Posted 8/21/2010 12:36:10 PM by Mort Gamble
News from Mort Gamble viewed 3457 times
Saturday, August 21, 2010 - News
Circus legend led colorful life under the big top.
The following was written by circus historian Lane Talburt about the life and times of the late Norma Davenport Cristiani....
At age 12, Norma Davenport
was prominently billed as the “worldʼs youngestelephant trainer”
on her parentsʼ Dailey Bros. Circus. When she was almost 20, Norma married
Pete Cristiani, becoming a member of the famed Cristiani
equestrian family.Norma Davenport Cristiani was 79 when
she died on August 18, 2010, in Sarasota, Florida, following a lengthy
illness.
Named after the then-popular motion
picture star, Norma Shearer, she was literally born into
the circus business. Her mother, Eva Billings Davenport,
took time outfrom her Princess Iola medicine show in
Albany, Illinois, to bring little Little Norma into the world on January
26, 1931. Her father, Benjamin C. Davenport, opened
DavenportʼsSociety Circus in 1934. One of Normaʼs first
mentors was Charlie Smith--the later-day trainmaster, who
introduced her into Smithʼs Roman rings aerial routine. She also
tapdanced during indoor medicine shows and performed on the swinging ladder
and web in the small circus.
During the height of the Great
Depression, Norma was placed in the home of relatives in West Virginia so
she could be in a more stable environment to continue her grade-school
education. When she returned to her parents several years later,
the Davenportsʼ one-ring show had become Dailey Bros. 3-Ring
Circus, a truck show that converted to the rails in
1944.
Norma first began working around
elephants in 1943 after Ben Davenport purchased veteran
trainer Louis Reedʼs three baseball-playing elephants.
Her father,who was passionate about elephants, built his herd up to more
than two dozen. Though Norma shared the relative luxury of a private rail
car with her parents, she did not live a privileged existence. In addition
to presenting elephants in the center ring, she guided one of the bulls as
it pulled up tent stakes after each nightly show. (Being a show known for
harboring grifters, Dailey Bros. seldom spent more than
one day in any given town.) She also worked the tax box at the entrance to
the Big Top, collecting 50 cents from the holders of “free
passes.”
Ward Hall, veteran
side show owner who joined the Milt Robbins-managed
Dailey Bros. annex as a First-of-May in 1946, credits
Norma for helping him stumble through his first bally, yelling out hints
from her ticket box only 20 feet away on the midway. Norma, in turn, gave
credit to her father for giving job opportunities to Hall and other
youngsters such as Robert “Smokey” Jones and Rex
Williams, who became famous elephant trainers.
Maturing as a performer under the big
top, Miss Davenport learned more than a score of
routines, including cloud swing, single and double trapeze and a variety
of equestrian acts. She became a member of the Riding
Martins, marrying one of the troupe members--Merlin
“Corky” Plunkett--when she was only 16. Their union lasted two
years.
In 1950, Norma Davenport became Mrs.
Pete Cristiani, marrying the youngest son of the Cristiani clan in 1950 as
the Dailey show, now traveling on 25 railroad cars,entered Canada for its
final tour. In September of that year the five-ring circus shuttered for
good.
Accompanied by five elephants
presented as a wedding gift by her father, Norma and
Pete joined his family on King Bros.
Circus, later to be renamed King
Bros.-Cristiani. In addition to helping her husband manage
concessions, Norma began raising a family, which eventually numbered four
children. She performed only as needed on the Cristiani Bros
Circus in the late 1950s, but returned to the ring as a
chimpanzee presenter when Pete Cristiani fielded
Wallace Bros. Circus in 1961, which subsequently became
Cristiani-Wallace Bros. Circus. While Pete was occupied
with duties as general manager and majority owner of the show, Norma was
the de facto performance director, choreographing the opening spectacle
and web routines.
After retiring as a performer,
Mrs. Cristiani turned to booking shows for various circus
owners and producers, including D. R. Miller, Hoxie Tucker, Jim
Nordmark, AlanHill and John Walker, as well as for her two
step-brothers, John “Gopher” and Charles“Termite”
Davenport. She also was an active member of the Showfolks
Club of Sarasota.In 2008 Mrs. Cristiani and her late parents were
inducted into the Circus Ring of
Fame.
|
