WEBVTT - Selects: How Circus Families Work 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.120 Hi, everybody, Happy Saturday. I hope you're having a great weekend. 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:06.680 If you want to learn something about circus families, you're 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.399 in the right place because this is a throwback select 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:13.840 episode to July two. Circus families, Believe it or not, 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.919 It's a thing, great, great, rich traditions all over the 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:21.239 world with circus families, fathers and mothers teaching sons and daughters, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.960 aunts and uncles teaching nieces and nephews how to swing 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:27.600 on trap pieces and climb ropes and dew flips and 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:36.440 ride motorcycles. Here we go, how circus families work. Welcome 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:45.560 to Stuff you should know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.360 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, Just Charles 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:52.400 W Chuck Bryant, and Jerry, Which makes this the Flying 0:00:53.080 --> 0:01:00.600 s Y s Cades, Flying Stuff, stuffy In's Stuffino, Oh, 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.720 Steffini's Flying stef Man Boy. See you look at that. 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.280 It took us we seven seconds, maybe even less, to 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:09.840 come up with the best name in the history of 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.880 podcasting circus teams. Yeah, we'll go back and look at 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.200 the time stamp after this publishism we'll know for sure, 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:17.640 But I say less than seven seconds. The Flying Stefeni's 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:20.240 good job man. All right, I guess we can retire. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.039 We've hit it big, Yeah we have. You can make 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.160 some money being a circus family, I learned. Yeah, I 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.720 have no idea about costs. So you will delight me 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.080 because I think everyone, well not everyone. I think some 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.559 people when they go to the circus, they're like, what's 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.920 that guy make for throwing knives? Oh? I have no 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.040 idea what they make. It's just the question I got 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.920 from this research. Gotcha, And I thought you had some 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.840 hard numbers. Uh. No, you're the statman, remember, And I know, 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.920 but people, you know, it's rude to talk about money, 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:53.960 so people don't share these things these days. That's why 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.080 I'm not saying anything. I'm just telling you the impression 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.200 I had. They're always strutting around with goblets full of 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:04.960 really expensive wine circus families, so you know, yeah, they 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.240 got uh. You know. Every time I think we're all circused, 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.440 out there comes another topic. Well, we have yet to 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.239 do how circuses themselves work. We will do that one day, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.920 so we've done all of its component, every last one. 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.160 After that. Well, it does have interesting history, so well 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.280 we will save that then. Yeah. Well, I do want 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.280 to do how circuses working. We should also say I 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.160 don't want anybody to have the impression that by talking 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:32.400 about circus families we are endorsing circuses in general. I 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.720 have serious issues with some of them, with them for 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.600 the most part, oh, like because of their treatment of animals. Yeah, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.480 but a lot of them don't use animals at all anymore. Well, 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:44.679 not a lot of them, some of them don't. I 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.640 have no problem with those circuses. Yeah, Like I remember 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.600 the Big Apple Circus. They have a dog thing. Well dogs, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.280 I mean, we're horse thing, and I think that was it. 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.520 And horses love to show off, So I'm okay with 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.120 the Big Apple. Yeah, you wouldn't shoot, you know, but no, no, 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:05.480 they wouldn't show like an elephant, right right, Which is 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:10.360 funny because apparently an elephant is equal to a family 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.760 circus performer. Oh yeah, I saw that. I should say 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.600 circus family performer. Family circus is totally different. Yeah. This 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.839 is a little frustrating research because I kept getting lots 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.280 of circular cartoons that weren't funny. You don't think they're funny, Okay, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.800 they're they're not funny. I think they're charming and heartwarming. Yeah, sure, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:33.120 you know, Jeffy wrote on the wall, right, it's not funny, 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.520 but it's cute. Their little hair in the noses and 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:41.080 the they're cute. U that I have a brief segue here. Initially, Um, 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.360 that reminded me. Was just at max fun Con, uh, 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:48.400 the the weekend retreat of Jesse Thorn and his podcasting empire. 