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Friday, July 31, 2009

Grand Hotel for the Summer

The Grand Hotel on Emerson in Bloomington was sort of a house, sort of a restuarant, and hardly anything like a hotel. There was nothing quite like it in Illinois (though Wisconsin is blanketed with this type of place). Pretty good chicken, relish plates, massive and toxic mixed drinks, worn out furnishings, dangerous parking lot...the Grand Hotel had it all.

The Grand Hotel also served as some kind of circus refuge, a hot topic of discussion among Wildcats recently, many of who have fond memories of carnival and circus life.

Here is a 1999 documentary from WILL-TV, which scratches the surface of the Circus in Bloomington.

Prairie Fire looks at Bloomington-Normal’s history as a winter training center for circus trapeze acts. Never-before-televised footage of the aerialists practicing and performing, obtained from rare personal collections and the circus collection at Illinois State University, brings the Prairie Fire story to life.

From the late 1800s to the 1960s, dozens of world-class circus aerialists trained in Bloomington-Normal during the off season. “It started out when several boys from the area ran off to join the circus,” said WILL-TV’s Ange Albsmeyer, producer of the story. In the winter, they’d come back to Illinois and train in ice houses, tying their trapezes to rafters and falling into sawdust on the floor beneath.
After a new YMCA was built in 1907, an increasing number of aerialists began practicing there. In return for being allowed to use the space, the trapeze artists would put on a circus each year in the facility and give the proceeds to the YMCA, said Steve Gossard, curator of ISU Circus Collections, who provided 8 millimeter film of the aerialists.

The story includes shots of Antoinette Concello, one of the first women to perfect the triple somersault, and her husband, Art, another key figure among aerialists. Others training in Bloomington-Normal included the Flying Wards. The Grand Hotel Restaurant now occupies the space where some of the Ward troupe once lived. A barn on Grove Street in Normal where the Flying Valentinos trained is also still standing.
The Flying Valentinos’ Cherie Valentine still lives in Bloomington and in an interview, gives a fascinating description of circus life. She became part of her family’s act at the age of 3 after her father had a heart attack.

“Sometimes circus performers are seen as just entertainers, but in reality, they were professionals who worked hard at exhausting and dangerous jobs. They were extremely proud of their craft,” said Albsmeyer.
Bloomington-Normal’s ties to the circus continue with ISU’s Gamma Phi Circus, one of the largest collegiate circuses in the country.

Can one of our readers tell us, how do you contact a carnival to perform at the Cornbread and Bean Festival? How do you get the carnies to go away after the carnival is over?

I'll fix that video later, but here is the link to WILL Channel 12.
http://will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/segment/pf1999-09-09-a/

16 comments:

EEP said...

Bring back the carnies I say!

My Grandmother's Dad, Jim Ryan, a frequent visitor to Wapella during the glory days of the CB&BF, had a way with inciting mob violence towards carnies and their none too subtle praactice of cheating Francis Green at the games.

Anonymous said...

Concello/Kinsella...an Irish - Italian connection here? Maybe the Merna Kinsellas are really from Italy? Are they false Irish?

Eamon de Valera

Anonymous said...

The Grand Hotel - at which my parents and I ate regularly (out on the screened-in front porch back in my not-ready-for-the-company-of-wolves years) - was originally a roadhouse lacking a road. Before that, it was a speakeasy; maybe a farmhouse before that, but a pretty large and nice one. There was an effort - ultimately a failure - to keep the place a Bloomington secret from the hordes of "new people" who began showing up in the '60s. The chicken had its fans, as did the bar and its longtime tender, Jimmy Tatman. "Skinny" and Helen Benton transitioned the place to its period of greatest popularity and success.

Some aerialists also trained outdoors in a deep lot over on West Washington Street, across from my mother's family home. Some of the rigging was still standing into the '70s. "Slits" Shipley was a local who was a rigger for Clyde Beatty's act, and ate Sunday breakfasts down at Boylan's on West Market Street during the off-season.

Francis Green was my second cousin, once removed.

Anonymous said...

Carnivals were contacted via a state convention of such in Springfield and also via Billboard magazine.
And Wapella had a troupe of trapeeze artists reside in Wapella during one summer in the 60's. They set up their rigging in the large vacant lot back of the Harold Short house on Rt. 51. Not an uncommon sight to set along the roadways as they practiced their skills. GS

Anonymous said...

