1907
Show World, June 29, 1907, pp. 16, 25-27, 30, 31, 40, 42. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Features of This Issue
It is with some pride that we call attention to this number of the Show World, filled as it is with features of a high class and illustrations of a beauty and finish never surpassed. If, indeed, they have been equaled by any similar publication in the United States. The dramatic, vaudeville, music, moving picture, summer parks, sports and special features have bee provided by experts in their line and they furnish much valuable data to readers. . . .
Salutatory
The Show World makes its formal bow to the public with apologies to no class, clique or individual for its temerity for springing into being. It is bound by no ties to foster the interests of one as against those of another, but it will seek to remain from the beginning what it purports to be - a journal devoted exclusively to matters affecting the well-being of that large and growing community affiliated with the world of amusements and to provide the amusement loving public with reliable and entertaining news of the people in that field.
While THE SHOW WORLD does not claim to fill a long felt want, it may be said parenthetically that the tremendous territory of the Middle West supplied by Chicago with all the things needed in life, hitherto has been without an organ devoted exclusively to amusements. While it is not designed by THE SHOW WORLD to encroach upon the field occupied by its older contemporaries issued in New York, it is distinctly the purpose of this journal to become the standard authority on all amusement matters in the section lying between Pittsburg and San Francisco, and Canadian line and the Gulf of Mexico.
The policy of THE SHOW WORLD will be primarily, to furnish all its readers with goo, reliable and entertaining news of the stage in all its branches. It will be fearless in its advocacy of all things which are designed to uplift amusement and place them on a higher plane. It purposes to be the organ of the show people of every degree, subserving the interests of the manager as well as the humblest of his employes and at no time to neglect those of the public without whose patronage amusements would soon become a dead letter. It will represent no faction, nor favor one class and ignore the rights of the other. Its aim will be to speak truthfully at all times upon topics of interest to the professional and layman. Above all, it designs to be a journal to which not only the people of the show world, but the general public interested in their affairs, at all times may turn with confidence, interest and respect.
With the earnest desire to win the hearty co-operation and support of all alike, THE SHOW WORLD begins its career with a full consciousness of the weighty responsibilities it has assumed. It will not swerve from the pathway it has laid out for itself, and come what may, it will invariably seek to be on the side of truth, justice and progress.
THE SHOW WORLD always will print the news and EVERY ISSUE WILL BE A FEATURE NUMBER. By a steady adherence to this broad policy, THE SHOW WORLD will win and maintain a leading place as the representative amusement weekly of the United States.
A Famous Resort Is 101 Ranch
By a Staff Writer
Miller Bros., Proprietors of Immense Oklahoma Property of 100,000 Acres, Employ an Army of Men - Its Acquirement in Pioneer Days Forms a Romantic Story.
Situated 750 miles southwest of Chicago, 500 miles west of St. Louis, and 300 miles west of Kansas City, is a small station on the Santa Fe known as Bliss, Okla. It is a mere speck on Rand & McNally's maps, yet thousans of people alight from the through trains every year at the little station and the passenger traffic to and from Bliss, Okla, is not inconsiderable itme to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe line. The attraction is the 101 Ranch of Miller Bros., covering a monster tract of 100,000 acres, which is just now limed brightly in the public spot light, and which will continue so indefinitely because of the big Wild West Show which has been sent east from the Ranch to be the feature attraction of the Jamestown Exposition.
The remarkable features of the Wild West Show have been admired by thousands, and those who have not had the privilege of witnessing the most reliable Western exhibition now before the public, have doubtless read many columns regarding it in the press. The history of the 101 Ranch Wild West Show extends back to the days of the canvas-topped prairie schooner, now displaced by the palatial Pullman, and to the period when the rifle and six-shooter constituted the proverbial nine points of law.
Is was in 1870 that George W. Miller, father of the Miller Brothrs, left his home at Crab Orchard, Lincoln county, Kentucky, and drove westward. He went direct to Gonzales county, Tex., where he purchased 250 cattle at $7.00 a head and started to drive them north to a shipping point. Texas was full of roving Indians at the time and they were always ready to take a potshot at any stray white man, especially when he had a likely bunch of long horns with him. However, the elder Miller succeeded in dodging the predatory Indians and reached Baxter Spring, Kan., safely, where he disposed of his cattle at $35.00 a head, making a neat profit.
Robbed by Road Agents
It was on this first trip north that George Miller, attracted by the luxuriant country where Bills, Okla. now stands, decided to locate there. He left Baxter Springs with his money, all in gold, but had not gone far when he found himself looking down the black tunnels of several six-shooters, and was compelled to hand over two-thirds of his wealth to a band of road agents. These gentlemen of the road belonged to the older and more chivalrous regime of bandits, for instead of taking all his belongings they left Miller a few hundreds for expense money and a new start in life, figuring, perhaps, that with a nest-egg he would earn more for them at a future time.
At any rate,with his few hundreds, he returned to Gonzales county, a distance of 1,000 miles, and purchased as many cattle as his capital would permit. These, he drove 1,000 miles to Baxter Springs and sold, this time succeeding in eluding the robbers. He continued making these trips for many years and amassed a considerable fortune. But he never forgot his desire to secure the luxurious cattle country near Bliss, and finall there came a time when the Indian Reservation at the point was opened for settlement. The land had been owned for years by the Indians, but a provision was made that, when an Indian died, his heirs could sell his property. By this time Miller had brought his sons west and they began to buy up the lands about Bliss. They bought piece after piece and many years elapsed before they had secured the big tract of 100,000 acres which now comprises their holdings.
Broke Many Times
It is a notable feature of the rise of Miller Bros. that they lost their all half a dozen times through turns in the market, yet they have always started anew and worked up rapidly, until today their property is worth, together with their live stock, nearly $1,000,000. The panic of 1893 gave Miller Bros. their worst jolt and in the words of J. C. Miller, "made plumb tramps out of them."
It is not likely that Miller Bros. will again be compelled to start at the foot of fortune's ladder. The elder Miller lived until Aprik, 1903, when he died, leaving the big ranch to his three sons, J. C., Zack T. and George L. Miller, Jr. In 1905 Dr. H. E. Thomas, a wealthy physician of Chicago, visted the 101 Ranch and purchased a one-fourth interet, so that he, together with the three Miller brothers, comprise the quartette of proprietors. While Dr. Thomas is a typical city man, nevertheless he spends all the time he can spar on the Ranch and takes the keenest interest in his property.
Army of Men Employed
Statistics regarding this tremendous enterprise will be of interest to the public. The Ranch itself comprises 100,000 acres. There are more than 100 miles of fences on the property, and 50 miles of telephone lines. A force of 200 cowboys and 500 farm hands is employed and it requires the services of 25 foremen to supervise the departments. Some 12,000 acres are under cultivation, and the remainer is devoted to cattle raising. Alfalfa, wheat, corn, oats and feed are raised in abundance. There are in the neighborhood of 1,000 Indians on the Ranch and they reside on the Ponca and Oto Reservations, which are included in the Ranch and for which Miller Bros. pay annually a rental of $30,000 to the Indian owners.
Many of these Indians live in their natural state in wigwams, but there are hundreds more civilized, and some of them have homes worth $5,000, showing evidence of thrift. Miller Brothers have always done everything in their power to help the Indians and their efforts in behlaf of the red-skinned race entitle them to much credit. They have built churches for them and have in many other ways assisted the government in educating the aborigine. As a matter of fact, the work of Miller Brothers in behalf of the Indians is said to be in no small way responsible for the statehood that Oklahoma now enjoys. While their exhibition is typically western, yet many of the braves with the Show only don buckskin and war paint during the daily performances and at all other times wear the habiliments of civilization, thus showing that they have learned well the lessons of advancement taught them by the Millers.
The annual output of the 101 Ranch is tremendous. In round numbers, about 15,000 head of cattle, 5,000 hogs, 1,000 horses and 500 mules are raised on the Ranch.
Hosts to 50,000 People
All of this is however recited to show how Miller Brothers have been enabled to exhibit in such typical fashion life in the great West. The manner in which they were induced to go into the show business was the outcome of a social event when Miller Brothers entrtained more than 60,000 people. During the St. Louis World's Fair, J. C. Miller attended the meeting of the National Editorial Association, and when the time came for selecting the place of the next annual meeting, invitations from almost every state in the Union were received. Mr. Miller supplemented the invitation of a fellow Oklahomite to meet at Guthrie, by stating that if the session were held in that city he would entertain the entire delegation for a day on the big Ranch and show them the evolution of civilization of the West by means of a great spectacle which he would arrange.
His invitation served to turn the meeting in favor of Guthrie. In June, 1905, the editors met and Mr. Miller not only kept his word, but made an arrangement by which the railroads ran excursions from all over the country to Bliss for the event, so that in addition to the 3,000 editors, there were 50,000 people on the 101 Ranch for the grand barbecue and spectacle. The Millers entertained this vast assemblage, entirely at their own expense. A grand barbeque ws given and then followed the spectacle which was gotten up in much the same manner as the Show now being given at Jamestown. Every stage of progress made during a century was shown, from the time the settlers first came West in their prairie schooners to the present day. Among the guests on this occasion were the territorial governor and his staff and many notables. The editors were greatly pleased with the affair and the consequent publicity the 101 Ranch received made its name and history known to every reader in the land.
Was a Quiet Day
The affair took place on a Sunday and in some quarters Miller Brothers were criticised, but there never was so large a public gathering as this, which was as quiet and orderly. No intoxicating liquor was sold nor was gambling allowed on the Ranch, and the Brothers actually refused one offer of $10,000 for the privilege of selling beer on the grounds for the occasion.
On September 16 of the following year a similar fete was held in commemoration of the opening up of the country to settlers. About this time the directors of the Jamestown Exposition were searching for some great national feature for their Exposition and several of them were strongly in favor of securing a show of this sort. It ended in Miller Brothers finally accepting a proposition to put on the most complete Wild West Show ever attempted, as the big feature of the Ter-Centennial Exposition. The Show was first put on at the Coliseum, Chicago, where it ran for three weeks to capacity business, and delighted more than 100,000 people during its visit, scoring one of the biggest hits ever made in Chicago by an attraction of any sort.
A Success at Jamestown
At Jamestown the 101 Wild West has 450 feet frontage and the show is given in an open air arena with a covered seating space which will easily accommodate 15,000 people. The show has proved a wonderful success at Jamestown, and is without doubt the big feature of the Exposition.
There are about 500 people with the Show at all times and in order to keep the exhibition in tip-top shape Miller Brothers change cowboys and Indians at regular intervals. When the cowboys and Indians commence to lose their tan and to grow sluggish from city living, they are sent back to the Ranch and a new lot is brought east. Each week a carload of Texas steers and a carload of horses are shipped east to replenish the Show and in this manner the exhibition is kept snappy and up-to-date at all times. Two of the Brothers remain with the exhibition, while the third stays on the Ranch to keep things moving in their proper form.
A Tourist Resort
The 101 Ranch is one of the greatest Meccas for tourists in the country and thousands of city-tired Easterners are entertained annually by Miller Brothers. Up to the time of the big barbeque for the National Editorial Association, the occasional guests were entertained free of charge, but after the widespread publicity which this affair gave the Ranch, the tourists increased in number so rapidly that Miller Brothers were compelled for self-protection to make a nominal charge for the entertainment of guests. This charge covers board and lodging and the use of a riding horse daily. The guests are allowed to roam the Ranch and hunt and fish at their leisure, and there are few more ideal sports for a summer outing than on this maginificent demesne.
Run by Telephone
The system by which such a monster enterprise as a Ranch covering 100,000 acres is run, is a puzzle to many, but Miller Brothers have reduced it to a science which makes the problem comparatively easy. Everything is divided into departments with a man in complete charge. Miller Brothers remain in the central office and issue orders by telephone, the Ranch being equipped with a complete system of wiring to every portion.
Frequent trips of inspection are made, but this system of telephone enables them to direct any portion of the big property easily. The Millers come of a hard-muscle, far-sighted stock and they impress you at once as men born to lead. Leaving aside their individual success, it must be admitted that their work in Oklahoma has been an uplifting mission. They have aided the Indians in every possible manner and their army of workmen is given every possible comfort and recreation. Their life is wrapped up in the big Ranch and when the Jamestown Exposition becomes a matter of history they will return to Oklahoma and shuck corn. They have undoubtedly been a strong factor in the movement which brought statehood to Oklahoma and as successful business men and public-spirited citizens they command the respect of all who admire pluck, perseverance and indomitable energy.
Colonel Charles W. Parker
Colonel Charles W. Parker, of Abilene, Kan., is founder of the Parker Carnival Supply Factories of that city and also owns and controals the Parker Shows. From a small beginning, he has worked up an extensive trade and manufactures a great many of the best carnival novelties now before the public. His shows are well known and he has done much to elevate the carnival to a high plane. In addition to the factories and traveling shows, whichhe superintends, Mr. Parker recently opened a large skating rink at Abilene which is meeting with success.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
The modern circus is one of the most wonderful of all up-to-date institutions, and when one is un-acquainted with the mysteries of its operation the mere fact of its existence, let alone the marvelous machinery necessary for the moving of the whole, seems almost beyond human accomplishment. Of course, to the old circus man who understands the inner workings o9f the circus machine, it is not so wonderful after all, but becomes merely a matter of several hundred persons accomplishing their individual tasks at the right moment. However, there is nothing more amazing in the growth of amusements than the upward climb of the circus.
The increase in the number of acts is another thing which tends to further bewilder the circus patron. He was able some years ago to go to the tented arena and witness everything. Now he can only see a small portion of it, for there are always at least three performances going on at once. In each of the rings and on the platforms there are nimble acrobats or intelligent animals going through their stunts, while over his head on many bars and trapezes aerial performers are flying to and fro and an army of clowns is distracting his attention on the Hippodrome track. To take in everything in the modern circus a man must have as many eyes as he has fingers and toes.
And take, too, the parade, that time-honored institution without which no circus is complete. Time was when a few wagons, a few mounted performers and an elephant or two, with a clown tagging behind, satisfied us completely. Now there must be more than a mile of glittering panoplied pageantry, or we turn up our noses in disgust. The modern circus parade is a monster symphony of gold and red with hundreds of horses and hundreds of people.
Campbell Brothers' Shows
Secretary C. E. Whitney, of the Campbell Brothers' Consolidated Shows, writes THE SHOW WORLD as follows:
"Saturday, June 15, ended the seventh week of Campbell Bros. tour of Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. During all this time but seven days of circus weather have fallen to their lot. Their first parade was given in a blinding snow storm,and the next day it was necessary to scrape some eight inches of snow from the lot in order to erect the canvas. Two stands have been lost, viz: South Omaha, Neb., owing to a blizzard, and Glenwood, Minn., on account of rain, and several night performances have been abandoned for the same reason. Nothwithstanding the unfavorable weather, the treasury shows several thousand dollars better than for the same period last season. Not a head of stock has been lost, nor any serious accident occurred.
"The death of 'Doc' Campbell came as a sad blow, not only to his brothers, but to every one connected with the show. For years he had been the active manager of the show, coming into direct contact with the people of all departments. While a man of quick temper, he was strictly just, and as tender a heart as ever beat in the breast of man. It is greatly owing to his ability and judgment that the Campbell show grew in a short twelve years from an aggregation of one wagon and two horses to the show it is today. He is greatly missed but his brothers announce their intention of carrying on the business as heretofore, and make the Campbell name, if possible, an enduring monument to the memory of the brother who has gone ahead, to the far advance.
"The principal features with Campbell Brothers' Shows this season are Sie Hassan Ben Ali's troupe of Beduoin Arabs, ten in number; Mizuno's Royal Japanese Troupe (7); The Lamy Troupe of Acrobats (4); Capt. Dimitri and his Company of Russian Cossacks (4); The Gentry Aerialists (3); Orrin Hollis, Fred Costello, Nettie Hollis and Norma Davenport, riders; Chas. Barnett and Win Wallace, mule hurdles. These acts, with a large number of smaller acts, make up a varied and snappy program, which seems to give universal satisfaction.
"The seven elephants and ten camels which bring up the rear of Campbell Bros. parade, make a strong feature, the results of which are daily shown at the box office.
"Campbell Bros. showed to their first turn-away of the season at Duluth, June 5, and a 'near-turn-away' at Superior the day before. This show does not get as many turn-aways as some others (on paper), but the wise ones in the circus business notice that the Campbell Show comes out each spring a trifle stronger than it was the year before. It is the steady, average business that brings the lasting returns to the box office."
Gollmar Bros.' Show a Hit
Success, both financially and artistically, is being met by the Gollmar Bros.' Shows, now met by the Gollmar F. E. Tryon, mail agent of the show, sends to THE SHOW WORLD the following complete roster of all employes and the entire executive staff.
Chas. Gollmar, general manager; B. F. Gollmar, treasurer; Fred Gollmar, R. R. contractor; Wallie Gollmar, equestrian director; Harry Wirtz, equestrian assistant; F. E. Tryon, press representative; R. W. Baker, band director; Lew Aronson, manager side show; Ed. Jamison, charge of commissary department; Doc Parkhurst, charge of canvas; Geo. Holland, boss hostler; Frank Dial, first assistant; Bert Krotz, second assistant; John White, charge of front door; Geo. Parsons, charge of privileges; Bert Gribble, leader of side show band; Emery Stiles, charge of animals; Steven Smyth, charge of ring stock; F. J. Warrell, legal adjuster; Howard Anderson, boss of properties.
The main features on the big show are: The Flying Nelsons (six people); The Nelson, Maxwell & Hill troupe of aerial bar artists; Wooley & Pierce, aerial bar performers; the Smith family of acrobats; The Judges, aerial teeth swing; The Ashtons, comedy acrobats; Ollie Gustard, hurdle; Chas. Rooney, hurdle; Geo. Wood, menagerie act; Ray Spike, menagerie act; Delia Royal, menagerie act; Lizzie Rooney, principal riding act; Linda Julien, principal riding act; C. Vancello, barrel kicking; Geo. Wyman, Stanley Ferguson, J. B. Gagnier, Ed. Allen, Pop Smith, Harry Ashton, Vaudelle and Jospeh Lafferty, clowns; Madame Yetta La Velle and ballet of 25; Al Newton, clown; Eddie Rooney, bounding wire.
Members of the big show band, with R. W. Baker as leader are: John F. Dusch, G. C. Loomis, Harry Knight, Gus Doreman, Pete Thordeson, L. J. Johnson, Emmett Dougherty, Lars Larson, A. Mosstadt, H. B. Bundy, Edwin Beck, L. H. Davis, Bob Allen, Ralph Willits, Frank Pike, Geo. Harris, Ed Cobette, Chas. Rowlande, Fred Lane.
In the side show tent the following performers amuse the crowds: G. E. Towns,magician; The Cliffords; Geo. Mellivan, Macey, Chas. La Noive, Millie Margi, Harry Moulton, Silvia, Ralph Bailey, first box; B. F. Amery, second box; J. D. Anderson, third box.
Music is furnished in the side show by the following band: Bart Griffle, director; Jean Rolf, Lester Green, Branson Wood, Art Jargoson, Chas. Carpenter, Howard Murphy, Archie Harris and William Morse.
Allen Sells, Jr., began his career as manager of a circus, when he took charge of the William Sells Show this month. Young Sells recently completed his education at St. Johns Military School, Saline, Kas., where he had been studying for the past four years. His portrait will be on the lithographs, along with that of the late Allen Sells and of William, the one-time famous bareback rider. Other members of the executive staff will be, C. B. Fredericks, general manager; James McElroy, assistant manager, and Charles Coleman, advertising manager. It is the intention of Mr. Sells to winter his circus at the Fair Grounds at Wichita, Kas., every winter, and to open there each spring. The show now travels on 32 cars.
The management of the Sells-Floto shows is at present engaged in defending a suit for $5,000 damages, brought against them by S. E. Rozell, of Twin Falls, Idaho, whose daughter, it is alleged, was killed by a tiger belonging to the show.
Hugh Coyle,
one of the America's best known publicity promoters for amusement enterprises is Hugh Coyle,
general agent of Mackay's Circus, now in Chicago.
Personals
Florence Sutton, a performer with the Wallace circus, who was injured while doing an act at Johnstown, Pa., some weeks ago, is convalescent. Miss Sutton was suspended by her teeth from a rope held by another member of the troupe when the rope broke and she fell to the ground sustaining serious injury.
Pat-Chats
Pertinent Paragraphs, Personal and Professional, by Warren A. Patrick
With this issue, THE SHOW WORLD begins its career.
It is neither our purpose nor desire to mark the opening of that career by drawing fanciful pen pictures of the future. We simply remind our readers that every career is destined to success or failure, and that while we are modest in our pretensions, we are strong, very strong, in our confidence of the success of THE SHOW WORLD.
We have a promising field, ample financial resources, the benefit of valuable experience, and the support of still more valuable connections to back the indispensable asset of confidence.
Our first issue will convince readers that we mean business, and that THE SHOW WORLD, at least, has made its virgin bow under favorable auspices.
Scarcely two months have elapsed since the launching of THE SHOW WORLD suggested itself, and it was impossible withing that time to arrange so that the broad field embraced in its policy could be covered satisfactorily.
But Rome was not built in a day.
We only ask that what has been done in this first issue shall be accepted as an earnest of what the succeeding numbers will accomplish.
The scope of THE SHOW WORLD is world-wide. Its aim is to chronicle events in the entire amusuement field. The drama, opera, music, vaudeville, burlesque, minstrelsy, the circus, the summer park, street fair, carnival, county fair, skating rink, Chautauquas, and polite sports will receive comprehensive treatment in its columns.
