WEBVTT - How Circus Families Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to you stuff you should know fromhouse Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.280 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:17.279 Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry. Which makes this The 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:25.640 Flying s y s K Flying Stuff Stuffy Ends Stefanos 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.280 Steffini's the Flying steffens Man. Boy. See you look at that. 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.839 It took us wet seven seconds. Maybe even wants to 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.360 come up with the best name in the history of 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.440 podcasting circus teams. Yeah, we'll go back and look at 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:40.760 the time stamp. After this publicism, we'll know for sure. 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.240 But I say less than seven seconds. The Flying Steffeni's. 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:45.800 Good job man, all right, I guess we can retire. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.599 We've hit it big, Yeah we have. You can make 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.680 some money being a circus family, I learned. Yeah, I 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.240 have no idea about costs. So you will delight me 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.560 because I think everyone, well not everyone. I think some 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.240 people when they go to circus, they're like, what's that 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.800 guy make for throwing knives? Oh? I have no idea 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:06.920 what they make. It's just and I got from this 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.000 research and I thought you had some hard numbers. No, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.680 you're the statman, remember, and I know, but people, uh, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.400 you know it's rude to talk about money, so people 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.800 don't share these things these days. That's why I'm not 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:21.960 saying anything. I'm just telling you the impression I had. 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.600 They're always strutting around with goblets full of really expensive 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:31.160 wine circus families, so you know, yeah, they got uh. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.000 You know. Every time I think we're all circused, out 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.120 there comes another topic. Well, we have yet to do 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.800 how circuses themselves work. We will do that one day. 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.480 So we've done all of its components, every last one. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.720 After that, Well, it does have interesting history, so well 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:48.600 we will save that then. Yeah, we Well I do 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:50.440 want to do how circus is working. We should also 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.480 say I don't want anybody to have the impression that 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:57.120 by talking about circus families we are endorsing circuses in general. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.400 I have serious issues with some of them, with them 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.000 for the most part, oh, like because of their treatment 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.000 of animals. Yeah, but a lot of them don't use 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:09.679 animals at all anymore, not a lot of them, some 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.399 of them don't. I have no problem with those circuses. Yeah, 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:14.919 Like I remember the Big Apple Circus. They have a 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:19.480 dog thing, go out dogs a horse thing, and I 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.359 think that was it. And horses love to show off, 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.800 So I'm okay with the big Yeah you wouldn't shoot, 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.680 you know, but no, no, they wouldn't show like an 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:33.040 elephant right right, Which is funny because apparently an elephant 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:38.200 is equal to a family circus performer. Oh yeah, I 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.320 saw that. I should say circus family performer. Family Circus 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.440 is totally different. Yeah. This is a little frustrated research 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.080 because I kept getting lots of circular cartoons that weren't funny. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.480 You don't think they're funny, Okay, they're they're not funny. 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.639 I think they're charming and heartwarming. Yeah, sure, you know, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.840 Jeffy wrote on the wall, right, it's not funny, but 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.239 it's cute. Their little hair and the noses and the 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.359 they're cute. Uh that I have a brief segue here. Initially, 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.880 Um that reminded me was just at max foncan uh, 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.960 the the weekend retreat of Jesse Thorn and his podcasting empire. 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.480 Everybody loved you that picture of you and Hodgeman and 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.359 Justin McElroy's kid. Yeah, little baby Charlie. Yeah, very cute. Yeah, 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:24.400 I think people love babies. Hodgeman, who doesn't even particularly 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.840 like kids, was like, give me that baby. You know, Um, 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.959 Hodgman likes kids, at least he likes his own kids. Um, 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.200 so I was just there. And first of all, let 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:39.040 me recommend the Super Ego podcast, Very funny improv podcast 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:44.520 featuring Matt Gorley and Paula Tompkins and Mark McConville and 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.520 Jeremy Carter. You could have stopped at paul Tomkin. Yeah right, Um, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:50.880 but one man improv is like, it's not the best 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.200 he can do. He does, I've seen it. So anyway, 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:55.960 a long story short, we were playing this game one 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.040 night where we were naming comic strips and the comic 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.440 strip mark trail came up. Oh man, you remember that. 