PLATFORM MOTORCYCLE ACTS
The first act I saw like this was the original "3 Albanis", next was "The Angelo Trio", then came Alex Albani, who said he was the son of the original people, I didn't know them so I can't argue with that.
Reggie & Bonnie Armor did the act next, and of course we all know of the tragic accident when Reggie was thrown from the motorcycle, receivng serious injuries.
David & Christine Fossett Chabira then acquired the rigging, modernized it, and did a super job presenting it.
The act is now owned by John & Tina Scott Winn, who also do a great job presenting the act.
There was another act of this type that most people now are not aware of,,,,so,,,,"WATCH CLOSELY, YOU MAY NEVER SEE THE LIKES OF THIS AGAIN". Seriously this is short & goes pretty quick so pay attention, if you miss it, you can play it again. Click the arrow twice to start.WALDORFS
posted by 24-HOUR-MAN | 4:34 PM
4 Comments:
I remeber after Reggie that Paul Macaulslen(spelling) Toby Reid and Cheryl Toca also did the act with reggies rigging, We were all on Migleys show in mexico city. Also that's the Bear/cycle act that I once saw on you asked for it!! Great stuff Bill!...Mr. Lee.
Hi Bill:
There was a short film producer back in the 1930's that did a series of shorts of different circus acts. I forget the guy's name but he was fairly famous. In the shorts he talked all the way through them in a sort of comedic style that was more irritating than anything (my opinion)! There is one film though that was shot at the pier in Atlantic City, if I remember clearly, that had a number of acts including the diving horses; a swaypole act that is probably the highest rig I have ever seen and this act was shot from a circling airplane; an aerial cloud swing act where the cloud swing was held by the teeth of two women hanging from aerial perch pole-like rigging with a guy doing the cloud swing tricks; and a platform motorcycle act that certainly looked like the original Albanis rig. Could this have been the Albanis Act back in the mid-1930's? There is also a short from this series of the Cristiani's Bareback Riding Act from the 1930's, which is probably the best footage of this act that I have ever seen. I'm wondering though if the original Albanis were working in the 1930's? Thanks! Neil Cockerline
Neil: An extra high Swaypole in the 1930's was probably Seldon, "The Stratosphere Man", although Ben Muton(sp?), a Louisiana Cajun, worked in the same time period. There was a lot of speculation about who's pole was higher, I do know that one difference was, Muton finished his act with a high dive.
I don't know how far the Albanis go back, but another Platform Act, was "The Cimses" who most of us know for their Dog Acts. The rigging the bear is on is the Cimse rigging, Rudolf told me when we worked with him on the Fleckles show in the '70's that he still had the rigging in his garage in Trenton.
For any one informations, the Theron bicycle act' did work at the Steel-pier in Atlantic city indoors, in 1949, but the break-away sway pole by lester Parker was set-up on the out-doors stage, and no easy job, that was in 1960 or 61.
I loved the board walk, but it was hard to get a living place close by.
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