The Circus Hall of Fame . . .

I had just gotten home from an eight hour shift with Phil Planetta.  He was an old Italian guy who'd had a stroke.  I liked taking care of him because his wife was such a good cook  Every night, she'd make some outrageous Italian dinner, and after I'd fed him, she prepared me a plate for my dinner break.  But it would have been short lived, since he was running out of insurance.  Even then it was an issue . . .

But like I said, I had just come home, and my brother said, "you had a phone call today from Florida.  Some guy named Hanneford?"  And, truth be told, at the time, I had no idea who it was.  But I called him back.

And I left a couple of days later to go back to Florida to work for George Hanneford Junior at the Hanneford Family Circus at the Circus Hall of Fame on Highway 41 in Sarasota.  The pay was $100 per week and a place to sleep . . .

The week turned out to be seven days.  (The Hannefords worked! Twenty years later I worked for them again, at the Swap Shop in Ft. Lauderdale.  Their week was still seven days!)   The place to sleep turned out to be in my van in their yard in Nokomis.  George had gotten my name and number from Harvey Copeland, Clown College Prop Teacher and Certified Artistic Genius.

This is George Hanneford Jr . . .

And Victoria, on his left (Mrs Hanneford) and Kay Francis (his sister), on his right.  This is a publicity photo for their perch act, "The Georgians." (See?  I knew I needed publicity photos . . .)  As I understand it, this was a sensational act, booked on RBB&B for four years in the sixties. But this act had already retired by the time I came along, so I never got to see it.   Pat Cashin has a video posted here that shows part of this act, starting about 1:38 . . .

And you can read more about the Hannefords here , and here.

 

And this is the Circus Hall of Fame . . .

It was about 22 miles from the Hanneford Family home in Nokomis, FL.  Everyday, they got up, loaded up elephants, horses, ponies, Dianne, Cathy and George III and drove to work, unloaded, did two or three shows, loaded back up and drove home to Nokomis.  Most of the show was the Hannefords.  They did trampoline, the riding act, the liberty ponies (white ponies, each named for a city in Michigan) and the elephants.  Dianne did a gorgeous single trapeze act, ending with a barefoot, no gimmick, swinging toe-hang. 

The clowns were Alfredo Landon and the one and only Dougie Ashton.  And me.  Alfredo was the first clown I ever saw stick a flower in a soda straw, hand it to a lady in the audience, then leave her holding the straw as he spotted another lady nearby . . .  And Dougie Ashton is, to this day, one of the funniest clowns I've ever seen.  They both worked in the show. 

But not me.  I worked in the lobby.  This was also in the lobby . . .

This is the other side . . .

If you look closely, you can see it in the window in the picture above.  It generally got more attention than I did . . .

I also worked out on the street corner. Where I fished in the sewer grate.  Business was terrible.  My job was to flag down cars and get them to come into the parking lot and thence, the show.  I was one of the first ever human signs . . .

Here   is an article about the opening and closing of the Circus Hall of Fame, last performance May 27, 1980.  It lasted three years after I was there.  I only lasted there a week.  I think George was relieved when I told him I was leaving.  I think what happened was that right after he hired me on the phone, during the week it took me to get there, Dougie showed up looking for a gig, and George hired him.  Can't say I blame him . . .

This is Dougie Ashton . . .

When I got to Sarasota, Dougie was there, and George didn't need me anymore.  I'm not sure he ever did.  So, I worked that one week, got my $100 and left.  I went toVenice to shop, and ran into Clown College class mate Richard Fick in the Winn-Dixie.  The Blue show was in rehearsal . . .

And my life took a turn for the better . . .