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.680 Well it wasn't even trying to be funny. Well no, 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.560 it wasn't funny at all, but it wasn't even like interesting. 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.080 It was literally like, you know, the what a beautiful 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:14.840 sunset today, right, was tracing the trail of a hawk 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.560 in the sky, like through eight panels. I thought it 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.960 was refreshing in a little ways, like you just make 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.920 it all like through a hilarious spasm of laughter after 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.520 like Funky winker Bean or Hagar the Horrible and you 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.360 needed to like chill out. Remember that, so you'd like 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.880 read the Mark Trail and then like you go at 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.400 it again and just laugh and laugh and beatle Bailey, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.280 which is great, instant it just and then maybe you'd 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.920 come down a little on merry Worth or Department but 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.000 three G, back up on Wizard of It, back down 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.400 with Brenda's starr. Yeah, that's the way you do it. 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:51.359 But Mark Trail, I don't want to knock it too 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.400 much because I believe it like taught kids about nature 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.720 and conservancy and stuff like that. But and how to 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.240 follow a hawks Trail in the sky didn't belong in 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.240 the comic section. But I don't know, like it was 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.400 a comic strip. Yeah. A lot of those comics were 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.279 like they started out or a lot of things started 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.960 out as comics like Lone Ranger comic. Oh really sure 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:15.039 comic strip or a comic book, because some have been both. 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.840 You know, well the Bolster my point. Let's say comic strip, okay, okay, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.240 And it might have actually started out as a radio show. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.040 And I think about it, Hey, that worked that worked 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:26.440 out well. I was just thinking, how can we kill 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.440 some time here before we do circuses? That's how Family 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:36.160 Circus tangent so Family circuses. Uh. When I first started, Yeah, 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.760 circus families. When I first started researching, I was like, 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.760 what a weird thing to be in a circus family. 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.000 And then I thought it might be weird to be 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.880 in one, but not weird that there are circus families, 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.839 because it makes total sense that it's the family business. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.520 Well that's how circus is largely started out. Yeah, very familial. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.000 It was, you know, like you some patriarch of a 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.600 family would find doubt that Hey, I'm I'm kind of 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.080 good at juggling. Why don't I try doing it while 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.640 I stand on the back of a moving horse And 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.840 they go, holy cow, I'm actually doing this. And they'd say, well, 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:12.919 let me see what happens when I tossed my sons 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:18.440 in the air instead of juggling, you know, batons. If 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.960 I set their hair on fire using some sort of 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.920 safe flammable material that will burn but not burn the sun, 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:29.400 say like, I have a flame retardant cap. Sure, then 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.920 all of a sudden, you've got a circus family. And 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.400 like these people would would start out by you know, 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:37.320 the whole family would get involved in This was a 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.920 time when they were much larger families than there are 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.760 today and they would form their own mini circus and 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.400 travel around. And as circuses became more and more established 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.480 and entrenched and divided among some very big names. Um, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.680 they started basically freelancing for these things. Like they go 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:56.800 on a tour or a couple of tours would be 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.719 you know, with a large circus for a couple of years, 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:01.960 and then they go off and get on another tool 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.720 or something like that. But um, they would form these 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.719 family acts and that's how circus is originally got started. Yeah, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.800 and um, apparently it's it just the more you look 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:13.240 at it, the more it makes sense. You know, they're 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.600 on the road a lot, um, and if you want 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.120 to spend time with your family, get your family in 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.960 the family business, because then mom and dad aren't on 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.440 