When he was born, his mother and father lived at 1515 Garfield Ave,Kansas City, MO. He weighed 7 pounds. He first walked on August 18th,1914. With his family, they left Kansas City for Arizona on September16, 1916. They left Arizona and arrived in Long Beach, CA in 1919.
He attended Poly High School in Long Beach. He left high school duringhis sophomore year in 1929 and went on the road with Tom Kitchen and acouple of his buddies and performed a circus act. As kids, they wouldhang out at muscle beach which was located by the old Pike in LongBeach. Tom Kitchen would get a group of young kids together, teach themhow to do a circus act and take them on the road. This was Robert'savocation for over 30 years until he sustained a shoulder injury in 1959that ended his career. He was a flier in a trapeeze type act. The actsthat he and others formed were The Kitchens, The Olympia Boys, TheRoberts and Johnson & Owen. He perfomed most of his career with RellenJohnson. He and Rellen were booked twice for the Ed Sullivan TV show butnever got on. In those days, TV shows were live and if the show wasrunning long, they would bump the novelty act. He was also on SuperCircus in 1955. This was a circus TV show that was in Chicago.
The only break in his professional career came during WWII. He enlistedin the US Army Air Corps on October 24, 1942 in Los Angeles, CA. Hisservice number was ASN 19174625. At the time he entered the service hispermanent address was 1076 Stanley Ave., Long Beach. He was stationedwith the 3010th AAFBU, Squardron CI, Williams field, Chandler, AZ. Hisunit was in the AAFWFTC Command. The commanding officer was Donald WLund, Capt, AC. During his military career he was a Private for 2 monthsin basic training. He was then promoted to Corporal and was assigned tothe supply clerk career field. He remained at Williams Field until aboutOctober of 1944. He went to Geiger Field in Washington where he stayeduntil he came back to March Field in California to get discharged onDecember 3, 1945.
After he and Rellen Johnson were discharged from the military, theyresumed their circus career which they did until 1959. After the actbroke up, he worked for Magnflux Corporation as a tool crib attendent. In1961, Robert and his family moved from Park Ridge, IL and Settled in ElMonte, CA for a year then moved back to Long Beach. He bought a house at3106 Silva, Lakewood about 1966 or 1967. This is where he lived untilhis death in 1981.
He was a very unique individual. While he did not have much formaleducation, he was one of the smartest people I (Rellen Owen) ever knew.He had a look at life that was a little different than most people.Whether you agreed with his stance on any subject or not, he always madeyou pause and think. His logic about any subject was a little off, butyou when you thought about it, it was pretty hard to disagree with him.He grew up in an erea where verbal communication was important. Hedeveloped his skill well. He was a great story teller. He could build astory and hit the punch line and have a whole room full of people instiches. While we were in Washington DC, he got friendly with this manwho was really interested in life living in a trailer. They spent quitea bit of time telling stories. As it turned out the man was the authorof the book, Long Long Trailer which was a top selling book at the timeand was made into a movie staring Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball. He hadprovided a lot of material for the book. In fact, he had to sign arelease when the movie was made. He also provided a few topics thatHennesey (columnist) wrote up in the Long Beach Press Telegram. Roberthad the ability to communicate with anyone no matter that persons statusin life. He could talk to important people down to the street bumb andcommunicate at their level. As a family man, he was maddening at timesyet you could always count on him. He would give the the shirt off ofhis back if he thought you needed it. He was an interesting person.
[Brøderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 2, Ed. 4, Social Security DeathIndex: U.S., Social Security Death Index, Surnames from M through Z, Dateof Import: Mar 29, 1997, Internal Ref. #1.112.4.36337.51]
Individual: Owen, Robert
Birth date: Aug 23, 1913
Death date: Feb 1981
Social Security #: 525-10-5038
Last residence: CA 90712
State of issue: NM
Zip of last payment: 90712
Imported from "The Tillotson Project": tilston@pe.net