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.920 Everybody loved you that picture of you and Hodgeman and 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.760 Justin McElroy's kid. Yeah, well baby Charlie. Yeah, very cute. Yeah, 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.880 I think people love babies. Hodgeman, who doesn't even particularly 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.400 like kids, was like, give me that baby. You know, Um, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.680 husband likes kids, at least he likes his own kids. Um. 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:08.640 So I was just there. And first of all, let 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:13.520 me recommend the Super Ego podcast, very funny improv podcast 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.880 featuring Matt Gorley and Paul if Tompkins and Mark McConville 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.679 and Jeremy Carter. You could have stopped at Paul if Tompkins. 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.800 Yeah right, Um, but one man improv is like, it's 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.800 not the best he can do it. I bet he could. 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.360 He does, I've seen it. So anyway, a long story short, 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.039 we were playing this game one night where we were 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.200 naming comic strips and the comic strip Mark Trail came up. 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.080 Oh man, you remember that. Well it wasn't even trying 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.000 to be funny. Well, no, it wasn't funny at all, 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.040 but it wasn't even like interesting. It was literally like 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.040 you know the what a beautiful sunset today? Right, that 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.840 was tracing the trail of a hawk in the sky 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:54.800 like through eight panels. Yeah. I thought it was refreshing 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:56.720 in a little ways, like you just make it all 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.560 like through a hilarious spasm of laugh or after like 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.240 Funky winker Bean or Hagar the Horrible and you needed 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.160 to like chill out, remember that, so you'd like read 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.440 the Mark Trail and then like you go at it 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.120 again and just laugh and laugh and beatle Bailey, which 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.279 is great institches and then maybe you come down a 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.440 little on Merry Worth or Department at three G Well, 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.440 back up on Wizard of It, back down with Brenda Starr. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.920 Yeah that's the way you do it. But Mark Trail, 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:26.240 I don't want to knock it too much because I 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.720 believe it like taught kids about nature and conservancy and 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.000 stuff like that. But and how to follow a hawks 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.520 trail in this guy didn't belong in the comics section, 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.560 but I don't know. It was a comic strip. Yeah. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.200 A lot of those comics were like they started out 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:41.599 or a lot of things started out as comics like 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:47.440 Lone Ranger comic sure, comic strip or comic book m 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.719 because some have been both. You know, well the Bolster 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.680 my point. Let's say comic strip. Okay, okay, great, and 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:56.680 it might have actually started out as a radio show. 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.440 And I think about it, Hey, that work. That worked 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.000 out well. I was thinking, how can we kill some 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.520 time here before we do circuses? That's how family circus 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:11.440 tangent so family circuses. Uh. When I first circus families, 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.000 when I first started researching, I was like, what a 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.360 weird thing to be in a circus family? And then 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.920 I thought it might be weird to be in one, 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.919 but not weird that there are circus families, because it 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.920 makes total sense that it's the family business. Well, that's 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.400 how circus is largely started out. Yeah, very familiar. It was, 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.160 you know, like you some patriarch of a family would 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.880 find out that, hey, I'm I'm kind of good at juggling. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.080 Why don't I try doing it while I stand on 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.120 the back of a moving horse and they go, Holy cow, 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.400 I'm actually doing this. And uh, they'd say, well, let 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.440 me see what happens when I tossed my sons in 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:52.480 the air instead of juggling you know, batons juggle my sons. Yeah, 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.320 if I set their hair on fire using some sort 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.920 of safe flammable material that will burn but not burn 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.640 the sun, say yeah, like have a flame retardant cap. Sure, 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.919 that's then all of a sudden, you've got a circus family. 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.840 And like these people would would start out by you know, 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:11.800 the whole family would get involved in This is a 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.760 time when they were much larger families than there are today, 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.040 and they would form their own mini circus and travel around. 