1. I'm glad that someone brought up the topic of parking at the Grand Hotel. That was anarchy. It also had mulitple potholes the size of that long-standing pothole at the entrance on Monicals in Clinton (yes the finest pizza in the land).
2. I think in a WHS band fundraiser we had a circus and some of the folks withe circus were somehow related to the late great Sue Toohill. PT/ST & family may have housed a few of the folks related to the circus and equipment for a brief time. Toohill's....little help here? BTW speaking of WHS band - one of my favorite topics, I always liked wearing my WHS band jacket with a sweet white dickie. Was that a Miss Simpson or Joe Hindman fashion initiative?
3. A couple great posts - thanks for the information.
4. Back to the circus - scouts/agents for the circus spent a great deal of time on Twister and Betty Burris's porch watching some of Wildat grade schooler moves on the monkey bars - looking for potential circus prospects. A lot of great performances at the grade school and a lot of blood and tears shed on those monkey bars. Any nominations for gold medal monkey bar performances?

bbd

The Sacred Why? said...

If I wrote something embarrassing to my family would you take it off the blog?



Don't talk to me about being alone.

Hear the Cry of Youth said...

My oldest nephew is about to head off to Afghanistan, so even though this was written for Vietnam vets, lets sing this one for him.


Stranger in a foreign land
Fearful cries surround him.
Returning home a wounded man
To find he's been forgotten, yeah.
Courage is the badge he wears
Blinded by obsession.
Wars are won by those who dare
The memory still haunts him.
Remember the heroes
Who fight for the right to choose.
Remember the heroes
We've all got a lot to lose.
A rebel to the naked eye
An undiscovered legend
Face the facts and don' t ask why.
It's something to believe in.
In the dark
Day and night.
Fight for wrong to prove what's right.
Remember the heroes
Who fight for the right to choose.
Remember the heroes


Just another life to use


Remember the heroes.
We've all got alot to lose.
-solo-
Remember the heroes.
Remember the heroes.
Remember the heroes.
Remember the heroes.
To take a life without a say
Demanded without reason.
To turn our backs and walk away
A faceless act of treason.
A father's son must carry on
The wound is only deepened.
Remember the heroes
Who fight for the right to choose.
Remember the heroes
It's just another life to use
Remember the heroes.
You know we've all got alot to lose.
Remember the heroes
Who's gonna fill their shoes?

Anonymous said...

who's gonna fill there shoes?

a very good question.

For your nephew said...

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done.

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Anyway from here

Light up, Light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
It makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbyes
I nearly do.

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder, louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Slower, slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess.

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear.

The Cold Hard Truth said...

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.
Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.
And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes any more
Only sadness....only sadness

Houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.
Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another families turn, to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes anymore.
Only sadness
And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes any more
Only sadness.....only sadness

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.
Old men kneel to accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate.
Says he has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.
And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes any more...
anymore
And I see no bravery,
No bravery,
In your eyes any more,
only sadness...only sadness.

GHWB said...

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

And I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
I'm all curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
Cuz I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
And I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die from exasperation
Have'em all healed from their lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
Because I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
And I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
And I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Anonymous said...

Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss

My nephew never came back said...

Maybe in another life
I could find you there
Pulled away before your time
I can't deal it's so unfair

And it feels
And it feels like
Heaven's so far away
And it feels
Yeah it feels like
The world has grown cold
Now that you've gone away

Leaving flowers on your grave
Show that I still care
But black roses and Hail Mary's
Can't bring back what's taken from me

I reach to the sky
And call out your name
And if I could trade
I would

And it feels
And it feels like
Heaven's so far away
And it stings
Yeah it stings now
The world is so cold
Now that you've gone away
Gone away, gone away,

I'll Save Your Soul

I reach to the sky
And call out your name
Oh please let me trade
I would

And it feels
And it feels like
Heaven's so far away
And it feels
Yeah it feels like
The world has grown cold
Now that you've gone away

Anonymous said...

Monicals and TGH had parking lots that looked like Sarajevo. Wasn't that part of the adventure?

The blogs after that are well beyond my limited understanding of the universe.

Sonny, how about the international report?

BEP

Anonymous said...

On a fashion note, I believe Sally S implemented the dickie look. I suspect The Mod still wears his from time to time.

Joe H

Anonymous said...

I recall a lot of hot dog gymnastics on the playground. In my grade school career at WGS the monkey bars were a late arrival. One of the more exciting ones was actually the merry-go-round when it was across the street from the Burris house. There would be about 25 people of all ages really getting the thing spinning and a large group of wannabes trying to jump on.

For individual events, the X-gamers of the late 60s would go to the humpty-back slide at the west end of the playground on icy days. The best slides were done Franz Klammer style from a squat position. It was good form to start with cigarette and toss it just before the jump. Toohills and Underwoods were gold medal contenders.

HG

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