My aunt's married name was Edith Thomasson. Her stage name was LaVerne Hauser. She told me she was Maureen O'Sullivan's stand-in with the animals. The accompanying photos are from photocopies of the originals in an album I've put together. My aunt associated with Harry James, Mae West, Mae Stark, etc. She loved the movies. She was with Barnes Circus for years. She worked with all the animals and loved every minute of it. After she got out of the movies and the Circus she trained dogs. I really loved her and could have listened to her forever telling me about her endeavours. 

My parents (Ann Lynch) and (Fred Thomasson) were in Vaudeville together. They traveled everywhere in the '30s until my mother got pregnant; I was born in 1936. They never married. I never met him but my Uncle Bill (my Aunt Edith's husband) made up for not knowing the Thomasson family. I almost was born in a trunk! Ha ha. I guess that is where I get my showmanship. 

So far, I haven't found information on my aunt in the film credits of the time, but would appreciate very much if someone could share more information on my aunt - LaVerne Hauser.

~ Rita Myers

Barnes Circus made Venice California its winter home from 1914 ot 1919 between the first week in December and the first week in March. It was located near the Venice Lagoon in a large circus tent and several smaller ones behind the Race Thru the Clouds roller coaster. But as the circus grew in size, they looked for a more permanent home with more space. They purchased the old 120 acre Sbacha Ranch on Washington Boulevard between Venice and Culver City in November 1920. 

Since the circus exhibited several thousand performing animals during their 35,000 mile annual tour via private train, they opened the Barnes Circus Zoo in December 1923 at a cost of $79,000 at the corner of Washington Blvd. and McLauglin. The circus claimed that it had more performing animals (1200), than all the other circuses combined. There were 180 horses in one act alone. More>>>