P age
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S eptember 13, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
ehind The Scenes And Into The Spotlight
in T ykonc T n i on
S ince 1994, a u d ie n c e s at
Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey
Circus have witnessed in wonder
ment the natural harmony o f Tyrone
Taylor and his sleek tigers. The tall,
young African-American performer
has reached the pinnacle o f his pro
fession Watching him work with the
big felines today, few can imagine
the twists and turns o f I yrone’s long
road to the spotlight o f The Greatest
Show On Earth. Ringling Bros, and
Barnum & Bailey Circus appears at
the Portland Memorial Coliseum,
September 13 through 17, 1995.
When Tyrone Taylor first found
Ringling, he wasn’t looking for a
career. “ I was doing well in modeling
and with my dancing,” explains the
native New Yorker. “I’m not from a
circus family so becoming involved
with the show wasn’t a natural thing
for me.” He recalls his fateful en
counter at Ringling. “ I was visiting
my mother in Detroit when I was 17.
She asked me to take my brothers and
sisters to the circus. Somehow I wan
dered backstage and someone asked
me if I was looking for a jo b Instead
o f saying no,’ I said, could I work
with the animals?’” Tyrone had al
ways loved animals as a child and
dreamed o f owning his own horses.
Tyrone did take the jo b with
Ringling -- as a concessionaire; but
his interest was in the animals and the
man in charge o f the magnificent
menagerie, legendary animal trainer,
Gunther Gebel-W illiams. “The first
time I saw Gunther perform, I was
overwhelmed He had such charis
ma. He was a ball o f fire -- a flash!
And he had a connection with the
animals,” Tyrone remembers.
Soon T yrone got a job grooming
horses and then began working with
the elephants “One day Gunther de
cided I should be his top assistant
with the tigers. I didn’t understand
why he wanted to make this change
but I trusted his instincts,” he com
ments. For 13 years Tyrone worked
alongside the man he still calls
"Boss.” “All I wanted to do was to be
his best worker,” he says.
In 1990, Gunther Gebel-W ill
iams retired from regular perfor
mance. Tyrone’s life was also in flux.
He was now married and apart from
his family. After 15 years with The
Greatest ShowOn Earth, Tyrone left.
He and his wife Linda performed
with a number o f smaller circuses
and then settled down in Fort Worth,
Texas. “ 1 had a house, a good job
working with the elephants at the
Forth Worth Zoo, and a horse; it was
a good life but I missed Ringling,” he
says. Linda Taylor reveals, “He talked
about Ringling every day and I knew
he wanted to come back.”
Linda began a letter-writing cam
paign on her husband’s behalf to
Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey
Circus producer Kenneth Feld. “I
would send him a different message
every week, outlining the various
reasons why Tyrone would be a good
performer,” she explains. Her persis
tence was rewarded Kenneth Feld
called one day during their child’s
birthda} party. “ I made all the kids
go outside so I could talk to him,’
recalls Tyrone.
So — Tyrone packed up his fam
ily and returned to Ringling. He be
gan working with the same tigers that
Gunther himself had presented to
audiences. “I have known many of
these cats since the day they came to
Ringling,” Gunther Gebel-Williams
is now vice president o f animal care
and often present during the show,
offering advice and support to Tyrone
and the other animal trainers.
And Tyrone Taylor is a happy
family man as well. His wife Linda
and children Emerals, Chelsea and
Tevin travel with him.
Is the next generation o f Taylors
going to follow in their father’s per
forming footsteps? “It’s too early to
tell. My son Tevin is learning gym
nastics and loves to hang around the
Chicago Kidz,” says Tyrone. "W hat
ever they decide, Ringling is a great
place for families and I’ll support
their decisions.”
Ringling Bros, and Barnum &
Bailey Circus is celebrating its 125th
year and will appear at the Portland
Memorial Coliseum, September 13th
through 17th.
Tickets are on sale now at the
America's own Tyrone Taylor demonstrates that humans and animals live and work in harmony in tht
C o liseu m box o ffic e and all
all-new 125th Anniversary Edition of Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey.
TicketMaster locations.
For a Black Squadron One Encmu Is Not German
The year is 1943. A group o f
young black airmen en route to Ala
bama from the North are ordered to
leave the comfortable rear car o f a
troop train and move to the dirty and
noisy first car beside the locomotive.
As the airmen step out, they stare
at the men taking their piace: G er
man prisoners o f war.
The real-life incident is one o f
Fishbume, premiered on HBO this
the memorable, ifshocking, moments * summer.
in “The Tuskegee Airmen,” a drama
“The story is timeless and time
on Home Box Office about the first
ly,” said Frank Price, the film’s exec
squadron o f black fighter pilots in
utive producer. “W e’re still examin
World War II, who faced two power
ing how African-Americans have
ful enemies, the Germans abroad and
been treated and how our society
bigotry at home.
should be set up.”
The drama, starring Laurence
It has been Price’s ambition for
more than 10 years to turn the story of
the legendary black squadron into a
film, an ambition that was long thwart
ed by script problems and more im
portant, by the reluctance o f movie
studios to take on a project with a
mostly black cast about a historical
moment 50 years ago.
“People were not breaking down
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The story involves a group of
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small towns, who passed rigorous
tests to join the Army Air Corps’
“Fighting 99th,” the highly decorat
ed squadron o f the 332rd Fighter
Group.
As they began tra in in g in
Tuskegee, Ala., the men found them
selves the target o f military' racism
and almost unendurable pressure to
prevent them from flying in combat.
It was only after the intervention
o f Eleanor Roosevelt (played by
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Rosemary' Murphy) that the airmen
were sent into combat in North Afri
ca. The film is based on real events,
but many o f the names are fictional
and the characters composites.
The film's cast includes Allen
Payne (“Ja so n 's L yric” ), Andre
Braugher ("Homicide: Life on the
Street"), Courtney Vance (Broad
way's "Six Degrees o f Separation”)
and Malcolm Jamal-W arner (“The
Cosby Show” ). Also in the cast is
John Lithgow, who plays a racist
senator.
t he teleplay, directed by Robert
M arkowitz, was w ritten by Ron
Hutchinson, Trey Ellis and Paris H.
Qualles, a television writer whose
father, John, was a Tuskegee airman.
"My dad didn’t talk about it
much,” Qualles said. "The frustra
tion these guys felt was pretty severe.
My father was the first one I went to
when I got the assignment. What
struck me most was the heroism of
these guys. They had to fight so many
battles. Even their flight equipment
wasn’t always the best, and there
were quite a few deaths because o f it.
“Being black, I thought I was
well versed in the racism that they
would have encountered,” he said.
“But I really wasn't prepared for the
virulence o f it.”