It will be our special care to make the reading matter and news as interesting, timely and trustworthy as possible, so that the information offered in every department may posses a real value for readers. Correspondent and other contributors will be required to exercise critical ability, as well as the ability to praise. This policy will serve to make the reading matter of THE SHOW WORLD reliable.
THE SHOW WORLD is the first publication of its character ever published in Chicago. There is an undefinable sense of security and success in the mere fact that it has been born and will be cradled in the great metropolis of the West. The very atmosphere, whose every breeze bears the record of great achievements, cannot fail to bring the youngster, now in swaddling clothes, to the lusty vigor of manhood.
"Westward the course of Empire takes its way."
Since THE SHOW WORLD project was launched, I have received hundreds of congratulatory letters from well wishers and the public generally, for which I hereby extend my heartfelt thanks. These expressons of good will convince me that THE SHOW WORLD will, in time, accomplish the mission, that of presenting all of the news in which show people are interested, to which all its energies will be devoted. I do not promise extraordinary performances in this regard, but the people of the show world may rely upon this - that their interests will not be neglected in its columns.
What I have said repeatedly in the past, I repeat again, so that you may not lost sight of it, and it is this - Chicago is fast becoming the producing center of this country. During the past season many theatrical productions of note won their laurels here and their number will be trebled in the coming season.
There is an idefinable something in the atmosphere of Chicago which whets to a keen edge the critical capacity of her people. The show that will withstand the test of popular opinion in Chicago will cut a dash in any city on the globe. Wide-awake managers are conscious of this fact, so that now a Chicago approval of a play or any attraction of prominence is a valuable asset. Meanwhile the number of theaters in Chicago is on the increase to accommodate the demands of eastern managers who desire the earliest and most competent verdict upon the value of their enterprises.
THE SHOW WORLD is desirous of securing correspondents in all parts of the country, and to that end the co-operation of the people of the show world is earnestly solicited. Reliable news pertaining to amusements and the people connected therewith is wanted at all times.
The extraordinary weather which has prevailed throughout the country in the past two months has been a severe blow to the business of amusements in all branches. The summer parks and circuses especially have felt the dire effects of borean blasts when soft summer zephyrs had been counted upon, and thousands of dollars have been sacrificed. People do not care to visit parks when the mercury is seeking a hiding place in the bulb, and this necessarily entials loss upon all who are affiliated with the business of out-of-doors amusements.
The theaters, too, have suffered losses by reason of the peculiar meteorological conditions. In nearly every city the theaters closed their doors at their customary time, but had the managers foreseen prolonged frigidity they might have continued business indefinitely with profit. But the weather, unfortunately, is beyond the control of the average amusement manager, and, as a result, all of us alike suffer inconvenience and financial loss.
In this era of official investigation of graft in public office, trusts, dramatic, vaudeville and otherwise, it might be well to inquire into the methods of the weather bureau which has given us such abominable weather in the past three months. Summer parks, fairs, circuses and out-of-doors amusements of every class have been the principal sufferes at the hands of the weather man, and a successor, with an eye to the fitness of things, will be heartily welcomed.
Top
Show World, July 06, 1907, pp. 6, 18-19. All information should be checked with additional sources.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
The press department of Ringling Bros.' World's Greatest Shows now touring New England, in a communication to THE SHOW WORLD, reports excellent business now that summer weather prevails throughout the country. The letter dated at Springfield, Mass., is as follows:
With winter lingering on the coat-tails of spring, and amid chill winds, and prolonged rains, Ringling Brothers' world's greatest show has gone merrily on its way through New England, playing to the biggest business it ever enjoyed in this part of the country - all of which goes to prove the wonderful drawing power of this great organization.
When Ringling Brothers come to town people are indifferent to cold and rain and turn-a-ways have been the rule as in past seasons. During the Boston week women came in furs and men in heavy top coats, attracted by what is beyond question one of the greatest circus programs ever presented.
Summer struck the show with a vengeance yesterday and promises today to stay with us. At least 30,000 people came out to Hampden Park on Sunday to look the show over. Everything had to be roped in to keep the crowds off. An old lady, leading a youngster by the hand, elbowed her way between one of the laps of the menagerie side wall. She was stopped by a little Englishman who tends one of the lion dens.
"I just wanted to ask you," explained the old lady, "if you have a sacred white elephant."
"We 'as none that's what you might call white," said the animal man, "but they're all wery, wery sacred."
We had two more capacity houses here, and some one who signs himself "Old Ez Jones" gave his impression of the show in verse in the Evening News. Old Ez may not have enhanced the reputation of Massachusetts as the cradle of poets, but he has in metre correctly voiced the sentiments of the whole American people regarding the show.
While the circus train was steaming across the state of Massachusets Saturday night the jungleland stork hovered over the menagerie section, and when the den of "Rose," a big tigress, was opened in the morning Superintendent Charles Smith found his family had been increased by three furry kittens. Tiger babies are not growing on trees these days, so the youngsters are prizes.
A few days ago in a town not far from Boston the mayor came out to see the menagerie in the morning with the chief of police, as the guests of Charles Davis, legal advisor of the circus. During the course of their conversation the mayor asked Mr. Davis if the show carried a calliope, and having spent his boyhood in the Hub, he gave the word its unusual, but correct, pronunciation. Davis admitted that the circus had one.
"A cal-li'-o-pay?" said the chief. "Oh yis, I do hear that they're very rare and costly, but with all your money, I should have two av thim - a male and a female - and raise them to sell."
While Lew Graham, the man with the megaphone voice, was making his opening talk in Fall River one day last week, he was heard clear across the state of Rhode Island by a picnic party in Connecticut, who immediately took the trolley and came over to see Ella Ewing, the Missouri giantess, and Little Lord Robert. When they tried the big show there was no room.
And that's the way it goes day in and day out. Albert Witzenhausen, with his down-town sale, has been packing the drug stores all along the route. In New Bedford a man whose mother-in-law was sick, had to get a prescription filled through the coal hole. Tom Buckley and his two assistants, Leonard Roser and Joseph Brooks, have been using scoop shovels to hand tickets out of the wagon, and Kirkendall in the grand stand wagon sold fifteen miles of reserved seat ticket tape in Boston.
The following is the route of the Ringling Bros. Shows for the month of July:
1. Elyria, O.; 2. Canton, O.; 3. Wooster, O.; 4. Mt. Vernon, O.; 5. Tiffin, O.; 6. Kenton, O.; 8. Marion, Ind.; 9. Kokomo, Ind.; 10. Crawfordsville, Ind.; 11. Paris, Ill.; 12. Litchfield, Ill.' 13. East St. Louis, Ill.; 15. Macomb, Ill.' 16. Rock Island, Ill.' 17. Monmouth, Ill.; 16. Fort Madison, Ia.; 19. Centerville, Ia.; 20. Brookfield, Mo.
John G. Robinson, manager of the John Robinson's Ten Big Shows, writes THE SHOW WORLD from Council Bluffs, Ia., that business was big in Waterloos, Ia., Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. The following notes connected with the large tented enterprise are of general interest:
Patrick J. Fagan, of the Barnum & Bailey Show, visited us at Council Bluffs. Mr. Fagan is the general railroad contractor with the Barnum Show and has many friends.
There is a discussion among the show people as to which is the oldest, Wm. Gore, Dan Dale, Tom Ambrose, or Claude Orton. Nobody knows, and they won't tell.
Thomas Perival Andrews is selling grandstand tickets for the big show by the thousands. He is also sidewalk comedian for the show. Andrews tells more jokes than any other member of the outfit.
Dr. Edwin M. Baehr, of Cincinnati, spent a few days with the show last week, rendering professional services to John G. Robinson, who has now fully recovered from a brief illness.
Olivetto's Band of Italian soloists is still one of our musical features.
Claude Orton is still our efficient trainmaster. Claude is good in any position with a circus.
George Atkinson is looking after the papers during Dock's absence.
We have had 18 sunny days since April 29, which makes a pretty hard spring, according to the opinion of the workingmen.
William Davis, our genial dining room man, is one of the most popular members with the show. He not only pleases our culinary tastes, but breakfast is served every morning one hour after the wagons are on the lot.
Much credit is due Fred Fisher, the equestrian director, for the systematic way in which he has the acts running on time at each performance.
Ed Cullen has fully recovered from his sick spell and now is one of the healthiest-looking men around the lot.
George S. Cole is suffering from a bad cold.
Harry Lamkins is the proud manager of our ball team. Recently we beat Waterloo, Ia., 7 to 2, and Boone, Ia., 11 to 6.
The act now used by the Minerva sisters is one of the features of the show.
Ed Holland is kept busy keeping in a good supply of wagon poles. Ed says the mud is so deep in Iowa that he loses one out of three poles each rainy day.
Cal Towers is a native of Iowa and he has been the recipient of many dinner parties.
Dock Christman now has charge of the side show.
J. M. Adkins, well kown as a circus billposter, was a welcome caller at the offices of THE SHOW WORLD last week.
Gus Peterson, city comptroller of Kansas City, Mo., made a motion in the city council in that city recently, requesting that the circus license be reduced from $500 to $300. As the license now stands, most of the large shows have avoided playing Kansas City this season.
The working-man problem is giving the Barnum & Bailey Show considerable concern. Charles Andress had the telegraph companies working over-time last week.
H. E. Butler, press agent with the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows combined, in a recent communication to THE SHOW WORLD, stated that business was exceptionally favorable.
For three years The None Such Brothers Circus (a burlesque parade) has been the Fourth of July feature at Janesville, Wis. The business men of that city repeated the event this year. C. S. Putnam, George D. Simpson, and Dave W. Watt, the amusement committee, were in Chicago last week and arranged for the various attractions.
Mr. Watt is well known in the profession, having for a number of years been the treasurer of the Adame Forepaugh show, where he gained the title, and was awarded the medal for being the lightning circus ticket-seller of the world. Mr. Watt informs us that the None Such Brother's circus parade will be one mile and a half long, and Dave was never known to tell a lie.
Owing to the sudden illness of Fred Faulkner, manager of the Lyons Bros. Shows, the circus was brought to a sudden close, at Libertyville, Ill., last week. There were 35 people connected with the organization, with W. L. Wheeler as business manager and Roger Flint, general contracting agent.
Mike Coyle, general railroad contracting agent of the Buffalo Bill Show, is making his headquarters at the Windsor Clifton Hotel, Chicago. He was delighted with the first issue of THE SHOW WORLD and predicted a brilliant future for it.
George B. Donovan has severed his connection with the Big Otto Animal Show at Riverview Park, Chicago, and has become identified with the new William Sells Show as manager of the Annex. The Sells Show opened July 4. William Sells arrived in Chicago last Saturday, to close negotiations for acts and show property.
Jerry Daily has secured all of the privileges with the William Sells Show.
Frank Talbott, of "Fighting the Flames" fame, was in Chicago from St. Louis last week.
A. G. Ringling, general agent of the Forepaugh and Sells Bros. Show, made his headquarters at the Windsor Clifton last week. During an interview with a representative of THE SHOW WORLD he said, "Our business this year is something wonderful. The wave of prosperity seems to have hit the entire country. The banner town struck so far this season was Newark, N. J., where all records were broken. Referring to the first number of THE SHOW WORLD, Mr. Ringling stated that he believed there was room for a good, live, wide awake amusement paper and from indications he thought the field was very nicely covered by THE SHOW WORLD.
P. J. Fagan, general railroad contractor, and R. M. Harvey, general contracting agent for the Barnum & Bailey Show, were guests last week at the Windsor Clifton. They will be regular readers of THE SHOW WORLD.
W. O. Tarkington was a SHOW WORLD caller Saturday and very copiously expressed his good opinion of this journal.
Fred Gollmar of the Gollmar Bros. circus made his headquarters in Chicago last week and honored THE SHOW WORLD sanctum with his presence long enough to give his opinion of the paper. He was sure "it would be a winner."
George Aiken, railroad contractor for the John Robinson Ten Big Shows, is a familiar figure on Chicago's Rialto these days and went on record during a visit to the offices of THE SHOW WORLD that he was to be a confirmed booster for the paper.
Advance Manager Whittier of the Al. W. Martin Shows was a welcome caller at THE SHOW WORLD offices last week.
Louis E. Cooke, general agent of the Barnum & Bailey and the Buffalo Bill Shows, is making his headquarters at the National Show Printing Company in the Tribune building, Chicago. . . . Mr. Cooke is one of the busiest show men in the world. His position with the Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill Shows involves tremendous responsibility. He has much detail work in looking after the two shows. He reports everything running smoothly, business big and the prospects for the future very bright. Now that the weather has settled, he said, circus managers can confidently expect an increase in their business.
Walter K. Hill, general press contracting agent for the Buffalo Bill Show, arrived in Chicago last Sunday, and is busily engaged in the preliminary newspaper campaign for the Chicago engagement, which opens July 22 and which, from present indications, will prove eminently successful. During the past four months, Chicago has gone Wild West mad. Buffalo Bill always has been dear to Chicagoians and they anxiously await his return.
The Yankee Robinson Shows, in order to keep the dates as advertised, employed a special train of sixteen cars to haul the outfit from Henderson to Redwood Falls and from the latter point to Toronto, South Dakota. The mud and the rain was something which caused the oldest weather prophet in Minnesota to hunt his hole in shame. He was simply put out of business. The show is still having a phenomenal run in receipts.
The daily papers in Duluth are indulging in a redhot dispute over the issuance of a license to Pawnee Bill. the Minneapolis Journal takes up the cudget and declares: "To allow a show like Pawnee Bill's get off on a license fee of $15 for two days' exhibition on a strained construction of the ordinance when, as a matter of fact, it ought to have paid $750 is to deprive the city of its legal fee to the extent of $735. It looks like graft." Evidently the contracting agent is worth his salary in this case. When Barnum's representative came along the license fee after a hard fight was reduced to $250.
Top
Show World, July 13, 1907, pp. 8, 12, 17, 20. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Gleanings from Chicago Rialto
News of the Tent Shows
A novelty that is attracting attention in all the amusement parks is swimming, and this week's bill includes two of the most famous swimmers in the world. They are Mr. and Mrs. Finney. They dare not venture into the tank with their medals for fear of drowning, but they assure the audience that they are entitled to the medals they wear and take them off just before entering the tank. . . .
Pat-Chats
Pertinent Paragraphs, Personal and Professional, by Warren A. Patrick
The circus press agent who cannot chronicle the addition of a baby elephant or tiger kitten to the menagerie of his show these days, is in hard luck. Within the past month the elephantine stork has visited a dozen circuses in the east and all have not been heard from.
Mackay's Circus Attached
Performers Charge They Have Been Deprived of Their Salary
Mackay's European Circus, after an existence of ten days, stranded in Chicago last week. More than eighty performers were employed by the circus and if rumor is to be believed few of them got any salary. The tent was attached by The Murray Co., and the wagons were levied upon by a local transportation company. That the show was not making expenses was known by many of the performers and they repeatedly demanded their money, but were assured by Mackay, so some of the performers stated, that they would be paid in full, and that he had good financial backing. One day last week before Mackay had put in his appearance the canvas and wagons were attached and he did not take the trouble to appear, the show men declared.
Poor management and lack of advertising are given as the direct causes of the failure. Very few bills were distributed in the locality where the show was located, and he did not give a street parade. As a result business was poor. It is claimed Mackay had an elegant show and had he advertised he would have made good. Threats of suits were made by some of the more indiganant performers and the probability is that suits will be started before the end of this week.
Andrew Mackay, who is said to be the owner of the show, has been for years manager of the Rose Melville in Sis Hopkins. THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of the following communication from some of the actors who were with the show:
Chicago, Ill., July 6th, 1907, Editor of The Show World, Dear sir: - We write you to explain the predicament we have been placed in on account of the failure of Mackay's European Circus. We have been led from lot to lot and a number of the performers have been compelled to remain in the city since the 22nd day of May and since that time they have not drawn any wages to speak of. One of us drew $100 through a strategy. We others are left here without a cent of salary and we performed with the circus after it opened for ten days. We demanded our salary repeatedly and were given some evasive answers or promisess and at last our expectations were realized when a tent concern attached the canvas for non-payment of a bill. As a consequence we were left at our own expense in a strange city and with our stock to feed and care for.
We deem this affair an outrage and think that Andy Mackay should be advertised to the profession so that other performers may not be taken in and suffer the same as we do at present. Mackay assured us time after time that we would be sure to get our salary and we placed implicit confidence in him, and now you can see where we stand. It is getting to be a fine proposition when a showman, with a contract, cannot get enough money in salary, after working, to even pay his expenses. We trust that you will expose Mackay for the sake of the profession.
Altogether there are more than eighty persons in the same plight as ourselves, but the majority of them are in far worse straits and they have our deepest sympathy. The poor business management of Mackay is the cause of his failure and there seems to be but little chance of us realizing anything on what is coming to us. He did not advertise his show and expected that people would come of their own accord. We are confident that your paper will be of service not only to us, but to the profession at large.
We will be grateful to you for anything you can do in giving this matter publicity. Thanking you for the favor we ask, we are, Very respectfully,
L. F. Sunlin, 500 N. Front St., Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louis M. Cohen, 180 Jewett Ave., Port Richmond, N. Y.; Al Armer, 322 S. Paulina St., Chicago, Ill.
War Path Concessionaires at Jamestown Doing Well
Jamestown Exposition, Va., July 5 . . .
The boys at the 101 Ranch deserve the highest praise for the gallant work they did during the recent fire at Pine Beach. Had it not been for the manner in which they rode through the smoke and flames and then with their ropes and ponies tore down several frame buildings that were in the path of the fire, there is no telling where the destruction would have stopped. They saved the establishments of Cheyenne Joe, California Frank and several others and continued their labors until the last fireman had left the grounds. They were a tired bunch of cow punchers when they returned to the Exposition grounds, where they were greeted with cheer after cheer as they passed the different shows on their way to the ranch a tired and scorched crew.
Miller Bros. 101 Ranch is doing exceptionally well. They give two shows a day and always please the people. It is rumored that the show is to go on the road for six weeks and then return, but this cannot be verified either at the exposition headquarters or from the Millers themselves.
Col. Francis Ferari has just returned from an extended trip and announces that he has make good contracts for his Big Carnival Company, which will open at Hoboken the latter part of July. He will have in addition to his big animal show about ten good pay shows and several fine free attractions. Col. Ferari is doing good business at his "Jungle" on the War Path, which for the time being is being handled by Mr. Sam C. Haller.
Ollie Webb, caterer with the Ringling Brothers' circus, prepared a spread for the employes of this show, which was served in Mt. Vernon, O., after the afternoon performance, July 4. It proved the more enjoyable by coming as a complete surprise to almost every one connected with the circus.
The Hagenbeck-Wallace circus experienced great difficulty in getting away from Warren, Pa., after the night performance July 1. It rained steadily throughout the night and the last train did not leave for Oil City, Pa., the next stand, until seven o'clock in the morning. The heavy wagons became stuck in the mud and it required a dozen horses and several elephants, in some cases, to move them. The parade was accordingly very late in Oil City.
Top
Show World, July 20, 1907, pp. 6, 7, 10, 20-21, 22, 26. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Rajah and His Record - Makers
How a Quartette of Rural Correspondents Vied with Each Other in Telling Stories of the alleged Exploits of a Guileless Circus Elephant in the West. By Steve O'Grady
Rajah, the elephant, has been dead several years, but the oldest inhabitants of Argentine, Kas., where the Lemon Bros. shows and Rajah took up their winter quarters in times past, still remember the famous beast which was advertised as two inches taller and at least 200 pounds heavier than the late lamented Jumbo
Circus press agents are wont to boast of their elephant fakes, but in my humble opinion, Rajah was the subject of more and greater fake stories than all the other elephants in the world combined.
And these fakes were not due to the energy of a press agent, for Lemon Bros. always put this gentleman on the shelf during the winter period. No, it was a quartette of energetic rural correspondents who were largely responsible for the publicity given to Rajah.
Rajah Subject of Fakes
Argentine, Kas., is about seven miles from Kansas City. The Kansas City newspapers watch Argentine just as the New York papers watch Jersey City and Hoboken. Argentine was just far enough away from the home office for the local correspondents to successfully plant their fakes without fear of successful contradiction and Rajah was known as the rainy-day life-saver.
The circus people, of course, would stand for anything and once a story appeared in the newspapers, the managers at winter quarters would be more than willing to back it up with affidavits.
Correspondents Are Active
To one Doc Shively; formerly Argentine correspondent of the Kansas City Star, Rajah and the other attractions of the Lemon Bros. shows owed columns of publicity. Shively was the pioneer correspondent in Argentine and he always introduced the new men from the other papers.
One of the first degrees for the new correspondent was an insight into the Rajah fakes. Shively never tried to scoop his rivals on these stories. He wanted to make the fakes good by having them printed in at least one other newspaper.
Saturday usually was a dull day at Argentine and often I have heard Doc remark: "Let's go out to the winter quarters and see if we can't pput Rajah on a rampage." The old elephant was an awful brute when he got in an ill-mood and it must be said to the credit of newspaper men that most of the stories were founded on a thread of act. It was not uncommon for Rajah to kick his stall to pieces, such performances generally being followed by a story detailing a panic among all the animals.
Celebrated Fake Story Exposed
Probably one of the most widely circulated stories about Rajah was the one regarding his being substituted for a switch engine by a crew in the Santa Fe yards. The story went on to relate how the switch engine broke down and the switchmen, desiring to move thirty-two cars to another track, solicited the kind offices of the circus management, which readily offered Rajah as a substitute. Rajah was said to have pushed thirty-two freight cars, some of them loaded, a distance of 200 feet.