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.520 And as circuses became more and more established and entrenched 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:25.960 and divided among some very big names. Um, they started 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.440 basically freelancing for these things. Like they go on a 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.840 tour or a couple of tours would be you know, 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.280 with a large circus for a couple of years, and 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.520 then they go off and get on another tour or 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.560 something like that. But um, they would form these family 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.760 acts and that's how circuses originally got started. Yeah, and um, 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.440 apparently it's it just the more you look at it, 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.320 the more it makes sense. You know, they're on the 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:51.360 road a lot um and if you want to spend 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.360 time with your family, get your family and the family business, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:56.960 because then mom and dad aren't on the road doing 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.000 their equestrian act. They're bringing the kids along and teaching them, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.680 and all of a sudden they're the writing uh steffins, 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.960 and there's spending time together and it's uh, you know. 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.280 I read a few interviews with people in circus families, 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.000 and apparently if you were not from a circus family, uh, 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.240 this quote from Big Apple Circus guest director Steve Smith said, 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:21.640 for those us, those of us who didn't grow up 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.160 in the circus, there's always a feeling as if we're 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.880 on the outside looking in on what they call quote 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.640 being circus. Yeah, Like if you're born into a circus 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.840 family and you're in the circus, you have automatic prestige, 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.560 you're part of a dynasty, and that's being circus. Yeah. 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.400 It's like real police. If you're a fan of the Wire, 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:44.040 Sure there's cops and there's real police. Yeah, but like 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.440 if you were born into being police, which a lot 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.719 of cops are also another family tradition job. Yes, I 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.240 don't know if a little podcasters are going to come along. 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.280 We were not at that point yet where like there's 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.719 been a generation you know it. But yeah, maybe a 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.320 little Charlie McElroy will be a podcast maybe. Um And 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.000 then they call uh they say marrying inside the circus 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.320 also makes a lot of sense because where you're gonna 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.720 meet people, but probably fellow performers, other circus families. So 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.400 these are not towners if you're not like, uh, I 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.920 like you and I are towners. Yeah, a k A 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.280 slack jawed yokels. Yeah you know, sure, how are you look? 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.240 Well that thing on fire and jump through it. Yeah. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:32.520 There's a there's a pretty neat article on pbs UM 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.720 called being Circus Life in the Family Business about being 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.160 born into a circus family. It seems like a pretty 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.600 cool life. I mean, you know, they go to school 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.040 on the road, and I think it's like one big 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.560 family because they say, you know, if you're in a 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.520 trap ees act, you can't be mad at your dad 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.640 who is catching you in the trap ez act tonight. 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.080 So I think you gotta like, yeah, well, you know, 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.760 you can't go into performance, a dangerous performance like the 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.960 globe of death, harboring any animosity towards your siblings. So 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:04.840 you gotta work this stuff out. You know, they're they're 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.559 tight en it people, right, And it seems like the 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.720 custom is that once you are done performing as a 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.720 member of a circus family, there's a non performing job 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.640 for you, ready and waiting in the circus elsewhere, like 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.200 an administration or something like that. I thought you were 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:27.160 gonna say, break a deal, face the wheel, longstanding tradition 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:32.520 in the circus. I know, welcome to Bartertown. Um. I 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:34.280 watched that not too long ago. I told you I 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.520 think I watched the whole mad Max trilogy. Yeah, the 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.559 quadrilogy now well yeah, I think it's still trilogy plus one. 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.560 Like Durham is our plus one on the Northeast tour. Yep, 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:52.080 lousy people of Durham. Get it together, Durham. Um, all right, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.200 So you want to talk about some of these famous families, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.520 you know, you marry into it, you're born into it, 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.560 and then before you know, and it seems like they 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.920 always have a lot of kids too, Yeah, like seven children, 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.880 because you need seven to complete a pyramids exactly? Is that? Why? 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.640 Probably if you think you need help um, you know, 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.480 tending to the farm. Imagine having like a circus act. 