Hurley Heritage Society Hosts Talk on Kingston's Superstar Sea Lion - by Maya Schubert/Kingston Wire
Photo courtesy of Blauweiss Media
The Hurley Heritage Society hosted a multimedia presentation Tuesday evening on the stage and screen’s biggest sea lion sensation, Kingston-trained “Sharkey.” Presented by local historians and authors Gary Bohan Jr. and Stephen Blauweiss, "Sharkey and his Pals: When Sea Lions Were Stars of Show Biz," was based on Bohan’s award-winning book. There’s also a forthcoming documentary of the same name, which tells the story of Sharkey and his trainer, Bohan’s great-grandfather Mark Huling.
The event at Crosspoint Fellowship Center in Hurley featured photos, vintage posters and video clips of Sharkey and the history, local and otherwise, surrounding his legacy. Though born in California, Sharkey’s story truly began at Kingston’s own “Seal College,” a sea lion training facility started by Bohan’s great grandfather, Mark Huling.
In the early 1900s, Huling and his brothers Frank and Ray were swept into show business by Captain Webb, a family friend and the father of circus sea lion acts.
“When Mark was later asked why he did it, he said, ‘I didn't know any better,’” Bohan joked.
Having found their niche in sea lion training, the brothers went separate but similar ways. Frank went on to train in international acts, while Ray focused on cultivating the talents of one seal, Charlie, who earned stardom in early talkie comedy films. Mark Huling worked with sea lions in Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey’s circuses for decades, and, after operating a nightclub in Kingston for some years, decided to open a “college” for seals.
Seal College opened in 1939, in a building on a now empty plot of land along Washington Avenue modern Kingstonians may distinguish as paralleling the old Olympic Diner. There, classes of 15-20 sea lions netted humanely in California learned tricks to earn their “diplomas.
But old Huling family footage also shows the seals playing with Bohan’s grandmother and mingling with the family cat.
“Sea lions really became part of the family,” Bohan said. “My relatives really considered them pets. Sea lions … to some extent, are very much like dogs and cats.”
At Seal College, Sharkey, initially the “runt” of a litter brought from California, stunned Huling with his ability to pick up tricks. His first solo performance was at the Woodstock Library Fair, where he caught the attention of Broadway script writer Gladys Hurlbut. To the chagrin of the actors involved, including Wizard of Oz star Jack Haley, Hurlbut shoehorned Sharkey into the Rodgers and Hart musical Higher and Higher.
After his Broadway breakout, Sharkey went on to perform at the Steel Pier, feature in the Abbott and Costello hit Pardon My Sarong, and star in over 700 performances at Radio City Music Hall. He played with musical icons like Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show three times. During World War II, he sold war bonds and starred in film advertisements.
In between gigs, Sharkey and Huling always returned to Kingston. Sharkey often performed while in town, and one audience member at Tuesday’s event recalled meeting the famous sea lion at a local Cub Scout visit to Seal College.
After Huling died in 1951, his top trainer, Billy Rowe, continued to take Sharkey on the road to perform. When Sharkey passed away in 1957, at 25 years old, Rowe buried him in his backyard, a property on Hurley Avenue across from what is now the Ulster County Board of Elections building.
The Hurley Heritage Society’s connection to Sharkey’s story comes through former president Dale Bohan, Gary Bohan Jr.’s stepmother. Dale recalled that Bohan Jr., while growing up in Hurley and Kingston, always showed interest in his great-grandfather’s legacy. His father, however, did not.
“He kind of wanted to hide the fact that they were circus people — carnival people,” she said of her husband.
When Bohan Jr. announced he was going to write a book on Sharkey and Mark Huling, Dale said, his father’s response was, “No s--t.”
But he eventually admitted the importance of his family history.
“Now my husband is so proud of him,” Dale said. “And he’s digging up all these memories that have kind of been repressed all these years. So it's been a great thing.”
Sharkey and His Pals: When Sea Lions Were Stars of Show Biz was published in 2022 and became Foreward INDIES Book of the Year in the Performing Arts and Music category. Now, Bohan has teamed up with Hudson Valley historian and author Stephen Blauweiss to create a feature-length documentary about Sharkey and Huling's story and the local history surrounding it.
The last event of Blauweiss’ five-part fall series on local history, Blauweiss and Bohan will be hosting another free multimedia presentation on Sharkey on Monday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m., at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Downtown Kingston.