John Moriarty's Circus Memories

written by John Moriarty and Robert Elliot

I am currently writing about a particular Irish Circus when I found an old print-out about Irish Strongman John Moriarty. My family knew John slightly which was why we had a print-out of this interview of him. I had heard of this writing several times and seen it cited before in other circus articles but hadn't come across it myself. I am therefore putting in up on the website to make it easier for other people to find and so John's words aren't forgotten. My hope is as I am going along with this blog to put up some of the rarer circus articles to make it easier for other individuals to do their own independent research. I am unfortunately missing one of the last footnotes from the original article. No copyright infringement is meant and this is a non for profit blog.

JOHN MORIARTY'S CIRCUS MEMORIES

The material which follows is taken from a series of letters written by the veteran strongman principally to C.A.I. member, Robert Elliott, during the 1970s. As they were written from memory, the dates referred to are not always accurate. Where it has been possible to do so, alternatives have been suggested in editorial footnotes. I first started out in circus life with John Duffy and Sons' Circus in 1917 and I toured with them for seven seasons, though not in succession. I travelled several seasons with all the other shows in Ireland since then - Wilson's, Shaw's, Fossett's, Lynton's, Corvenieo's etc. I was with the Royal Hippodrome Circus (Belfast), Christmas 1941 and again in 1942. The Hippodrome Circuses were run by G.L.Birch, Jack Delino and Dr Richard Hunter. I was with Fossett's during the war years but we did not cross the border, as there was great difficulty in crossing up or down when the war was on. Steckel's Circus was in the North, so they had the Six Counties to themselves. John Hinde was manager with Reco's Circus which toured Ireland for two seasons and then the show was sold up. John was running a cinema show in Connemara in 1949. He is a very good photographer and has or had a postcard business in Cabinteely. Paulo's Circus toured Ireland many years ago for a few seasons. (1) John Swallow' Circus was here in 1911 for one season. He toured his wild west circus in Britain for some years. I was with him over there tenting and also at his Christmas circus at the Royal Agricultural-Hall, London, in 1931-32. Poole and Bosco were the real names of the proprietors. Poole died many years ago and Miss Freda Bosco ran the show on her own. I first saw`this show in 1906, but it was here long before that. (2) They had a ring, a stage and a cinema screen. It was a tripartite show, consisting of ring acts, stage turns and films. In fact they were the first to introduce motion pictures to Ireland. A big traction engine helped to haul the show from town to town (25 loads). In 1914 the show went off the road and Miss Bosco, a tall, aristocratic looking woman, settled down in Newcastle, Co. Down, where she ran a cinema for many years. She also had another cinema at Ballykinlar army camp in Co. Down. Carmo's Circus was in Ireland in 1928. The Royal Italian Circus toured Ireland for two seasons in the late 1920s. This show originally belonged to the Bostock family, but Jack Delino ran the show here. His wife was a Barry of Barry's Amusements in Portrush and Banger. Farrell's Circus toured during the 1940s and were in partnership with Paddy Hudson. They went off the road in 1949. Scott's Circus toured Ireland in the years before World War One but went to England in 1914, but Johnny came back in 1929, and went out with Georgie Knight, in partnership, but this only lasted for one season. The Scotts were an old English circus family. The Olympic Circus, which toured in 1955, was Harry Lynton's. Colin Shaw toured for many years with his drama company, but in 1920 he went on the road with a circus. Some years later his show was wrecked by a mob at Ballynahinch, Co. Down. For this he was awarded f3000, but he did not travel after that and became an executive with an oil company in London. His people were gentleman farmers at Clonturk House, a few miles from Longford town. Ginnett's toured a very good circus here. I first saw that show in 1903 and it first came to Ireland about 1901 and remained here until 1905. (3) There were two sons, Claude and Frank and one daughter, Poppy, who did a riding act. I was with them on other shows in later years, in Ireland and in London. Hanneford's was the leading circus in Ireland for a number of years. This was a big show and they also had a very fine menagerie. Their street parade was a mile long, that is to say the riders and animal cages, band carriage etc was a mile in length. They also had a first-rate programme every season. Hanneford's left Ireland in 1916 (4) and and did one season in England, after which they Sold out the show and the family went to America and joined Barnum and Bailey's. Old Mrs Hanneford died in 1971 at the age of 84 on the Barnum show. Poodles, her son, was the world's greatest circus rider, as well as a clown. Hodgini's Circus - Teddy (Edward) Hodgini was the son of Edwin Hodgini (real name, Hedges) and had been with British circuses before he came to Ireland in 1917. (5) He started out with his small family circus that year but his show got bigger each year. He was a great animal trainer, especially of horses. He bought a bull one day at a fair in Killala and had it performing in the ring that night. His wife, Helen, was a rider. She was a member of the Kayes family. The show used to winter in Longford town and one day in the winter of 1921-22 (18 January 1922), as he was walking down the street, Teddy took a heart attack and died. His wife then sold up the show and went to America with one of her daughters, where they joined the Barnum and Bailey Circus. I never travelled with Hodgini's, but my wife's family did in the 1920 season.

