RECENT HISTORY
History is not just about
about a bunch of dead people, as many youngsters would believe (not to
mention a lot of "oldsters" I know). History is about who we are, where
we came from, and, in consequence, where we are going to. In other words,
our heritage. History, in fact, is a living, breathing thing; continually
being created and written.
Most historians stop
short about 10 to 20 years of the present day when writing their treatise
of a particular topic on the premise that they are too close to current
events to be able to make solid judgments about the effects of those events
on the overall picture. Also, of course, once a book is published it fixes
those events until another future publication can update the happenings.
The great thing about the internet is that a writer can update his history
project as events occur. On this page, therefore, I will not only bring
you up to date on the Hanneford history, but will keep updating it as,
and when, significant happenings occur. Important events, such as deaths,
will get transferred to the appropriate page but will be announced here
first. Let me first, however, bring the story forward to recent times.
Ernestine and Parley Baer had two daughters, Kim
and Dale. They both performed in the circus until they married. Kim has
a son, Anthony Dominick Baer-Fagundes, and Dale has both a son and daughter,
Christopher Austin Sloan and Amy Elizabeth Sloan.
Kay Frances' daughter,
Nellie, also became a performer doing both a bareback riding routine and
wire walking. She worked for her uncle George at the Swap Shop, first in
1992, and then again later during the 90's, along with other dates on other
shows. She also retired from performing when she married and had a son.
There are also other more distant relatives still working in the circus,
but, for the most part, the only performing Hannefords are George III and
Catherine, children of George and Victoria (see their respective pages
elsewhere on this site). George III remains at the Swap Shop with his parents'
show while Catherine is following the family tradition doing a succesful
tour with the Ringling Show (Red Unit) - working her Liberty Horses and
an Elephant act plus acting as understudy ringmaster (actually taking over
for about six weeks which makes her the first woman to be ringmaster/vocalist
for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus).
On May 15th, 1992, during the Circus Fans Association national convention
in Sarasota, Florida, the Hanneford Family was honored by induction into
the Ring of Fame. In 1995 Poodles Hanneford was inducted into the Clown
Hall of Fame.
Just recently (1999)
Jimmy Ille, trumpeter, bandleader, and husband of Kay Frances, died. He
was 78 years old. About a year before he recorded a CD of circus music
from the Merle Evans period of the Ringling show. We (at the Hanneford
Family Circus) have the pleasure of playing excerpts from that album for
our audience awaiting the start of the show during "come in". He has been
recognized as one of the great circus musicians of the traditional circus
music era (1930's thru the 1960's).
Tommy and Struppi still
have shows working, under the name, "The Royal Hanneford Circus" and a
quick browse around the search engines, like Mamma or Googlebot, will often
turn up schedules for their shows - usually on sites operated by the Shrine
organizations or The Circus World Museum in Baraboo Wisconsin (an interesting
point here is that one of our former showgirls, Katie Williams, is the
daughter of the manager of that famous circus locale and her brother, Matt,
is the lighting director of the Red Unit of the Ringling show).
In conclusion of this
brief history of one of the great circus families, we hope that you found
something of interest and that it sparked a desire to learn more about
the stars, past and present, of this ages old form of family entertainment.
There are many other sites on the internet for you to explore on the circus
and many more will appear as time goes on. The circus is in its third century
and still continues to enthrall and excite audiences around the world.
Let's hope it continues to do so for many more centuries to come.
Thank you for visiting us and, to quote the
old circus adage:
MAY ALL YOUR DAYS BE CIRCUS DAYS
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