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==In The Spotlight==
 
==In The Spotlight==
  
===GIA ERADZE===
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===BILL WOODCOCK===
[[File:Gia_Eradze_and_Horse.jpeg|right|350px]]
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[[File:William_Woodcock,_Jr._(1978).jpg|right|450px]]
===''Recipient of the 2022 Circopedia Award''===
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William Woodcock, Jr. (1935-2023), better known as Bill or "Buckles" Woodcock, was one of the great elephant trainers of the second half of the twentieth-century American circus. A true circus legend in his own times, he was extremely respected in the profession and loved by circus fans, who enjoyed testing his historical knowledge of the American circus, and his encyclopedic command of the history of elephants in the United States—an interest passed on to him by his father.
  
In his early youth, Gia Eradze fell in love with the circus and decided he would become an animal trainer. From then on, nothing stopped him. Not only did he become a successful animal trainer, but his rich, extravagant visual imagination led him to create extremely successful shows that helped revive the creative image of the Russian circus at home and abroad, and eventually propelled him to new heights in the Russian circus artistic hierarchy.
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William "Buckles" Woodcock was born on February 26, 1935 in Lancaster, Missouri, to an old American circus family. Although his father, William H. Woodcock (1904-1963), was a first-generation circus man (and became a legendary elephant trainer with a passion for circus history), his mother was Sarah "Babe" Orton (1902-1988), whose grandfather, [[Hiram Horton|Hiram]], a former sailor and tavern-keeper of British origin, had started a circus in Wisconsin in 1854. As the feisty Babe would often say, "My family was in the circus when the Ringling brothers were still wearing wooden shoes."
  
Gia Giulevich Eradze was born October 3, 1979 in Tbilisi, Georgia—which was then part of the Soviet Union. His father managed a supermarket, and his mother was Rector of Economics at the Tbilisi State University. His was a well-to-do family with no connection whatsoever with the performing arts in general, and the circus in particular.  
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Bill (to differentiate him from his father, William) Woodcock grew up around animals, elephants in particular. When he was a toddler, he was often buckled to his mother on a harness to keep him in check and safe around his father's elephants, thus his nickname. At age 11, he began working in the circus as a candy butcher. But Buckles had other plans: in 1951, over his father's objections, he found a job as an animal handler with another elephant trainer, Eugene "Arky" Scott, who worked with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.
  
Yet, then as now, Tbilisi was a circus town: In 1888, the Nikitin brothers had built a wooden circus on Golovinsky Prospect (today Rustaveli Prospect), and what was then Tiflis became their home base. From there, they created a touring circuit for which they used circus buildings they erected over the years in several other cities, including Moscow.  
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Obviously, there was not much William Senior could do. He and Buckles reunited two years later and began working together. Since his father's vision was failing, Buckles's role in the partnership became increasingly more prominent. In 1951, William Woodcock had acquired a four-year old Burmese woodland elephant, Anna May, from the Al G. Kelly-Miller Bros. Circus, and Buckles began working with her. Anna May, who was a remarkably smart and talented performer, would become America's most famous elephant and stay in the Woodcock family until May 2004, when she went into retirement at Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbrier, Arkansas.... ([[William Woodcock, Jr.|more...]])
 
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The original Circus Nikitin’s structure was destroyed by a fire in 1911, and Tbilisi’s new circus was housed for a long time in a former factory before being rebuilt in 1939 in its present location, on a hill on the left bank of the Kura river. It is there that a young Gia Eradze fell in love with the circus—and especially with animal acts. There and then, he decided he would be an animal trainer.
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He enrolled in the local Amateur Circus (Youth Circus) and began training in various circus disciplines, but he quickly discovered that Amateur Circuses (and circus schools for that matter) did not teach animal training. Working with animals is something you learn hands on, working with other animal trainers in a circus.
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Gia was a precocious and strong-willed kid, and his determination eventually led him to truancy: when his father’s car took him to school in the morning, Gia waited until the chauffeur had left and changed trajectory, landing inevitably at the circus. In 1990, at age eleven, he managed to get a job as an assistant (or as a groom) with Nana Milkatze’s ''Horsemen of Georgia'' troupe of Cossack riders.
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For a while, Gia’s mother wondered why, when her son came back from school, a whiff of hay and horses followed him in the house. When the cause was finally discovered, Gia held his ground firmly and made it clear that he had decided to work in the circus and that he wouldn’t budge. As a compromise, his parents accepted his decision, on the condition that he continued his schooling while working at the circus... ([[Gia Eradze|more...]])
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==New Essays and Biographies==
 
