Circus Leopold in Hungary

Circus Leopold
Type	circus

Owner	-: Henrietta Blumenfeld -1907: Leopold Konyot
Country	Hungary

Directors

Key People	-1907: Alexander Konyot (artist) -1907: Arthur Konyot (artist) -1907: Amalie Konyot (artist) -1907: Kathy Konyot (artist) -1907: Amanda Konyot (artist) -1907: Adolph Konyot (artist) -1907: Pepita Konyot (artist) -1907: Max Konyot (artist) -1907: Gertrude Konyot (artist) -1907: Alphons Konyot (artist) -1907: Oscar Konyot (artist)

Veterinarians

Elephant department

Head keepers of elephants

Elephant keepers
Record history
History of updates	2022-09-22

Latest document update	2022-09-22 13:42:49
Relevant literature
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Description

Circus Leopold, Hungary .

Comments / pictures

Records about Circus Leopold from William "Buckles" Woodcocks Blog at http://www.bucklesw.blogspot.com/
Briefly, the Konyot circus dynasty began when Leopold Konyot ran away from home. He married into the Blumenfeld circus family but soon took out his own Circus Leopold. He had 12 children, the first being Arthur born in 1888. Arthur had two children through his first marriage, Dorita and Alex (born 1915). Alex married the great wire walker Josephine Bersoni and one of their children is today’s Olympian equestrian Tina Konyot.
Richard Flint

By the age of 21 he had married Henrietta, the daughter of Simon Blumenfeld, the owner or Blumenfeld Bros. Circus and within a short time they started their own circus, Circus Leopold.

Over the years, Henrietta and Leopold had 12 children, six boys and six girls. Arthur was their 4th son born in December 1888.

As the children grew up, rooted in the tradition of equestrianism and acrobatics, the Konyot family of that time became known as incomparable bareback riders.

They were hired by the leading Circuses of Europe, and as a result, in 1907 John Ringling saw them and contracted them to perform in his newly acquired Barnum & Bailey Circus. So Leopold and Henrietta closed their circus and the whole family, 25 of them, sailed in 1909 for the United States.

Circus Leopold in Hungary Hungary

RBBB 1909.

They toured with Barnum & Bailey Circus until 1912 when they returned to Europe to open their own Konyot Bros. Great American Circus & Wild West Show, which turned into an overwhelming success.

But as life unfolds, through the darkness there eventually comes light, and 3 months later while Arthur was visiting the Circus Barogaldi, he saw a beautiful Russian ballerina named Manya Guttenberg, and his life was changed forever. Arthur and Manya courted, fell in love, and by October 1914 were married. Terrible hardships soon followed with the coming of the First World War. Arthur, along with two of his brothers, almost immediately went into the Austro-Hungarian Army. In the midst of these turbulent times, Alex was born in Budapest in the summer of 1915.

In 1920 Arthur and his brother, Adolph, were hired to manage a circus in Italy. So Arthur, Manya and 5 year old Alex left Budapest for sunny Italy. When their contract in Italy was over, they went to Germany for a short time, then France, and even North Africa. After these tours, they spent 5 years performing in the French circuses, and while in France in 1923 Dorita was born.

In 1949 Alex met the beautiful high wire star, Josephine Berosini, and by 1952 they were married. Around the same time, Arthur said farewell to the circus and moved to Chicago to open his own equestrian center. It was during this period that he met a lovely lady named Elizabeth Ann Murphy, who was to become his future wife and give him 5 more children. Dorita joined her father at his Chicago Riding School. They both trained and showed Arabian horses to championship status, and Arthur became the exclusive trainer to Arthur Godfrey.

Alex and Fina continued to perform in center rings both here and in Europe. They were blessed with a son, Randy and a daughter, Tina.

Among experts, Tina is considered as one of the most beautiful and accomplished trainers and riders in competitive dressage today. She is presently ranked 7th in the nation after competing in the 2004 Olympic trials. Randy trains and sells jumping horses to top trainers and competitors in the US and Europe, and lives near his family in Stuart, Florida, as does Tina.

Induction into the Circus Ring of Fame—Konyot Family, by Tina Cristiani

References for records about Circus Leopold

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan (2024). Circus Leopold, Elephant Encyclopedia. Available online at https://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=3680. (archived at the Wayback machine)

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About this documentThis document was updated: 2022-09-22 13:42:49 with valid HTML5