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.280 That's good point. And some circus families also kind of expand, 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:21.280 especially once they form a troop, they'll expand the family 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:25.920 act to include non family members. Where they're they're members 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:27.839 of the troops, they're not members of the family. But 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.600 for for any outsider, they're like, oh, there's like three 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.280 dads here. Yeah. But they take the traditional blood oath 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.920 I think, sure, you know, and cut themselves with an 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.360 elephant tusk that's still attached to the elephant. Yeah, that's right, 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:45.439 and then they do a trepeze. It's gotta hurt. Yeah. 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.600 So let's talk about the Clarks, one of the earliest 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:53.520 um British circus families. Any relation to you probably? I mean, 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.040 can't you tell you see me on the high wire? 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.920 I have? You're quite skilled. Yes, they the Clarks go 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:05.360 all the way back to the very first uh circuses, 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.640 because a man named Philip Astley is credited as being 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.160 the inventor of the modern circus in the late seventeen hundreds. Right, 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.360 and he heard about John Clark, who was a horseman, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.720 and a lot of these people are horse people. Yeah, 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.840 it's a good way to start in the circus. Just 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:24.440 be good on a horse. Um he Uh. John Clark 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.160 was good on a horse. He caught the attention of UM, 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:32.200 Philip Astley and Uh. In the early nineteenth century they 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:36.440 started a circus act. Yeah, it was an area act 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.960 at first. And it seems like anytime you're good, then 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.720 the Ringling Brothers will come a call in at some point. Yeah, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.480 for sure, to snap you up, because they're the greatest 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.320 show on earth. That's right. Um. The one of the 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:55.160 ways also to cement your family act as a dynasty, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.880 in addition to having multiple generations that stay in the circus, UH, 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:04.439 is to create some new thrilling move that no one 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.760 else has done before, like the Clarks are credited with 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:12.640 um coming up with the triple back somersault in nineteen 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:18.000 o nine. Right, and the whole the Clark family dynasty 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.600 actually broke up because of World War Two. World War 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:26.480 two interestingly had a really direct impact on a lot 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:31.000 of circus families, and the Clarks were among them. Um. 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.000 So the men went off to war, I'm sure some 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.560 of them died. The ones it returned, We're like, I've 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.040 seen too much to go back into the circus and 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.800 it was up to Ernestine Clark, who was a great 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:46.040 granddaughter of John Clark I believe, to carry on the 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:50.320 family business single handedly and daughter of Ernest. Her name 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.200 was actually Elizabeth Laura, but she looked so much like Ernest. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.600 People called her little Ernie and uh yeah, she eventually 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.280 went by Ernestine. I guess she was. I come on 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.079 as well, just make this a little more feminine. It's 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.840 like a family circus trip. And she did soldier on 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.040 um you know, after World War Two, Like you said, 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.960 it's so crazy to think about these famous people going 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:19.040 and joining the army. Well, Elvis did. Yeah, Elvis was 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.480 in the army. I know. He's also probably like more 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.200 protected than Prince Harry is sure, but he was still 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.960 in the army. And famous athletes like can you imagine, 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.360 like Justin Bieber is in the army it's a fight 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.920 in the Middle East. No, I really really came, just 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:37.320 doing his Duty's an American just a different time. It's 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.120 just mind boggling to think about the mindset back then. 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.480 You know. Do you know I got my haircut recently 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.840 by the guy who created the Bieber haircut back in 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.880 the day. Is that why you went to him. No, 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.080 I didn't find out until part way through, and I 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:53.760 was like, please don't give me a Bieber, Please don't 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:59.440 give you which what was the sweepy in your face? Wow? Yeah, 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.200 so he is Bieber stylists, yes, early on, and gave 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:08.200 him that haircut. Isn't that cool? I guess man, I 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.040 was like one degree from Justin Bieber. I think we 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:15.440 all are. Um, so everybody, UM, I don't know if 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:17.640 you found this. I thought this is pretty amazing. Um. 