Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 4, 1992 TAG: 9202040245
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
LIFE OUTSIDE BIG TOP: A GLIMMER OF GLAMOUR AND A LOAD OF LABOR
Mark Karoly makes jumping on a moving horse's back look so easy. It isn't.It takes hard work and a lot of time for Karoly and others in the Royal Hanneford Circus to perform the death-defying stunts to thrill audiences.
They do. But there's more to the circus than just performing.
There's another side to the circus. The side that people rarely see and often misunderstand. The human side.
The side where children play in a bare room with a few toys while their parents perform. The side where the elephants are loaded into their climate-controlled trailer for the ride to the next stop. The side that shows the hard work that goes into putting on several two-hour shows for 31,500 people at the Roanoke Civic Center for three days.
Tommy Hanneford's family has owned the circus for more than 300 years. Although business isn't booming, he said, they do make enough money to keep the the two units of the circus going. He's negotiating now to buy five more elephants to join the show.
The two units, each with about 50 workers, travel separately and perform different shows. Hanneford attends all the performances of both units.
"I wouldn't trade this to be the president of the United States," said Hanneford, who was training and performing with horses at 19. He stopped in 1981, "when Father Time said, `That's it.' " He's 65.
Hanneford's wife, Stuppie, who use to be an acrobat with the circus, now helps manage the crew and performers.
Nellie Hanneford, their daughter, also is in the circus. Nellie broke a leg and all her toes when she fell off a horse in December; she had the pins removed recently and will join the group in two weeks.
"When you do athletic work, this all goes with it," Hanneford said. "Just like football." There are nine other families in the Hanneford circus who take the same kinds of risks as Nellie.
The Karolys are one of those families. Like Hanneford, Mark Karoly has been in the circus all his life. His grandfather owned a circus in Hungary. His mother, Evy Karoly, was a performer in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Although she's retired, Karoly still trains animals. Her son continues in her footsteps.
When he's not wearing a bright orange jacket, performing side-splitting comedy routines, he gives elephant rides and helps care for the rest of the animals.
Mark's wife, Kim, has been playing Nellie's role in the horse act until she returns. When they aren't traveling, the couple and their 3-year-old daughter stay in Sarasota, Fla., where they train for new acts.
"It's not just a job, it's a life," he said.
Letty Zerbini's circus history goes back to her grandparents, who were circus performers. Zerbini has worked in 20 circuses in Europe, Canada and the United States. Now, she, her brother and sister, Gabriel and Alexandria Castro, and Zerbini's daughter, Melody, carry on the family tradition.
Zerbini, her brother and sister, along with a man named Michael, are the "Flying Condors," a trapeze act. Zerbini and her husband, Alain, also have an aerial act.
Circus people don't have much of a social life, and they "don't relate" to people in cities they travel to, Alexandria Castro said.
"They always ask how you stay in shape, when will you stop traveling with the circus, and because I don't know, it gets boring to talk to them."
The hardest part of circus life for Letty Zerbini is raising Melody, 10. "There's not a lot of attention, because you spend time rehearsing so much."
Schooling is difficult, and there is the cost of books for correspondence courses so she can get an education.
But Melody doesn't seem to mind. Sunday, she kept busy helping others prepare for their acts as well as being in some acts herself. She seems\ happy.
Sunday, as the audience watched the acts in the three rings, crew members and other performers were packing things, preparing for the journey to their next stop, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Poindexter, an animal handler, hurriedly prepared the horses for their act but helped get things moved out at the same time.
"I love working with the animals," Poindexter said Saturday while watching "The Enemy Below" on a portable television between shows.
Carolyn McKenzie's family raised horses for a living. But McKenzie dreamed about joining the circus. For the past two years, she's been the performance director for the Royal Hanneford Circus. Before that, she was a show girl with the competition, Ringling Bros.
"They do the same show all the time, " she said, which was why she switched. "If you're a show girl, that's it."
What does Carolyn do when she's not working?
"Doing laundry or grocery shopping," she said.
After spending 12 years working with costumes for the New York Metropolitan opera, William Owens joined the circus.
Owens, who graduated from Rutgers University and has a master's degree in psychology, joined the circus in December. Nicknamed Stitch, Owens is the circus' wardrobe master.
Stitch, whose parents supply gowns to beauty pageants, has been working in the entertainment industry since he was 10.
"My feet get tired," he said during the final show on Sunday. "But it's a challenge."
When the bright lights come on, and it's time to pack up, performers and crew members work together to take down the equipment. This is the side of the circus the audience doesn't see.
With the stands bare, except for cleanup crews, the group performed one last act: the breakdown. There's no glamour, no screaming kids, just work.
It takes about three hours to roll up the carpets, take down equipment and pack everything.
"You have to know how to do a little bit of everything," said Alexandria Castro, who 10 minutes ago was dressed in a leotard and now is wearing jeans and a denim jacket. The 4-foot-11, 90-pound acrobat works as hard as the rest to take down the aerial equipment.
When it's done, the building is clean and the Royal Hanneford Circus moves on. Until next year.