Harold Alzana - Revision history

Djando at 20:50, 10 May 2025

2025-05-10T20:50:56Z

Djando: /* High Wire */

2025-05-10T20:50:38Z

‎High Wire

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-05-10T20:49:25Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-05-10T20:30:37Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Photo Gallery */

2025-05-10T20:28:09Z

‎Photo Gallery

Djando: /* Photo Gallery */

2025-05-10T20:27:50Z

‎Photo Gallery

Djando: /* Solo Star Performer */

2025-05-10T20:20:07Z

‎Solo Star Performer

Djando: /* From The Coalmine To The Big Top */

2025-05-09T19:46:44Z

‎From The Coalmine To The Big Top

Djando: /* Solo Star Performer */

2014-06-11T16:18:01Z

‎Solo Star Performer

Djando: /* Solo Star Performer */

2014-06-11T16:17:31Z

‎Solo Star Performer

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:50, 10 May 2025
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−	[[File:Alzana_RBBB_Poster.jpg\|Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey poster (1947)\|right\|~~300px~~]]	+	[[File:Alzana_RBBB_Poster.jpg\|Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey poster (1947)\|right\|400px]]
	== High Wire ==		== High Wire ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:50, 10 May 2025
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		+	[[File:Alzana_RBBB_Poster.jpg\|Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey poster (1947)\|right\|300px]]
	== High Wire ==		== High Wire ==

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 <Gallery>
 File:Harold_Alzana_Practice.jpg|Harold and Elsie Davis in the family backyard (c.1945)
 Image:The_Alzanas_(c.1950).jpg|The Alzanas at Madison Square Garden (c.1950)
 File:The_Alzanas_(1951).jpg|The Alzanas (1951)

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 <Gallery>
-File:Harold_Alzana_Practice.jpg|Harold and Elsie Davis in their backyard (c.1945
+File:Harold_Alzana_Practice.jpg|Harold and Elsie Davis in the family backyard (c.1945)
 Image:The_Alzanas_(c.1950).jpg|The Alzanas at Madison Square Garden (c.1950)
 File:The_Alzanas_(1951).jpg|The Alzanas (1951)

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 * Video: [[Harold_Alzana_Video_(1966)|Harold Alzana, High Wire]] in the TV show ''Hippodrome'' (1966)
-==Photo Gallery==
+==Image Gallery==
 <Gallery>

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 Harold Alzana remained with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey until 1964. During that time he returned to Europe only twice: The first time for the Christmas season of 1949-50 at the [[Harringay Circus|Harringay Arena]] in London; the second time in 1963, with ''The Greatest Show On Earth'', in a short-lived European tour that was a disappointment and was quickly aborted&mdash;although Alzana’s personal success was as big in Europe as it had been in the United States. He made a last appearance in Europe in 1966, in the hit British television show, ''Hippodrome'' (known in the United States as ''Live From The Hippodrome'').
-Harold Alzana continued to perform sporadically until the early 1970s, and then retired to his home of Sarasota, Florida, America’s "Circus Capital." But he kept a wire rigged in his backyard, and continued to practice regularly, well into his eighties. In 1991, he was induced into the [[International Circus Hall of Fame]] in Peru, Indiana. Harold Alzana passed away on February 23, 2001, leaving the souvenir of one of the greatest high wire performers of all times.
+Harold Alzana continued to perform sporadically until the early 1970s, and then retired to his home of Sarasota, Florida, America’s ''Circus Town''. But he kept a wire rigged in his backyard, and continued to practice regularly, well into his eighties. In 1991, he was induced into the [[International Circus Hall of Fame]] in Peru, Indiana. Harold Alzana passed away on February 23, 2001, leaving the souvenir of one of the greatest high wire performers of all times.
 ==See Also==

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 ===From The Coalmine To The Big Top===
-[[Image:Haeold_Alzana_(Cushman).jpg|thumb|left|180px|Harold Alzana (c.1950)]]The war over, Harold Alzana decided to leave the darkness of Maltby coalmines and tempt his luck in the circus spotlights: It was social climbing in every sense of term! His break came in 1946, when impresario [[Clem Butson]], then producer of Blackpool’s [[Tower Circus]], gave "The Sensational Alzanas" (as Harold and his siblings had named their act) a contract for the summer season. The highlight of the act was Harold crossing the wire on a bicycle with his sisters hanging from a trapeze suspended under it.
+[[Image:Haeold_Alzana_(Cushman).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Harold Alzana (c.1950)]]The war over, Harold Alzana decided to leave the darkness of Maltby coalmines and tempt his luck in the circus spotlights: It was social climbing in every sense of term! His break came in 1946, when impresario [[Clem Butson]], then producer of Blackpool’s [[Tower Circus]], gave "The Sensational Alzanas" (as Harold and his siblings had named their act) a contract for the summer season. The highlight of the act was Harold crossing the wire on a bicycle with his sisters hanging from a trapeze suspended under it.
 If it was certainly, from the audience point of view, a spectacular finale, it was not in actuality much of a trick since the trapeze provided Harold’s bicycle with a counterweight: The more at risk were actually Hilda and Elsie. But Harold’s solos on the wire were another matter altogether, and this didn’t fail to impress one of [[John Ringling North]]’s European talent scouts. Johnny North immediately saw star potential in Harold Alzana, and the act was booked for the 1947 season of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, ''The Greatest Show On Earth''.

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 Staging the ''impression of danger'' is common circus practice, but it doesn’t preclude the ''reality of danger'', whether it is or not apparent to the audience. Harold Alzana had his share of accidents, including one in his very first season with ''The Greatest Show On Earth''&mdash;a forty-feet fall with his sister Hilda, in which both performers were injured. Eventually, Hilda and Elsie decided to retire from the act, and Harold continued to work as a solo performer, with increasing success.
-Harold Alzana remained with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey until 1964. During that time he returned to Europe only twice: The first time for the Christmas season of 1949-50 at the [[Harringay Circus|Harringay Arena]] in London; the second time in 1963, with ''The Greatest Show On Earth'', in a short-lived European tour that was a disappointment and was quickly aborted&mdash;although Alzana’s success was as big in Europe as it had been in the United States. He made a last appearance in Europe in 1966, in the hit British television show, ''Hippodrome'' (known in the United States as ''Live From The Hippodrome'').
+Harold Alzana remained with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey until 1964. During that time he returned to Europe only twice: The first time for the Christmas season of 1949-50 at the [[Harringay Circus|Harringay Arena]] in London; the second time in 1963, with ''The Greatest Show On Earth'', in a short-lived European tour that was a disappointment and was quickly aborted&mdash;although Alzana’s personal success was as big in Europe as it had been in the United States. He made a last appearance in Europe in 1966, in the hit British television show, ''Hippodrome'' (known in the United States as ''Live From The Hippodrome'').
 Harold Alzana continued to perform sporadically until the early 1970s, and then retired to his home of Sarasota, Florida, America’s "Circus Capital." But he kept a wire rigged in his backyard, and continued to practice regularly, well into his eighties. In 1991, he was induced into the [[International Circus Hall of Fame]] in Peru, Indiana. Harold Alzana passed away on February 23, 2001, leaving the souvenir of one of the greatest high wire performers of all times.