Once they learned a some tricks and developed an act, they joined the Kay Brothers Circus. My grandmother had bought my dad and Burt a car (or gave them the money to buy one, one or the other) so they could chase down Kay Brothers and try and get on as performers.

Their act, which began on a single bar, later evolved into a comic horizontal bar act (two bars situated eight feet apart) in which they went from bar to bar performing somersaults, giant swings and, of course, a little comedy thrown in - often the routine was done in regular street clothes, other times in tights. Another spectacular feat they later mastered was Burt climbing up a pole that my father balanced on his forehead.

Needless to say, years later they performed all of their own stunts in "The Flame and the Arrow" and "The Crimson Pirate." By then the were both in their late 30s.