This story was printed in every section of the United States, not alone in the daily and weekly newspapers, but in many high class periodicals. It finally found its way to England, where it was printed in many London and provincial newspapers, and it was even translated by newspapers in Germany and France.
Reporter Looking for "Scoops"
There strolled into Argentine one day a new correspondent in the person of Fred Cowan, who had been detailed to cover the town for the Kansas City Journal. Cowan displayed a remarkable degree of energy and not a little ambition. He refused to show the usual degree of warmth to his fellow correspondents and worked night and day trying to scoop us. I was doing Argentine for the Kansas City Times and Shively and I had had a sort of a corner on the Rajah stories.
One Saturday, we decided to hand Cowan a good one, so we stealthily made our way to winter quarters on the outskirts of the city and learned that Rajah had been on a tear the night before, had attacked his keeper, hurling him in the air, and had cut up in various other ways.
Shively and I played up the story strong, while Cowan didn't have a line of it. The new correspondent, however, was determined to get even and he did most beautifully.
Boa Constrictor Swallows Lion
Unknown to us he visited the winter quarters next day and the result of his visit was one of the baldest fakes every credited to the Lemon Bros.' Show. He wrote a wild and lurid story of how the big boa constrictor had swallowed the baby lion, William McKinley; how circus employees had worked for hours with fishing tackle, ropes and other things to draw the lion from the stomach of the snake without injury to either and how finally they had to get an ax and kill the boa constrictor in order to save the cub lion. The cub, of course, was reported uninjured, while the carcass of the boa constrictor was exhibited as proof that something had been doing. This fake was printed on the first page of the Journal and was handled by the Associated Press and circulated all over the country. There was not a word of truth in it and while a carcass of a snake was exhibited it was that of an old timer who had perished several days previously.
Cowan, however, had stung us at our own game and a truce was declared the very next day.
Circus Stories Rouse Suspicion
The circus stories from Argentine became so numerous and commonplace that the Kansas City papers finally began to look with suspicion on all of them, even a few true ones, but long after the baby lion episode, Rajah was utilized in a thriller that or originality and daring I don't believe has ever been equalled. How much fact and fake there was to this story no one save the circus people ever knew, but it kept top heads on the front page of all the newspapers for three days, set the entire town of Argentine on the qui vive and attracted universal attention.
Rajah Goes On a Rampage
One night the morning newspapers received information that Rajah had broken from his moorings and was liable to rip the town wide open. The city editors didn't allow their trusty Argentine correspondents "to do" the story, but sent over men from the regular staff.
When the local reporters arrived, Rajah was in the Santa Fe yards, apparently cornered. A score of circus employees, headed by Frank Fisher, the elephant's trainer, were holding a council of war; and a hundred or more town folks were gathered at a safe distance watching the battle.
Rajah remained in the dark all night and the skilled reporters from Kansas City returned and wrote graphic accounts of the outbreak.
People Are Terror Stricken
Everyone in Argentine was warned that Rajah was loose and in nearly every house in town lamps remained lighted all night and very few people went to bed.
The following morning Rajah moved from his position to a point nearer the Kaw river. The circus people, still pretending to fear the beast, kept up the tension and hundreds of people came over from Kansas City to see the excitement.
Additional reporters were sent to the scene of activity and the escape of Rajah assumed the importance of an international event. Bulletins were telephoned hourly to the evening papers, pictures of Rajah were played up and all manner of wild rumors were printed.
Rajah on the second night moved into Kaw river, waded half way out and took up a formidable position on a small island the third day of his freedom.
It was at this stage in the proceedings that the astute circus managers discovered that they had certainly picked up a bononze. There were never so many newspaper men in Argentine before or since. However, there must be some new thrillers to add to the interest and to furnish foundation for additional first page stories. Then it was that someone sprang a coup.
Headed by Fisher, a dozen men stationed themselves on the bank and with small rifles began shooting at Rajah at long range. Frank Lemon, one of the circus proprietors, announced that he would rather have the animal killed than subject the town to renewed terror. The order was given to shoot to kill
Looked Like Real Warfare
The discharge of the rifles proved the most sensational feature of the three-days' fight. It looked like real warfare. Special writers simply annihilated their type-writers and Kansas City and the surrounding country talked of nothing else.
Another interesting feature of the case, as the newspapers expressed it, was that the bullets seemed to have no effect on the brute although with mathematical accuracy figured that they had pumped more than 200 balls into Rajah's tough hide.
On the fourth day there was fresh interest created when it was announced that Trainer Fisher had decided, at the risk of his life, to row out to Rajah Island and subdue the beast with grab hooks.
Daring Trainer Subdues Rajah
Hundreds watched with bated breath the daring trainer. Rajah stood his ground and looked curiously at his trainer. Fisher landed on the island, about twenty feet from the elephant, and seemed to spar for an opening. Raja [sic] didn't move. Fisher approached softly. Rajah was calm.
Just what passed between Rajah and Fisher is not quite clear. Fisher seems to have said, "Hello, Rajah" or something like that, while Rajah apparently tried to shake hands.
Docile as a lamb, the elephant was led back to shore and then tothe winter quarters, and Argentine's greatest elephant story passed into history.
Only True Story Disbelieved
The Kansas City editors always thought that something had been handed to them on this Rajah episode, but they consoled themselves with the decision that someone had surely made a most scientific job of it.
The show took to the road and a few months afterward a query came in from a little town in Texas which read: "Frank Fisher, trainer of the Elephant Rajah, killed while trying to subdue the beast. How much?"
The telegraph editors smiled and the query found its way to the waste basket.
About a week later it developed that the story was true. Rajah had actually killed his trainer and it is probably that the only real incident in the big elephant's life had been turned down by the copy desk.
Correspondence of Show World
Dayton, O., July 14 . . . Harry Nye, who has been in advance of the leading circus and theatrical attractions for the past ten years, and who handled E. J. Carpenter's "A Little Outcast" company the past season, is located in Dayton, making this his headquarters for a chain of parks and summer restorts, extending from Zanesville, O., through Newark, Buckeye, Lake, Springfield, Richmond, Muncie, Anderson, Eaton, Wabash, Peru, Lafayett, Ft. Wayne, Hamilton and so on, being general park manager for the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Easter, Indian, Columbus & Eastern, Indiana Union and Cincinnati Northern Traction companies.
Iowa Falls, Ia., July 14 . . . Earl May, a well known Minneapolis newspaper man, has joined the press forces of the Gentry Dog & Pony Show which is under the management of Ike Speers, one of the best known men in the amusement world in the west.
Tom North who went out early this season as press agent with the Gentry Dog & Pony Show, has resigned and after a short rest at his home in Bay City, Mich., will go ahead of one of the Metropolitan shows the coming season.
The Luken Hippodrome Co. received a severe financial blow at the close of its engagement at Marshalltown, and a portion of the show did not go with the management to the next stand at Waverly. The Younger Wild West Show was tied up and it is stated will be taken back to St. Louis. The Luken Bros. are aerial artists who have been with a number of carnival companies and decided this season to embark in business themselves, but have had poor success thus far.
Unusual interests centered in the appearance of the Gentry Show here July 11, as this was formerly the home of M. W. Savage, the present owner of the show. Ike Speers, the manager, was formerly manager of the Odeon at Marshalltown; the equestrian director, W. E. Wells, formerly lived at Oskaloosa, and E. Dunn, the auditor was born at Lansing, Iowa, so the show may be termed "The Iowa Show."
Cory, Pa., July 14 . . . Buffalo Bill is the first show into Erie, Pa., this year, of the real big ones, and will doubtless have turn-away business, as he is a big favorite. Cole Brothers appeared ther earlier in the season.
Ringling's No. 1 car has passed through Denver [Colorado] and the town is ablaze with flaming announcements of the coming of the big show July 29. After the big financial success of the Sells-Floto Show it seems peculiar that the big show would give Denver only two performances.
Harry Tammen's newspaper opposition has been reveling in stories of alleged financial matters concerning the show. But there may be less truth than noise in the claims. If there is one thing on earth Tammen likes better than another it is reading a "roast" on himself printed in Senator Tom Patterson's papers. Tammen claims that no man has yet been systematically "roasted" who didn't later get to the top and show the other fellow that success breeds enemies.
Circuses at War
Shows Lock Horns Over Billing at Bay City, Mich.
Bay City, Mich., is experiencing one of the greatest Circus opposition fights ever known in the history of the show business.
The Carl Hagenbeck & Wallace Combined Shows had billed Bay City to appear July 16. The advance brigade of the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers show landed in the Michigan town on the evening of July 9 and commenced billing operations announcing the appearance of their organization August 22. The brigade stirred up a hornet's next, by placing 2,100 two-sheet banners on the span wires of the trolley system along the principal thoroughfares of the city
Tom North writes that the Forepaugh-Sells showing is the greatest any circus has ever made.
It seems that the mayor of the city gave the Forepaugh-Sells Show permission to put up the banners, much to the displeasure of some of the citizens of the community.
The Bay City newspapers, of late, have teemed with matter concerning the circus fight and the controversy has assumed a bitter stage. Weather permitting both shows will do a big business in Bay City.
"John, the Debonnair"
Prominent Showman Sees Nothing But Prosperity for the Future
In the midst of his busy cares in piloting the destinies of the "World's Greatest Shows," John Ringling, the prince of circus men and millionaire showman, found time to spend a few hours in Chicago last week. The Beau Brummel of the circus world was in high spirits over the tremendous business being done by the Ringling Bros. and the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. shwos this season. To a representative of THE SHOW WORLD, at the Ringling offices on Monroe street "John, the Debonair" said:
"I quite agree with my friend, Mr. Vanderlip, and other financial confreres on the wonderful degree of prosperity in store for this country. I can see no cloud upon the financial horizon, and more than ever before the people are eager for healthy amusements. The circus appears to tyhe masses and we are endeavoring to give them the best to be secured in that field of entertainment, with the result that our canvases are filled to over-flowing every day.
"I am watching the growth of THE SHOW WORLD with a great deal of interest. The man at the helm was in our financial department for several years. I maintain there is nothing impossible for a circus man to accomplish once he has firmly taken up the task. THE SHOW WORLD will surely win."
Mr. Ringling travels in his own private car, "Wisconsin." To quote a prominent Pullman Car official "it is the finest private car we have ever turned out." John is an enthusiastic motorist and has six autos. He finds time to play golf now and then and is no novice on the links.
The wonderful career of the Ringling Bros.' Shows is a matter of record and John has had not a little to do in bringing the organization to its present high standard of efficiency.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
It was a great day for the billposters and others on Barnum & Bailey's advertising car No. 2, on July 4. By putting in some extra hard work, and with the co-operation of the men, Manager Victor B. Cooke succeeded in gaining a day, so that there was nothing to interfere with the enjoyment of the National Holiday. And Ortonville, Minn., with its beautiful Big Stone Lake, was an ideal place for a day's recreation.
Shortly after breakfast, a couple of big hampers filled with sandwiches and other picnic provender, a box of fireworks and enough fishing tackle and bait to catch all the fish in the lake, were loaded on a wagon and transferred to the landing. There, a gasoline launch, which had been chartered for the day, was awaiting the party. The crownd piled in, Chief Skipper Cooke gave the signal, and the picnic party started up the lake for Manhattan Island. It was a ten-mile ride, but an enjoyable one. The sun was not too bright; there was a pleasant and invigorating breeze, and the launch was a flyer.
On arriving at the island, which is a wild, uninhabited spot, the circus exploreres immediately took possession of it in the name of Barnum & Bailey, flung a Dip of Death streamer to the breeze, and re-christened it "Billposters' Island No. 2." The day was spent in boating, bathing, fishing and eating, with an occasional fulisade of fireworks to scare the fish and keep them from biting too voraciously. The commissary arrangements were in charge of Col. Chas. Josher Jones, the chef, who had the satisfaction of hearing everyone say the sandwiches and "other things" were "out of sight" - and in a little while they were in more ways than one.
Col. Jones also distinguished himself by making the biggest catch of the day - a splendid five-pound bass. The other amateur fishermen were also notably successful, and sufficient fish were caught to furnish piscatorial breakfasts on the car for several days. The effect of this exercise was evidenced by the fact that the thirsty crowd drank, during the day, 22 gallons of lemonade. The pleasure of the day was slightly marred by only one accident - and its principal unpleasantness was to the victum. E. Phohibitionist Tice, the commander of the billposting brigade on Car No. 2, fell off a rock into the cold water of the lake, despite the fact that he was wearing a brand new waterproof suit, and was soaked to the skin. He was rescued and dried out, however, without any serious results. And it is recorded that Eddie didn't even swear.
The launch carrying the circus party returned to Ortonville about 8 o'clock, and a couple of hours were spent in illuminating the sky with about $75 worth of up-to-date fireworks. It was a creditable display, and although the car lay a considerable distance from the center of the town, it attracted a great deal of attention. The effect from the lake was especially brilliant.
The full list of those who participated in the picnic and celebration follows: Victor B. Cooke, manager; Silent Walter Heller, Josh Billings, Student Fenton, Larry Sullivan, John Sullivan, Bert Foster, Edward Hanson, Jimmy Lyons, Harley White, "Sunny Jim" George Battis, Davey Crockett Muir, Doctor Milton Frawley, W. Vandien, Uncle Dick Baldwin, Master Joe Hyland, J. Druker, Col. Jones and Mel Kirwin.
W. C. Whiteman, editor of the Ortonville "Herald-Starr," who also spent the day on the island with his family and several friends, said: "That was the best lot of fellows I ever saw on a stag picnic, and I never saw men enjoy themselves better or more sensibly.
C. E. Whitney, secretary of the Campbell Bros. Shows, writes from Idaho Falls, Idaho, under date of July 5, as follows:
"Sickness has compelled the departure of Campbell Bros. attaches the past week. Henry Gilbertson, who has the privileges, was compelled to remain in the hospital at Red Lodge, Mont., on account of a severe attack of erysipelas. He received improper treatment there and rejoined the show at Butte, Mont., on July 3, in a very serious condition. At present writing he is in the hospital at Butte, his wife staying there with him.
"Chas. Mizuno, how for the past seven years has managed the troupe of Japaneses performers with the show, left us at Butte on July 3, for his home in Japan. Mizuno is suffering from catarrh of the stomach and can hardly recover. His son, Coe Mizuno, will manage the troupe in his stead.
"Lew Dickinson was compelled to abandon his position as door talker with the side show, to seek relief from consumption. The best wishes of all accompany him.
" 'Snapper' Garrison, bicycle clown, joined the show at Idaho Falls, Idaho.
"Paul Gore and his twenty-three musicians are giving Campbell Bros.' patrons a high quality of music. The organization is an excellent one and meets with praise everywhere.
"One of Sie Hassan Ben Ali's troupe of Arabs had his knee thrown out of place during the evening performance at Dillon, Mont., July 4. The injury is a very painful one and will keep the victim out of the game for several weeks.
"Billings, Mont., gave Campbell Bros. the largest day's business the show has ever had - and that without turning them away.
"Harry Kelly, steward for the Campbell Bros. shows, has been almost pestered to death by the gang around the show sending him the anxious owners of owls, three-legged horses, two-headed calves and other great (?) curiosities, who want to dispose of them. Kelly turned the tables on his tormenters the other day when he actually purchased two coyote pups for two tickets. The animal men refused them cage room and Kelly is caring for his pets at the cook house.
"Col. J. C. O'Brien, lessee of Campbell Bros. shows, furnishes this roster: C. D. Sym, manager; Barney Kruntz, Tattooed man; Miss Fay Geraldine, snake enchantress; Miss Ida Nettle, vocalist; Miss Corcoran, vocalist; Madam Roy and son, Albinos; Tom Brockman, giant; Prince Gorgo, Zulu; E. M. Vernelo, punch and magic; Madam Inez, mind reader; Baxter Reynolds and his Tennessee Minstrels; Miss Flossie La Blanche, strong woman.
"E. M. Vernelo, magician with the side show, was compelled to go to Chicago Junly 5 to secure treatment for his eyes. Wm. Veno will take his place during his absence."
The Buffalo Bill advance car No. 2 arrived in Chicago last week under the management of Dan DeBaugh and a strenuous billing campaign was inaugurated.
Writing from Hutchinson, Kan., under date of July 6, John G. Robinson, manager of the John Robinson Ten Big Shows, says: "We had a big time at Emporia July 5; 20,000 people were in the city for the home-coming celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the town."
The Silver Family Big Tent Show is doing good business in Michigan, playing return dates in towns that have been on their router for the past twenty-five years. The roster of the show is as follows: Bert Silver, manager; G. Earl Silver, assistant manager; A. J. Prestore and W. Dill Hillman in advance; Silver Family of eight musicians; Mont Peters, triple bars; Confiled and Van Horn, double traps and ladder; Leota, contortionist; Earl Silver, juggler; Degolad, comedian and clown; Art Green, cown; Harry McMonnis, singing and dancing comedian; Buster & Buster, clown comics; Clow & Sigsbee, musical team; thirty people, twenty-five head of stock; eight wagons; two sleeping cars and two advance rigs. Mail addressed to Crystal, Mich., will reach the show at any time.
The Great Lugar shows have closed and gone into quarters at Hamilton, Ohio. It was an eight wagon outfit which started its career May 1 at Eaton, Ohio. The cold weather early in the spring crippled the organization and it was not able to recuperate.
E. M. Vernelo, who has had charge of the inside of the Campbell Brothers Annex, is in Chicago having his eyes treated and is under the care of specialists. He hopes to be able to rejoin the Campbell Brothers organization within the next four or five weeks. His wife, professionally known as Madam Inez, continues with the Campbell Brothers Shows. During Mr. Vernelo's absence, William Veno has assumed his duties.
Buffalo Bill's Show
Big Aggregation to be Seen in Chicago Next Monday
Buffalo Bill's Wild Show will open its Chicago engagement at Sixty-third street and Drexel avenue next Monday. It will remain there until Saturday night when it will move to Harrison and Loomis streets and open Sunday afternoon. It will be seen there for four days and on August 1 it will open at Racine and Addison avenues. It will close the Chicago engagement on Saturday night, August 3. From Chicago it goes to Aurora for one day.
The big feature of the show this year is the battle of Summit Springs. Two performances will be given each day. The congress of rough riders of the world, fancy and difficult shooting and general scenes of western life make up the entertainment. This will be the first appearance of the show in Chicago for five years and its advent is eagerly awaited.
Notes from the Pawnee Bill Show
Pawnee Bill's Historic Wild West and Great Far East Company on its first trip through the Dakotas created a record for itself. In nearly every town the show met with opposition which apparently had little, if any, effect on its business.
From general reports the farmers are behind in their work owing to the late season this year, but they found time enough to pay us a visit, for with one exception (Yankton, S. D.) we had capacity business.
The show is creating a very favorable impression through this territory. Mr. and Mrs. Coxey of the Barnum & Bailey Show were visitors at Fargo, N. D.
One of the banner houses so far this season was Pierre, S. D. It is the terminus of the C. & N. W. R. R. and is a typical frontier town. Indians, cowboys, ranchmen and money are the predominating features. Scotty Phillips, one of the prominent men of the northwest, owns a large ranch near Pierre, where he has a large herd of buffalo. Major Lillie and party were entertained at the ranch on Sunday. Buffalo was the chief topic of conversation, as buffalo are the Major's weak point, owning a large herd himself which he keeps on his ranch near Pawnee, Okla.
Eddie Thorn, Punch and Judy and Callicott & Holder's Black Top are among the new faces who have joined our forces lately.
Raymond's Weekly Budget
Professional News and Comment, by Edward Raymond
James and Elsie Finney, champion swimmers of the world, arrived in Chicago from California last week and presented their "tank" drama at the Majestic theater. Mr. Finney has a new novel idea which is attracting attention. As a concluding feature of their act, Capt. Finney sinks to the bottom of the tank, and apparently goes to sleep and forgets to wake up. It will be found an interesting experiment to draw a long breath as Capt. Finney descends and try to hold it until he finishes his sub-awuaeous siesta.
Newspaper reports are funny, sometimes. On a recent Orpheum bill there appeared the sisters and brothers Fords, world's best dancer, as all followers of the continuous know, and also the Patty Bros., head equilibrists. It will be remembered that the Patty boys conclude their act by Alexandra's remarkable feat of walking down stairs upon his head.
Tales of the Tank Towns
By Clarence J. Copeland
According to a recent issue of the Waterloo (Iowa) Courier the Yankee Robinson circus came very near not giving a show at Hawkeye, Iowa, all on account of the temporary loss of the cook's wooden leg. The Yankee Robinson is a wagon show owned by Col. Fred Buchanan, the sponsor for Ingersoll Park and other Des Moines enterprises. It seems that the cook in turning in for the night on his perch atop the cook wagon removed his wooden leg in order to secure greater comfort. When he awoke next morning on the lot it was no where to be found. Without the leg there could be no breakfast and without breakfast no work could be accomplished, and no work accomplished meant no show. Such wailing and gnashing of teeth has never been known before in the annals of the canvas world. The Courier says that nine o'clock, no leg; eleven o'clock, no leg. At a quarter past eleven a sturdy tiller of the soil came to the show grounds, bringing what he supposed was a new kind of tent stake, and which he had found on the road. No time was lost in passing the word that the cook was again in possession of his useful wooden member, and a belated breakfast was served. The circus packed the tent twice at Hawkeye, and at both performances the farmer who saved the day and his whole family occupied seats that didn't cost them a cent.
