Saturday, July 22, 2017

#10 Animal Acts

Ethyl Jennier.

7 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Later on she married Jack Joyce

Roger Smith said...

Yes, she did. Now, Jack's mother was also named Ethel, and for the longest time, I didn't know that was she who lived just 2 doors down from me, in Thousand Oaks. She had been observing my comings and goings and whether I came home with a 12-pack or a girlfriend, Mrs. Joyce told Mabel Stark on me. I'd come in to find Mabel solemnly reciting everything I'd been doing at my house, and I couldn't figure it out.

During the era when Jack was Asst. Performance Director on Ringling Blue, Mrs. Joyce died, and Jack and Ethel came out for her burial. To my surprise, there they were at my door one day asking me to serve as her pallbearer. I agreed, and Jack found an old elephant man named Whitey to serve, also. After the services, Jack said to his wife, "Honey, you know, we ought to get Roger over on the Ringling show with us. I'll set it up, Roger, and we'll let you know when to join out." I never heard from them again.

Charles Hanson said...

Ethel Jennier aa Miss Aerialetta presented a stellar single trap act. Together, with her husband Walter and his Buddy the Seal act, they had a great package deal. I am so thankful I had the privilege of seeing Ethel work her trap act a few times. She could style with the best of them....I have posted this before...her finish trick was a free standing backward fall into an ankle drop. With the drum rolls, and proper announcement for the finish it was heart stopping. Pure circus...As I have also said before, in todays' world there would be no drum rolls, and no announcement for the finish trick. Someone decided to take all the hoop la out of the circus and water it down. Wonder if that could be part of the problem today...A lot of the excitement was taken away for no good reason. Thankful, I was able to see a lot of the great performers of the past.......

Bob Momyer said...

I worked with Ethel when she had her greyhound act. Nobody ever sold an act like she could.

Charles Hanson said...

You are so right Bob Momyer....Ethel Jennier wrote the book on selling an act. I bet a lot of performers hated to follow her act....single trap, Greyhounds, seals or whatever....and rightly so.

Roger Smith said...

Well, CHARLES, the Feld Sisters took away the ring curbs and ran peformers out under the GSOE logo in blue jeans. What is the explanation for that? When asked in at least one interview, Feld Entertainment said, "The Greatest Show on Earth is what we say it is." No drum rolls, no big announcements, no production values, no guts to keep the elephants after winning the big lawsuit, and...no Ringling show.

Charles Hanson said...

WELL SAID ROGER...The explanation for all this, in my opinion, is that none of the heirs that followed...after the death of Irwin Feld...really had the love and passion for the circus that Irwin had. Once new blood came in, even though the same family, the cuts started with the production numbers being eliminated and etc. I truly believe that as long as the attendance held up so that Sells-Floto, the concession corp. made the big bucks....all was right with the world. I am still amazed that it took the general population of circus goers (regular folk not die hard circus fans) so long to wake up and smell the coffee. And of course pulling the elephants caused an even steeper cut in attendance....which had to affect the concession sales. One brief memory...I saw a featured performer (one of the Peters brothers) do a death dive from the top of his space wheel with no announcement....If you had sneezed, you might have missed it. What a missed opportunity......One final thought, maybe the powers that be lost the fire in the belly so to speak for the circus.....Maybe, I don't know. I still think there is a missing piece of the puzzle that we have not been told. And you summed your comment up perfectly......AND NO RINGLING SHOW.