Circus pictures. Victoria Zacchini the human cannon ball lady c.1955. Victoria was actually Agnes O’Toole from Liverpool who emigrated to America to become a nanny. She made a good living working with Ringling Brothers and Barnum Circus for six years. Of course she only had to work for just five seconds a day. She appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in 1957. Although it seems she must have impersonated the real Victoria Zacchini part of a famous family of human cannonball acts and who actually created the stunt.
Slivers the Clown, 1954 Vern Orton. The original Slivers was Frank Oakley who committed suicide in 1916 but at his height for Barnum and Bailey’s Circus he was earning $1000 a week.
The Dormans, 1954 Vern Orton
The Condors 1954 Vern Orton
Slivvers the Clown, 1954 in car Vern Orton
Shirley, Dorrie Orton, and Gracie at the Kelly-Miller Circus, 1954
Idlewild Park, 1954
Dorrie Orton and Billy Roe,1954 Sharkey the Seal?
Clowns at Gainesville Circus, Texas c.1954
Christiani Brothers Circus, Nova Scotia, 1956
Christiani Bros. Circus, 1956
Baby Elephant act
Acrobat at Gainesville Circus c.1954
The Barretts in 1954.
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