Top
Show World, July 27, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 5), pp. 3, 5, 6-7, 16, 20-21, 22, 23, 26, 34. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Circus Agents and the Press
Publicity Men of Tent Shows Have Experience Which Might Stagger Ordinary People - Newspaper Editors Beginning to Realize That Circus News is Worthy of Treatment. By Willard D. Coxey.
It is not, as a rule, a safe proposition to begin an article that intimately concerns a number of high-strung individualities, with an apology. But I am going to take a long chance and do it. Right here, on the threshold of these rather pointed remarks on "The Press and the Circus Press Agent," I want to say that any strictures I may make are intended in the kindliest spirit, and with no desire to create ill-feeling or to arouse controversy. If anything in this screed hurts, or seemes too pointed, I sincerely apologize in advance.
I could not conscientiously "roast" press agents as a class, because I believe in them and sincerely desire to see the profession grow in dignity and importance. It would be the extreme of rashness to severely criticize any large section of the press, for it is only by the continued favor of the newspapers that the circus press agent has any excuse for being. There are newspaper men and newspaper men, just as there are press agents and press agents, and in both cases, except in rare instances, the "bad boys" ultimately "lose out." I have watched the "mills of the gods" grind in newspaper offices and in circus publicity departments for seventeen years, and, while the compensation sometimes seems unjustly slow, it is not the less sure.
Faults of Newspaper Men
There are two things for which many newspaper men can be fairly criticized. One is that too often they refuse to accept the circus seriously. The other is that many of them do not seem to appreciate the fact that the press agent is trying to make a living in his chosen profession, just as the newspaper man is in his. For the former condition the circus press agent is to a great extent responsible. He has times innumerable made the newspaper man appear in a ridiculous light by "working" him for stories that read well in "copy," but which were absurd in print. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the newspaper man should attempt to guard against fakes by giving a facetious turn to so much of the stuff tendered him. The "veracious press agent says" is a great alibi in case there is any criticism from the editorial powers higher up. Nevertheless, I cannot help feeling that the amount of money invested in the big modern circuses, the ingenuity displayed in securing famous attractions and the remarkable fact that practically an entire village on wheels, with all its inhabitants and varied industries, is moved by the circus management from one center to another, over night, should receive the serious recognition to which it is entitled.
The fact that the newspaper man does not always recognize the press agent as a fellow worker has less excuse. It may be taken for granted that the press agent does not visit a newspaper office for fun, or pleasure, or for the purpose of killing time. He goes there because it is his business to go there; because he is paid to see the editor, and to present to him and the newspaper's public, in the most favorable light, the attractions of the show which he represents. He may enjoy the visit; he may, and frequently does, discover good fellows whose hearty greeting and generosity in the use of his "press dope" lightens his work and makes it, for the time, seem really worth while. But, behind all this, is the fact that he is there in the pursuit of his calling, and under an assignment from the show that pays him his salary.
Getting Fewer Every Year
The newspaper men who do not appreciate this fact and who resent the coming of the press agent as an intrusion and as a bumptious effort to "work" him, are growing fewer every year, and newspaper men are coming more and more to appreciate the conscientious press agent who furnishes circus "news" that really is news, and who would much rather see a true story printed than a fake.
It is inevitable, however, that there should still be a few unpleasant experiences. Every press agent has met the man who is too busy to talk to him, but who has plenty of time to carry on a conversation with the typewriter or "josh" the girl at central; we have all come in contact with the Sunday editor who tosses aside our expensive etchings as "junk," and who tells us with brutal frankness that our photographs are worthless and lack every essential for successful reproduction; we all know the dramatic editor who considers the circus beneath his dignity, but who finally consents to "whip our stuff into shape," and use a paragraph Thursdays and Saturdays before the show; we also know and dread the man who promises everything, insists on us leaving all our feature stories, cuts and photographs, thus eliminating any possibility of the opposition paper getting them, and then lays the entire bunch of stuff away in a drawer and forgets them; we all, individually and collectively, know the editor who answers our greeting with the marrow-freezing, "Well, what is it?" and who, after listening to our most convincing argument, icily informs us that he "doesn't consider circus notices as news," and that we had better see the business office. All these, and many other incidendt, are recorded in the unwritten book of the press agents' experiences. I once had a newspaper man whose office I had invaded, order me out until I could send him a card, and I had known him personally for ten years. But such experiences are rare, and the duplication of a man with such an extreme insistence on following his prescribed rules of red tape would be almost an impossibility.
Pleasant Experiences Numerous
These are some of the unpleasant experiences. The pleasant ones are far more numerous. In hundreds of newspapers all over the country the legitimate circus press agent is a welcome visitor; he is greeted cordially and given a patient hearing; the Sunday editor is alive to the value of a good animal or human interest story when presented entertainingly and graphically illustrated, the city editor considers circus "dope" good news, and the dramatic editor does not hesitate to incorporate the picture of a pretty circus girl among his Saturday or Sunday layout of "footlight favorites."
This is the practical side. The personal side of the press agent's visit is equally satisfactor. No man has "made" the newspapers of the United States as a press agent for ten years, or even less, without having impressed hius personality to some extent upon newspaper men and met many editors whose sincere friendship and helpfulness has added immeasureably to the pleasure which eery real press agent must get out of his work in order to succeed. In time a press agent learn to know the personal side of an office; with memory prompted a little by that unfailing friend, his note book, he knows just who to ask for, is immediately made to feel at home with men who pleasantly recall him although his visits are not more frequent than every second year, and he suffers genuine regret when he discovers that old friends have gone.
Friction With Business Office
Naturally, the circus press agent's greatest source of newspaper friction is the business office. The majority of the American newspaper advertising managers are "square," fair-minded men who neither ask nor expect from the circus man a higher rate than he exacts from the local theatre manager. With such men there is never any difficulty. Unfortunately, however, there are still a considerable number of newspapers, especially in the smaller cities, that have two distinct rates - one for the local advertiser - the other for the visiting circus man. The minute the circus agent discovers this he becomes aggressive. He can't help it. The unfairness of the thing gets on his nerves - violates his sense of equity - and he fights. Sometimes he wins - sometimes he loses - but in either event he leaves town fully convinced that the newspaper in question is a "hold-up" and the business, or advertising manager a "grafter."
Then there is the newspaper that not only makes a high rate, but also insists on telling the agent how much he must spend. This is always a cause for ill-feeling. I have tried to look at this proposition from every reasonable standpoint, but I have never been able to discover the justice of it. I have in mind one newspaper in particular that has been doing this for years. It is an excellent news sheet, has a good circulation, and its business manager, advertising manager and editorial heads are all splendid fellows - courteous, generous in the use of press stories and delightful fellows to meet socially. And yet, for some reason, the advertising department insists on saying to the contracting press agent: "You must spend so much money with us or we won't handle your business." On the other hand, if the press agent refuses, the paper feels aggrieved. Some day, when newspapers who continue this unpleasant rule realize how much irritation it causes, they will, I am sure, try the mroe pleasing method of fixing the rate and permitting the agent to fix the amount of space.
Why Papers Are Patronized
It may seem a peculiar thing in the uninitiated that the circus usually patronizes every newspaper worthy of the name in the town where it is to exhibit - and frequently some others. This would be entirely unnecessary if a certain class of nespapers did not still consider it a crime for a circus not to use its columns - and, incidentally, a just reason for giving the show a "roast" in its columns. I hope to see the day when this ungenerous spirit shall have entirely disappeared, and when a press agent may safely exercise his best judgment as to the value of the various advertising mediums and use only such papers as his experience teaches him will bring results.
Formerly a prolific cause of irritation was the misuse of tickets, and their use among advertisers instead of in the office. This evil is also disappearing, for the newspaper business manager has discovered that it is unwise and impolitic to give customers something for nothing, and that the making of "unofficial deadheads" is a foolish and costly proposition.
So much for the newspapers. How about the circus press agent? Are our hands always clean? Are we quite sure that we are not out many times, to get the better of the newspaper advertising manager? And is it quite true that we never try to "work" the editor with a fake? Some of us must plead guilty to both these charges. The trouble with the average circus press contracting press agent is that, in his opinion, every advertising manager is a "grafter" who doesn't permit him (the agent) to fix the newspaper's advertising rates, while the second man is apt to reagard the editor as a "bad one" unless he makes the show a present of the news columns with layout pictures, several times a week. This is wrong. We have no more right to expect unreasonable things than the newspaper has to demand them of us.
Press Agents Often Careless
But press agents are, I am sorry to be compelled to say, not only often careless of their own and the show's reputation with the press, but they also injure the profession by doing unprofessional things. Telling deliberate falsehoods in newspaper offices against a so-called "opposition" show; working stories known to be untrue in order to weaken the popular and financial standing of competitors; stirring up agitation among labor organizations against other shows; all these things are done and done repeatedly. I insist that this is not press work - it is not clean - it is not professional. The inevitable discovery of the truth by the newspaper man always brings the offending agent into disrepute. No management has a right to ask an agent to descend to such methods, and no press agent can do it without ultimately injuring himself with his own show and with others. I know some splendid fellows who have thoughtlessly been guilty of these things, and I have known several very clever men whose applications for positions with other shows were "turned down" because of their reputation for doing "fine work" of this character.
The success of "working" injurious stories against another show may seem clever at the time; in the long run it reacts - in the round-up it will injure the agent more than the show which he endeavors to "queeer."
More fraternity among press agents and a greater regard for the dignity of the profession will mean greater newspaper respect, and the better we stand with the press the greater will be our chances for winning success.
One of the best known figures in American journalism and the amusement world is Willard D. Coxey, the "story man" of Barnum & Bailey's show. He was connected with the Chicago press for three years and for nine years he was contracting agent for Ringling Bros.' show. He is the author of several books of blank verse and the proprietor of Coxey's Magazine and a newspaper published at Maywood, Ill.
On the War Path at Jamestown
Numerous Attractions Representing an Outlay of Nearly $1,000,000 Meet With Public Favor - Rosters of the Leading Amusement Concessions and Personal Notes. SHOW WORLD Bureau, War Path, Jamestown, July 22, 1907.
With a list of attractions covering almost every field of entertainment and in the establishment of which nearly $1,000,000 was expended by the promoters of the various enterprises, the War Path at Jamestown Exposition can afford to ignore. At no exposition heretofore held has the field of amuseument been more thoroughly covered and while some of the features are not as massive as was the rule at the World's Fair or the Pan-American Exposition, they are stupendous enough to give the War Path a distinct individuality and to place it in a class by itself.
While the War Path proper lies to the west of the Lee Parade, extending from Commonwealth avenue to Racon street and from Powhatan street to West street, the reservation coverning a tract of some 300 acres, there are spaces for attractions in various parts of the exposition enclosure which do not lact in importance. Among these may be mentioned the Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Wild West Show, the Philippine Reservation and others. . . .
Ferari's Wild Animals
The animal jungle and arena of Col. Francis Ferari occupy a prominent site on the War Path. To provide the proper environment for these aristocratic beasts, the Exposition Zoo and Amusement company has erected one of the finest auditoriums and animal courts used in the country.
As to the Ferari show, there is none better. His collection of animals is in charge of Richard Bass and Robert MacPherson, who contribute to the acts of daring that characterize the performance in the arena. In addition to these Colonel Ferari offers two women who are unexcelled in their line - La Belle Selica and the Princess Pauline. The latter has attained world-wide fame through her daring work in the cages of wild beats, while Selica's troupe of lions gives the best exhibition of its kind extant. Teddy, the wonderful dancing bear, and O'Grady's monkeys, together with Captain Winston's sea lions offer a program that is as varied as it is diverting.
War Path Exhibition
Buffalo Bill in City
Great Wild West Show Opens and Scores a Triumph
Buffalo Bill returned in triumph to Chicago this week after an absence of six years. He won his first success here 23 years ago, when he played to 52,000 people on the old race track. His splendid production at Sixty-third street during the World's Fair will be remembered as the most phenomenal success that ever attended any public exhibition.
The Wild West Show opened Monday after a triumphal procession through the streets. The opening performance was a success in every respect.
The Battle of Summit Springs is the main feature of the show. One hundred Indians, among whom are chiefs Old Rocky Bear and Iron Tail, with their tepees, ponies, dogs and camp impedimenta are shown. The scene in which they go into camp makes a very realistic picture. Chief Scout Cody then appears in the distance and after locating them returns with the United States troops and a sanguinary battle follows in which Buffalo Bill kills Chief Tall Bull, recording an incident that actually occurred in the original battle in 1869.
This season great interest has been taken in this picture by the retired and active heads of the army. Notably at the Madison Square Garden Generals Carr, Jack Hayes, Sumner and Greely, who were in the battle, attended the first performance.
The same daring feats of horsemenship by a congress of rough riders from all over the world, and excellent and hard shooting are shown exactly as during the year of the World's Fair.
The show opened with the matinee on Monday and tonight will move to Harrison and Loomis streets, where it will remain until next Wednesday. The remainder of the Chicago engagement will be played at Racine avenue and Addison street. The engagement on the latter grounds will be from Thursday until Sunday night. On August 5 it will be seen in Aurora.
The many friends of Park B. Prentiss, the well known musical director, will be pleased to know that since his joining the Sells-Floto Circus, he has brought the musical department to a high point of efficiency, much to the delight of the management and patrons of the show.
Robert Casner Campbell
Expert Showman Will Represent THE SHOW WORLD in London
Robert Casner Campbell, who will be in charge of THE SHOW WORLD'S London bureau, is one of the most prominent expert billposting and outdoor display advertising men in the United States. He was born of Scotch and Irish parentage in western Pennsylvania, November 9, 1852.
Mr. Campbell became identified with the theatrical and show business as advance man for the Erin and Brennan Irish Panorama and Holman Opera Company in 1874. He remained with that organization during the season of 1874-75 and from 1876 to 1886 inclusive he was with W. W. Cole's New York and New Orleans Combined Shows in the summer seasons and with the enterprises of Gustave, Daniel and Charles Frohman during the winter seasons of the same period. He was in advance of Callender's Minstrels, Hazel Kirke, Called Back, William H. Gillette in "The Professor" and other leading attractions of the Frohmans.
From 1887 to 1893 Mr. Campbell was general agent of Adam Forepaugh's Great Shows, but in the latter year he located in Chicago, where he founded the American Posting Service, of which concern he was president and manager. Under his careful direction, the enterprise has become the largest bill posting plant in the United States. He is one of the charter members of the Associated Billposters and Distributors of the United States and Canada and was its second president. At present he is a director of the association.
In addition to serving as director, Mr. Campbell has been appointed solicitor for the association for the United States and Canada and England. He will leave Chicago for London today where, in addition to studying the display advertising methods in vogue in England, he will act as special representative of THE SHOW WORLD. His principal mission is to study the situation in England with a view of creating poster business for the billposters of the United States and Canada. . . .
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
A general always looks carefully over his field of battle, and in doing so he usually takes in more than his headquarters building. Reviewing the western circus situation it is discernable that the "Big Show" has plowed its way through with a scattering of the smaller ones. Barnum & Bailey's invasion of the northwest has been a notable one, and the fact that the show has played smaller towns than it has ever done is another noticeable fact in connection with its routing. Ten towns in South Dakota - some of them not having a population of two thousand - are to be entertained.
In Minnesota there are several dates with only 1,500 people. When you come to consider that the Barnum show carries with it just as many people as will be found in the town, it brings up a question of how can they do it. But then the "B & B" people have routed for many years and they can see the nimble dollar at a water tank just as quick as anyone. It is rather amusing to witness the scattering of the forces which hae been engaged in "opposition" fighting for the spring months. It again proves the proposition that "opposition gangs" mean a loss of money, and a smaller bank roll at the end of the season. No man ever made a success of "throwing money to the birds," and that is what "opposition" means.
When the spring campaign opened the Campbells, and the Gollmars met in Minnesota and each one began firing. This was followed throughout the state and into North Dakota. Now the Campbells are off into Montana and the Gollmars have come back to Wisconsin. Both have had enough. The money spent in opposition would have paid for a season of stands.
Following the clash of the twenty-five car circuses came the Arlington-Cook fight with Harvey's able gang of scouts and the Pawnee Bill scrappers in the field. They have made the valleys ring with their warhoops up in Minnesota and just who will come out ahead can be told this fall when the red and black figures are known.
The B. & B. people managed to get the plumb it sought by having South Dakota left to itself. The fighting Gollmars and Campbells might have used South Dakota to an advantage but the big show scared them away. As it is the state is ripe for the harvest of dollars and the big people are sure to take them in. Eddie Arlington is getting ready to desert the "opposition" and will make another attempt to get away from the "big fellow." So a division of territory would not be a bad thing if it could be arranged, but as one big showman said: "They would eat me up at the first opportunity and I am none too good to do the same if I had the chance."
Scout Younger is in Des Monies for an indefinite period. He has disbanded his show for a brief time.
The bill posting crew of the Gollmars and the Pawnee Bill shows were at Cloquet, Minn., recently. They nearly came to blows and the town looked like paste blister upon the Madison Square Garden signs when the outfits got through. The bridge leading into the town was "wall-papered."
Only two circuses are in the state of South Dakota - Barnum & Bailey and the Yankee Robinson. The Yankee Robinson has been doing a big business. This is the time of the year when the Dakotans travel miles to see the elephant. Fred Buchanan, of the Yankee Robinson, is sure now he guessed right.
One of the Davenport riders has joined the Yankee Robinson show with his two horses. He is making a hit.
The following news of Campbell Brothers' Great Consolidated Shows sent THE SHOW WORLD by W. C. Cox, will be of interest to professionals:
"Great credit is due the Oregon Short Line Railroad for the manner in which they recently handled the Campbell Bros. show. We gave an afternoon performance at St. Anthony, Idaho, on Saturday and packed up and got away about 9 o'clock for Payette, Ore., a distance of 387 miles. In making this long jump, we passed through four division points, without a delay of ten minutes at either point. The fresh engines that we were to get were in readiness to couple on to us the minute we arrived, and we sped on with wild rapidity, arriving at our destination at 3:45 p.m., Sunday.
"During this entire trip not an accident of any kind occurred, and not the slightest jolt or jar was felt. The only delay we had was when we first started and that was caused by an overheated journal but it was attended to promptly, causing only a loss of about half an hour on that account.
"Jud Marsh joined July 8 to take full charge of the front door. It is presumed that Jud will not only handle the "Broads," but also handle the show world.
"Johnny Harrigan has now a home with the Campbell Bros. He has charge of the stock and every horse is in the pink of perfection.
"Tim (Irish) Sullivan, boss canvas man, side show, always has it up, and the flags fluttering in the breeze before breakfast.
"This show was fortunate enough to get into the long straw country and get out without losing all the help. Reports go to show that it is the only show on the road that has been full handed right along."
J. Sky Clark, well known in amusement circles, having been identified with a number of the larger circus organizations prior to his retirement from active participation in the amuseument affairs, has arrived in Chicago, after an extended sojourn on the Pacific coast.
In an interview at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD, Mr. Clark informed us that he would remain in Chicago for two or three weeks prior to his departure for the East.
While in the West, Mr. Clark visited the Norris and Rowe and the Sells-Floto shows and reported big business for both of them on the coast. Amusement conditions in California were never better, according to Mr. Clark, and it is fair to presume that any organization with bookings in that territory may anticipate splendid returns the coming season.
William Sells, proprietor of the great Sells Show, was a caller at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD a few days ago. He stated that the shows would open soon and that recently $10,500 worth of horses were purchased from Wm. P. Hall, of Lancaster, Mo. General Agent Charles B. Fredericks is making his headquarters at Kansas City, Mo. Punch Wheeler, who recently severed his connection with the Sells-Floto shows, has joined the great Sells Shows in the capacity of press agent.
Tom R. Nelson, with the Gollmar Brothers' Circus, writes that the Flying Nelsons are meeting with great success with that organization. The show is experiencing fine weather and doing a splendid business, three and four days ahead of the Pawnee Bill Show.
Owen W. Doud, private secretary to Walter L. Main, writing from Bridgeton, N. J., states that the Fashion Plate Circus has been doing fine business throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The weather was most inclement during the fore part of the season.
The city of Streator, Ill., has brought suit against the Barnum & Bailey show for alledged damaging of street paving at that city. It is stated that the heavy wagons damaged the streets to the extent of $10,000.
Messrs. Gentry Bros., proprietors of the Gentry Bros. Dog and Pony shows, have entered a suit against the city of Lincoln, Ill., to recover $40 damages, a sum alleged to have been excessively charged the Gentry show for a license at Lincoln recently.
It is persistently rumored on the Chicago Rialto that Mrs. Bailey, widow of the late James A. Bailey, millionaire showman and general director of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, has offered to dispose of her holding in the Barnum & Bailey Show, Limited, to Messrs. Ringling Brothers. Should this prove a fact, and the transfer of Mrs. Bailey's stock to the Ringling Brothers be consummated, it will place these enterprising amusement purveyors in an enviable and commanding position in the circus world. They already control the Ringling Brothers' World's Greatest Shows and the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers Shows, both of which from all reports are playing to tremendous business this season.
J. T. McCaddon, one of the Directors of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth passed through Chicago en route to join the show at Marshall, Minn.
Mr. M. S. Bodkin favored the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD with a call a few days ago, upon his return from a business trip to the Barnum & Bailey Show at Mankato, Minn. It will be remembered that at one time Mr. Bodkin held an executive position in the adjusting department of the "Greatest Show on Earth." He reports that the Barnum Show is playing to tremendous business in the northwest.
