Circus Memories- NYC 2001 Continued

Sometimes it's not always so finely-tuned as you'll see in my post below. By the way, that's me to the left of the stiltwalker with a star-tipped staff in hand as we enter the arena floor for finale. To the right in the extreme foreground in silhouette is our good friend Francesco Villares of Brazil.



Waiting in the lobby for our bus to arrive.

Where did I leave off...oh,yeah. I remember. Our next stop on the tour would be the Meadowlands but we had a p.r. to do in New York City. So, when we closed the show the town before that, those doing the publicity event would stay the night at a hotel. Bello Nock and Bo the elephant would be the main attraction at the p.r. as they were the stars of the show plus several of the clowns,including Pammy and myself, and a good number of the Brazilian dancers would also be there. As far as I know Bo didn't get a room there.

We got an early start that day and waited in the hotel lobby for the bus to arrive to drive us to New York City. Everybody was bundled up that chilly morning in March as we anticipated our trip. Pammy and I were excited that we were going to be in New York again. The last time was in 1995. For the Brazilians, this was to be their first time in the Big Apple. There was a lot of good energy that morning. Then the bus arrived.

All aboard!!

Now keep in mind we'd all be riding close to a couple of hours or so to New York, depending on traffic, including Bello Nock, who comes from a long line of famous circus performers and is considered circus royalty. Well, our general manager, who shall forever more be known as Einstein, decided, using his infinite, proto-human wisdom, the best way to travel to this publicity event in New York City, where we would be greeted by a number of muckity-mucks including Mayor Giuliani, would be in a school bus.

Yes, a yellow school bus whose wheels have been noted to go round and round. Why bother with a touring bus with restrooms and well... restrooms (It was a long ride after all) when you could ride in style and comfort on thinly-cushioned,vinyl- covered seats of a heater-less bus. And let's not forget the jolting good times riding over potholes to see how far you'd rise out of your seat.

In the belly of the beast... a very happy face... for the moment.

A big boat along the way.

After the initial shock we decided to make the most of it and were on our way. Leading the way in a truck was Larry Carden Jr. and Bo the elephant. No, Bo was not riding shotgun. At first everybody was talking, laughing and joking. Bello was cracking jokes too even though he wasn't happy about riding in a schoolbus. But as the trip started to drag on things quieted down.

Pow wow to figure out which way to go around the low bridge.

At one point we came to a stop when got to a bridge where the clearance wasn't enough for Bo's truck to clear. There was discussion as to what route to take to get around the bridge and get us to the p.r. on time that seemed to last forever. Finally we started on our journey again.

City Hall Park. You can see the blue circus banner covered truck in the background where the p.r. would take place.

Pammy is very happy to be off the bus. Hooray! The city van behind her is covered in graffiti. Cool!

After another long stretch we arrived at long last at City Hall Park in Manhattan between Broadway, Park Row and Chambers Street. Bello was the first one to exit the school bus. Before he stepped off the bus he turned to Pammy who was next to him and said," I worked on the Big Apple Circus so I hope no one recognizes me when I get off this school bus." He hadn't gone more than a couple of steps when a woman recognized him and asked him for his autograph. What timing! All you could do was shake your head and laugh which Pammy did.

All's well that ends well. Pammy is next to Bello with a giant ticket. Mayor Giuliani is ringmaster for the day and is standing next to our ringmaster Jonathan Lee Iverson.

Waiting to give the mayor his goodies. The young ladies to Pammy's left are two of the Brazilians who did their best not to look cold in their modest costumes.

The mayor is holding a giant ticket. They were out of the golden tickets. Bummer. No chocolate for you!


The sad thing is after we finished our run at Madison Square Garden (a very long and tiring run) an extra bus was rented to take us back to the circus train and that extra bus was, you guessed it, a school bus! Mark Oliver Gebel, son of legendary wild animal trainer Gunther Gebel Williams, Einstein's next circus royalty victim, wasn't very happy about the ride either. Thank you Einstein!




Old "timey" photo of the park.