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The Sandow Family Circus Variety History – Part Ten.
What is in a name (what anyone wishing a good repute in business should know).
With the season’s close of the Sir Robert Fossett circus I had no bookings pending. The club circuit was not responding well so I decided to take a break from the business. Harry Cody, I think, had stopped touring his circus. He was however quite prosperous with owning a very good property which was his most suitable winter circus quarters with paddock attached and a thriving roadside lorry drivers cafe – The Black Horse – situated between Newport Pagnell and Stoney Stratford (I do not think Milton Keynes was much developed then). Being close to the M1 the cafe did very well. Some of his regulars/staff from the old days were there like Artie Yelding – generally odd-jobbing, and his wife Elizabeth helping in the cafe. I asked him if he could allow us to spend time parking there and he at once agreed. Harry was a second father to me – so like my own. A good man in every respect. My mother then helped with the Black Horse. For the winter weeks I found myself a regular job driving a delivery van for a local seed firm. All very nice. I was thinking about a summer season for 1966. I was then contacted by Robert Fossett (of the Longtons and his Big Top Circus re Skegness) saying that the family were planning a big show for the pending season with a large tent which was ex-Bertram Mills, and to engage as the star attraction Mr Pastry, Richard Hearne. He also told me that sister Violet and Marius would also be doing the season and would I be interested in managing the show advance promotion/publicity. Obviously I wanted the challenge and said that a salary plus bonus would be nice being a large job to do. We agreed terms.
What is in a name.
When I started the season it was clear that George Sanger and his sister Victoria were contributing the Sanger name as part of the grand enterprise and the title would be Fossett and Sanger’s Big Top Circus. That might be one thing but Mr Sanger intended to tour with the show in some capacity. To be totally honest and I think the facts should be known, the whole concept was badly balanced. The show content even with Richard Hearne was not big enough for the huge tent. The dual name meant absolutely nothing to the public. For those who might be sophisticated ‘Fossett’ would mean Sir Robert and ‘Sanger’ would mean Lord George, but the two together was rather negative in effect. This was the general reaction from the public. Incidentally I did not voice this view because I fully respected George Sanger. In any event Mr Sanger departed within one month and the name was changed to just Fossett. The huge tent must have been hard work to move around with the seating not fitting. The decision was to have the standard circus poster design with Richard Hearne as top of the bill but this again proved negative, because most people would not believe that he was the real Richard Hearne and any suspicion of that kind is totally detrimental, especially in touring circus. There was also quite a percentage of the public who said ‘I do not like Richard Hearne!’
So, for the first third of the tour regardless, the promotion didn’t work and certainly didn’t add any bonus in my direction! Richard Hearne was a keen contributer, he wanted success for his own repute. I arranged for him many ‘off circus publicity’ promotions – press tie-ups with local firms and visits whilst he was there – and the local press were very helpful but I suggested he needed something to convince the public that ‘he was the star’ if the business was to improve. I designed for him this special poster and suggested that at least one quarter of the distribution should be his design only – his face. This was done with the show title changed to Fossett.
One of many such press arrangements.
The special poster design for Mr Pastry. This in turn resulted in frictions for voices complained about him dominating the show and why couldn’t other acts (including the Fossett family) be more dominant for press calls etc. Personally I was well overstretched.
I received this letter of appreciation from Richard.
About the middle of the season Richard Hearne left the show so, in effect, traditional circus returned with no ‘star’ promoted. Bob Fossett still carried on with the Bertram Mills big tent where perhaps a smaller two pole would have been better and certainly lighter to move but that is by the way. For some reason, even unknown to promotional agents, when the circus reached Essex in August the business suddenly improved. Two weeks in Southend was very good and one week was booked for Basildon but the house numbers were so good the show stayed an extra week.
What is in a name! It is obvious that a good solid proud name in any business is essential; this is why my father was so fixated about it and as any firm or person who relies on a good name. It is like a logo. Large trade titles like McDonalds will sue any approach to use the title. Here is a group photograph showing the family taken during August at Southend. (The last photo ever taken).
Short history note; when my father died I was the only member of the family left along with my mother. Sandow was his chosen professional name, and as proud of him I carried the name professionally forward. Sister Violet had joined with the Biddell family and their stage name was The Internationals. Brother Richard, as requested, toured as The Yolandas. When with Sanger’s in 1962 Richard called in one day (possible seeking engagement). I was clowning and one particular entree was called the comedy wire, an old routine. I had many sight gags to build the routine and entered with a case full of items and on the side it said ‘Wadnas, Britain’s lowest hire wire walker.’ Pat Freeman had reversed the name Sanger for Old Ragnas, so I OK’d with him to reverse Sandow as Wodnas (didn’t bother him). Richard spied this from the seats and subsequently toured his children’s show under the title Rico Waddie. The photo above shows sister Margaret taking part in the Internationals trampoline act (she was a trampolinist as I used to be). She was spending a holiday break with the show at Southend eleven years after leaving in 1955 and still looking good. The Biddell family had reduced in number and may only be Marius Violet and Peter. Violet was back to a single trapeze act. Richard and his second wife were also just spending some days there.