Louis M. Hedges, manager of the Clark Street Museum, Chicago, now in the hands of decorators, during a recent call at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD, stated that his resort would be open early in September, and would be one of the finest places of its character in America. Mr. Hedges has had many years' experience in the show business. He was superintendent of the Barnum Show for a long time, and has been identified with the Clark Street Museum for a considerable period. He is considered one of the best museum managers in the world.
Charles Ringling, wife and family are touring Europe. A recent communication tells of their safe arrival in London.
Cardona, a miracle-worker when it comes to training lions, was the hero of a unique affair recently at Dayton's White City, when a young couple were married, amid his pets in their den on the evening of July 10. The local press and public are enthusiastic about Cardona and his magnificent brutes, and the tent is crowded at all performances. The act is booked through the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association.
An echo of Steve O'Grady's story of Rajah and His Record Makers, which appeared in the last issue of THE SHOW WORLD, was heard when J. J. Holland, who was the general agent of the Lemon Bros. shows at the time the story had its origin, verified Mr. O'Grady's story and complimented THE SHOW WORLD for securing such an interesting item of circus interest.
Mr. Holland, although now engaged in piloting several theatrical attractions, beams with enthusiasm when he speaks of the old days spent with the White Tops. For fifteen years he acted with the Lemon Bros. circus, and the Rajah story is only one of the many sensational press stories in which Mr. Holland was intimately associated. At the time of the Rajah's notoriety, Mr. Holland was located at the winter quarters of the show at Argentine, Kan., and the correspondents of the Kansas City papers in the suburb were furnished with the Rajah sensations through the courtesy of Mr. Holland.
J. Edgar Clifford has been appointed general press agent of the Sells-Floto Shows, vice [sic?] Punch Wheeler, resigned. Writing from La Junta, Californai, under date of July 11th, Mr. Clifford says that the case of Sherman Rozelle, whose child was killed by an escaped tiger at Twin Falls, has been adjusted entirely to the satisfaction of Mr. Rozelle. He says there never was any difference or trouble regarding it and there was no civil suit. Before and after the child died, Mr. Clifford was there and offered to adjust the matter instantly and equitably. It would have been settled then, but for Mr. Rozelle's minister and some fraternal society advisers. However, the final settlement was effected before the end of two weeks. He declares that the proprietors of the Sells-Floto Shows did not at any time fight the claim.
Sed J. Deschane, former manager of advertising car No. 1 of the Walter L. Main Show, recently resigned that position and soon will be in advance of a prominent theatrical company. Sed states that the Main Show has done remarkably well en tour and that it was necessary to increase the canvas to accommodate the crowds. Sed is in Chicago, where he will remain until his company starts out on the road.
Kansas City has been the headquarters of late for circus agents. J. P. Fagen, General Railroad contractor and R. M. Harvey, General Contracting Agent for the Barnum & Bailey show were there last week, leaving for Hannibal, Mo., where it is anticipated there will be some opposition.
John Ringling was in Kansas City, Sunday, July 14, leaving Monday on his private car for the Pacific coast via Los Angeles.
Walter L. Main's "Fashion Plate Show"
The New Jersey Press has been notably complimentary in treating of Main's "Fashion Plate Show," and have all united in declaring it a noteworthy exhibition. The present season's headliners are the Nicols family, the Mangeans, and Power's famous Hippodrome elephants. The amusing pantomime and clowning stunts of Rutherford and Andrews contribute much to the hilarity attendant upon every performance. The "Fashion Plate Show" will soon open a three weeks' stay at Long Island.
Ringling Brothers Show Notes
The stork has been omnipresent in the Ringling Bros. menagerie during the past month. Among the new arrivals who have opened their eyes on canvas land are five tigers, ten whipet hounds, and three pony colts.
When the show was at East St. Louis, July 13, the grounds were thronged with pleasure-seekers from St. Louis.
Al White, who departed some time since for a visit to his home at Brighton, Iowa, has rejoined the show.
Miss Lillie Kauffman, the pretty member of the celebrated Kauffman troupe of bicyclists, who celebrated her nineteenth birthday recently, was the recipient of many pretty gifts, including a handsome gold chain and locket from the Swastika Club, which numbers her among their prominent members.
The receipts, everywhere, have been large, and all along the line many encomiums have been passed on the quality of entertainment that the Ringling Brothers are putting forth this season.
Lively Circus War
Tom North Describes Battle of Billers at Bay City, Mich.
What will go down in circus history as the most hotly contested "battle of billers" during white top season of 1907, took place at Bay City, Mich. The Hagenbeck-Wallace shows had the town well billed for July 16. All crews had gone thinking everything lovely, when in jumps a Forepaugh-Sells brigade under "Kid" Sinclair and the game was on. The wiley "Kid" saw some huge openings and principally of the latter, were the span wires on the trolly system. Bingo! to the street car manager quick, who said, "It's all O. K. if the mayor sanctions same." Hurrah! now for the Mayor.
"Why, what is this ye ask?" said His Highness (I mean, His Honor), and I think Sinclair replied as follows: "Oh, illustrious brother of the sun, moon and Bay City! look upon the slave who rolls at thy feet; who kisses the earth before thee, and demands of thy charity, permission to hang beautiful banners from the span wires of ye trolley system! I have, great Highness, permission from the High General Manager of the Street Car Company, and see, Oh King, my head is at thy feet and I will be a slave to thy servants if you will only grant me this one request."
"By the bones of my ancestors," replied His Highness (I mean His Honor), "never before have I encountered such a masterpiece; go ye and HANG 'EM," and say, that crew started at 7:30 same evening and at midnight had finished the greatest stroke of banner work ever "pulled," and 2,400 lurid red on white two-sheet banners fluttered to the morning breezes, on the span wires over the principal thoroughfares of the city, announcing Forpaugh-Sells shows, August 22.
Verity, 'twas a sight to behold! Laboring men on their way to work, stopped and wondered! Business men said, "Well, I'll be d--d." The newspapers devoted column after column on, "The Rube City," "How much did the Mayor get?" "The city a huge bill-board for circuses," "An imposition on the Civic League," etc. Columns of interviews of prominent citizens, business and traveling men were published.
During the heat of the battle, in drops E. E. Meredith, special press agent for the H. and W. shows and the sight sickened him. He felt faint, but revived quickly and - well, that night cameth a crew of goodly trained battlers to revive the smothered H. and W. showing.
Ugh! the pace was terrific as sixteen more men mysteriously dropped in for F-S shows and the race was on. Every available space was landed, bannered and pasted; daubs galore; half of a building would read, "H. and W. July 16," and the other half, "F.-S. August 22." The business portion of the city resembled a kaleidoscopic view of all the rainbow's colors. Three, four and five stories high and every inch covered. Instructions were, "Spare no expense, but GET SPACE," and they got it.
Country routes were billed as never before. Route riders covered routes daily to keep "wised up" and see that no "covering" was done. The newspapers again opened up and column after column ran against the tirade and invasion of the "landscape-defiling advertisers"; petitions were hurled at the council to stop same, but to no avail. Four days and four nights put in these crews; finally they did stop and for the best reason in the world: "THERE WAS NO MORE SPACE!"
Both shows had to do tremendous business to cover the very heavy extra expense. "Ducats," "Skulls," "Fakes," "Broads," or whatever you call 'em, fell in squads, because, as clever Harry Earl, general press representative of Hagenbeck-Wallace shows said: "If you take the Devil in your boat, you must row him ashore." - Tom North.
Back Door Gossip with John G. Robinson Ten Big Shows
Dan Dale won the two carat stud raffled off last week. (Some kicking among the actors.)
Ed. Cullen did not get up until dinner time at Coffeyville. Claims Harry Martin forgot to call him.
Business in southern Kansas was big. Turnaway at Coffeyville.
R. M. Harvey, of the B. & B. show, was a visitor at Parsons.
Everybody is on watch for the arrival of THE SHOW WORLD as you notice our order has doubled for your next issue.
We seem to be in the midst of a marriage epidemic. From reliable information it has hit Ab. Johnston, Jess Franks, Ed. Van Skiak, Sarah Hackitt, Fred Stelling, Violet Hoffer, John Cornella and a certain party.
Clermie Kingston has returned to the show after a three weeks' stay at Cincinnati on account of the illness of his wife.
The businest man around the show is Rudolph Gessley, our treasurer, fighting flies.
Tom Ambrose has received his first shipment of self-filling fountain pens, his own invention, and sold 36 today. They ought ot make Tom a good living.
On account of the high winds in Kansas, we are using an "Air Dome," menagerie canvas. Show men would call it "side walling."
Correspondence of Show World
Kansas, Wichita, July 20, 1907. The John Robinson circus was here July 8 and showed afternoon and night to fair business, not the customary attendance that circuses draw at other seasons of the year in Kansas. July and August are strenuously busy months in the harvest fields. The parade was long and chuck full of variety.
Sells-Floto Circus will be here July 25. Their first billing went up the 15th on the arrival of car No. 1.
Illinois, Paris, July 12. The clowning stunts of Ringling's merry men has been the topic of local conversation since the big show played here last week. The universal opinion that obtains is that the Ringling clowns have succeeded in getting away from the slap-stick and inflated bag methods with which circus audiences have long since been surfeited. The pantomime of Hartzel, Tournout and Miaco is on far too high a plance to be classed with the ordinary "mugging" that passes by the name of clowning. However, the clowns are but a small section of the Ringling circus, and the whole entertainment created the usual favorable impression. Paris awaits the return of the Ringling shows with avidity. A. Johnson
North Dakota, Fargo, July 21. Pawnee Bill and his cohort of entertainers native and foreign, played to capacity here, and two very fair performances were given. Barnum and Bailey's Circus likewise charmed the multitudinous crowds that flocked to the grounds yesterday.
General News Notes
The Hagenbeck-Wallace employes issued the first number of a new paper at Warren, Pa., July 1. It is called "The Stake and Chain News" and will be published each Monday morning. Its price will be ten cents a copy.
W. E. Fuller, well-known general circus agent, returned to the United States last week after a four-months' trip in Europe and is making his headquarters in Chicago.
Top
Show World, August 3, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 6), pp. 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18ii, 19, 21, 22-23. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Ideal Country Circus Stand
This picture was taken in Iowa and is an excellent specimen of the art of show printing for a country stand used by circuses throughout the west. The man in the corner looking at the picture is Doc Waddell. The big circuses traveling throughout the western country employ only the costliest printing, and that this course is highly profitable in the long run is evidenced by the large returns these aggreations are deriving.
Jackson Family of Cyclists Headliners at the Majestic
Remarkable Act Which Combines Skill, Daring and Refinement, Meets With Great Success
One of the most sensational acts in vaudeville is the one presented by the Jackson Family of Cyclists, which opened at the Majestic theater last Monday. Not only have the Jacksons originated an act that is highly sensational, but an act that combines with skill and daring a degree of refinement seldom seen on the stage.
The act is under the management and direction of G. M. Jackson, the originator of this cycling sensation. It has been through the business judgment of Mr. Jackson and through his ability as a producer, that the act has attained the prominent position it now holds in the vaudeville world.
Mr. Jackson originally made his reputation as a roller skater,in the days when roller skating first met with public attention. He is the proud posessor of a number of medals won in championship tournaments throughout the country, and they are of especial interest at present, owing to the new vogue inspired by the roller skating craze.
The act as it now stands is composed of eight people, and has remained intact ever since the original organization. For twelve years the Jackson Family was the feature act with the Forepaugh-Sells show, and at the termination of the contract the act was transferred to the Ringling Bros. Circus, where it met with the highest commendation for two seasons.
On closing with the Ringling show, Mr. Jackson decided to try the act in the vaudeville houses. Consequently contracts were signed with the Keith circuit and the premiere of the inside work was begun at Indianapolis on Nov. 27, 1905. After playing this time the act sailed for Europe on June 3, 1906, opening in Paris on the 16th of that month. An engagement of six weeks was the result of the Paris approval of the performance, which caused comment in all of the European booking agencies.
Following the Paris success, the act was received with favor at Brittania, Amsterdam, Hanover, Berlin, Leipsig, The Hague, Rotterdam and Hamburgh, closing the European engagement on Jan. 4, 1907. Sailing from Hamburg on the 5th, they opened on this side of the water at Proctor's Fifth Avenue on Jan. 18.
After playing all of the eastern time, a contract was entered into with the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association to play forty weeks' time on their circuit.
Correspondence of Show World
Iowa, Creston, July 27. The Creston district fair and the officials of Pawnee Bill's Wild West have become enmeshed in a pretty tangle, with all the odds in the favor of the show people. Owing to a confusion of dates, the Wild West show obtained a license for the 28th of August, which is to be the big day of the fair. The directors appealed to the advance man and he consented to hold the matinee in the forenoon, but the fair managers still feared that the superior attractions of the show would prove fatal to a large attendance at the fair. The accommodating agent has offered to sell the show to the fair management for two thousand dollars, and the offer is now being favorably considered by the distracted officials, and will, in all probability, be acted upon as the only solution of the complex problem. - A. M. S.
Kansas, Wichita, July 27. J. E. Clifford, formerly of the Denver Post, now general press representative of Sells-Floto, was here Saturday and Sunday, making the wool fly. Clifford is a live, hustling representative and makes old and new acquaintances as fast as he can talk. The press boys extend him the usual courtesies and Clifford does the rest.
Missouri, Kansas City, July 27. Ringling Bros. arrived in town Sunday morning and were greeted with the usual number of urchins. It seemed that every youngster in town was on hand at the unloading of this monstrous aggregation. Frank Brown, twenty-two years completely overcome with heat and had to be taken to the general hospital and is still there.
On Monday morning just as the parade was returning to the grounds, rain began to fall and cooled the air to some extent, but that had no effect whatever on the attendance, as they turned people away at both performances. The sideshow and concession men came in for a good day. The most interesting feature with the side-show was a contract between Little Lord Roberts, who is twenty-two inches high and weights thirteen and one-half pounds, and Miss Ella K. Erving, who stands eight feet four inches and weighs 389 pounds.
Nebraska, Omaha, July 27. Bill McCune, of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, has planted all of his spare cash in Omaha real estate.
The time is staring the circus folks in the face when prompt and decisive action must be taken relative to holding permanent show grounds in the large cities. Especially is this true of the middle west cities, which are booming and filling up. I should think the circuses would bury the tomahawk long enough to get together and co-operate for a mutual grounds association, whose business it would be to do some "concrete" thinking on facts concerning location, approach, fees, etc., of grounds to the betterment of all concerned. - Sam E. Smyth.
New York, Brooklyn, July 27. Ranch No. 101 is coming for a six weeks' stay, commencing July 27, at the Brighton Beach, the enclosure formerly occupied by the Boer War spectacle. I think that the Miller Bros. have just what the doctor ordered.
Kentucky, Louisville, July 27. Haag's mighty wagon shows are working their way into Louisville. The show has been prosperous and will be the first wagon show to exhibit here in years.
Dr. Edw. Baumeiser's Trained Animal Shows have booked some of the big fairs in Indiana as a free attraction. This is one of the largest animal acts on the road and managed by Prof. Smith.
Charlie Rice's Dog and Pony show, which had a six week's run at White City and could have played the season as a free attraction, is in the east. Prof. Rice has booked a return engagement for two weeks only, as his time is in demand.
Colorado Has New Holiday; Denver Amusements Booming
By H. H. Buckwalter
Denver, July 29 . . . Sells-Floto Prosperous
Reports from the Sells-Floto Shows indicate continued prosperity and an accumulation of dollars that makes "Napoleon" Tammen look wise. The shows have been touring Western Kansas and are now headed toward Oklahoma. The treasurer's report shows a most unexpected profit so far this season and the tour can not end otherwise than vastly to the good side of the ledger. Park B. Prentiss is the mail agent and since the advent of THE SHOW WORLD his duties have been greatly increased for the advent of the newsy paper almost starts a riot on the lot. Everybody is anxious to get a copy and see that "it says." The Sell-Floto people are certainly boosters for THE SHOW WORLD.
Eyes Turned to the South
The eye of every circus general is now turned to the South. From Sept. 1 to the close of the season the South is to be given the benefit of thirty tented arenic productions. Barnum is now dated as far ahead as Oct. 15, and within two weeks the last stake of the advance will have been driven by the contracting agent. John Robinson is in the Indian Territory, Sells-Floto is down in Kansas, the Campbells are heading the same way from their trip to the far east. Then will come the Ringlings, the Buffalo Bill, Cole Bros. and last but not least, Hagenbeck-Wallace. The South is not a show country when compared with the North. Its greatest advantage is that it lengthens the season and with favorable weather will add to the profits of the year, but last year was not a gold mine for the big fellows by any manner of means. With all the shows mentioned going to the south to recuperate from the extremely unfortunate weather of the season in the North it is more than likely that there will be considerable opposition fighting. The brigades are already being organized. Barnum & Bailey will enter the South this year by way of Texas, in all probability. Last year they entered by the eastern route. It will be interesting to note the effect of the clashing of the shows in the South. It will take a good deal of generalship to avoid the loss which will follow in quite a number of cases. The rocks are in sight and the pilot should be warned to be careful.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Carries Chicago By Storm
Spectacles Enthuse Thousands on the South Side - The Heart of Dixie a Somber Sketch. By Charles Kenmore.
At last I have seen a wild west show that is in truth worthy of the name, I do not mean to say that those I have previously seen are unworthy to be classed as fit representatives of the phases of western life they purport to illustrate, but I insist that Buffalo Bill's show, which delighted untold thousands on the south side last week, is as distinctly in a class by itself as is the Southern Cross the king pin in its luminous firmament. The illusions of youth becomes a reality in the presence of the pulsating spectacles of frontier life this old scout presents, and not even the presence of a cheering multitude serves to dispel them once the romance of the wild pageantry takes possession of you.
When, the other night, I witnessed this glittering panorama of an age that is fast passing away and which lingers in the memory of men who saw the real thing a generation ago, like a pleasant dream, I was carried back to the days I spent on the frontier. I was a callow youth then and excessive indulgence in lurid literature of the Beadle's dime novel brand had driven me to the west in search of adventure. I punched cattle in the panhandle of Texas in the seventies, hunted buffalo, which then were fast approaching extinction, had a few thrilling adventures with marauding Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Tonkaway Indians, in the Llano Estacodos, and then came to the conclusion that the wild and woolly west was not what it was cracked up to be. I saw the real cowboy, not the weak imitation article we see nowadays, but the genuine creation of his time, reckless, daring, brave, true as steel when a friend and inveterate as fate when an enemy. I took part in many a bronco-busting escapade, rode bucking and pitching ponies until my bones ached, and on three occasions engaged in settos with small bands of predatory Indians. When I say that Buffalo Bill brought back to me vividly the scenes to which I allude, I think I am paying him no small compliment, and I cheerfully attest to the genuiness of his stirring exhibition should that be necessary to increase its drawing power, which I doubt.
What impressed me most, as it did the 14,000 persons who watched with bated breath was the representation of the fierce battle at Summit Springs on the Nebraska-Colorado line in 1869. I stood on the site of that culminating fight in border warfare which drove the Indians farther north and cleared Nebraska forever of their presence, eight years after Buffalo Bill, then chief of scouts in Gen. Carr's command, had ended Tall Bull's career with his unerring rifle. The coyotes had been busy and the ground was scattered with bones - ghastly reminders of the struggle in which some seventy Indians and not a few United States troops had passed to the beyond. Only a few years ago I again passed over the same spot, which then exhibited peaceful signs of husbandry. Only a stone marks the basin-shaped spot where the guardians of the frontier died to open the trackless wastes to settlement, but as long as Col. Cody lives, the memory of their bravery will never pass away.
I cheerfully advise everybody in Chicago to visit this show and ther imbibe some of the invigorating ozone of the west. It is a wholesome spectacle, bracing as rich wine or an ocean breeze. The attack upon the stage coach by Indians, the rescue by cowboys, the train robbery, the attack upon the emigrant train, the mimic representation of the Summit Springs battle, the exhibition of expert shooting by Col. Cody and Johnny Baker, the spectacles of cowboys at their sports, artillery drills, scenes of ranch life in the olden days, all these form fascinating pictures, once seen, never can be forgotten. When the boy who last week witnessed the show reach that age when silver hairs on temple attests to the remorseless advance of time, Col. Cody, the greatest and last scout of them all, will have passed away and the scenes in which he was so conspicuous an actor have become history. Until this shall come to pass, Col. Cody, the hero of two generations of romantic youths, shall be ever welcome whithersoever he may wander, at home and abroad. Here's to you, Bill. May your shadow never grow less.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Notes from the Barnum & Bailey Shows are as follow. Under the guidance of Charles Hutchinson, director and manager, and his capable assistant, Harvey Watkins, the Barnum & Bailey Shows are moving from town to town without a hitch, and the performance, although changed in a great many particulars since we left New York, is giving universal satisfaction. Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Mitchell and Aberdeen, S. D., welcomed us with open arms, and the attendance was extremely gratifying.
We showed at Ortonville, Minn., on July 19, and we gave but one performance and Ortonville abounds in lakes, some of the company went fishing and displayed many trophies in the way of pickered and black bass on their return. The biggest bass was hooked by Spot Jerome and tipped the scales at 4 1/2 pounds, while Ledgett caught another beauty weighing four pounds. The big show's next stand was at Fargo, where we played to capacity, concluding a prosperous week.
The storm king has been pursuing us merrily, but with one exception we have been able to elude him. At Watertown, Saturday, July 13, just after a large matinee audience had been dismissed, a big blow came upon us, and before Mr. Hutchinson's orders to lower the tent could be executed, the big top and menagerie canvas were leveled. A few of the workmen were slightly injured, and we were obliged to employ a substitute big top at Sioux Falls the following Monday.
