Johann
Petursson
Recollections by Lee Kolozsy
Recently, a fellow showman and I
were commiserating about the
difficulty of accessing the web
while on the
 road.
He enlightened me with information
about cellphone internet
availability. Apparently, I am as
behind the times as a fossil. There
may be other comparisons as well.
He also
turned me on to the article
attached. I was no less than
enthralled.
I first
met Johann at the great Reading Fair
in the late sixties. He had a
specially built Ford semi tractor
with a raised roof to accommodate
his great height. He was the proud
new owner of a custom show wagon
that was a trailerized exhibit with
built in living accommodations
designed to his great scale.
My dad
took me over to meet him
,
and I will never forget his
handshake, how my youthful, yet
large manly hand was completely
swallowed up in his truly gigantic
one. His grip was gentle, yet firm.
He pitched rings that fit his
finger, yet were large enough to be
used as napkin rings.
His new
show trailer was a marvelous rig.
The front had “the Viking Giant” as
the general theme. It was the most
elaborate single-o I had ever seen.
Around back, the entire side was
framed like a joint trailer awning,
with a canvas sidewall. Johann sat
on a tall throne on a raised portion
at the center of the trailer. He had
enlargements of his movie posters on
either side. When he stood and
extended his arms, it was a sight
comparable to the elephant long
mount on Carson & Barnes
,
or perhaps a Zachini double cannon
leap.
Impressive.
The flaw
in the design was the canvas side
curtain. The entire time that we
were cutting up jackpots
,
young boys were lifting the curtain
to get a free look at the giant.
Evidently, this was a great and
ongoing source of aggravation to the
mighty Norseman. He was armed with a
garden hose with a spray nozzle, and
was deadly accurate with it. He was
soaking the freeloaders and enjoying
it hugely. “ Dere! I gott de liddle
sun ma beetches yoo bett”
I didn’t
realize at the time how priceless
this all was…
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