38
The Incredible Eagle & Crane Barnstorming Spectacle
Sacramento, California * May 3, 1941
They practiced all spring. It was slow going at first. Louis and Harry had to learn how to move in their costumes, and the stunts they were now attempting were significantly more complicated, not to mention more dangerous. There were a few near misses that terrified Ava at the time. Later the fellas ribbed each other and laughed about their brushes with death as Ava shook her head in disapproval and rolled her eyes.
“Say, Harry,” Buzz teased in the bar one evening after Harry had nearly fallen to his demise that afternoon, “someone oughta have told you: Those wings on your costume are just for show! I’d stick with the plane or at least a parachute if I was you.”
While they practiced and perfected their choreography, Ava set about making arrangements to rent out a string of airfields throughout the state, setting up a tour for their show. Most of the bookings required payment in advance. She was nervous, handing over Mr. Yamada’s money on the expectation that they would be able to fill the stands with spectators.
“I sure hope we can get folks to buy tickets,” Ava muttered to herself as she studied the growing list of costs.
“Spread the rumor someone might die—or, better yet, that someone already did die—and we’ll have no problem filling seats,” Harry joked. “Folks can be awful morbid.”
“Keep practicing with that reckless attitude of yours, and it won’t have to be a rumor,” Ava warned.
They exchanged a look—half-joking, half-serious. Surely, Ava thought, Harry knew by now that he had the power to worry her.
In addition to booking airfields, Ava was also in charge of hiring the show’s final touch: an announcer. According to Louis, it would be the announcer who gave the show life, who transformed the action into a story, and who compelled the audience to feel like they were following a radio program or watching a picture show. Eventually, a man in Auburn answered their ad: a part-time auctioneer named Bob Howard, a sweaty, pink-faced man whose voice seemed to boom directly from the pit of his enormous belly. He wasn’t handsome, but what Bob lacked in appearance he more than made up for in the charismatic appeal of his announcing voice. It turned out he had a talent for memorizing lines, too. He began to practice with them while Ava supervised, and by their second day he had the whole show down pat.
It began to look and sound like an actual spectacle, Ava thought. She felt herself grow hopeful.
The time for Eagle & Crane’s big premiere finally arrived on a bright spring day in Sacramento. Luckily, the airfield was already fenced and contained ample bleachers. Ava recruited her mother’s help to sell tickets, popcorn, and lemonade. Ava kept a careful count of bodies as they paid and entered.
It was not as many as Ava had hoped, but it was a decent enough mass of folks to qualify as a crowd. There was a genuine current of electric excitement in the air when the show finally began.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Bob hollered into a megaphone in suave, energetic tones. “What you are about to witness today is no casual, commonplace air show! I assure you, the performance you are about to see is unlike anything you have ever heard of! These are no crop dusters, no farmers with a simple hobby! What you are about to witness is a harrowing, death-defying battle between good and evil! Watch as two ancient gods of the sky slug it out! Half-man, half-bird, these superhumans will test their strength against each other . . . only one may reign supreme! Please, ladies and gentlemen, turn your eyes now to the sky and let us hear some applause as we welcome . . . the spectacular . . . the amazing . . . the incredible EAGLE & CRANE!!!”
At that point, Hutch piloted the Stearman so it swooped down low over the top of the crowd while Louis and Harry stood, one of them on each wing, their arms outstretched. Louis’s costume was white and blue, with a hood and mask that was patterned after an American bald eagle. Harry’s costume was white and black with a bit of red, and a hood and mask patterned after a red-crowned crane. Both costumes were draped with “wings” that hung from their arms, from their shoulders to their elbows, almost like a pair of truncated capes that otherwise might belong to a comic-book hero. The hoods were snug, like normal aviators’ caps, but came down to form masks over the top halves of their faces, with holes for their eyes, and the noses of each costume tailored to resemble birds’ beaks.
Admittedly, the costumes and all the extra fuss had a somewhat silly, juvenile aura about them. But this was quickly undercut as Eagle & Crane launched into their first stunt, which was a violent, terrifying mock fight. They danced back and forth across the plane, climbing from one wing to the other, pretending to antagonize each other.