the road doing their equestrian act. They are bringing the 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.400 kids along and teaching them, and all of a sudden 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:31.280 they're the the writing uh steffinos and they're spending time 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.080 together and it's uh, you know, I read a few 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.200 interviews with people in circus families and apparently if you 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.440 were not from a circus family, uh, this quote from 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:45.320 a Big Apple Circus guest director Steve Smith said, for 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.240 those of us those of us who didn't grow up 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.720 in the circus, there's always a feeling as if we're 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.440 on the outside looking in on what they call quote 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.200 being circus. Yeah, like if you're born into a circus 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.960 family and you're in the circus, you have automatic prestige, 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.160 you're part of a dynasty, and that's being circus. Yeah, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.560 it's like a real police. If you're a fan of 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.960 the Wire, Sure there's cops and there's real police. Yeah, 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.800 but like if you were born into being police, which 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:16.440 a lot of cops are also another family tradition job. Yes, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.320 I don't know if a little podcasters are going to 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.400 come along. We were not at that point yet where 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:27.000 like there's been a generation you know, not yet, but yeah, 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.520 maybe little Charlie McElroy will be a podcast maybe um 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:34.040 and then they call uh they say marrying inside the 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.679 circuits also makes a lot of sense because where you're 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.160 gonna meet people, but probably fellow performers, other circus families, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.440 so these and not towners. If you're not like, uh, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.319 I like you and I are towners. Yeah a k 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.880 A slack jawn yokels. Yeah, you know, how are you look? 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.560 Well that thing on fire and jump through it. Yeah, 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.400 there's a there's a pretty neat article on pbs UM 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.240 called Being Circus Life in the Only Business about being 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.720 born into a circus family. It seems like a pretty 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.160 cool life. I mean, you know, they go to school 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.559 on the road, and I think it's like one big 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.120 family because they say, you know, if you're in a 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.040 trap ez act, you can't be mad at your dad 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.199 who is catching you in the trap ez act tonight. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.640 So I think you gotta like, yeah, well, you know, 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.319 you can't go into performance, a dangerous performance like the 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.480 Globe of Death, harboring any animosity towards your siblings. So 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.400 you gotta work this stuff out. You know, they're they're 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.600 tight knit people, right, And it seems like the custom 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.640 is that once you are done performing as a member 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.599 of a circus family, there's a non performing job for you, 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.319 ready and waiting in the circus elsewhere, like an administration 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:48.160 or something like that. I thought you were gonna say, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:53.360 break a deal, face the wheel, longstanding tradition in the circus. 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:59.280 Welcome to Bartertown. Um, I watched that not too long ago. 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:00.920 I told you a thing. Can watch the whole Mad 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:05.720 Max trilogy. Yeah, the quadrilogy. Now, well, yeah, I think 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.320 it's the trilogy plus one, Like Durham is our plus 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.400 one on the Northeast tour. Yep, lousy people of Durham. 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:18.040 Get it together, Durham. Um. All right, So you want 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.280 to talk about some of these famous families. You know, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.679 you marry into it, you're born into it, and then 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:24.439 before you know and it it seems like they always 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.480 have a lot of kids too. Yeah, like seven children, 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.079 because you need seven to complete a pyramids exactly? Is 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.360 that why? Probably if you think you need help, um, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.240 you know, tending to the farm. Imagine having like a 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.800 circus act. That's good point. And some circus families also 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.840 kind of expand, especially once they form a troop, they'll 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:50.760 expand the family act to include non family members. Where 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.719 they're they're members of the troops, they're not members of 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.679 the family. But for any outsider, they're like, oh, there's 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.360 like three dads here. Yeah. But they take the traditional 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.319 blood oath think sure, you know, and cut themselves with 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.960 an elephant tusks still attached to the elephant. Yeah, that's right, 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.720 and then they do a trapeze that's gotta hurt. Yeah. 