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:21.600 The Clark's performance group early on, we're called the clarkon Ians. 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.560 I thought that was pretty good. It's weird, it's so funny, 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:29.640 like for some reason, if you're a circus promoter, you're like, 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.360 that name is not nearly Italian enough at an eeny 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:34.400 or an owny or something on the end of it, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.520 even if it doesn't work like clark one in yeah, 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.800 or as we'll hear about later, the hoy Genie's this 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.160 isn't that's that's senseless. It is pretty senseless. But you 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.040 can thank circus promoters for coming up with those horrible 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.800 hybrids of names. I think there's a rich tradition in Italy, 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:58.120 so they just sounded you know, fanciful um. So Ernestine 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.920 carried the torch um. She finally left the circus in 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.120 the nineteen fifties. Uh and had a husband that was 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.360 a part time circus performer, part time actor, and her 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.320 little girls who Parley, Yeah, part of whole. He was 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.640 the mayor and Andy Griffith. Oh no way. And if 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.600 you look up his um his credits, he was in everything. 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.760 He like made appearances in everything, like you would recognize 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.120 him immediately. Interesting. He's been in everything from Three's Company 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.240 to the Golden Girls. He was just in everything. Wow, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.760 that's pretty awesome. Bewitched. Yeah, did I say three His Company? 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.240 He did? I'll say it again. Uh. So she married 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:40.160 the famous actor um and then her daughters became trapeze artists, 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:44.000 carrying on the family tradition. And Ernestine eventually became the 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.880 first daughter to follow her father into the International Circus 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.640 Hall of Fame. And I have a little clip here. 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.080 Do you ever read the old New York Times articles? 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:59.360 Sometimes the PDF ones with eighteen different headlines? Yeah, yeah, 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.440 this is his base. Clear read the headline several headlines actually, 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:06.080 So this is about Clark Um Ernest Clark in New 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.000 York City and Madison Square Garden and the first headline 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:14.160 is trapeze man noted for twist and air. Uh Ernest 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.080 Clark of wrinkling circus, turns at right angles and leap 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.760 for life line line, broken rib brings panic, I'm sorry 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:27.000 payne line and then writhing action during triple somersault starts 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.800 sweat of agony all right, And then in the article 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.280 it says, h Clark's feet is apparently in defiance of 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.960 all the laws of mechanics, for he turns his body 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.879 in the air and a pirouette at right angles to 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.720 its line of flight with no other leverage than that 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:49.520 he can exert by a thrust of his shoulders. Jo 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.560 it is. And then later when they're describing him, describing 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.480 him says Clark as a small, almost slight man, but 0:17:55.560 --> 0:18:01.400 with a large, wonderfully developed chest with a great heart 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.680 beating inside. Old New York Times articles are just the best, 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.920 I would say, all old newspapers period. But there times 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:09.639 they knew what they were doing. Yeah, you could access 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.800 You can access that stuff today pretty easily, pretty neat. 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.040 You know. I looked up what um that line and 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:18.000 staying alive means about the New York Times Don't Make 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.440 a Man? Is that in the song Stay Alive The 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.800 New York Times Don't make a Man? Oh? I never 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:25.720 knew that's what they were saying. Yeah, so what does 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.400 that mean? It means basically at the time that if 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:29.919 like if it wasn't in the New York Times, it 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.879 doesn't matter. And this is about a man whose life 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.600 still does matter even though it's not worthy of being 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.080 reported on it in the New York Times. John Travolta 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.879 or the character. Yeah, I can't remember his name, Tony Manera, right, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:47.640 I think as scarface, Tony Marinera. Was it Tony? It's 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.960 probably Tony, you know. So that movie was based on 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.680 an article in New York magazine and it turned out 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.679 that the guy who wrote it made the whole thing 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:01.440 up from beginning to end. That made it up crazy. Yeah, 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.239 but it's still worth reading. And especially if you know 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:05.919 that he made it