SAGINAW, MICHIGAN

We all know of the many acrobats, & aerialists who came out of Saginaw. While researching a Vaudeville Scrapbook that belonged to one Fred Jenks, I'm getting ready for "The Dime's Store" I ran across the following.


Riverside Park Entertainers
Written by Anna Mae Maday, Manager, Eddy Historical & Genealogy Collection of Hoyt Public Library in Saginaw, Michigan
September 2000

Acrobats, circuses, and vaudeville performances delighted local crowds on a summer afternoon at Riverside Park. Who is that daredevil acrobat? Could it be Charles Van Norman of Saginaw, who had a bicycle high dive act in 1914? Or could it be Leo Dulmadge, known as "Will E. Ride," a circus trick bicycle rider?

Saginaw's own vaudeville team of Bickell & Watson, was often billed as one of Riverside Park's popular comedy acts. The park's theaters, "The Bijou" and "The Casino" showed movies, some featuring former Saginaw residents Eva Bell, Tim McCoy, and Lelia Koerber, whose stage name was Marie Dressler. At the dance pavilion Saginawians heard the music of the local bands of Danny Russo and Maurice Rushlow. Many famous performers were from Saginaw, but it was the circus life that attracted many Saginaw residents. Some Saginawians of circus fame included:

C. A. BONNEY
WALTER A. BOWMAN
PHIL CHEVETTE
ALBERT DELUDE
T. N. EILER
FRED JENKS
W. H. RICE
ARCHIE ROCKWOOD
JAMES C. RYAN JR.
HARRY SCRANTON
CHARLES WEISMER

FRANK DENNIE known as FRANK MARLO
LOUIS and VERNON HOWAY known as THE FLYING VERNONS
WILLIAM HULME known as ZENO
JOHN MCKAY known as CRAZY JACK
W. H. MILLARD known as DIAVALO
JAMES MURPHY known as JAMES DUVAL
THE BROTHERS PICARD FRENCH GYMNASTS
THE THOMAS FAMILY known as THE FLYING MELZORAS
GEORGE VOISE and sons HAROLD and JACK

Today Saginaw can boast of its circus and vaudeville legacy. But the story of Saginaw's circus past still begs for an author to give us a complete narrative.

Suggested Reading
Gross, Stuart D. Saginaw: A History of the Land and the City.
Mills, James Cooke. History of Saginaw County.
Miscellaneous Saginaw Newspaper Articles.
Watson, James R. Wenona Beach.

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Keywords: Riverside Park ; Amusement parks ; Entertainers ; Parks ; Circus performers ; Vaudeville ; Dressler, Marie, 1869-1934 ; McCoy, Tim ;
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URL: http://www.saginawimages.org/essay.asp?ItemID=HEES0040