Toto Siegrist, who was disabled for over eleven weeks by a fractured bone in his hand, has resumed his aerial work, which is one of the feature acts of the show.
Steve Miaco and Sam Bennett participated in a 50-yard race last week. To Steve's utter chagrin Bennett burst the tape before he did.
Our ladies are now full-fledged ball players and will soon partake in a championship contest. The Equestriennes will oppose the Gymnasts and the contest promises to be extremely close.
From time to time during the past few years, rumors have been set afloat to the effect that the Ringling Brothers would remove their winter quarters from Baraboo, Wis., to various parts of the country. The latest report would make it appear that this famous firm of circus managers intends to make its future headquarters in Indian Territory.
In the Montello (Wis.) Express, Mr. Al Ringling is recently quoted as saying that the Ringling Bros. had purchased an eighty-acre tract of land two miles south of Collinsville, Ind. Ter. He furter remarked:
"We have contemplated a change to some point in the southwest, but not until three months ago did we favorable consider the Cherokee nation as a desirable climate. The lands just purchased will be improved during the summer and by October 1 we will be ready to move into the buildings."
Gay's One-Horse Circus showed at Oquawka, Ill., July 30. It is said to have improved greatly, both in size and entertaining powers.
The "Times-Democrat," of Macon, Mo., in speaking of the John Robinson Circus, which showed there recently, mentions as the feature acts the Sterling Bros., Brock Bros., Arthur and Master John Forbes, the Six Tossing Lanells, the Three De Bolien Bros., Holland and Holland, Geneva Davis, Irene French, Orton Bros. and Richard Farmer.
Illinois is being well billed by the advance cars preparatory to the advent of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
When the Forepaugh-Sells aggregation visits Huntington, Ind., September 3, it will be the first circus Huntington has enjoyed in two years.
L. S. Barrett, formerly identified with some of the leading tented organizations and who, prior to his retirement from professional life, was connected with the Buffalo Bill Show for eight years, attended the opening of the Chicago engagement of that organization. Mr. Barrett is now located in Delevan, Wis., where he owns and manages the Delevan Hotel.
Among those who attended the opening performance of the Buffalo Bill Show in Chicago last week were J. P. Fagan, railroad contractor, and James De Wolf, general press contracting agent of the Barnum & Bailey Shows, J. Schuyler Clark, Colonel H. E. Allott and Thomas Hanks.
Thomas Rankine, official announcer for the Buffalo Bill Show, is renewing acquaintance with Chicago friends.
A. B. Jones, manager of the Crawford hotel, Crawfordsville, Ind., entertained the bosses of the Ringling show during the engagement of the big show in that city.
Albert C. Sweet is to be congratulated on having one of the best concert bands ever presented with a big top. Their concert prior to the opening of the performance is the talk of the patrons at every stand. The band numbers 50 pieces, with three special soloists: cornet, Albert C. Sweet; saxophone, T. R. Brown; euphonium, Bert Moore.
Brown Bros. and Doc Kealey are having a successful season with the Ringling Show.
The side show of Gollmar Bros.' circus, under Lew Aronson's skillful direction, is enjoying continued prosperity. The roll call of the outside men includes: B. Emery in Box 1, Ralph Bailey in Box 2, and Pete Gollmar in No. 3. The complete roster of the inside workers is as follows: Lecturers - Glynn, Townes, and Moulton. Performers - Chas. LeNoire, George Mellivan, Millie Margi, Harry Moulton, Harry Maxey, James Morris, Silvia, and Professor Deto.
Barnum & Bailey's Show gave only one performance at Fargo, N. D., on the 20th of July, owing to the long distance of the haul from Ortonville, Minn.
Josh Billings, a bill poster for Norris & Rowe's show, was arrested July 10 by the Gollmar Brothers at Thief River Falls, Minn., for covering the Gollmar Brothers' bills. "Josh" paid a fine of $20 before Judge Bishop of Thief River Falls.
From advices from Jamestown Exposition it would appear that the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch is showing to at least 90 per cent of the total attendance at the Exposition.
J. C. Miller has organized another show at the Bliss, Oklahoma Ranch, for Brighton Beach, New York, which opened July 21 and will continue there until Sept. 3.
The Miller Brothers established a very enviable reputation for their exhibiton during the early spring engagement in Chicago, and the Brighton Beach exploitation will undoubtedly prove successful. One of the features of that show is a buffalo hunt with twenty-two head of buffalo in the arena. Also a cattle round-up with a bunch of long-horns.
Barnum & Bailey's showed to capacity at Fargo, N. D., July 20. Two excellent performances were presented. During the afternoon performance a section of the reserved seats collapsed, throwing several hundred people to the ground and causing a general panic. After the smoke of the battle had cleared away it was found that nobody had been hurt, but torn dresses, crushed hats and scratched faces wer a common thing among the select 300. The performance was resumed after fifteen minutes' delay.
Chas. Kuehle,manager of European novelties with Barnum & Bailey, says: "How I do like THE SHOW WORLD? Well, let me tell you that it would take a whole lot to draw me away from it to any other new amuseument paper. It's the best ever, and I am not the only one with this aggregation that things so, either."
Edward Arlington, general agent of the Pawnee Bill Show, was at the Auditorium Annex last week.
J. Sky Clark has been appointed special traveling representative of THE SHOW WORLD. He will visit the Jamestown Exposition within a fortnight.
Dan R. Robinson, the well known carnival proprietor, favored the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD with a call Wednesday, July 24.
J. Sky Clark and Sam Fiedler, who were identified with the McCaddon International Circus during its tour of France, informed THE SHOW WORLD that they received checks in full of their accounts from the receiver of the organization at Grenoble, France, last week.
One of Barnum & Bailey's pet camels died at Fargo, N. D., after several days' illness. The beast was buried just outside the city limits with a touching ceremony.
"Punch" Wheeler has severed his connection with the Sells-Floto Shows to assume the position of general press agent for the great Sells Shows, and has "long season south" printed on his cards. In writing from Kansas City, July 3, "Punch" says "No. 1, Vol. 1 of THE SHOW WORLD is immense!!! Congratulations!!!"
H. H. Tammen, general director of the Sells-Floto Shows, is now negotiating for the purchase of a hippopotamus. It seems that there is a temporary hitch, however, through the action of English officials.
It is apparent that it is the intention of the Sells-Floto management to largely accentuate the menagerie of that organization. Mr. Tammen, in a conversation with a SHOW WORLD representative, recently said: "I am going to have one of the largest circuses the world has ever seen. We are $125,000 ahead of the game this season." Recently Mr. Tammen sent four carloads of draft stock on to the Sells-Floto Shows at Alamosa, Colo.
The Campbell Brothers experienced the first complete "blowdown" of the present season at Payette, Idaho, on the evening of July 8. Fortunately no one was hurt. The menagerie was not badly injured, as it was gotten down before the heaviest of the storm struck.
W. E. Fuller, the well known general circus agent, returned to America recently after a four months' tour through Europe in the interests of an amuseument syndicate which contemplates the installation of a circuit of mammoth amuseument parks in Europe on the American plan. Mr. Fuller was a recent caller at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD.
In writing from Bay City, Mich., Tom North says: We all enjoy nice, clean-cut comedy, don't we? What a pleasure it is indeed to see artistic clever comedy not overdrawn, not forced. With the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows this season Bert Davis and his wife are doing a "Mr. and Mrs. Rube" that is simply great; and they get away with it so nicely that a number of "wise-ones" fall for it daily
HenryC. Stanz does "an old widow" stunt that teems with originality and brightness. Roar after roar of laughter greets this lad daily and justly so too, as due credit must be given talent.
Dell Benson, a Bay City,Mich., boy is Chief of Detectives this season with Hagenbeck-Wallace, which accounts for the noticeable absence from these shows of the light-fingered fraternity that continues to follow a "top." Del was presented with a magnificent umbrella by the management for landing a "dip" of world-wide reputation during the show's engagement in Detroit, which plainly shows he is more than making good.
Kobi Haru, Jap Acrobet, with the Hagenbeck-Wallace show, who was left at Mercy hospital, Bay City, Mich., last week, suffering from lockjaw, is doing well, his condition showing great improvement. The patient has frequent convulsions, but they are not so violent as are usual in cases of this kind. The outcome is a question that the attending specialists do not endeavor to answer. Kobi injured himself in the palm of the hand July 4th, at Newcastle, Pa., where the shows were that date. The little Jap's home is in New York city, where he has a brother performing in a summer theater. His parents live in Tokio, Japan.
Capt. Franklin, with his educated chickens,having Lincoln, Neb., as his home, is in Des Moines for fair week. The captain is an old time barker, ballahoo, spieler and announcer. What a world of reminiscences his seventy-year brain contains and it a pleasure to listen to his tales of "when Barnum walked the greensward."
The John Robinson circus has suffered recently from the most inclement weather, the wind at times being almost cyclonic.
The Gollmar shows have been showing throughout Wisconsin to prosperous business. The Gollmar aggregation is larger this year than it ever has been.
Quincy, Ill., is feeling especially "circus-y" this year. Pawnee Bill will show there at Wonderland Park, Aug. 12, and will be followed by the Barnum & Bailey show, which will arrive Aug. 21.
Will Be a Real Circus Man
"Yes," said Fred Buchanan of the Yankee Robinson circus in response to an inquiry, "I am going to be a real circus man next year. I shall put out a fifteen-car show which will open in Des Moines in the spring. I hope to make it a neat and clean affair with all the necessary flash to make the public appreciate a good thing when they have the opportunity to attend it. I have been a devotee of the circus all my life. I have studied it from every phase, and have been up and down the ladder of success and failure several times during the thirty-eight years of my life. I started giving circuses on the back end of my father's lot in 1880, and I am still at it.
"The business has a fascination for me and I believe that properly managed there is more money for the investment than in any other line of human endeavor. The Yankee Robinson circus will confine its efforts to the west and while a trip may be taken to the coast, it is not at all likely.
"We will carry fifty head of horses, fourteen cages, and tableaux enough to make an imposing parade. I do not apprehend that I will cut into anybody's territory. I am just going along in the even tenor of my way in the hope of picking up my share of the business, and will have the best of good will for all in the business."
Harvey Is a Smooth One
R. M. Harvey, contracting press agent of the Barnum &
Bailey show, is as smooth as they make 'em. The labor unions were up in arms over the announced appearance of the Barnum & Bailey show in Des Moines on Labor Day, Sept. 2. They just got awful angry. Harvey had already contracted for a license and the show would be there anyway, so to smooth out the kink, he sympathizes with the union men, meets their leaders in the Trades Assembly hall and offers to donate $175 to help pay for their day's program. Just like Haarvey; generous to the core. To make the day complete he got the maor to reduce the $200 license, already contracted for, to $25, so that the donation would not come out the the B. & B. pocket book when the summer's balance sheet was struck. Really Harvey is a smooth one.
Circus Train Wrecked
The first section of the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus was wrecked on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Muskegon, Mich., July 24. The elephant cars were top heavy and tipped over, piling up six cars. The elephants went through the roofs of the cars, and trumpeting wildly, rushed for the woods. Two camels and four valuable horses were killed and several horses injured. Keepers captured the elephants.
Raymond Visits Circus
Describes Features of Ringling Bros. Show En Route.
When I was given the assignment to visit the Ringling Brothers Show, I became young again, and for the time being at least, was a small boy with a severe attack of circusitis.
A series of mid-air performances of extraordinary skill, daring and endurance, was presented by the Milletts, on double trapeze - Mlle. Milvo; on the aerial rings - De Marlo, a mid-air contortionist; The Six Golems, double perch performers; The Aerial Smiths; The Five Jordans, high wire artists; The Aerial Shaws; Joseph La Rex, balancing on the trapeze and the Arai Yechos, a Japanese perch act. There were many really new and extraordinary feats introduced in these nine acts.
Display three was composed principally of acrobatic features, posteruing and physical marvel acts and included, The De Vines, clever hand balancers; Yoseratso and Sako, Japanese Risley act; Patty Bros., gymnasts and hand balancers; the Marnell-Marnites troupe of distinguished European acrobats; Marguerit and Hanley, hand balancers; John Miller, contortionist and the wonder ful Belford Family. The special feature attraction of display number three and in fact, one of the features of the entire performance was Alexander Patty, the man who walks on his head. At the finish of Patty's remarkable exhibition my head ached out of pure sympathy and my hands ached from a strenuous effort to make as much noise at least as the other applauders.
The next number was the appearance of three famous equestriennes, Flora Bedini, Miss Rostella and Emma Stickney, who gave graceful and daring exhibitions of bare back riding.
A hilarious run of comedy effects on bars and on the ground were given by the Proset Trio, comedy acrobats; Horten and Linden, burlesque aerial bar performers; The Toreodores, burlesque bull fighters; The Livingstons, comedy acrobats, and The Marno Bros., comedy horizontal bars.
The following number was an exceptionaly droll exhibition of bare back riding by John Slater, Art Jarvis and Frank Schadel, three clever clowns.
An amazing illustration of animal education was display nine. Riccobone's "Good Night" horse; Lil Kerslake and his porcine actors; Charles Carlos, with his troupe of performing dogs; Nola Satterfield and her high school horse, and E. Nigard's beautiful educated horse. All were intensely interesting. Only complaint I have to make is, that there was too much going on at once.
In display ten, Mr. and Mrs. Homer Hobson, appeared in a sensational double jockey act, exhibiting remarkable grace, skill and daring. The Clark Bros., gave a superior double bounding jockey act, executing feats of perfect riding.
The Bedini Family of vaulting equestrians, composed of four ladies and one gentleman, entertained with a riding act considerably out of the ordinary.
The Kaufman Sisters and the Kaufman Troupe, were the features of display eleven. These two bicycle acts are too well kown to require detailed mention. Albert Rostello's European juggling act bore the stamp of originality.
Display twelve included the Holloway Troupe, in a performance on a high wire; Notetzel Family, graceful gymnasts, and Claud Roode, on his bounding wire.
The only change in the bill since the opening of the season at the Coliseum was made in dispaly thirteen. The Borcini Family, which was sent to the Forepaugh-Sells show was replaced by the truly wonderful Sheks-Marvile Troupe.
The Eight Belfords; Kara Kechi and Yecco; The Mirze Golem Troupe,and The Six Legards, still remain in this splendid acrobatic number.
Display sixteen was made up of the pick and flower of the aerial acts of the world. The most prominent wer, The Ten Jordans, The Clarkonians, The Alverez and Ed Millett. This number was followed by the grand hippodrome sensations which were hotly contested trials of speed and skill.
Top
Show World, August 10, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 7), pp. 12ii, 13, 18, 19, 20, 22-23, 24, 32. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Indiana, Michigan City, Aug. 3. Gus Lambrigger's Animal Show came in from South Bend on the 28th and exhibited here the remainder of the week, giving exhibits afternoon and evening. They carried a good collection of animals, birds and snakes. The main feature wsa a very fine orang outang. Prof. W. H. Sheak, the noted naturalist and writer, is with the show and gives lectures on the animals.
Indiana, Logansport, Aug. 3. The Gentry Bros.' Dog and Pony Show, July 29, to big business. - Charles Elpers.
Michigan, Grand Rapids, Aug. 3. The Hagenbeck-Wallace United Shows were wrecked on the Pere Marquette Railroad Friday, July 27, making it impossible for them to give their performance in time at Big Rapids, Mich. They arrived in Grand Rapids Sunday and everything was got in shape for Monday's performance.
Minnesota, St. Cloud, Aug. 3. Barnum & Bailey's Circus to big business at matinee July 25. Evening performance was cut considerable as the show had a big jump to make.
P. A. Older, of Anoka, Minn., the oldest circus man living, and half owner of the P. T. Barnum show in 1873, came up to see the show. Although thirty-four years have passed since he and Barnum traveled the east with a small one-ring circus, Mr. Older was able to discover two men who were employed by them then still with the circus. They are W. C. Cook and William Ducrow, now head ring master. Mr. Older made himself known to them and at the afternoon performance a number of special stunts were put on to delight the old gentleman, who occupied a seat at the ringside. - Shirley.
[Denver, Colorado] Pawnee Bill and his big Wild West show is slated for an early visit to Colorado and it goes without saying that capacity business will be his prize.
Eddie Clifford, who took Punch Wheeler's place as press manager of the Sells-Floto Shows, is well known in Denver where he worked on the daily papers for some months. Then he went out ahead of the Floto show and gradually arose until he was a real trooper. Then he took the management of a new Cort theater but could not stand prosperity and the coy glances of the beauties. After a period of penance he comes back to the big tents with much experience and a desire to settle down and some day have enough money to buy a circus of his own. Up to date Clifford's menagerie experience has been confined to bull pups and their trainers, but he wanted to be a social lion in Denver - in fact, was one for a time - se he is quite at home around the smalle of sawdust.
Vaudeville
Cora Beckwith, the clever diver and trick swimmer, has been booked by the Amuseument Booking Association for Luna Park, Chicago. This big act is one of the many that is under the exclusive management of Jake Rosenthal, of Dubuque.
Rhoda Royal, of the Hagenbeck shows, is busily engaged booking a big horse act for vaudeville next season.
Chas. Hopper, now with the Ringling Bros. in a black face monologue, is booked solidly next season in some of the best vaudeville theaters.
Stageland
Stories of the Past and Present. By Jack Gordon.
Col. W. Cody (although his real title is Brigadier General) during the past two weeks has given one of the best exhibitions ever given under canvas. His stock is unsurpassed and his riders have never been equalled. A better balanced and swifter show could not be seen.
Since he came to the front as an entertainer he has won the admiration of nearly every nation in Europe. The monarchs have doffed their hats or tunbans and so have the subjects. Cody is one of the conspicuous figures of our time, for if ever there was one, he is the typical western cavalier with the polish of the types antecedent to him in the days of the poetic and picturesque character of France and England. Major John Burke has been identified with Cody since the latter's life on the plains. He has a heart as broad as the continent. Associating almost from boyhood with such theatrical men as Col. Robert E. Miles, Dave Bidwell, Tom Donnelly, John Norton, Tom Davies (the father of Minnie Maddern Fisk), and a score of others - liberal minded, sympathetic and ever charitable to the weaknesses of their fellows - it is little wonder that he is beloved by all who come in contact with him. What a contrast between those men of the past and those of the trusts who control the theater today. The former cared little for money when art was concerned. Those of today - well, how different.
But referring to Col. Cody's show. There is a slim, swarthy chap who, reared in the "wooly West," has shaken hands with kings and with the chosen of the polite society of European countries. His name is John Baker. He was brought up on the western frontier of Nebraska, upon a place owned by his father and known as Baker's Ranch. It was a station of the "pony express" and really a stockade. When very young and his mother wished to bring him to time she would not mention "bogie" but simply ejaculate "Injuns." Little Johnny grew into one of the most expert marksmen ever seen. He could and can make William Tell look like a pair of deuces against a full hand.
When Col. Cody's show was in Paris the members of the Terreure du Chasse, a club composed of the nobility and the society millionaires of Europe, invited Johnny Baker to shoot with them. Their club hose is on an island on the Seine. They were going to show this plebian westerner how little he knew of shooting. He was sharp enough to discover this by certain inuendoes and in a few cases their excessive politeness. Well, Johnny sailed in with the others. The score was thirty-five birds. He potted every one and vanquished the party. Then the gentlemens' encomiums knew no bounds, neither did the entusiasm of the three or four thousand ladies and gentlemen who witnessed the exhibition. Baker was bewildered for a minute, and this was aggravated by a gentleman stepping forward and presenting him with a heavy gold medal elaborately designed. In his agitation Johnny tried to say that he had not come to receive any medal, but they insisted, saying he had won it fairly. He, as an offset, gave them an exhibition of 300 shots, and his success was so great that the enthusiasm might in other days have been awarded a Roman gladiator. They then presented him with a life membership, something that has never been accorded to any American.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Notes from the Barnum & Bailey Greates Show on Earth.
Albeit, for almost the term of a whole moon, mighty winds have relentlessly bivouaced hard on the daily trail of the "Greatest Show on Earth," and the tramp, tramp of the extra guy gang has unceasingly alternated with the reverberation of the busy sledge, the doors have opened at the appointed hours, and the six entrances of the marquee have usually been taxed to the uttermost degree. Perhaps in order to belie the ancient saw anent coming events casting their shadows before them, the night attendance at Superior, Wis., July 26, caused a hurry-up call on John Burke, whereupon he and his merry seat-men did some quick double-time work in replacing two or three sections of seats that had been taken out between shows, thus enabling the unlooked-for enthusiasm on the part of the good Superiorites to be accommodated!
At Duluth on Saturday, fair weather (honest, at Duluth!) was with us all day, and we played to capacity twice. "Sky" Clark was the surprise here, and he had much to tell of his long sojourn in the west. Rumor hath it that he left with a new patent-leather valise chock full of "ads" for THE SHOW WORLD.
Electric massage is the latest fad in the dressing-room. It started with Tote Siegrist, the manager of the Imperial Viennese aerialists, trying to heal a broken hand that has caused him much suffering (and some dough) this summer. Tote's electric plant is in constant requisition, and his cures would give even a "scientist" a pain.
In Ashland, Wis., Monday, July 29, the blues drove many an Indian from the adjacent reservation, and their mirth was colossal, though restrained. Sad to relate, this restraint was thrown off later at night, judging by the number of drunken red men down town, who were, apparently, quite able to obtain all the firewater they could carry - and then some, more's the pity.
