The mysterious Ben Said, Gunther Gebel Williams right hand man (and whose right hand was mythically restored by Frosty Little and some Sea-Breeze) who was not a Ringling clown but dressed in the Alley, where he was a fixture in the 1970s.
If you were on the Red Show "back in the day", Mitch Freddes and I want your Ben Said stories!!!
Frosty revered this man. His smaller black sit-down Tailor trunk was a gift from Ben, and contained many magical items that Frosty would regale us with from time to time...sea-breeze, cans of potted meat, Lou Jacobs clown shirts, pins & needles and memories of Ben,Congo,Pollywog Fat Nat among so many others...
ReplyDelete-Greg
Ben Said was, in my memory, a quiet funny little guy whose job was to assist his wife, Mrs. Said, (her professional name escapes me) who had a center-ring bird act. He often was a "quiet agitator" to some of the alley's horseplay and often interjected a cry of "yunga-yunga-yunga" at odd moments...He once explained to me that it was the equivalent of "BoyOhBoyOhBoy..." More memories, as I can dredge them up!
ReplyDelete--Michael Karp
"Quiet Agitator" seems to translate into heat merchant?
ReplyDeleteLove those circus terms!
-Greg
i am sorry to interfere into this blog but Ben last name was Saier he was Morrocan origin his wife s name was Carmen they both were 4 generation circus and it could be said that he and Piccolo knew Gunther from the age when he came to Circus Williams as a child .both were with Gunther fairly almost all his life in show Biz .all this info was told to me by Ben and Piccolo themselves . i was Piccolos roomate in the train as well as Austrian Louie who also came with Gunther when he came from Germany .i had the pleasure of becomeing Bens friend for a few years back in the early 70s . Raul
ReplyDeleteBen told me once that he absolutely hated to have to run away from Gunther during the final trick in the cat act when he walked outside the cage with the leopard on his shoulders, he was afraid Gunther might fall. Ben told me that look of fear on his face was true. Luckily as far as I know nothing ever happened.
ReplyDeleteI do believe Ben's wife name was Ellen and her dog (Boxer) was named Carmen.
ReplyDeleteBen , his wife miss Ellen and dog Carmen were on RBB&B when I worked there in the 70's and 80's GREAT people and I think Miss Ellen still lives in Sarasota, Fl.
ReplyDeleteHer act was billed as "Elena Ben-Said's Bird Revue" in the 1970 program as I recall...
ReplyDeleteNeil Cockerline