FRONTIER CIRCUS (1961-1962) – The traveling Thompson & Travis Circus roams the 1880s American West performing for audiences and having adventures.
Chill Wills, the voice of Francis the Talking Mule, starred as Colonel Casey Thompson while John Derek (Bo’s husband) portrayed his circus partner Ben Travis. Richard Jaeckel played associate Tony Gentry.
Frontier Circus ran for 26 one-hour episodes in black & white. It’s a nice change of pace among westerns, much like the series Riverboat was.
THE EPISODES:
DEPTHS OF FEAR (1st episode) – Ben Travis signs a formerly great Lion Tamer (Aldo Ray) who has become a town drunk. Ben coaches the man back to performing status despite the attempts to derail him made by a jealous bully. Guest stars Vito Scotti, James Gregory and Bethel Leslie.
THE SMALLEST TARGET – The land that the circus has leased for a week’s worth of perfomances turns out to be owned by the estranged husband (Brian Keith) of female sharpshooter Bonnie Stevens (Barbara Rush), the circus’ star attraction. Tensions between her and her ex and their son cause trouble. Continue reading
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the Union Army’s Michigan Brigade of Volunteers – nicknamed the Wolverines – from the U.S. Civil War. I’m focusing on them because, though not unknown, increasing numbers of people have taken to ignoring their contributions to the Union victory just because of the post-Civil War career of the Brigade’s commander – General George Armstrong Custer. 
The brigade was first being formed in December, 1862 and on June 29th, 1863 newly promoted General Custer assumed command. 
Balladeer’s Blog hopes all of you are having a respectful Memorial Day weekend. I’ll have a brand new Memorial Day blog post tomorrow, but for another seasonal post here are some of my Memorial Day offerings from years past. 
2012 – 
2013 – 
Balladeer’s Blog offers up a Memorial Day weekend post. In keeping with World War One’s “Eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” tradition that spawned Veterans Day in November, here are eleven WW1 figures who were awarded the Medal of Honor. 
JAKE ALLEX 
MOVIE: Trunk to Cairo (1966). If the only bad movie show you know is MST3K think of: Operation Double 007, Danger: Death Ray and Secret Agent Superdragon. 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #169 (Apr 1983) 
Tony’s personal pilot and friend Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes, who had been a supporting character in the series for years at this point, catches Tony drinking even more after the meeting. Iron Man’s old supervillain foe Magma, his tank and troops attack Stark’s Long Island HQ. 
THE MAD SCIENTIST: A TALE OF THE FUTURE (1908) – Written by Raymond McDonald, a pen name for two Canadians – Raymond Alfred Leger and Edward Richard McDonald. An unusual aspect of this novel was the publisher’s offer of a thousand-dollar reward for any reader who deciphered and provided the best breakdown of a coded message in the story. 
OGROFF aka The Mad Mutilator (1983) – This thoroughly bizarre French movie whose maker somehow conned horror icon Howard Vernon into appearing is easily one of the worst films ever made. Norbert G. Moutier owned a video store in France and published a horror fanzine. 
Balladeer's Blog 