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.160 So let's talk about the Clarks, one of the earliest 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:19.080 UM British circus families. Any relation do you probably? I mean, 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.600 can't you tell you see me on the high wire? 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:26.439 I have? You're quite skilled. Yes, they the Clarks go 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.920 all the way back to the very first uh circuses, 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.200 because a man named Philip Astley is credited as being 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.760 the inventor of the modern circus in the late seventeen hundreds. Right, 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.920 and he heard about John Clark, who was a horseman, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.200 and a lot of these people were horse people. Yeah, 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.360 it's a good way to start in the circus to 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.040 be good on a horse. Um he Uh, John Clark 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:51.959 was good on a horse. He caught the attention of 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:57.120 um Philip Astley and uh in the early nineteenth century 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.680 they started a circus act. Yeah, it was an area 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:05.160 act at first. And it seems like anytime you're good, 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:10.240 then the Ringling Brothers will come a calling at some point. Yeah, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.079 for sure, to snap you up, because they're the greatest 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.880 show on earth. That's right. Um. The one of the 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.480 ways also to cement your family act as a dynasty, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.040 in addition to having multiple generations that stay in the 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:29.599 circus um is to create some new thrilling move that 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.200 no one else has done before, like the Clarks are 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:37.199 credited with um coming up with the triple back somersault 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:42.959 in nine nine, right, and the whole the Clark family 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.960 dynasty actually broke up because of World War Two. World 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:51.800 War two, interestingly had a really direct impact on a 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:56.319 lot of circus families, and the Clarks were among them. Um, 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.520 So the men went off to war. I'm sure some 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:00.959 of them died. The ones of it turned were like, 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.000 I've seen too much to go back into the circus. 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.800 And it was up to Ernestine Clark, who was a 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:11.439 great granddaughter of John Clark I believe, to carry on 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.520 the family business, yes, single handedly, and daughter of Ernest. 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.839 Her name was actually Elizabeth Laura, but she looks so 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:23.600 much like Ernest. People called her little Ernie and uh yeah, 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.599 she eventually went by Ernestine. I guess she was like, 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.400 I might as well just make this a little more feminine. 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.240 It's like a family circus trip. And she did soldier 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.600 on um, you know, after World War two. Like you said, 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.520 it's so crazy to think about these famous people going 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.559 and joining the army. Well, Elvis did. Yeah, Elvis was 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.040 in the army. I know. He's also probably like more 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.880 protected than Prince Harris. Sure, but he was still in 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.599 the army and famous athletes. Like can you imagine, like 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:55.959 Justin Bieber is in the army, it's a fight in 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.760 the Middle East. No, I really really came just doing 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.640 his duty kind of is an American just a different time. 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.719 It's just mind boggling to think about the mindset back then. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.040 You know. Do you know I got my haircut recently 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:12.439 by the guy who created the Bieber haircut back in 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.199 the day. Is that why you went to him? No? 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:17.679 I didn't find out until part way through, and I 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:19.360 was like, please don't give me a beaper, Please don't 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:24.640 give which what was the sweepy in your face? Wow? Yeah, 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:29.800 So he was Bieber styliss yes, early on, and gave 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.760 him that haircut. Isn't that cool? I guess man, I 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.600 was like one degree from Justin Bieber. I think we 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:41.000 all are. Um, so everybody, UM, I don't know if 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.040 you found this. I thought this is pretty amazing. Um. 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.160 The Clark's performance group early on, we're called the clarkon Ians. 