ORLANDO, Fla. (Janurary 11th, 2011) – The World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions proudly presents their 41st anniversary presentation of the Dancing White Stallions! Over the years, twenty five million people throughout North and South America, Europe, Australia and Hawaii have seen this internationally acclaimed spectacle. The Lipizzaner Stallion has galloped boldly out of the pages of over 400 years of history, and is now preserved as an equestrian work of art, an equine ballet not to be rivaled. Harkening back to a time when the horse was a symbol of grace and majesty, the Lipizzaner Stallions are truly a great experience to be enjoyed by the entire family!
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 19, 2009) – In a unique partnership, the UCF Alumni Association has been “adopted” by the most famous equestrian show in America – The “World Famous” Lipizzaner Stallions – whose owner Lipizzaner Stallions Inc. of Oviedo is stepping in “to help create the best live mascot program in collegiate America.”
White Stallion President Gary Lashinsky said the company has partnered with the Alumni Association “as a gift to our hometown university commemorating our 41st anniversary.” He introduced “The New Pegasus & The UCF Knight” to the University of Central Florida Board of Trustees meeting today at the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center and to a crowd of students on Memory Mall led by the UCF cheerleaders, dancers and pep band.
“What a great gift for a university whose symbol is Pegasus the winged horse of Greek mythology and whose athletic team mascot is a majestic Knight. Now our Knight has a world-class steed,” said UCF Board of Trustees Chairman Rick Walsh, a 1977 UCF Alumnus and member of the Alma Mater Society – made up of recipients of the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award – which created the live mascot program in 2001.
Lashinsky said White Stallion is committed to training members of UCF’s Equestrian Club who will ride The New Pegasus as The UCF Knight at football games in Bright House Networks Stadium and numerous other appearances on and off campus “where this live mascot can represent the spirit of UCF in the community.”
UCF President John Hitt called Lashinsky and his company a great neighbor and a great partner and said, “we are all thrilled by this wonderful gesture by Lipizzaner Stallions Inc. and The ‘World Famous’ Lipizzaner Stallions.”
Lashinsky created the touring show in 1970, and every year they play before hundreds of thousands of fans in packed arenas across the U.S. and Canada, in Europe and Australia. The tour features 12 to 14 of the stallions – descendants of a line that can be traced back to Carthage more than 2,000 years ago. They bring to their shows 400 years of European history, performing amazing leaps and maneuvers.
The UCF Alumni Association represents more than 170,000 graduates of the University of Central Florida with more than 20,000 active members. Approximately 65 percent live in the Central Florida community. There are 45 chapters around the U.S.
City Native Helps Make Lipizzaner Magic
By Sandy Wells
Staff writer
After losing his shirt as a theater owner - he owned one theater on Broadway and a couple in Ohio - Harry Lashinsky swore off show business and moved to Charleston to wheel and deal in scrap steel.
In 1939, the magnificent Municipal Auditorium opened in downtown Charleston. He couldn't stand it. A venue that beautiful deserved top entertainment.
Still flat broke, he scraped together enough cash for a train ticket to New York. He bought a snazzy suit on credit from a sympathetic haberdasher, stuck a copy of Variety in his pocket and, with help from his good friend, a Shubert shareholder, convinced a prestigious booking office to toss some big-time shows his way.
The first show he promoted here, "Tobacco Road," made him a mint. So did Tallulah Bankhead in "The Little Foxes." He brought more than 200 Broadway shows to Charleston. Such stage legends as Ethel Barrymore and Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine performed on the Municipal Auditorium stage, thanks to Harry Lashinsky.
"He was the ultimate optimist, a great personality," Gary said of his father. "Everybody loved Harry. When he walked in a room, it lit up. He always had a ticket to sell."
Through the theatrical ups and downs, he held fast to his bread-and-butter, Capitol Iron and Metal Works on Pennsylvania Avenue. In the waning 1950s, box office profits nosedived. Attendance dwindled with higher guarantees and higher ticket prices. Scrap iron kept him afloat.
"I used to ask him why he stayed in the junk business. He said the only way he could afford to be in show business was to be in the junk business."
