and Tex Williams, the founding father of western swing. The foursome occasionally performed together in local clubs. Tours with a circus tent: 1958–1961 In 1958, Schoepen purchased a big circus tent to be able to tour more efficiently in his own country. Doing so freed him from having to deal with music venue owners, who were asking for ever-increasing rental prices and did not always have appropriate space for his program. He took over the two-master circus tent from the Tondeur family, who were finding it difficult to keep their performances profitable. Schoepen was handed the organizational reins and the circus again began to flourish. The day before a show he would promote the show himself at the designated location, sometimes in his own bizarre manner. An American circus stunt team came to Brussels on the occasion of the world exhibition, Expo 58; it was a private endeavor led by Casey Tibbs. But because of the excessively long distance to the actual Expo events, and the persistent bad weather, they went bankrupt. They could no longer afford to care for their fifty horses and so the team had return to the US. Tibbs had no choice but to give away some of the equipment, and among other things he sold Zorro's horse—named Midnight, from the Zorro television series—to Bobbejaan Schoepen. He used the horse for many years for stunts in his shows and as an attraction during his cavalcades, but the horse stepped on an exposed electricity cable and died. In 1959, Schoepen bought a new circus tent. It had room for 900 people and could be expanded to accommodate a capacity of 1,200. These tours came to an end as soon as Bobbejaanland opened its doors in 1961. Using a circus tent for concert tours was unique for its time. Film Between 1950 and 1967 he acted in five musical film productions: two Belgian, two German, and one German-Czech. In 1962 he played the leading role in the absurd comedy, At the Drop of a Head (alias De Ordannans), together with leaders of the Flemish film scene: Ann Peterson, Yvonne Lex, Denise Deweerdt, Nand Buyl, and Tony Bell. The Dutch and English versions were recorded on the set at the same time. Schoepen was not pleased with this particular adventure into the world of film: "The takes were chaotic and they fired two different directors. Jef Bruyninckx (alias, De