Of course, as Crane, Harry was obliged to play the bad guy. They knew their audiences were bound to be mainly white folk, and most spectators would side with Louis, with his face full of freckles, costumed as an all-American eagle; they identified with him too closely to see him fail. When it came to the Eagle & Crane equation, both Louis and Harry understood it was Eagle who must always, always win.
As the more villainous one, Crane attacked Eagle first, of course, and the whole crowd gasped as Eagle took a terrible punch, windmilled his arms, and rose up on his tiptoes, nearly “falling” to his death. Then it was Crane’s turn to take a punch and nearly fall. The sum effect of this very real-looking fight ultimately hushed the onlookers and quieted any skepticism or ridicule that otherwise might have ensued on account of their gaudy pageantry.
Next, Hutch flew another low pass over the crowd as Louis and Harry climbed up onto the upper wings. They took turns doing further stunts. They did handstands; they hung on and waved their arms dramatically as Hutch flew the Stearman through a series of barrel rolls; they braced themselves against a special metal scaffolding (installed for specifically this purpose) as Hutch flew a grand loop-the-loop. There were more choreographed fights and feats of strength; they did push-ups and pull-ups and dared each other via pantomime to dangle off various parts of the biplane.
Eventually, as Hutch was flying so high the two barnstormers were barely discernible, Eagle was able to get the upper hand, and during the struggle the villainous Crane fell from the plane and came plummeting down from the sky.
Everyone gasped. Several women screamed.
Harry’s parachute would open at the perfect time—just at the point where a frightened audience had grown certain the macabre action was real and that they were witnessing a horrifying accident.
“Aaaaaand it looks like the evil Crane is getting a-way, ladies and gentlemen! . . . What’s that? Oh dear! He’s vowing to take revenge against our noble Eagle!”
Harry, having landed, gathered up his parachute and shook his fist in the air at Hutch and Louis as they flew on without him. A hearty round of boos sounded in the stands, the audience having quickly recovered from its scare and ready to participate again.
“Careful, folks! Crane is a dastardly character! Who knows what diabolical plans the evil Crane has in store for us all!”
Harry shook his fist at the crowd. More booing.
Next, Buzz zoomed up in the shiny red Ford Deluxe convertible that Kenichi Yamada had purchased for this very purpose, and Harry leapt into the open passenger seat. He pointed one finger into the sky after Hutch’s now-distant plane, as if to say, Follow that Eagle! Hutch made a turn and came in for another pass. Buzz revved the car’s engine and charged toward the approaching airplane, then spun the car around using the handbrake and hit the gas again, furiously shifting and trying to keep up as now the plane and the car were running parallel to each other.
Hutch’s plane was trailing a rope ladder. It flapped behind the Stearman as he put the plane down low to the ground.
“Looks like the fight between Eagle & Crane isn’t over just yet, folks! I can see Crane aims to get back aboard that plane!” Bob bellowed. “Will he make it?”
Crane caught hold of the ladder and proceeded to climb out of the convertible, upward into the sky, as the Stearman lifted higher and higher and the car broke away, leaving them to it and turning and driving again back toward its origin.
Once back aboard the Stearman, Crane began a second fistfight with Eagle. After a good five to ten minutes of many harrowing close calls, Eagle finally vanquished Crane, knocked him out, and “imprisoned” him, buckling him into the straitjacket. Harry was then lowered down by his ankles, and strapped to the landing gear, so that he dangled upside down. Hutch buzzed low and circled as Eagle celebrated his victory. All eyes remained on Crane, who was making his escape, and a great gasp went up from the crowd as Harry pulled the straitjacket completely off and let it drop to the ground below.
Just as Crane successfully freed himself and struggled to right himself, the Stearman began to fly out of sight—implying, of course, a sequel.
“What a show, folks! So many questions remain . . . Will Eagle vanquish Crane a second time? Or will the dastardly Crane get the better of our hero? You’ll have to visit us a second time for all those answers and more!”
Forty-five minutes had elapsed. Hutch flew back over the crowd to perform a few final aviation stunts, and the show reached its conclusion. The crowd was small, but the applause was ample. Spectators chattered to one another as they gathered their things. It was almost as though a thrilling, action-packed radio show had come to life!
“Tell all your friends about it!” Ava hollered, over and over, as the audience shuffled back toward their parked cars.