Bolivar, the Elephant

Only Orvilles in the Building

Of everything I’ve uncovered about Orville over the years, my absolute favorite, hands down, without a doubt, is an incident that happened in Kalamazoo in December 1877.

Orville is 21 years old. We all know he was a woodworker, and a shoe salesman, and an exceptional guitar player. But this just cracks me up,,,

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“There were not lacking yesterday several incidents of a funny character. In front of Woodhams’s Music, on North Burdick, a mound of street debris was raised and shaped into the semblance of a grave. This was decorated with evergreens, and a slab was erected on which were the words, “Sacred to the memory of the street commissioner.” It excited much merriment. Just as people were coming out of church and down Main Street, an elephant was let loose and came across the street by Wm. B. Clark & Son’s store, accompanied by its driver… This elephant was as wild as if just caught, and struck out in all directions, greatly endangering the crowd that followed. This must have been from his taking too much spirito vino at the Burdick House lunch… Terror drove our reporter from the scene, and what became of that animal and the people we don’t know, but think he was finally entertained at the club room of the Hungry Ten,”

While the Telegraph reporter wrote with tongue-in-cheek, the Gazette obviously tried its best to set aside its straight-laced business demeanor with their account…

“Christmas passed off very pleasantly in Kalamazoo, the entire populous, as a rule, keeping the day…About two o’clock, the young men who congregate at Cohn’s clothing store came out with their elephant, which went around to the free lunch tables and grabbed up all the cold vituals [sic], much to the merriment of the crowd. The representation was very perfect, the trunk and tail being used as naturally as by the real animal.”

Wow, when those Gazette reporters let loose, watch out. Between these two articles, this is obviously Orville in the elephant and his buddy Dan Cohn as the trainer. Dan, a tailor by trade, is probably the one who made the silk plaid and stripe vaudeville suit that Orville is wearing in one of his best known photographs.

The Burdick House Hotel was the hang-out of Orville and all the local vaudeville actors and musicians. But what really gives it away is the elephant. Orville made two more of these elephants, named Bolivar, in his years on the stage. With each appearance, Dan Cohn played the part of the trainer.

The third elephant, made in 1889, was auctioned off for charity after a performance by Orville’s theater troupe. I’ve tried to track the path this beast may have taken through the years. No luck so far. It’s not like they could roll it out to the curb for trash pick up (see the top of the Telegraph article – that’s pretty funny, too).

What’s even more interesting, is an article I found in the Malone, New York Palladium newspaper in 1868, when Orville was twelve years old. Malone is a half days horse and buggy ride away from Chateaugay. This newspaper reprinted a review, from the Providence Journal, of a circus that was coming to Malone. Within the review, they mention a live elephant named Bolivar as a feature of this circus.

In the time that I have been researching Orville H. Gibson, I’ve acquired, first, an overflowing Hammermill box of paper documentation. Then, after switching to computer files, the count is just over 6000 files and gaining. Out of necessity, I developed my own electronic filing system so I can access any given document in a matter of seconds. Even so, there are a number of files I didn’t put into folders right away. When I open one for review, my question tends to be “Why did I save this?” and as a follow-up question “Why did I save this?”

As with most research, especially the farther back in time you go, it often takes several pieces of information from several different sources and even different time periods to accurately document an event or artifact. Like Bolivar. Also, it took five pieces of documentation to pinpoint, roughly, when Orville arrived in Kalamazoo.

Then there’s the people I interview that will say I can use that story but not this other one. And the one where I can use the story but not the subject’s name. Or I can use the story and the name but can’t say who I got it from. That’s some documentation I’m still trying to work out. Maybe in time, I don’t know. These are the things I navigate to bring Orville’s story to life.

And, oh, the things we bring with us from childhood. I still love Jiminy Cricket. And my roller skates from the late 70s. I bought my house when I was 40 years old. One of the first things I did was roller skate up and down my street. Some guy often passed me, speed biking to and from work. It turned out to be a school classmate of mine from South Haven. I’ve been told that we need to incorporate meaningful things from our childhood into our adult lives because at that age we were our authentic selves.

With the holidays approaching, I’m overhearing many conversations about activities, like watching certain movies, because it reminds people of when they were a kid. Me included. I will only watch the 1951 version of “A Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim.

My sister and I have been known to break out into the theme song from Peep and the Big Wide World, written and performed by Taj Mahal. Which is saying something because my sister and I don’t get along that well. I also still watch cartoons. I sometimes quip, “Yeah, that may be cool, but it’s not Bugs Bunny cool.

And then there’s the things that influence us and the things we borrow. There’s a price to be paid at the end of the day for using a woman as a crutch. Wait, no. that’s Jules Shear. OK, I take it all back, I take it all back. Wait, that’s Daniel Johnston. Damn! I repeat myself when under stress. No, that’s King Crimson. Even if I really do repeat myself when under stress. And the follow up question at the top of the page…that’s Hal from Nature Cat. Yeah, Nature Cat is cool, but he’s not Bugs Bunny cool.

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