As a teenager, Gary kept a finger in the entertainment pie by working the ticket office for his father's shows. Mostly, he worked in the junk yard. "I was going to go into the junk business," he said.
Learning the ropes
Eventually, the Lashinsky twins went off to the University of Miami, Gary to study marketing and advertising; Philip to major in business management. "We always helped my father with the tours," Gary said. "Dad was one of two national promoters for the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. I'd work as a promoter for him during the summers on the West Coast.
At one point, they sold out two shows in Fresno, Calif. Giddy with success, Gary informed his father he was going to be a promoter. "And where does he put me in October that year? Waterloo, Iowa, and Milwaukee. I lost my butt. The night we opened in Waterloo was Kennedy-Nixon election night, the first time they offered splashy TV coverage. That killed us."
Undaunted, the twins returned to Charleston and started National Shows. They handled Holiday on Ice, the Globetrotters, the circus and other arena acts, but they concentrated on concerts - The Four Tops, the Temptations, Diana Ross, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, "all the major artists," including pop and country.
"One of our first big concerts was Peter, Paul and Mary in 1963. We sold out 18 cities on their first tour. That helped launch our business."
For three years in their concert heyday, they booked Elvis Presley into the Civic Center and sold out every performance.
In the '70s, they bellied up. "The concert business died. The economy was bad. Even bad acts asked for ridiculous guarantees. I had to restructure the horse show because National Shows owned the assets.
"The last date I had anything to do with was in 1978. I had a piece of action on the Rolling Stones at Rupp Arena. It sold out. It was a good finish to a career as a music promoter. I just couldn't take the insanity anymore. Horses are a lot easier to deal with. They don't talk back."
His father died in 1982 of a heart attack at 72. "He still had major shows on the road when he died."
Phillip Lashinsky died in 1999, also of a heart attack. "He was still doing country shows, Shania Twain, Vince Gill, Brooks and Dunn, the top acts." Gary's busy life revolves mostly around his horses. He even took a course from the trainers to better understand the concept of dressage. "I love my horses," he said. "You treat them like royalty, because they are, and they do all you want them to do. I know each one by name, and they know me. I spoil them and give them treats. They're very deserving."
He does have some other interests, however. "I like flying my airplane and racing cars." He's a past national president of the Dodge Viper Club of America. "Phil and I owned the track at Ona for six years. It was a NASCAR track. We were way ahead of ourselves."
Reach Sandy Wells at 348-5173 or e-mail san...@wvgazette.com.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)
The "World Famous" Lipizzaner Stallions, who were immortalized this summer with a hoofprint ceremony at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California, will place the commemorative block of cement on eBay beginning on November 1 and concluding on Veteran's Day, November 11th 2008. One lucky bidder will obtain this unique piece of history with 100% of the proceeds donated to the American Cancer Society.
This one-of-a-kind piece of Lipizzaner memorabilia offers the actual hoof prints of Lipizzaner Stallion Conversano Chantella, and the signatures of Arthur Hiller, legendary director of Walt Disney Picture's The Miracle of the White Stallions and George Patton Waters, General Patton's grandson.
The hoof print ceremony commemorated the first Los Angeles appearance in 20 years of the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallion Tour, which was held at STAPLES Center on July 12, 2008.
Watch our Video on YouTube - Lipizzans On What's In Fashion
The "World Famous" Lipizzaner Stallions appear on the Arts Connection, produced by Public Television. Watch it here!
Martha Stewart goes Haute E' Coule! The World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions Tour recently stopped by the Martha Stewart Show while in NYC for a Madison Square Garden performance.s
L-R is Master of Ceremonies Troy Tinker, Martha Stewart on "Maluso" and Chief Rider Victor Pozzo.
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 19, 2009) – In a unique partnership, the UCF Alumni Association has been “adopted” by the most famous equestrian show in America – The “World Famous” Lipizzaner Stallions – whose owner Lipizzaner Stallions Inc. of Oviedo is stepping in “to help create the best live mascot program in collegiate America.”