==New Essays and Biographies==
  
 +
* [[Rex Williams]], Elephant Trainer
 
* [[Little Billy Merchant]], Clown
 
* [[Little Billy Merchant]], Clown
 
* [[Jacko Fossett]], Clown
 
* [[Jacko Fossett]], Clown
 
* [[Circus Ring of Fame]], History
 
* [[Circus Ring of Fame]], History
 
* [[Natalya Jigalova]], Aerialist
 
* [[Natalya Jigalova]], Aerialist
* [[Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe]], History
 
  
 
==New Videos==
 
==New Videos==
  
* [[Filinov_Video_(2022)|The Filinov Troupe]], Russian swing (2022)
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* [[Sukhornukovi_Video_(2022)|Egor & Lucia Sukhornukov]], Strap Act (2022)
* [[Huyen_Video_(2022)|Chu Thi Khanh Huyen]], aerial sword balancing (2022)
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* [[Juliana_Neves_Video_(2001)|Juliana Neves]], tissu (2001)
* [[Palchikov_Video_(2022)|Ernest Palchikov]], hand-balancing act (2022)
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* [[Neves_and_Gueorguiev_Video_(2000)|Juliana Neves & Ivo Gueorguiev]], tissu pas-de-deux (2000)
* [[Ethiopia_Troupe_Video_(2022)|Troupe Ethiopia]], basket acrobatics (2022)
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* [[Bikmaevi_Video_(2022)|Duo Bikmaevi]], strap act (2022)  
* [[Eva_Vida_Video_(1964)|Eva Vida]], juggler (1964)
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* [[Knie_Elephant_and_Tigers_Video_(1976)|Louis Knie]], elephants and tigers act (1976)
  
 
==New Oral Histories==
 
==New Oral Histories==

Revision as of 23:01, 23 March 2023

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Circopedia was originally inspired and funded by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

In The Spotlight

BILL WOODCOCK

William Woodcock, Jr. (1978).jpg

William Woodcock, Jr. (1935-2023), better known as Bill or "Buckles" Woodcock, was one of the great elephant trainers of the second half of the twentieth-century American circus. A true circus legend in his own times, he was extremely respected in the profession and loved by circus fans, who enjoyed testing his historical knowledge of the American circus, and his encyclopedic command of the history of elephants in the United States—an interest passed on to him by his father.

William "Buckles" Woodcock was born on February 26, 1935 in Lancaster, Missouri, to an old American circus family. Although his father, William H. Woodcock (1904-1963), was a first-generation circus man (and became a legendary elephant trainer with a passion for circus history), his mother was Sarah "Babe" Orton (1902-1988), whose grandfather, Hiram, a former sailor and tavern-keeper of British origin, had started a circus in Wisconsin in 1854. As the feisty Babe would often say, "My family was in the circus when the Ringling brothers were still wearing wooden shoes."

Bill (to differentiate him from his father, William) Woodcock grew up around animals, elephants in particular. When he was a toddler, he was often buckled to his mother on a harness to keep him in check and safe around his father's elephants, thus his nickname. At age 11, he began working in the circus as a candy butcher(American) Concession vendor; so named because one of the first successful concessionaires of the American circus was a former butcher.. But Buckles had other plans: in 1951, over his father's objections, he found a job as an animal handler with another elephant trainer, Eugene "Arky" Scott, who worked with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.

Obviously, there was not much William Senior could do. He and Buckles reunited two years later and began working together. Since his father's vision was failing, Buckles's role in the partnership became increasingly more prominent. In 1951, William Woodcock had acquired a four-year old Burmese woodland elephant, Anna May, from the Al G. Kelly-Miller Bros. Circus, and Buckles began working with her. Anna May, who was a remarkably smart and talented performer, would become America's most famous elephant and stay in the Woodcock family until May 2004, when she went into retirement at Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbrier, Arkansas.... (more...)

New Essays and Biographies

New Videos

  • Egor & Lucia Sukhornukov, Strap Act (2022)
  • Juliana Neves, tissu(French) A double piece of hanging fabric, generally made of silk, used for an aerial act. (See also: Fabric, Silks) (2001)
  • Juliana Neves & Ivo Gueorguiev, tissu(French) A double piece of hanging fabric, generally made of silk, used for an aerial act. (See also: Fabric, Silks) pas-de-deux (2000)
  • Duo Bikmaevi, strap actAerial act performed hanging from a pair of fabric or leather straps. (See Aerial Straps.) (2022)
  • Louis Knie, elephants and tigers act (1976)

New Oral Histories

Circopedia Books

A Message from the Founder

CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly—and sometimes daily—basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to contact us: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.

Dominique Jando
Founder and Curator