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.120 I thought that was pretty good. It's weird. It's so funny, 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.160 like for some reason, if you're a circus promoter, You're like, 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.960 that name is not nearly Italian enough at an eeny 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.560 or an owny or something on the end of even 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.320 if it doesn't work like clark Oni in yeah, or 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.200 as we'll hear about later, the hoy Genie's Yeah, this 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.680 isn't that's that's senseless. It is pretty senseless. But you 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.600 can thank circus promoters for coming up with those horrible 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:19.320 hybrids of names. I think there's a rich tradition in Italy, 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.680 so they just sounded, you know, fanciful. Um. So, Ernestine 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:26.480 carried the torch um. She finally left the circus in 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.680 the nineteen fifties. Uh and had a husband that was 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.920 a part time circus performer, part time actor and her 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.840 little girls who party? Yeah, part of who he was 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.240 the mayor and Andy Griffith. Oh no way. And if 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.160 you look up his um his credits, he was in everything. 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.360 He like made appearances in everything, Like you would recognize 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.680 him immediately. Interesting, He's been in everything from Three's Company 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.680 to The Golden Girls. He was just in everything. Wow, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:57.160 that's pretty awesome. Bewitched. Yeah, did I say three His Company? 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.760 I'll say it again. Uh. So she married the famous 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:06.320 actor Um and then her daughters became trapeze artists, carrying 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.840 on the family tradition, and Ernestine eventually became the first 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.640 daughter to follow her father into the International Circus Hall 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.960 of Fame. And I have a little clip here. Do 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.440 you ever read the old New York Times articles sometimes 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:25.720 the pdf? Eighteen different headlines? Yeah, yeah, this is basically 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.040 read the headline several headlines. Actually, so this is about 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.600 clark Um Ernest Clark in New York City and Madison 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.320 Square Garden. And the first headline is trapeze man noted 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:40.920 for twist and air. Uh, Ernest Clark of wrinkling circus, 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:45.120 turns at right angles and leap for life line line, 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.240 broken rib brings panic, I'm sorry, payne line line and 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:53.680 then writhing action during triple somersault starts sweat of agony. 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.120 All right, And then in the article it says, h 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.440 Clark's feet is apparently in defiance of all the laws 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.000 of mechanics, for he turns his body in the air 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.480 and a pirouette at right angles to its line of flight, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.520 with no other leverage than that he can exert by 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:16.280 a thrust of his shoulders. Journalism it is. And then 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.399 later when they're describing describing him, says Clark as a small, 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.680 almost slight man, but with a large, wonderfully developed chest 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:29.280 with a great heart beating inside. Old New York Times 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.120 articles are just the best, I would say, all old 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.040 newspapers period. But there are times they knew what they 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:35.920 were doing. Yeah, you could access You can access that 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.200 stuff today pretty easily, pretty neat. You know. I looked 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.440 up what um that line, and staying Alive means about 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.800 the New York Times don't make a Man? Is that 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.040 in the song Staying Alive the Dow York Times Don't 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.000 make a Man? Oh? I never knew that's what they 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.600 were saying. So what does that mean? It means basically 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:54.760 at the time that I like, if it wasn't in 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.040 the New York Times, it doesn't matter. And this is 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.880 about a man whose life still does matter even though 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:02.239 it's not worthy of being reported on in the New 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.080 York Times. John Travolta or the character, yeah, I can't 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:09.439 remember his saying Tony manera, right, I think a scarface 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.920 Tony Marinera. Was it Tony? It's probably Tony, you know. 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.800 So that movie was based on an article in New 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.960 York magazine, and it turned out that the guy who 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.359 wrote it made the whole thing up from beginning to end, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.200 made it up crazy. Yeah, but it's still worth reading. 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:30.560 And especially if you know that he made it up, 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.760 you're like, how did how did anybody buy this? This 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.920 kind of like like on the spot reporting is just 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.640 done by a handful of people. Sure, and he found 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:41.639 this guy that that worked on a hardware store in Brooklyn, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.119 and yeah, and then like was there like with the 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.879 it was was able to like almost omnisciently track like 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.000 the people that came into this guy's orbit. Yeah. Yeah, 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.479 it's funny that the editors were like, Wow, you did 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:57.720 a really good job here, not you're a fraud who cares? Yeah, 0:18:57.800 --> 0:18:59.480 they should have. Just when I hear things like that, 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.720 I'm like, say, it's fiction from the beginning, it's still interesting. 