Photo of John Moriarty courtesy of johnmccarthyscircusbar.ie

I got a bill of Duffy and McClean's Circus for 1923 from Margaret McCarthy and it brought back memories of those days. I was with John Duffy and Sons' that year and the two somehow met in Donaghadee and put up in the same tober, but John Duffy got the crowds at both the day show and the night show. I was with John Duffy in 1918 also and we were in Kircubbin on the same day as Wilson's Circus, but Wilson's joined in with Duffy's in the latter's tent, so the people of the town got a double show that night and a double band too. I was with Wilson's in 1920. Back in 1913 three circuses were in Athy on the same day - Duffy's, Buff Bill's and Hanneford's. Circus people in the old days got no schooling. Jimmy Lloyd was Welsh and brought his circus to Ireland and toured up to 1914, when his show went bust. He finished up working on the docks in Waterford, with some of his horses. I understand that his wife scarpered with all of their capital and so he was unable to start out in 1915. Lloyd's was a great circus, always a first class programme.(6) Two of his sons, James and Hubert performed one of the greatest acts that I have ever seen - the Great Brothers Lloyd on the bouncing cables. Two ropes were placed across the ring, and they would walk on these, performing backward and forward somersaults, playing violins and never missing a note. They would then get on to one rope at opposite ends and pass each other in the middle of the ring, playing on the violins all the while. It was a very strenuous act and when they came out of the ring, their costumes used to be wet with sweat. Their two sons did a similar act with Chadwick's Circus in 1913, and one of them caught pneumonia and died and was buried in Loughrea, Co. Galway. One of James Lloyd's sons was shot dead one day as the show was travelling in to Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford. He jumped off the wagon to have a shot at rabbits in a field and, as he did so, the gun went off and shot him. But the show went on as usual that day and he was buried next morning and the circus travelled on to the next town. Charlie Chaplin, the great film comedian, travelled with Lloyd's in the 1907 season as a clown. His salary then was thirty shillings per week. Arthur Wilson first started out with his circus in 1917 and his wife (who was a sister of John Duffy) died in 1919. His last season was 1920. 1 was with the show that season, at the end of which the show was sold, and John Duffy bought most of it. Wilson had had a very good season in 1920 but he grew tired of circus life. It was a fine show, he had then the largest tent in Ireland, and he was the first show in Ireland to have electric lighting. Owing to his wife's death, Wilson had lost heart in things. I spent a very happy season with Wilson's. Arthur was a very likable fellow. the age of eighty-four and was buried in Kilkee, Co. Glare. He had three of his daughters working in the ring. One was called Phyllis and was a singer. One did a riding act (Martha). One did a trapeze act (Annie). Bobby Davis worked in the riding act, as did Claude Powell, who was also the ringmaster. Charlie Julian did a trapeze act and was also a clown. Sam Henry hailed from Glasgow and did a song and dance act. It was through him that I first met my future wife, Ruby Elliott, in 1920. We were in Mullingar one day and my wife's family had their own show in the hall there. Sam Henry knew them as he had travelled with them some time before, so he introduced me to them, and as we had only one week to go to the end of the circus season, we arranged to join up with the Elliott's show for the winter. The Davis Circus travelled for some years but went off the road in 1915. Mrs Davis was the proprietress of this show and when she died, the show broke up. Bobby Davis travelled round then for some years with his own cinema show. He was with us on Wilson's Circus in 1920. He was a rider. Many years later he settled down in Limerick where he was engaged in the scrap business. He and his wife, Tillie, died there. The Great United Circus arrived in ireland in 1927 from America. The proprietors were two Irish- Americans, Broderick, who hailed from Listowel and Stafford from Wexford town. It was a big show and had a great programme. Jack Courtney (father of the present Courtneys) was manager. However, the show lost money that season, so the two proprietors 'packed it in'. The performers took over the show the following season, 1928, and an it as a commonwealth concern. But they were in the red again at the end of the season, and that was the end of the Great United. The show was too big for Ireland and the running expenses were too high. The two proprietors knew very little about circus anyway. It was a motorised circus. It had many trucks which had been used by the Americans in World War One. These kept breaking down on the roads, so that they were missing day shows and night shows every week. But they could not keep on going like that indefinitely. When the show was at Caherciveen in 1927, the high seats collapsed and a man sustained a broken leg, for which he was awarded damages against the proprietors but he never got a penny of it. (7) The Sylvanis were a trick cycle troupe and first came to Ireland in 1911, to travel with Hanneford's Circus. They were English but they never went back to that country. They assembled their own circus, a small show, and travelled Ireland for some years up to 1915, when the show broke up. Two of the sons went out on their own. One took the name Clarence Bailey and ran a cinema-variety show for many years. The other son travelled with his cinema show under the name Bracey Daniels, around Donegal mostly. Harry Bailey was a son of Clarence. Bailey's USA Circus travelled for a few seasons in the late 1920s and was founded by Clarence Bailey and his Scottish wife, whose maiden name was Ferguson." (8)

