Ha! This almost sounds like a Steve Copeland post. Me, collecting elephant hairs? It must have happened, if we are to believe Don thanking me in a letter dated October 3, 1961, after my six weeks trying to be a trouper (clown) for Wallace Bros. Circus.
Reading back through Don's letters, am I glad I've saved them all, actually at one point close to tossing some of them away. Yes, what wretched dis-appreciation for my OWN history, as well as DON'S.
When you look back over your own archives, you discover things you had totally forgotten, giving you reasons for actions taken that you have since misrepresented to yourself.
"Many thanks for the elephant hairs and the data on the Wallace Circus elephants which you sent me," Don wrote, and how surprised I was to read it this evening. How strange, the things we forget. Which gives these letters, however simple, such richness. In some, feelings of those days in my youth return. Don was a great friend, especially considering my sometimes overbearing opinionated ways, having been sent over the moon by the White Tops when they published me at age 14. I think, in some quarters, they are still regretting it.
Continuing, "I was quite surprised and happy to receive them, for I never dreamed that you would actually be able to get the hairs."
Which make me happy I did -- however I brought it off. I'm not the type to wiggle between a mammoths legs with scissors in hand.
"I figured that if we could gather the information on them we'd be pretty lucky. Many thanks for all of the work you did for me here I certainly do appreciate it."
We circus fans each have different areas of intense interest. Some the band. Some the tents, the wagons. Some the pachyderms.
Next week: More from Don's letter - about his thoughts on my having traveled with Wallace Bros. and about the Ringling show that year. Also, as a bonus to a certain crowd, I'll see if I can dig up some mud. Cool?
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