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.800 It's like when the guy that the author wrote about 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:10.720 his drug rehab, the James Fry, Yeah, that was a 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.280 great book. And I remember at the time when that 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.160 all came out, I was like, man, man, you should 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:16.840 just call it fiction. It's a really good book. But 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.600 I thought I followed that story and and thought the 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:23.000 same thing, like like why why would you Why would 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.520 you say that every word of this is accurate. It 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.320 doesn't make any sense. We will get back to uh. 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.400 Circus families believe it or not right after this message. 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:54.080 So chuck sometimes them if the family circus, the circus 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.760 family can get in front of a show promoter, they 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:00.280 can have some sort of control over their own name. 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.000 Sure the change that comes to it. And that is 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:07.040 the case with the Hobson's Robert Hobson who left England 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:12.719 for the US in eighteen sixty UM and started a family, 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.639 a circus family act, acrobats family act. That's right. And 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.359 apparently he was noted for tossing his sons about like 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.920 indian rubber. Don't even know what that means. It means 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.359 he was basically throwing his sons all over the place 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.359 and they're just landing places. Well, no, I get that, 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:31.240 but I just I don't know what indian rubber is. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:38.240 I think that they were very pliable, gotcha. Uh. So 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:43.200 with the name change, they were originally Hobson, I'm sorry, 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.760 originally Nelson, but changed their name. No, it was Hobson first, oh, 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.280 was changed to Nelson. Man, it gets confusing, so he 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.560 called themselves Professor Nelson and sons, the sons who he 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.200 tossed about like Indian rubber right, But it's not a 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:01.000 better like Nelson's, no better than Hobson. That's just strange. Uh. Yeah, 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:06.120 he changed it, supposedly allegedly because he wanted to pay 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:10.200 homage to a former stage partner that I guess it 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.440 died or moved on or whatever. I couldn't find the 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.240 person's name, whoever the Nelson was, but it was an homage. 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.120 Well maybe he wanted to uh anonymity as well. Yeah, 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.000 he's probably on the run from the law. So. Um, 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:26.200 the Nelson's became the Great Nelson Family because they followed 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:30.000 that tradition of like needing more people, um, more quickly 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.000 than they could reproduce. Uh. So they brought in other 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:35.960 performers who weren't family members, and they became the Great 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:39.920 Nelson Family and then ultimately the Flying Nelson's, which is 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.840 what they became famous as the Flying Nelson's. Yeah, and 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:45.760 here's I thought the cool little factoid about them. In 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:49.679 the early I'm sorry, late nineteen twenties, Um, granddaughter Hilda 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:52.680 taught Lot was hired to teach Lon Cheney, the actor, 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.560 how to walk the high wire. In a movie called 0:21:55.640 --> 0:22:00.159 Laugh Clown Laugh, And then all of the Nelson's, Um, 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:05.360 we're in a movie called Circus Rookies in so um 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:08.919 they still continue, I think, not as the Nelson's, but um, 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:13.040 they said their ancestors, some of which still perform. Yeah, 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:17.760 they basically retired mostly by nineteen thirty five. But then yeah, 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:21.280 some carried on. Sure, what about the flying Wallendas. These 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.000 are the ones that everybody knows, everybody's heard of that. 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:28.040 It's sort of that became part of the lexicon. Yeah, 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.159 the flying Wellendus y um. And then funny enough, the 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.800 flying Wallendas actually got their name from a newspaper headline 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:38.239 that dubbed them that because four of them fell from 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:41.119 a high wire. Yeah, in Akron, Ohio. And they said, 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.639 I like the flying Mollendis. Yeah, they said. The quote 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:49.240 was the Lendas volendas. The Wallendas fell so gracefully that 0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:54.240 it seemed as if they were flying. Uh. But I wonder, 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.520 like there were other flying flying Nelson's, Like, was this 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.320 the first one? I wonder the Wellenda's No, because the 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.080 flying Nelson's were called that long before the middle of 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.359