FOOTNOTES

1.  According to John Turner in Victorian Arena: The Performers, A Dictionary of Circus Biography Volume One (Lingdales Press, 1995), Frank Paulo's real name was Frank Butcher. He married Clara Wilson, daughter of circus proprietor, William Wilson, in 1903, after a spell with James Lloyd in Ireland. The couple joined Buff Bill's Menagerie, Clara as a wire-walker, Frank with a pony act. They visited Ireland with the show, transferring to Hanneford's Circus and then Lloyd's. They set up on their own account and had a tent destroyed by vandals in Cork. Daughter Clara and son Harry were born. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Frank returned to England and enlisted and went to France. Re-founded Paulo's Circus in England in 1917, which was to be operated by his widow Madame Paulo after Frank's death from pneumonia in Rotherham on 10 March 1929. (See Turner, p. 101).

2.   Harry Zanlo, going under the name of Poole, went into partnership with William Bosco, a former trapeze artist and comedy conjuror, to operate Poole and Bosco's Circus in Ireland from 1907-1912. (See Turner, p. 140).

3.   The Ginnett circus dynasty was founded by Jean Pierre Ginnett. His son John Frederick Ginnett (1825-1892) consolidated the family circus business and was the owner of a circus building in Belfast, amongst other places. His three sons Frederick, Claud and Bertie took over after 1892 and Frederick's children were John Frederick ('Gubby'), Frank and Isobell Florence ('Poppy). (See Turner, p. 55).

4.   According to Turner, Ned Hanneford (1867-1913) operated Hanneford's Royal Canadian Circus in Ireland from 1903 to 1910. Jimmy Freeman, the second Pimpo of George Sanger's Circus, gained his early experience with the show, as did Du Calion, Billy Merson and Richard Hearne. The circus visited England in 1907-08, to appear at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, London. Ned was involved in litigation with members of his wife Elizabeth's family, the Scotts, in 1910 over the ownership of the circus, but the dispute was settled amicably with the company 's going concern' in Belfast. Father of Edwin 'Poodles', George, William, Kate and Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Hanneford. Invited to tour Enland in 1910 by E.H. Bostock and met with success. Died 26th June 1913, aged 45 years, after six months illness, while the show was located on the Recreation Ground, Penzance. Buried at Penzance, the hearse drawn by the piebald horses of -the band carriage. The circus tradition was carried on by the eldest son, Edwin, who headed the Hanneford Riding Troupe. Edwin (1891-1967) was a superb equestrian clown and got the nickname 'Poodles', when an adoring aunt had remarked,'What a cute little Poodles', when she first saw him as a baby on the Lord John Sanger Circus. John Ringling invited the Hanneford Riding Troupe to the USA in 1915 (Edwin, George and Lizzie) where it remained, apart from a brief appearance by Edwin at Olympia for Bertram Mills in 1929-30. Edwin's act involved him staggering into the ring in the guise of a drunk, climbing clumsily on to a horse, shedding a series of coats and pants, eveniually emerging in tights to give a polished display of trick riding. In the late 1920s, Edwin appeared as a character comic in a number of silent films, directed by Fatty Arbuckle. (Turner, pp 61-2).

5.   Edward Hodgini was an equestrian, the son of Edwin Hodgini (Hedges) by his second wife. Travelled with his father's circus in Europe, returning to England in 1892, when he took over the business. Married Miss Helen Kayes, eldest daughter of William Kayes, January 1907, at St. Phillip's, Birmingham. Hodgini's Royal Circus travelled extensively in the early 1900s, largely as a fairground circus in a one-pole big top, with an attractive front, featuring a steam-driven trumpet organ. Had a good parade and the inside show starred Minnie and Betty, the daughters, with performing animals. Edward died suddenly at Longford on 18 January1922, where he was buried in the local cemetery. Left a wife and six children. (Turner, p. 69).

6.   Turner describes how the Lloyd Brothers. at Liverpool in November 1887, gave 'a most remarkable exhibition on the tight rope, on which they performed somersaults; they also played the violin whilst walking on the rope and danced to their music as freely as if their footing had been an ordinary platform or stage'. James Lloyd Snr. was born in 1846 and died in 1933. He published an account of his colourful and extraordinary life, entitled, 'My Circus Life'. (Turner, pp. 83-4).

7.   According to Turner, Mrs Robert Davies (sie.), Irish circus proprietor died at Irvinestown, Co. Fermanagh, on 22nd December 1912, leaving a son named Robert. another son and two daughters. (Turner. p. 38). The dates given by John Moriarity for the Great United Circus cannot be correct as a press cutting dated 1st August 1930, recounts the following sequel to the Caherciveen incident.'The equipment of the Great United Circus, at present touring Ireland, owned by a Mr Stafford and which was performing in Gorey, Co. Wexford, on Wednesday night, was seized by the Co. Wexford court .