On;y Millionaires And Circus Stars See The World

Chronicle (Levin), 15 December 1948, Page 4

On;y Millionaires And Circus Stars See The World

"Only millionaires and circus stars see' the world'," said Jimmy Cornford, the. trampolene artist attached 'to Barton's Circus, which is playing in Levin at present. Jimmy was found in one corner of the "big top" attending to his apparatus. The majority of the artists were occupied with the same' task. Others were practising their acts.

'Jimmy said he had been in the! show business for 27 years, but proved reticent on- being asked further * questions. Probably, 1 he was engrossed in his task, on the perfection of whiich depended his j life and limb. iStripped to the waist and superintending the erection of the ring, was found Dan Crotty and his 12-year-old son, Buddy, who work asi a rodeo and roping team. Dan claimed to be one of the best bulldogger, cattU rOper and - fodeo riders in the show. ~ He holds sev-e-ral championships to pr'ove this. , Buddy, he said, had (vorked in I open rodeos since he was very ! young. He himself had1 begun j young in rodeo work. "The saw- 1 dust gets in your blood," he salid. I Both father and son have featur-i ed in newsreels at different times. > They own two grey rodeo horses which have been trained to perform. Buddy could rope steers on the run, he said. In another direetion. Maximo, ! the trick cyclist, was at work fit- j ting a new axle to / one of his j mac-hines. "These parts are not like the old pre-war nnes," he f said with a. rueful grin. He confi'ded that his real "name was 3an-

ner Forbutt, and that he was an Australian. Speaking of his experiences, he said that when quite young he had done a great deal of amateur cycle racing and had found he could control a machine "better than most." He took to practising on his local sports ground between midnight aaid -6 a.m. each day. After three moiiths' solid work, he performed his first act in public. One night) while practising, he said, he saw a dark shape standing under Some nparby trees watching him. It .was the local constable who, interested in these "goings on" in the ""wee small hours," stepped closer. Unfortunately, Maixrno was practising a difficult trick and was falling off the cycle a good deal. "T had a lot of trouble persuading him I was not a lit mmate for an asylum," he said. Banner Forbutt holds, and Js recognised as holding, the world's record for balancing a bicycle. He heid it in one position with both feet on the pedals for 2 hrs. 39 mins, He said he. rode a frameless cycle 15 miles in the 150th anniversary celebrations parade in Sydney in 1938. "That was a tough ride," was his only comment.