Bill Davies Western Fair Recollections

It seems that the R.C.M.P. musical ride is one of my favourite topics. but the incidents surrounding its performance are really memorable.

While we at the Western Fair grandstand show band encountered many differences with performers, it seems that some Mounties were unaware of the rules in live performance. We had just started the Musical Ride for the first performance that year when we became aware of a large tape recorder behind us attached to a couple of microphones in front. Some of us pointed this out to Dave Bentley who was the union steward on the job. In those days , the Musicians Union had some significant power, so Dave went over to the Mountie operating the recorder and made it clear that the recorder was to be shut down or the band would stop playing the performance. He pointed out that we were being paid for a performance not a recording and unless the R.C.M.P. wanted to supplement our pay to the recording scale we were not to be recorded.
After a further brief discussion, the recorder was turned off.

Another of my favourite memories came when Dave Dunlop and I were splitting the lead on this grandstand show. In the last show of the day, Dave played an amazing trumpet solo , not a note of which was below High C. When he finished I was astounded as my chops were tired and I assumed his were similar. I said to him “you asshole” as he finished. We were good friends so he knew it was not to be taken personally, and he laughed and said “If you were playing 6 or 8 hours a day like I am, you could do it too”. I expressed my complete doubts about that and simply played as before.

The Western Fair grandstand had the circus as a routine for many years. The circus had various animals and one year only there were tigers in the show. Now tigers are not like lions as they are much less inclined to training, and we used to watch them being fed. They were fed chickens in quarters and each quarter was one bite. They competed with each other for each piece and it was scary just to watch these powerful beasts.

On the same show was a combination of several different members of the monkey family. One such member was an orangutan, a large creature of an off-orange colour. Lionel Thornton was the contractor at this time and he watched and teased this creature. This was a big mistake. At the beginning of the next “ monkey act” performance, these various apes were released freely and were expected to go to certain spots on the stage. Well, this orangutan was not interested in anything except getting even with Lionel, and when freed, he headed right for Lionel and chased him to the stands where the trainer had to run out and get him back. This animal was nearly the size of a human and I was glad he didn’t want me.

Elephants were often in the circus as they seem to be friendly. This time, the elephant act was the end of the circus performance. As the great animals gathered in finale form and the blond in the leopard skin bikini stood up to bow, the elephant on which she stood had a massive defecation and the band played the last chord – at least the rest of the band played the last chord because I was doubled with laughter over at the coincidental timing of it all.