Wednesday, August 16, 2006

CBCB in the 60s: Ernie Burch


Was Ernie "Blinko" Burch a member of the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Alley between his long stint on Ringling and his equally long run at Circus-Circus in Las Vegas? It's hard for me to say for sure.

Many of the early CBCB programs (and many of their early posters) contain old Ringling photos from the 30s and 40s that have been retouched. Why didn't they use Cole Bros. Circus photos? I don't know. Why didn't they use more recent Clyde Beatty Circus photos? I don't know.

But the 1962 program contains this picture of Ernie, who may have been a member of their Alley in an era when it featured other ex-Ringling clowns such as Emmett Kelly, Harry Dann, Albert White and Jimmy Armstrong and would soon add Lou Nagy and Dennis Stevens.

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