"Horses! Horses! Horses!" Have Kept "Poodles" Bareback King for 15 Years--Ringling Brothers Rang Him In

"Horses! Horses! Horses!" laughed "Poodles" Hanneford, "that's my stock in trade, and I have four of them here at the theatre that I've had for years and years." The famous English clown and bareback rider, who is now doing his stuff in "The Circus Princess" at the Shubert, was talking to a CRIMSON reporter the other day.

"Yes, I've got some great steeds, bah Jove. There's Charley I've had him ever since old John Ringling brought me and the rest of the family to this country 15 years ago. And then, there's Thunder he was born in a terrific storm; that's how he got his name. He was nearly killed several years ago when he reared and struck his head going into a box car. It was just midnight on New Year's Eve some New Year present, eh wot? The other two are Ned and Johnny. Those horses are just like children to me look! there they are," and he of the ludicrous spotted face gazed tenderly down into the courtyard below, where four magnificent white charges, with dappled flanks, champed and pawed the ground impatiently.

"You know, it's a funny thing," he went on, still in an equine frame of mind, "most people don't realize that bareback riding is by far the most dangerous part of the circus, much more than trapeze swinging. You can get a terrific fall by landing upside down or a horse when there's no horse there.

"How'd I get my name?" He grinned "Well, my real one is Edwin, but I had an aunt who thought that was too long or something, so she started calling me 'Poodles' when I was three days old, for no particular reason, and it certainly has stuck. I even sign checks with it, and they're good checks, too."