Donat Butowick, also known as Samaroff on stages around the world, delighted thousands for over 40 years.  The Russian performer left home at the age of eight, working with a Chek organ grinder as an acrobat and contortionist.  Two years later, he joined a circus in Rostoff, and performed acrobatic tight wire acting and trick horse riding. In 1898, Butowick fled his homeland to avoid mandatory four-years of service in the Czar's Army.
     An accomplished performer, he ended up in England and joined the Lord George Sanger Circus.  Max Gruber, another member of the Actors' Colony in Bluffton, also worked with the Sanger Circus, and the two became friends.  During a visit to South Africa, Samaroff began training dogs.  He returned to England, and entered vaudeville with the act.  In 1901, he played a command performance before Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle.

     In 1906, he came to the United States to play the vaudeville circuit.  While performing in California he met Ella Bluhmfield, a German acrobat performing under the name Ella Bella, and the couple was married three weeks later, on January 21, 1908 in Los Angeles.  Together, they toured the world as Samaroff and Sonia, an act of national dancing, acrobatics and acrobatic dogs.  In 1913, Samaroff performed before King George V in London.
     The couple came to Muskegon to visit the Grubers, and soon purchased a home in the Actors Colony. They continued performing. 
     One high profile show was performed at Sid Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood in 1928. Grauman staged a prologue, titled "Ballyhoo," before the premiere showing of Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus."  The scene portrayed "An Old Fashioned One Ring Circus." Samaroff and Sonia were among the performers that included Pepito the clown, and Poodles Hanneford, "the world's greatest circus star".