Dexter Fellows has bought a camera, and some dyspeptic critic has insinuated that his tales have been so tall, and the stunts he describes to gaping editors so fearsom and improbably, that he has been obliged to seek photographic support as evidence, but this, of course, is mere malice on the part of less imaginatively-gifted folk.
Number One Car Manager, Lester Murray, presented Manager C. B. Hutchinson with a dog recently, a wire-haired fox terrier. Now there are dogs and dogs, but there is only one "Rags." It is popularly believed that he can do anything but talk; some go further, and say he could do that, but that his canine condescension does not extend so far. He permitted himself to be photographed at Ironwood, Mich., and maybe, some day, we'll send it to THE SHOW WORLD.
A SHOW WORLD traveling representative recently visited the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, and after beholding the bewildering array of acts, has this to say:
"I have visited the Barnum & Bailey exhibition. I went, I saw, and was conquered.
"In the course of my walk I beheld mammoth elephants and the smallest horse in the world. Yaks and Yaps, and every other sort of beast whose official title is a counter-irritant to orthography and impossible of pronounciation. I feasted my eyes and treated my ears to the vaudeville performance rendered by a clever company that includes Haile, Wills and Haile; the Gulliver Troupe of Lilliputians; George Auger, the colossus, and Rose Wedsted, the Finland giantess.
"The performance proper begins this season with a superb spectacle entitled Peace, symbolic of the conclusion of the late Russian-Japanese war, which introduces troops of soldiery, a host of floats, and a great number of horses, camels and elephants, in its entirety a beautiful simile. When the last float had passed out of the arena, it was quickly filled by herds of pachyderms, under the direction of Messrs. Bates, Mooney and Denman, which cavorted with clumsy skill, that evidenced much careful training.
Equestrienne Make Hit
"After a series of single, double, straight and twisting somersaults over camels, elephants and other obstacles the ring was given over to four equestriennes and their high-bred mounts, Dallie Julian, Marie and Ouika Meers, and Carrie Rooney. The exhibition was full of spirit and the daring bareback equestrianism evoked rounds of applause.
"Sokichi, in Japanese water juggling and other dexterities; Pepe and Jerome in an acrobatic stunt; Masa and Hatchi in Oriental feats of equilibrium; Haytaki and Kankichi, two members of the imperial troupe of royal Japanese; Kennard Bros. in adroit acrobatics, and Hans Renxetta, a clever hand balancer, next engaged the large audience while they performed a score of different feats, all difficult in the extreme, but seemingly easy by reason of the ease and grace with which they were done. The trapeze and ring apparatus was lowered by a score of agile ring min, and graceful flying forms bewildered the eye and set my head swimming as I watched their swift passage from one part of the arena to another. Some of the agile performers were: The Castrillions, George Cole, Four Villiers, Mlle. Ela, and Belle Cole.
Trained Dogs Wonderful
"I do not usually care for dog and seal acts, but the barky, shiny lot that succeeded the aerial artists were enough to cure a man of any prejudice he might have previously entertained. The roster of trained ones consisted of ponies, dogs, seals, stallions and more dogs, but this time with an elephantine accompaniment. Their respective trainers, Louise Stickney, Wm. Haines, Manuel Herzog, George Brown and Harry Mooney may well be proud of their training as evinced by the clever beasts. I had read so much about Captain Hendricksen's ski-sailing act, and had heard such extravagant praise from former spectators that i mentally prepared myself for a disappointment, but the lightning dash, dive and glide on skis through space and across a yawning gap into the landing platform, left me thrilled and spell bound. I believe that the Captain holds seventy prizes as a result of his daring. Following the ski-sailing there came Fred Derrick and William Melrose, Josie Demott, and John and Carrie Rooney in a breath-holding equestrian act.
"A notable array of foreign acts were next on the program which included the Steves Troupe, the Sisters Grunatho, the Novellos, the Geromes, and the Castrillions. I have had and always will have a great affection for well-trained horse flesh and the Arabian and Kentucky thoroughbreds that pranced and cirveted around the ring responding to the slightest command or touch of their handsomely gowned riders brought a burst of applause not only from me but all the spectators. Robert Stickney and Celia Sabastian, Minnie Johnson, Manual Herzog and Josephine Koubeck, Louise Demott, and Dockrill and Huetterman were the graceful riders. The Imperial Viennese Troupe followed in an un-equalled display of dangerous aerialism, single, double and triple somersaults in mid-air, and other equally hair-raising feats, and then Bradna and Derrick, Julian and Ledgett, and the Meer Sisters gave a notable equestrian act and duplicated the hit they made early in the evening.
Hippodrome Thrilled People
"The program closed with the hippodrome spectacle, which included all manner of race and running contests, and then the piece de resistance of the evening - L'Auto Bolide. It was the thrilling close to a thrilling performance, and the young woman, Miss Isabell Butler, deserves every credit for her dispaly of nerve and dash. Great credit must be bestowed on William Ducrow, the equestrian director of the performance, for the smooth manner that the mammoth spectacle passed from one great act to another without the slightest hitch. The bearings of the Barnum-Bailey show are well oiled. Neither must I forget those merry men, the clowns. These knights of motley, headed by that master of fun, "Slivers" Oakley, and including Spader Johnson, Arthur Borella, Steve Miaco, Little Forresto, Sam Bennett, Harry Gerome, Dan Marvelle, Jule Baker, Dan Ryan, Ed. Kennard, Chad. Wertz, Pepe Jerome, George Miaco, Fred Jenkins, Frank Martin, Highie Zorella, Frank Henry, Charles Kennard, Fred Roberts, Thomas Jerome, Pete Ball, and George Coles.
"All in all the Barnum & Bailey show is a wonder; and I honestly envy the towns that it will show at this season. I would like nothing better than to arise in the cool morning, and once more, in fancy a barefoot boy, go down to the tracks to see the Barnum & Bailey show roll in, because I know it would mean a day of of delight and a pleasureable remembrance."
The Sells-Floto Shows were at Wichita, Kan., July 29, and played to capacity at both performances. Part of the time during the afternoon performance Sheriff Cogswell was in charge, William Sells having issued an attachment against the American Amuseument Company, owners of the Sells-Floto Shows, in consequence of a suit for $5,000 damages for having advertised and used the name of Sells inconnection with the name of Floto.
The show had the customary experiences of a circus company during the past week. There was a complete blow-down at Great Bend, one shaw [sic] at Hutchinson and one at Kingman, all in Kansas, caused by heavy rains and violent winds. The show go away Monday for the next stand, Wellington, Kan., and went into Oklahoma Territory from there, opening at Enid, July 31.
Horton and his brigade, a Ringling outfit, is billing strong in Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Barnum & Bailey are also putting up a showing in Guthrie and Oklahoma City, sixty days ahead. The Barnum & Bailey show will be at Wichita, Oct. 8. This meeting of circus companies might be termed the billposters' harvest, three shows wanting all the boards at any cost. In some places entire sides and fronts of buildings are covered up.
The No. 3 Gentry Show, under the management of Matty and Seibel, showed at Bay City, Mich., July 27. Requests were so numerous for the show to lay over and give two performances Sunday that the management did so, profiting nicely thereby, as both performances were well attended. During street parade Saturday, the drive of one of the monkey wagons repeatedly warned a daring youngster to keep away from the cage, but the lad heeded not his warnings, got too close and Mr. Monk grabbed him, inflicting a few scratches on the arm. The frightened boy immediately ran to his home, the eager parents listened to his horrible (?) tale, then the whole family ran to a lawyer, who in turn ran for a constable, the whole outfit ran to the "lot" for the usual "shake-down." The accident was entirely the fault of the boy, but the wide, liberal policy of Messrs. Matty and Seibel prevailed, and rather than create any enmity, "soothed the savage's bite" with a sum satisfactory to all concerned. Gee, but it was an awful "shake-down." There are larger shows than this No. 3 Gentry, but none give better satisfaction.
New-mown hay for seats at a circus was the innovation introduced at both performances of the Gentry Bros. Dog & Pony Show on its recent appearance in Sioux City. Manager Ike Speers was up against the proposition of taking care of the big crowds at both the matinee and night performances and finally spread new hay on the ground between ringside and seats and the space was quickly filled by men, women and children.
Fred Buchanan has just added a fine specimen of the sacred cow to his menagerie with the Yankee Robinson Show. Mr. Buchanan reports unusually big business with his circus this season and through the Dakotas and Nebraska, "turn-aways" have been the rule with the matinee performances.
The Barnum & Bailey Show was struck by a bad wind just after the matinee performance at Watertown, S. D., recently. The menagerie tent was blown down, one man was killed and three seriously injured.
J. B. Murry, a cowboy with the Cheyenne Bill Wild West Show, started in to do up the town of Ottumwa while the attraction was there and began in true wild west fashion by riding into the saloons and ordering up drinks for the crowd. He was finally captured by the police and locked up on the charge of intoxication, the next morning paying a fine in police court.
An effort is being made by the labor organizations of Des Moines to prevent the appearance of the Barnum & Bailey show in that city on Labor Day, as it will interfere materially with the usual Labor day festivities. The show has secured a license for that day, however, and will probably carry out its schedule.
The management of the Pawnee Bill Show has offered to turn over the attraction to the fair association at Creston for $2,000. The show's date at Creston falls on the same day as the big day at the county fair.
So far this season none of the big tented attractions have showed in the territory within a radius of fifty miles of Iowa City, Iowa, and the only one so far booked is the Barnum & Bailey show, which is to be at Marshalltown on August 27.
A. S. Conlon, owner and manager of the black top tent show with the Buffalo Bill Show, is lying ill of appendicitis at the Lakeside Hospital, 4147 Lake avenue, Chicago.
Rhonda Royal, the well-known equestrian and producer of some of the most novel horse acts known to the amusement public, favored the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD with a call last Wednesday while in Chicago negotiating with the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association to book his pure white Arabian horse, Chesterfield, now with the combined Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows, for the winter season in vaudeville, following the close of the circus tour, in a statuary and contortion act. Mr. Royal reports a season of wonderful prosperity for the Hagenbeck-Wallace aggregation.
The Bedini Troupe lost a valuable dog by heat prostration while playing at Centerville, Ia.
Roy McDonald, a leader among the clowns, is making a hit with his aerial ballet. He is booked solid for the winter on the western circuit.
C. W. Jenkins, an attache of the Patterson Carnival Company, is suffering from a badly lacerated shoulder, due to an attack made on Jenkins by Caezar, a big lion, with the show. Jenkins' home is at Peoria, Ill.
Buffalo bill moved his Wild West bag and baggage, including a choice assortment of Indian whoops and cowboy yells, to the classic North Side last week, and the huge tent was crowded every night of the engagement with spectators at this wonderful replica of the plains and their people. A great hit is being made by Ray Thompson with the only troop of trained mustangs and bronchos ever presented. Mr. Thompson, in training [remainder of paragraph missing]
Top
Show World, August 17, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 8), pp. 5, 12, 24-25. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Louis Edouin Cooke
Identified for thirty years with the profession of amusements in the United States, there are few more widely known men than Louis Edouin Cooke who occupies the dual positions of Advance Manager and General Agent for the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Exhibition. Aside from his interests in the circus world, Mr. Cooke is owner and conductor of the Continental Hotel at Newark, N. J.
Illinois, Alton, Aug. 10. The John Robinson Show gave two performances here last week to big crowds. At the afternoon performance on of the performing horses nearly fell over on a woman on one of the front rows of the big tent,and she was so badly frightened she had to be helped from the tent. Mrs. John Robinson, wife of the manager of the circus, arrived in this city Saturday, having been misinformed as to the date of the circus and had to go on to Pana, Ill., where the circus showed Saturday. - Jas. H. Isley.
New Jersey, Newark, Aug. 10. Hillside Park - Demorest's Wild West Show, also the Destruction of San Francisco. On the stage and ring are the Flood Sisters in a ladder act; the Great Bambo on the trapeze and rings; also the Russels, who are experts at knife and axe throwing; Miss Lillian Shaffer, with her high jumping horse, is still a feature.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
At present there is considerable question as to the location of the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Shows' winter headquarters. We are informed that the grounds at Columbus, Ohio, which they formerly occupied, has been cut up into business lots. This information would lend credence to the rumor that they may go to Indian Territory. The advantages of locating at Indian Territory would be many, as it would allow of opening earlier in the spring and closing later in the fall, which of course would be of immeasureable benefit to the show people. If Indian Territory is selected, it is quite likely that the Forepaugh-Sells aggregation will share quarters with the Ringling Bros. shows. Al Ringling, who was a visitor at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD some weeks ago, did not positively deny the rumor when the question was broached, so that it would seem that a certain amount of faith may be placed in the report.
According to report, the Sells-Floto shows will be augmented considerably next season, and negotiations are now under way to secure a number of big aerial acts and other sensational features that will add to the reputation now held by the organization. H. H. Tammen, the general director, writes that plans are now being formed to produce a large spectacle that will have as its feature attraction a ballet of pretty girls, handsomely garbed. The Sells-Floto shows have been meeting with success wherever they have played this year, and the box office results have been gratifying.
It is reported that Al. W. Martin has joined the Hagenbeck-Wallace Combined Shows for the balance of the season.
The metropolitan press in the issue of Sunday, Aug. 4, devoted several columns of space to a write-up of George Oscar Starr's plans for the Crystal Palance, London. It will be remembered that for a great many years, Mr. Starr was identified in an official capacity with the Barnum & Bailey interests. Crystal Palace is probably the largest amusement place of its kind extant, and it is fair to presume that under Mr. Starr's direction this resort will become a further wonder.
Colonel Frederick T. Cummings, who has been prominently identified with his Wild West and Indian Congress at the various expositions held in this country, contemplates leaving for England within the next three weeks to conclude negotiations for the appearance of his organization on the other side next year.
The "Camel Club," a social organizatoin made up of members of the Campbell Bros. shows, held their first outing Aug. 4, at Creighton, Neb. The menu consisted of fired spring chicken, jungle style; French fried potatoes, chocolate cake, celery, mixed pickles, iced tea and cigars. Following the repast, popular songs and witty sayings were indulged in till bed-time.
The Shiller Bros. (George and Robert) were welcome visitors at the Campbell show, Aug. 5. They are at present engaged in the hotel business at Norfolk, Neb. They contemplate putting out a twelve-car show next season.
E. E. Pettengill, the veteran twenty-four-hour man, is again with Campbell Bros. "Pet" is a graduate of the old Burr Robbins' school of show men.
E. L. Brennan, traffic manager, and Fred and "Doc" Gollmar, of Gollmar Bros. Shows, transacted business in Chicago last week.
J. P. Fagan, railroad contractor of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Shows on Earth, and Mike Coyle, railroad contractor of the Buffalo Bill Show, were in Chicago last week.
Punch Wheeler, late press representative for Sells-Floto Shows, arrived in Chicago Tuesday, Aug. 6, to assume the position of General Advance Manager for H. H. Frazee's Royal Chef Company, succeeding the late Allen McPhail, who died in Chicago, Aug. 4.
George F. Donovan, the well known outside orator, is now identified with Holder's Animal Circus, at Pabst Park, Milwaukee, Wis., which opened Aug. 1, for three weeks, after which the aggregation will play in the northwest. Mr. Holder has a two-car show.
Charles Luckey, formerly of Ishpeming, Mich., is now head property man with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, having been promoted from a minor position.
News from Sells-Floto
The Sells-Floto Shows played at Wichita, Kan., to capacity audiences at both performances. Seven hundred and fifty orphans, poor children and other dependents of charitable institutions were guests at the afternoon performances. At Wellington, Kan., hitherto on the circus blacklist, a capacity audience turned out.
At El Reno, Okla., there were three runaways during the parade, one of the Darre sisters being knocked off her horse by the pole of an ice-wagon when the horses became frightened and ran through the parade. Miss Darre sustained injuries which will confine her to her bed for a week. Business was good at both performances at Oklahoma City, where R. M. Harvey, of the Barnum & Bailey shows, visited the grounds and shook hands with many of his old acquaintances.
A heavy rain marred the performance at Holdenville, but business was fair. Mrs. Perry, the popular wife of the auditor who was stricken with pneumonia at Missoula, Mont., early in the season, re-joined at Wichita, Kan. General delight was manifested upon her return. Max Fabish, our treasurer, leaves us Aug. 8 for Denver, to open the Orpheum theater, of which he is the treasurer. Max had some glad and sad experiences while he was with the show that will require some little time to relate to his friends and agents of the regular traveling troupes.
The following consituted the business staff: Frank Tammen, manager; Col. Frank Robertson, adjuster; Thomas Perry, auditor; J. E. Hennessey, press agent; John Carroll, equestrian director; advance men: A. W. Musgat, general agent; H. L. Massie, contracting agent; J. E. Clifford, general press agent; Herm Q. Smith, manager advertising car No. 1; Fred McMann, car No. 2; Otto Essinger, excursion agent; Nels Lauton, twenty-four-hour agent.
Notes from Barnum & Bailey
The welfare of the circus is so very closely interwoven with the service rendered by the railroads that it would be akin to ingratitude were the Barnum & Bailey folk not to pass a vote of thanks for the blessings received in this respect ever since their departure from New York. They are moved to this more especially because of the very excellent runs accorded their trains over the C. & N. W., whose system the Big Show has been traveling for the last week or eight days. The differences between getting in early, and crawling in late spells nothing less than "Elysium" to the already care-laden circus manager.
Rinelander, Wis., turned out in the afteroon in great force, and owing to the fact that a rumor down-town scheduled us for only one performance, we probably got many who would ordinarily have attended the night show. At Wausau there was a cold, fall-like day, which, however, didn't keep the crowds away.
The writer wonders whether Charles Andress (the author and publisher or that classic, the "Barnum & Bailey Route-Book) noted and duly inscribed, the number of saloons in Escanaba. An accurate count reveals the astounding number of ninety-two along the main stret. Although Escanaba was our Sunday town Aug. 5, not a single case of improper behavior was reported, and the Chief congratulated our "Pinkerton" on the appearance and decorum of all connected with the show, which shows that notwithstanding the temptation was there, the men refused to be led to it.
There is not sweetness like that of reconciliation, and the kisses of forgiveness are the best. If you don't believe that, ask a certain young woman whose cleverness on the high wire runs neck and neck with the shapeliness of her figure. You don't need to make inquiry of the young husband - his joy is evident and apparent! Nos Felicitations!
Of course, we all went fishing Sunday, but the result recalls the small boy's response, when chided by his pastor for indulging in piscatorial pleasures on the Sabbath - "Go 'long, I ain't caught no fish yet." And yet, if you had only heard tell of the big ones that had been hooked and got away!
At Fond du Lac, Aug. 7, General Agent Louis E. Cooke and Railroad Contractor J. P. Fagen ran in to see us from Chicago, and were looking just as fine and debonnair as ever.
Ringling Folks See Sights
When the Ringling Bros. circus played Colorado Springs, a pleasant break in the monotony occurred after the afternoon performance, when the members of the company chartered fifteen buggies and ten autos and started out to visit the Garden of the Gods. The foreign members of the troupe were especially pleased with the sight, but a heavy rain caused them to curtail their stay in the beauty-spot.
Brown Bros. and Doc Kealey are having special scenery painted for the musical act which they will stage next winter. There will be five people in the act who are at present being features with the Ringling Bros. concert. McDade & Welcome, a high-class singing and dancing act, now en route with the show, are booked solid for the winter in the leading western vaudeville theaters.
George Hartzell, the old-time clown, is preparing a new act that he will employ as a vaudeville vehicle during the coming winter.
George Hollaway, of the great Hollaway wire act, went fishing at Boulder, Colo., and returned with the biggest catch of the season.
Quite a number of the members of the troupe visited Fort Recley at Junction City, Kan.
Lew Woods, the horse trainer, was a visitor at Lawrence, Kan.
Otto Floto and H. H. Tammen, of the Sells-Floto Show, were visitors at Denver.
There were two turn-away nights at Denver.
Campbell Bros. Prosper
C. E. Whitney, secretary of the Campbell Brothers' Shows, writing to THE SHOW WORLD from Creighton, Neb., under date of Aug. 4, says:
"I had the pleasure of visiting the Yankee Robinson Show recently, in company with A. G. Campbell, and we were royally entertained. There are a number of ex-Campbellites with that organization and they all seeem to be making good. Among them are W. H. Quinnett, general agent; Bishop Brothers, Mrs. Al Bishop, "Stick" Davenport, Abner Crockett, Ed Crockett and the Deveres.
"The Yankee Robinson Show has been doing a world of business this season and 1907 will prove a big winner for Manager Fred Buchanan. At Deadwood, S. D., July 29, Campbell Bros. played to the largest day's business in the history of their show by over $600. Billings, Mont., was the banner day up to Deadwood. The big show performance has recently been strengthened by the addition of the Crandall Bros., acrobats, and County De Robeo, bicycle clown. Two double tight-wire acts and a big six-people act will be added withing the next fortnight. Business continues exceptionally good all along the line.
"The Campbell Bros. played Duluth ahead of Barnum & Bailey to turn-away houses. We showed twelve stands in North Dakota and will play six in South Dakota. Crop conditions are excellent."
Has Winning Side Show
J. A. Morrow, manager of side shows and the Oriental theater of the Sells-Floto circus, has been so successful in his work that he has been engaged for another season at a substantial increase of salary. In a letter to THE SHOW WORLD, Mr. Morrow states that business has been "simply grand," which he attributes to the fact that the Sells-Floto side show attractions are the most satisfactory on the road. He mentions such paid admissions as 9,421 and 8,416, on "last days" as evidence of this popularity. The roster of the Morrow staff is as follows: Thomas Ryan, assistant manager; Thomas King, ticket office; Charles Williams, musician; Pete Starg, drums; Pattie Manchester and Lilian Harrington, dancers.
