those cays were Johnnie j picked up and carried blocks away.* Ahern—you see him at the Orpheum! H was touch and go but no one wasdoor these days—Jesse Brown. The Fisher Bros.. Harry LnughKn. Fred Slialier. Jack Shanahan. James W CK.-d. t\ irt Shiner, Billy liwer, BUB Bearer. i 'a 1 Charles. Csa FtnUcI. Aherns partner. Albert Oeyer. .h-hnnte Heeion. Benton Hughes. K'l (luthrie. Dae Honllhan.I Walt Howard. Tom ffreenleaf. A!) Arrpnnp. Celeste and the Kinhaus| family. ;These professionals were busy winter an 1 summer, in summer they were r»u; in the open with the 'big tops' tin-1 in the winter m vodkilledI performed with the VC, W. Cole show longer than with tiny other. I remember one time when the Coleshow canto to Quincy tho Batchelor and Dorst show opened the same afternoon.Two Shows T'Oni-e.The two shows were on adjoining lots at Twelfth and Broadway. Tho Cole show’ was the first to use electricity to light tho tents and as It had originated here It was popular. On the day f tell about the main entrance to the Batchelor Dorst show was where the Broadway State Savings bank is locuted and the Colo show had its main entrance a little way up Broadway.Great crowds came to town and there wasn’t an unoccupied eeut in either tent. Those were the flays when a. circus emptied the (vninty for miles and miles and everyone came to see tho sights.Those Were the Days.”Ah. those wore great days. 1 remember a time when a lot of top-notchers who called Qttiney home happened here for tho Christmas festivities. New Year's day that ye.tr was warm, balmy and hot as a sum. mer noon.The whole gang of performer* pot together and went up to the saw mill by the upper hay bridge. \Yo slipped on tights and rehearsed acts all afternoon.” ■Some Great Acts.Johnnie Ahern ami Ft? I Shader did a great l.a ( hole net. ' Celeste' ; did Ids wonderful slack wire a-.Howard and Brown du an acrobat!-' act that has never been excelled an | the Fisher Brothers did the first fl ing act ever sent i't a Circus, i Mr Howard was out lt;-n the roadthirt-ee. '‘seasons'’ -,-r some six '(years. lie l-eoame a perform' r of!i renown and was with many of thei The saw dust piles of the upper hay district and the great heaps | (*! to:.*acr stvi.ts l-ack of the ■ - id tobacco factories on Fifth Rnd ( dilo | and at the fool of Delaware streets, were the training grounds of aj lot of the lest Circus acrobats, leapers. tumblers, and 'vodvil' artistsi that ever lot the tnnbnrk.Heei lid- ye ambitious athletes of t.-day. it's an old timer, Wait C, Howard who broadcasts—iiow ! j ard tb.y rubicund genial printer ufjthe ambition to go out with the firs-t I Sixth street. Fair, fat aiul forty | tureus that hit town, j now, ho *\as in lbs day the glittering j 1 f'ta.rted that way before I! bespangled youth who swooped, I was out of short pants arid by the.bird I ike from th eairy heights of the \ time I was 14 years old I was out big: top in Karnum's ‘ greatest on I with the Great Western Circus in earth” or leaped the dozen ole j leaping acts, ground and lofty tumb phants placed side by side on thejMnc and bar work.Sells Bros, tanbark. I A Cirrus Hotbed.“Of tho score of youths who be-1 was n hotbed for allcame premier artists in Quincy 40 or j ' -----------------45 years ago only two of ubig shows and one of the best “vod* vil” circuits of his thue.('I reuse's of All Kinds,He tried all phases of circus life, wagon shows, rail shows and mad* one season with tho King. Hurt and Franklin boat shows. This was th* easiest of all.” he says, “loafing up and down the river from St. Paul to the fa*' South in a boat and often only showing in the afternoon.“It was too tough down South in those days for a night show. Darkness would bring out the roughs and someone was sure to start a fight, maybe shoot, and it was the usual tiling for the gangs of 'townies* to cut the ropes and let the big topISAY “BAYER ASPIRIN”-Unless you see the “Bayer Cross” on tablets, you are not getting the genuine Bayer Aspirin prescribed J5y physicians and proved safe by millions over 25 years forare lert, rJohnny Ahern and myself says Air. Howard an easy and intensely interesting talker on “old circus days.”The Siart To Fame.“Many a lad who liv*d to see Ids name hilled in four inch type on three sheet posters got his first start leaping and tumbling on the saw dust heaps up by the bay bridge or on tho soft piles of tobacco stems in Quincy. At one time half tlie lads in Quincy could he found there doing their stuff, prac ticir.g their stunts, all fired withSAFETY OF PRINCIPAL FIRST SOUND SECURITIESBought and Owned by This Bank, Are Offered for Sale bySTATE SAVINGS. LOAN TRUST COMPANYBOND DEPARTMENT—ROBERT H. MATTHEWS. MGR.ColdsPainHeadacheNeuralgiaNeuritisToothacheLumbagoRheumatismDOES NOT AFFECT THE HEARTSafe^Accept only “Bayer” packagewhich contains proven directions.Handy Bayer” boxes of 12 tablet* Also bottles of 24 and 100—Druggist* Aaplrin la th* trad© mark of Bajcr Manufacture of Moooacellcacldeiter ot SalicyllcaeMRESULTS OBTAINED FROM W-J WANT ADS
Newspaper Details
Quincy Morning Whig Journal
Quincy, Illinois, US
Sun, Feb 07, 1926
Page 4
Full Page
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DE 09 Jan 2024
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