up, you're like, how did how 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.919 did anybody buy this? This kind of like like on 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:13.320 the spot reporting is just done by a handful of people. Sure, 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:15.040 and he found this guy that they worked on a 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.359 hardware store in Brooklyn, and yeah, and then like was 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.399 there like with the it was was able to like 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.600 almost omnisciently track, like the people that came into this 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.399 guy's orbit. Yeah, it's funny that the editors were like, Wow, 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:29.800 you did a really good job here, not you're a 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:33.320 fraud who cares? Yeah, they should have. Just when I 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.040 hear things like that, I'm like, just say it's fiction 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.399 from the beginning. It's still interesting. It's like when the 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:43.040 guy the the author wrote about his drug rehab the 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.479 James Fry. Yeah, that was a great book. And I 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.160 remember at the time when all came out, I was like, man, man, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.160 you should just call it fiction. It's a really good book. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.960 But I thought I followed that story and and thought 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.160 the same thing, like like, why why would you why 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.720 would you say that every word of this is accurate? Yeah, 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.800 it doesn't make any sense. We will get back to uh. 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:19.680 Circus families believe it or not right after this message, 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:28.640 So Chuck sometimes them if the family Circus, the Circus 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.320 family can get in front of a show promoter, they 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.800 can have some sort of control over their own name, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:37.679 the change that comes to it. And that is the 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.679 case with the Hobson's. Robert Hobson, who left England for 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:47.280 the US in eighteen sixty um and started a family, 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.159 a circus family act, acrobats family act. That's right. And 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.959 apparently he was noted for tossing his son's about like 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:58.159 indian rubber. I don't even know what that means. It 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.639 means he was basically throwing us ones all over the 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.959 place and they're just landing places. Well, no, I get that, 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:05.800 but I just I don't know what indian rubber is. 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:12.600 I think that they were very pliable. Okay, gotcha. Uh 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:17.760 So with the name change, they were originally Hobson, I'm sorry, 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:22.280 originally Nelson, but changed their name. No, it was Hobson first. Oh, 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.679 it was changed to Nelson. Man, it gets confusing. So 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.800 he called themselves professor Nelson and sons. Right, the son 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.280 So he tossed about like indian rubber. Right, But it's 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.000 not a better like Nelson's, no better than Hobson. That's 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:38.840 just strange. Uh. Yeah, he changed it, supposedly allegedly because 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:43.040 he wanted to pay homage to a former stage partner 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:46.560 that I guess it died or moved on or whatever. 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.800 I couldn't find the person's name, whoever the Nelson was, 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:51.960 but it was an homage. Well, maybe he wanted to 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:54.600 anonymity as well. Yeah, but he's probably on the run 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:58.280 from the law. So um, the Nelson's became the Great 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:01.560 Nelson Family because they they follow that tradition of like 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:06.480 needing more people, um, more quickly than they could reproduce. Uh. 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.320 So they brought in other performers who weren't family members, 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:13.080 and they became the Great Nelson Family and then ultimately 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.800 the Flying Nelson's, which is what they became famous as 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.680 the Flying Nelson's. Yeah, and here's I thought the cool 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:21.359 little factoid about them in the early I'm sorry, late 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:25.960 nineteen twenties. Um, granddaughter Hilda taught lot was hired to 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.400 teach Lon Cheney, the actor, how to walk the high 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:31.960 wire in a movie called Laugh, Clown Laugh, and then 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:36.000 all of the Nelson's, Um, we're in a movie called 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:41.359 Circus Rookies in so um they still continue, I think, 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.000 not as the Nelson's, but um, they said their ancestors, 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:49.679 some of which still perform. Yeah, they basically retired mostly 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:53.240 by nineteen thirty five. But then yeah, some carried on. 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:56.280 What about the Flying Wallendas. These are the ones that 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.320 everybody knows, everybody's heard of that it's sort of uh 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:04.520 that became part of the lexicon. Yeah, the flying Wellendus Um. 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:07.080 And then funny enough, the flying Wallendas actually got their 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:11.119