People of Note
Harold Davis, The Great Alzana
The Great Alzana, born Harold Davis on 19 September 1916 at 10 Burley Street, Maltby was to become a world famous tight rope artiste in later life. Harold's future career was greatly influenced by his father, Charles Noah Davis, an amateur who started training Harold and his siblings Edgar, Hilda and Elsie on a low wire in their garden.
By the time Harold was six years old he was showing his skills off to audiences at local church fetes, he later decided that Harold did not suit his act and so gave himself a stage name made up from AL his nickname and his sisters middle name Annie, plus an added "Z" making ALZANA.
Harold left school at the age of 14 to start work down the pits, the first being Maltby and then Thurcroft, he was later to say that walking the high wire was safer than working down the pit, apparently he had one or two bad experiences whilst working down the pit.
During World War Two Harold worked seven days a week down the pit, and his spare time was given to The Home Guard, giving him little time to practise his high wire skills, although he could be seen at night practising on a wire in his garden, if the moon was bright enough!
He married his former neighbour, Minnie (1917/18–2001), daughter of Joseph Knowles, a miner, on 19 April 1941
Harold now known as Alzana did a stage act with his wife Minnie and sisters under the supervision of his father. A promoter asked Alzana to walk along a high wire at Langold Lake, near Worksop. The wire was a hundred feet off the ground and not taut enough for Alzana to walk along without being blown off by the wind, so he decided to step back off the rope, a wise decision, as soon as he stepped off, the rope broke.
In 1946 Alzana was spotted by Clem Butson who booked him for the summer to perform at the Blackpool Tower Circus.
After seeing photo's, John Ringling North, the head of the world's largest circus, Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Baily, sent his agent to see Alzana and his family performing. Alzana was soon working for Ringlings, replacing the great Karl Wallenda as the Aerial act at Ringlings. Alzana's debut act was at Madison Square Garden in 1947, where he and his family were a complete success. Alzana stayed with this circus until the mid 1960's. John Ringling North described him as the greatest high wire artiste to have ever lived and the most daring.
Alzana's wife Minnie and sisters retired from the act in the 1950's, Alzana continued as a solo performer, making several television appearances in England in the mid 1960's.
He retired to Florida in the mid 1970's.
In 1991 Alzana was made a member of the Circus Hall of Fame. He died in hospital in Sarasota, Florida at the age of 83, on 23 February 2001. He had one son Allan, and a grandson, and two daughters. Minnie, died in September of the same year.
During his career Alzana took a lot of life threatening risks, going beyond the boundaries that other acts refused to cross, this attitude brought about a law in New York requiring a safety net to be set in place in case of falls, New York was the only place that Alzana used a safety net! In his career spanning over forty years he broke arms, legs, wrists and ankles, he also broke his back in Boston.
In 1947 while performing in Miami, Alzana and his sister fell from a high wire, their father broke the fall, Alzana escaped serious injury but his sister took seven months to recover, she eventually returned to the High Wire.