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| Wall of Death |
When I was eighteen, and coming back from a trip to Canada with Barbara, the woman who would later become my wife of 27 years, we stopped at the Union Fair in Union Maine and saw a wall of death. That would have been in 1975. We`would never have got to the fair if we hadn't picked up a local kid hitching a ride. He offered to get us in for free, and he did-over a fence out back. I will never forget the ancient Indian motocycles they were running on the wall! They were from the early years. Brush painted, hand shift bicycles with motors. There was a bike up on rollers in front on a stage and a guy going like the dickens, standing still in one place, doing stunts on it. When you put a bike on rollers all the gyro effect is there. There was a barker too.
Well like I said, it made an impression on my young mind. Fast forward to around 1999. I had been working in Lynn MA for years, and on my way in and out of Lynn from Boston I passed a motorcycle shop. Finally, after years of driving by, I stopped in and met the owner. The place is like a museum, full of old Royal Enfields, Triumphs and other interesting peices.
There are stacks of ephemera everywhere at that shop. I hung around a good while with the owner, and after a bit he showed me two 8X10 black and white photos. He told me thay were taken circa 1929 at Revere Beach MA. I asked if I could photograph them and took a digital image of each one(click for large images):
The lion on the wall fascinated me. I googled "wall of death + lion" and found Sam Morgan's website. Largley dedicated to wall history, Ms.Morgan has infused the site with great heart and dedicated it to Sonny Pelaquin, her late mentor and savior. One of the most amazing facts that I learned was that lions and 'dromes are an ancient tradition.
Visit Sam's website, Thrillarena.com
Further reading
August 20 2006 New York Times article By Jim Robbins, all about Sam Morgan:
Defying Death (See: Wall of) to Make a Living
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Created on 06/25/2007 09:09 AM by Pete
Updated on 02/02/2008 07:23 AM by Pete
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