Page 25 - The Outdoor Showman April - June 2022

RODEO NEWS
Big circus fan Senator Pauline Hanson, ran candidates in all 151 Federal seats at the May 21 election.
Mohammad Jratlu, acrobat and runner-up on ‘Australia’s Got Talent’, with one of the nine dogs that wowed audiences in Japan for two years, now performing with his family at Silvers Circus around
NSW, show-stopper.
Lockdowns over
With lockdowns lifted in most States
by the end of March, Australia’s circuses are out showing, driving big distances, making a mile to make a dollar.
The Great Moscow Circus did substantial business in Mackay in April, before driving 1,196 kms across North Queensland to Mt Isa.
Finishing just two weeks before Pepe Ashton’s Infamous cabaret-circus moved into The Isa, they then headed 1,353 kms through North-west Queensland and the Northern Territory to Darwin. They report good business, and now they go ‘Over the Top’, to Kununurra, Broome, Geraldton, and Perth for the next school holidays.
Weber’s Circus, back on the road, is already in Perth, a three-thousand- mile jump from Queensland.
Infamous is probably the show with
the most consistent ‘Full House’ signs
in Australia. It waded through floods
in South-east Queensland in March- April, but NQ was fine. Jansen Grant has joined Pepe, Bekki and Merrick in the opening act, probably the best Wheel of Death act in Australia. Infamous is off to Darwin, showing June 10 to July 9.
Silvers Circus, with Sesame Street, spent a lot of lock-down time in the nation’s capital, then Newcastle, and back to Blacktown, Sydney. Business picked up after lockdowns ended, including Penrith for six weeks.
Two weeks later, Stardust Circus played Blacktown, with Dine and Discover packages available until June 5.
Shane and Nancy Lennon’s Hudson’s Circus played around Canberra, then the NSW South-east: Narooma, Merimbula, Tumut, Albury, Narrandera, then two rainy weeks in Wagga.
On to Barooga on the Border, business kept getting better,
Damien Syred, on crutches after a knee operation, is running Circus Royale around Victoria, mainly Melbourne. Craigieburn was good for him, even during Ramadan.
Harrington’s Circus Played Cessnock Show, NSW, in May, with other agricultural shows lined up.
Fred Brophy’s boxing troupe played Porter’s Plainland Hotel, west of Brisbane, for a weekend in mid-May.
It’s all circus action now, after floods, lockdowns, and the usual (May 21) Federal Election slowdown.
The show must go on!
Circus costumes are becoming more spectacular!
Magician Joel Howlett, Newcastle, aged 30, full-time professional 12 years, winning big plaudits around Australia, particularly at Circus Fans’ Conventions.
Cletis Ball, left, with Australian adagio trio,
at the Lido, Paris, 1970s. Two international acrobats: Terry Price, half of Price and McCoy
for 30 years, worked around the world including three years with Dolly Parton’s US Theatre, now lives in France, still coaching and producing shows. Cletis Ball, who worked around the
world with adagio-acrobatic acts (three years
at The Lido, Paris) trained the Albury-Wodonga performing group that turned into the Flying Fruit Fly Circus,Australia’s first youth circus, plus severalinternationalacts, diedinApril, aged92.
Robert Perry, retired former partner in Alberto’s Circus, turned 80, with big party at Nerang RSL, Queensland, Monday, April 4. Huge celebrations with 80 guests from all parts of Australia and the circus world.
THE OUTDOOR SHOWMAN 23