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From: "Randi Richardson" <>
Subject: Henry B. Gentry--A Brief Sketch of His Life with the Circus: Part I
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 11:47:26 -0500


Bloomington (Monroe County, Indiana) Telephone, Sep 9, 1929, p. 1.

COMMENT BY B. W. BRADFUTE

The return of Henry B. Gentry here at the head of the Sparks circus is an event of unusual interest to Bloomington people as Mr. Gentry is a local man and has been most loyal to his hometown during the years he has climbed the ladder of success to the very top. Mr. Gentry has spent a lifetime in the show business and besides a very substantial financial success has gained an enviable reputation in the show and business world for his fine type of manhood--honest, aggressive, fair. When H. B. Gentry is with an amusement organization it is a guarantee that the organization is conducted in the cleanest manner, there is no gambling or nor company of "grifters" to prey on honest people. When he was in the dog an pony show business, owning his own organization, he catered to the women and children, and he has continued this policy as a circus manger--there must be nothing about the show which will offend or discomfort the women and children. Mr. Gentry carries this policy to an!
extreme, there is no quicker way to lose a job on the Sparks circus than to swear or curse in the presence of visitors on the show lot.

All the older and middle-aged people of Bloomington are well acquainted with the career of Mr. Gentry, how as a boy he got together a few local dogs and started in the "show" business and year by year went on to a fine success. From the very first year he started on the road with a few dogs in crates until the present time, Mr. Gentry has continued to call Bloomington his home, he has returned here to spend most of his winters, and he has sent back thousands of dollars to be invested in Bloomington. More than a few buildings in Bloomington have been erected with the cash Mr. Gentry sent home from his show tours. He has been one of the outstanding figures in the advancement of Bloomington to a modern city, and he has always been willing to help in civic movements. To his friends, Mr. Gentry is the superlative in loyalty--a rock of steadfastness in time of storm or trouble.

The late Walter Bradfute, founder of The Telephone and its editor for over half a century, and Mr. Gentry were close friends for forty years and over. The first show printing which Mr. Gentry ever had announcing his dog show in the old south side opera house was done in The Telephone, and Mr. Bradfute often told the story--and told of this first performance, its success before a handful of people, bringing a crowded house the second night. Many of the canine actors in this first troupe of dogs--there were no ponies or monkeys--had been recruited on the local streets. Young Henry Gentry had bought or traded for them with local boys; he had not thought about it at the time, but when the hour for the first performance drew near it occurred to him that the former masters might try to "whistle" the dogs off the stage. In fact, it was tried once or twice during that first show, but the young trainer had such control over the dogs that not a one of them failed to go through the!
acts. The friendship of Mr. Bradfute and Mr. Gentry continued until the time of Mr. Bradfute's life, the only vacations he took were the weeks spent with Mr. Gentry as his guest on circus train and lot.

(to be continued)



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