Has Real Ranch Show
Miller Bros. Put on Unique Wild West at Brighton Beach
With a rapidity that is almost inconceivable, Joe Miller, of the famous 101 Ranch, of Bliss, Okla., closed a contract with the Brighton Beach Park on Long Island, N. Y., late in July, to put on a genuine wild west show in the arena constructed for the Boer War exhibition. The Miller Bros. have put on a wild west show at the Jamestown Exposition, and Joe Miller, perceiving a demand for a similar show in New York, immediately telegraphed his brother George at the 101 Ranch, Bliss, Okla., to organize from among the cowboys and Indians on the ranch a company of about 300 riders of all descriptions, ropers, broncho busters, and other experts in the business, as well as Indians from nearby reservations, together with a proper equipment of cow ponies, long-horned steers and buffalo.
Within nine days the show was organized and on its way to New York. There is not a professional in the lot. Everyone connected with the show is a genuine cowpuncher, the the cowgirls who ride in it are ranch born and bred.
From this it may be readily understood that the show they give is the real thing. Their first try-out at Brighton Beach was the only rehearsal they had, andit was before a packed house. Mr. Miller arranged the program and told the boys what to do when they went on. The cowpunchers were full of enthusiasm and swept into the arena to perform the stunts they were in the habit of doing on the ranch.
The performance was so fresh and spontaneous that rhe audience received it enthusiastically and the show was a hit.
Mr. Miller's main idea in starting the show at Brighton beach was to give the cowboys and Indians who had been left at the ranch, when those that composed the show at the Jamestown exposition had gone, a few weeks' recreation and a chance to see the east. The Miller Bros. are not in the "show business," and there is not a circus feature in the 101 Ranch Show at Brighton Beach. They make their money from their 101 Ranch, said to be the largest single holding of land used for farming and ranching in the world.
Peter Bell, Somersault Leaper
A SHOW WORLD representative recently visited the Barnum & Bailey Circus while various members of the Barnum & Bailey company were at their daily practice, work that is studiosly and almost religiously gone through with each day, no matter where they are. The performers had just completed setting the leaping board for the high leaps undre the supervision of Peter Bell, double somersault leaper.
Much care is used in the erection of this high leaping board as the slightest deviation from the established way of setting would subject the performer to a bad fall. In order to accomplish a successful somersault, the performer must hit the board at a certain angle and in doing this he gets the best lift and this enables him to go the proper distance and at the same time control his body. To be a good leaper requires years of practice, and an unstinted supply of nerve. Peter Bell, who is at present with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth has a long and varied experience in this line and some of his stories are thrilling.
Mr. Bell hails from Italy where he was for several years a permanent member of the Circo Pagini. He began leaping with this aggregation and at an early age accomplished for the first time the double somersault, which was at that time considered an impossiblity. He toured the continent and then came to this country for the Barnum & Bailey show at a handsome salary.
Holder's Show Makes Hit
Holder's Trained Animal Circus opened at Pabst Park, Milwaukee, for three weeks' engagement, and is packing them at each performance. The part management as well as the general public are delighted with the show and public opinion has it that Holder has the best attraction ever seen in Milwaukee. The show goes from Pabst Park to the Minnesota state fair, back to the Wisconsin state fair, and then through the south-west to the coast for the winter season, where most of the time is already booked.
Top
Show World, August 24, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 9), pp. 5, 7, 12, 13, 16, 19, 20-21, 24, 27. All information should be checked with additional sources.
J. Schuyler Clark, is one of the best known men in the profession of entertainment, and enjoys the acquaintance and esteem of professionals throughout the country. Actively identified for a number of years in an executive position with several of the largest circus organizations, Mr. Clark has made a reputation for himself as a man of energy and initiative and has gained the sobriquet of "the man who gets results." Mr. Clark has been engaged as special representative for this publication and we take this means of introducing him as such to the show world and the amusement public generally. Mr. Clark is a gentleman of sterling qualities, a writer of ability and an experienced show man, thoroughly well-liked in all ranks of the amusement world.
New York. At Brighton Beach Park Miller Brothers, 101 Ranch Wild West has scored a positive success. On a recent Sunday there were over 20,000 people at the three performances. This show differes from the usual Wild West entertainment, being confined strictly to what can be considered as an actual portrayal of life on the frontier. The scenic setting is excellent and carries out well the illusion of outdoor life.
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, August 17. Joseph E. Robinson, owner and manager of the Robinson Circus, was a Milwaukee visitor, Aug. 9, spending the afternoon at Pabst Park with a view of securing the Holder Animal Show as a part of his circus next year, but it is said that the negotiations were not successful.
Kansas, Topeka, August 17. An ordinance passed by the city council this week raising the license for one, two and three-ring circus to $300, $400 and $500 has caused a protest by several persons that the increase of license will cause the shows to pass Topeka up. They think the council should reconsider its action and reduce the license to the amount formerly charged.
Kansas, Wichita, August 17. Wm. Sells was in the city a few days ago to settle the legal controversy between himself and the Sells-Floto Shows. The case was settled by the payment of a claim held by William Sells and the suit dismissed.
Denver, August 17. Max Fabish, just in from the road to resume his position as treasurer of the Orpheum, is going to be married in a month. . . . When Fabish returned from his summer trip as treasurer of the Sells-Floto shows he was emphatic in his praises of the treatment he received from the management. Frank Tammen, the manager, and Thomas Perry, the auditor, as well as Harry Tammen, were pronounced as especially cordial and square in their treatment and the entire circus crowd Max pronounced as above average.
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With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
The proximity of the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth to Chicago brought an influx of visitors to see us, and they were all very welcome. The immigration started at Janesville last Thursday, whither Warren A. Patrick hied him, together with his clever young staff artist, Hendrick. The erstwhile circus-man renewed many an acquaintance, forgetting his journalistic and editorial cares for the nonce. Then in Elgin, on Saturday, Louis E. Cooke slipped in, and indulged in a few remarks on the real meaning of recreation. Of course, George Degnon, Mr. Cooke's secretary and excursion agent, had to leave Chicago, and came down with him. With them came Charles Bernard, of the Billposters' Association. At our next stand - Rockford, Ill. - we were honored by a visit from John Ringling, and Charley Andress got up about 4 o'clock on Sunday morning as soon as the cars hit the town, because Mrs. Andress was to meet him there! "Sky" Clark brought Mrs. Clark along, too, to show their numerous friends how well she looked. Mr. Ringling openly expressed his admiration of the way the show was handled, and it is worth $20 to speak to our boss-hostler, Tom Lynch, since Mr. Ringling passed the most flattering encomiums on the stock!
Baseball fans had a good time the other day; a picked nine from the dressing room and band pitted against "Mickey" Graves' property men; score 5 to 10. The result should have been different, for Fritz, pitcher for the "Props," put in some "A-1 at Lloyd's" work, but received bad support, especially from "Dip of Death" Thompson and "Smiling" Mickey.
It is rumored that Josie DeMott is planning the establishment of a stock farm, and the report gains credence from the fact that the lady in question continues to buy up all the ring horses offered for sale. Our informant, who speaks as "one having authority," states her object is purely humanitarian, Miss DeMott's object being to transplant to her farm in Long Island all those steeds who have plodded and paced the forty-two-fotter during many a weary season, that they may there pass their declining days in peace and plenty.
There was an error in the statement sent in to THE SHOW WORLD last week. Our superintendent of "props" is the indefatigable Arnold Graves, better and widely known as "Mickey," and he is ably assisted by Charles Luckey.
At Racine we spent a pleasant afternoon with J. A. Sternad, of the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association. He was there because Racine is his home, but he had to come to the circu with a bevy of fair ladies.
All friends of Pete Conklin - and they are legion - will rejoice to learn that he is now well on the road to convalescence. Poor Pete has had a long siege, having spent ten or eleven weeks in the hospital at Bloomington, Ill., and, incidentally, submitting to three or four operations for appendicitis and complications. Manager Charles R. Hutchinson sent Doctor Ivers down to Bloomington from Rockford last Sunday, and he reports that Peter will be able to leave in about another two weeks for home and mother in Coney Island. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
Carl Clair has also very much improved, and is now out and about. His medical adviser believes that a rest for the balance of this season should restore our popular band-master to his former health and strength. Walter English has done most creditably this season, conducting the band in Clair's absence, and discoursing sweet music in great shape.
The last of our "invalids," to wit: Mrs. Chad Wertz, has also recovered from her injuries, but will not join the Big Show again this season, but has returned to Lincoln, Neb. Chad hopes the season will close early, so he may rejoin her soon!
Tote Siegrist and Eddie Silbon are organizing a real circus, and plan an invasion of Panama and Central America this coming winter! This is "straight goods," because Kunkely is making the canvas - 100-foot fournd top with fifty-foot middle-piece. The show will sail about Nov. 10, and among the artists already engaged are the Castrillon acrobats, the Meers Sisters, George Brown, Dan Ryan and Hughie Zorella; also Miss Rosa Huettemann, the Viennese manege-rider. Tote has approached Caesar Guilietti with a view to engaging the latter as advance agent. A better man could not be found in America; if he does half as well as he did for the Buffalo Bill Show all through Europe, Tote should be able to congratulate himself on his choice at the end of their season.
Mrs. White's birthday came round again in Freeport, Aug. 14. It is quite needless to say that she was the recipient of a whole host of presents from the ladies in the dressing room, not to mention being almost smothered with kisses. We are not going to tell her age, but she is lots younger than many who are not half her age. That's honest, and we all wish her "Many Happy Returns" of future birthdays.
Fred Bradna is writing a manual on fishing. We know he can write it, because he things nothing of traveling a trifle like a hundred miles to dangle with the finny tribe. The book will be edited in both German and English, so if you don't know what "spoonbait" is in German there will no longer be any excuse for your ignorance.
"Blackbird," that game high-jumper, passed away last week to the equine stables of eternity where there are no more stock-cars, and life is one long round of Number One Timothy Oats. It is safe to say the handsome mare was loved by all, and "Doc" Elliot's heart is heavy, although that she is the first horse he has lost this season, and she died of old age.
Fred Ledgett was at home last Sunday, for Rockford is his home. His friends and cronies in that handsome city accorded him a great reception. We like Rockford, too, as we played there to capacity both matinee and night, although the show-grounds are 'way out in the woods.
Cupid got busy in the tents of Pawnee Bill's Wild West last week and his arrows hit several of the performers in the solar plexus, so to speak. Pesumba, a Singhalese dancer; Princess Sitanka, a Hindoo magician, married. Both have been in America about a year. Carlo Myles and Miss Lucy Shorttail, both Sioux Indians, are the principals of the other wedding.
The Grunathos and the La Belle Carmen Troupe have signed with Klaw & Erlanger, and Bradna and Derrick go over the Keith circuit. On dit that Spader Johnson has secured a contract from the London Hippodrome.
After waiting twenty-eight years, Beaver City, Okla., the oldest town in the state, had its first circus performance last week. The entire population turned out to do honor to the occasion and the circus people took away large wads of the "rhino."
Mrs. Charles Hutchinson joined the Big Show at Elgin for a visit with her husband. She has brought their eldest daughter, Anne Louise, with her.
Although we no longer parade, the torch-light procession is still with us, and Ernest Cooke, not to be outdone by Mr. Dockrill, is another convert to the ranks of the B. & B. "midnight flashes." - Franc-Tireur.
En Route with Sells-Floto
Frank Tammen, who is manager of the big Sells-Floto Shows, has made one of the biggest successes in the circus business this year. Under his administration this circus has prospered as never before in its history and the greatest of harmony hs prevailed in every department.
The executive heads of departments with the Big Sells-Floto Shows are: H. H. Tammen, director general; Frank Tammen, manager; W. R. Musgat, general agent; J. Edgar Clifford, general press representative; Thomas R. Perry, auditor; Frank Robinson, assistant manager; Max Fabish, chief ticket seller; Harry Moore, assistant ticket seller; J. E. Hennessy, press agent with show; John Carroll, equestrian director; James A. Morrow, side show manager; James Ryan, assistant; Park Prentice [sic], band master; Charles Sanders, lot superintendent; Peter Fink, privileges; H. R. Massie, local contracting agent; Herman Q. Smith, manager Car No. 1; Louis Holt, manager Car No. 2; Fred McMann, manager Car No. 3.
Manager Frank Tammen, of the Sells-Floto Shows, reports a record-breaking business through Kansas and Oklahoma, where "The Circus Beautiful" got in ahead of all the other big shows. After the Sells-Floto route was made public property both the Ringling Show and the Barnum & Bailey Show shot their opposition brigades into this territory, but it was too late, the Sells-Floto people being fully two months ahead of their rivals all along the line.
Manager Tammen further says that no circus which has made this territory in the past got so many or so good newspaper notices and cuts as had the "Circus Beautiful."
The No. 3 advance advertising car of the Sells-Floto shows, in charge of Fred McMann, has been voted by all railroad men and showmen who have seen it, undoubtedly the finest circus advance car in the business. It is a remodeled standard Pullman coach and is finished in the finest mahogany and with French plate mirrors set in plush and velvet frames.
And just think - bill-posters with this car walk on velvet carpets!
All the original and costly Pullman furnishings and trimmings have been left on the car and all the berths are provided with springs and the finest Pullman mattresses and blankets. In its present condition this car is valued at $30,000, and next season it will be entirely equipped with electric lights inside and out, and will then double discount anything in the show business. Manager Fred McMann has been twenty years in the circus business and is regarded as one of the star excursion car managers of the country.
Birthday Party at Gollmar's
"Lew Aronson, side show manager for Gollmar Bros. circus, had a birthday party Aug. 4. He did not intend to have any particular fuss on the occasion, but the people connected with the shows thought differently and gave him several nice gifts. They were presented to him in the presence of his employes, and the presentation speech was deliverd by J. Delmar Andress. At the conclusion of the speech all Lew could say was "I thank you all very kindly."
"Lew returned the compliment when we all walked into 'Hotel Gollmar' and were treated to one of the most elaborate suppers that could be asked for. At the conclusion of the supper, ice cream and cigars were served, toasts were drunk to the health of Manager Aronson, the band played 'For He is a Jolly Good Fellow,' and everyone regretted that Lew's birthday only came once a year.
"Of course there were other things happened. First of all, Fred Warrell was sick - he lost his appetite and could only eat three chickens. This was very much regretted by all, for Fred is usually 'there' when it comes to eating. Then someone stepped on Harry Witz's bunion and after giving a few good imitations of the 'kan-kan' dance, he sat down and managed to get away with a goodly portion of two chickens. Bill Haines was there and he ate so much he lost four days and never got ahead of the show for a week.
"Deacon Davis started to offer prayer, but someone choked him off. "Peg Horn Beck" ate seven dishes of cream and wanted to eat more. Shorty Wyman got drunk on ice tea, and Jim Maxwell had to carry him to the car. The waiter poured a cup of hot coffee in 'Doc' Tryon's hat and after he asked a blessing on the young man's head, the company adjourned. - Doc.
Notes from Barnum & Bailey Shows
"Victor B. Cooke, manager of the Barnum & Bailey car No. 2, is not easily daunted by adverse conditions, and he never fails to meet an exigency when it arises. Several days ago, when the car was in Freeport, Ill., the chef took a notion to depart without notice, and the commissary department was left with a considerable quantity of perishable supplies on hand. The situation was one that required decision but Manager Cooke did not hesitate. With the assistance of Harley White, one of the all-round good billposters on the car, he took possession of the kitchen, prepared an excellent supper, and had it served to the men without a minutes' delay. The next morning Victor got up at 4 o'clock, and at 7 was prepared to give the men their breakfast. And now the men on car 2 are wondering if there is anything Vic Cooke can't do in an emergency.
"Joe Hyland is making a great record for himself as a high diver. At Janesville, Wis., the Northwestern Railroad bridge is about seventy feet above the river. When one of the gang suggested that this was a trifle too high for Hyland, Joe just smiled, donned his bathing tights, clambered out on the bridge, and dived head first into twelve feet of water. He came up smiling, in no way the worse for his perilous jump.
"The boys are still talking of how near they came to beating a picked nine from the attaches of Green's opera house, at Cedar Rapids, Aug. 4. The score was 10 to 9 in favor of the local team, but it is a generally recognized fact on the car that victory would have been with the circus crowd if Curtis Little hadn't stopped in the process of catching a critical 'fly' to smile at a pretty girl looking him over the fence of the Alamo Park. It may be of interest to state that Eddie Hanson was one of the star players of the game, and that George Battis, with singular appropriateness, guarded the bats from the depredations of the local small boy.
"Bert Foster has sworn off on baseball. At Clinton, Ia., while the car was lying at the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul station, preparatory to making the run to Davenport, several of the boys engaged in a game of 'catch.' In throwing the ball, Foster sent the sphere through the windows of a coupe, and the foxey cabman insisted on having his damaged vehicle and wounded feelings assuaged with a 'four-dollar bill' - about three times the apparent value of the injury, Foster declares.
"W. D. Coxey, the general press agent, who keeps pretty close to Car 2, has been visiting many old newspaper friends, whom he has periodically met during the last seventeen years. Col. Henry, business manager of the Duluth Herald, entertained Mr. Coxey at a piscatorial luncheon, and Mr. Coxey has been the recipient of many other courtesies from old friends in the west." - Hank.
Indiana Circus War Lively
Forepaugh-Sells and Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows Fight for Advantage
The circus war in Indiana is attracting the attention of showmen in all parts of the country and is one of the most bitter contests which has ever taken place in the North. A few years ago a fight in Pennsylvania had more different shows contesting for supremacy, but it is doubtful if there was ever a time in the history of tented amusements when a contest was watched with so much interest by those familiar with the peculiar conditions under which tented enterprises are now conducted.
Whether the Forepaugh-Sells or the Hagenbeck-Wallace show is the aggressor in the present conflict is a question, but it is certain that the two shows are fighting in as many as twenty towns and that the Hagenbeck-Wallace plays them in August while the Forepaugh-Sells is billing for September.
John Robinson, by some ill luck, got into three of the towns in which the big ones are fighting; and being in first stood his ground, but will in a few jumps get away form the battle field. One of the numerous Genty shows came near getting into the same predicament but jumped out of that section even after the railroad contracts were made.
The fight for billing places is being waged with a warmth never before known. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Co. have formed new brigades to look after its interests and the Ringlings, it is said, have sent on opposition squads to aid the Forepaugh-Sells show.
In some places one show seems to have the advantage and in the next town the conditions are exactly the opposite. In one town the Forepaugh-Sells got to the country first and in the next the Hagenbeck-Wallace secured this advantage. In one town the first named show got its contractor in first and secured the billboards, while in the next the other show secured the same advantage. The fight among the bannermen is equally interesting and honors seem to be about divided.
It will be of interest to the circus profession at large to know that Charles Andress, offical adjuster of Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth and publisher of the Barnum & Bailey Route Book, has under process of construction the largest composite picture ever presented convering the circus profession. This photo will include likenesses of 1,200 persons prominently connected with the circus business. As soon as finished THE SHOW WORLD will reproduce this picture in its columns.
Al G. Ringling, general agent of the Forepaugh-Sells Bros.' Shows, and Fred C. Gollmar, general agent of the Gollmar Bros.' Circus, made their headquarters at the Windsor-Clifton Hotel, Chicago, last week.
Alfred T. and John Ringling held a conference in Chicago, Sunday, August 11. Mr. John Ringling visited the Barnum & Bailey show at Rockford, Ill., the next day.
Kobi Haru, the Japanese acrobat, who was left in a Bay City, Mich, hospital by the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows July 16 suffering with lock-jaw, superinduced by an injury to the palm of his right hand by a toy pistol July 4 at Newcastle, Pa., has entirely recovered and re-joins the shows Aug. 19 at Lebanon, Ind. His complete recovery has astounded the medical attendants.
W. W. Freeman, known as "Doc," a former circus proprietor and until recently manager of the Haymarket theater, Chicago, is opening a new exchange to be known as the Universal Booking Agency, with offices in suite 707, Rector Building, Chicago. The Universal Booking Agency will make a speciality of placing big circus features, and the managers of the big circus organizations throughout the country are certain to appreciate this innovation. Mr. Freeman enjoys a wide acquaintance throughout the professional world, and THE SHOW WORLD joins with a host of friends in wishing Mr. Freeman and his new enterprise unlimited success.
Jim H. Rutherford, director with the Walter L. Main show, will produce a new act in vaudeville this season. He will require the services of four people in the new sketch.
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Show World, August 31, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 10), pp. 6, 11, 18, 19, 24-25, 40. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Col. Hall, "Pop Corn George," Veteran of Tented Shows
Man Who Invented the Toothsome "Brick" of Flakey Corn Has a Remarkable History. By David Atwood.
With a capital of $10 loaned him by Solon Robinson, agricultural editor of the New York Tribune in the early '50s, George Washington Hall, the veteran circus man of Wisconsin, began a life of adventure with more ups and downs than perhaps any other follower of the sawdust arena every encountered. Now nearning his seventieth year, Mr. Hall lives on a little farm near Evansville, Wis., surrounded by relics of by-gone days and a few cages of wild animals, just to remind him that he once delighted in the smell of the circus which was his life for fifty-nine years.
By wagon, by rail, by boat to the West Indies, Cuba and the Central American states, Col. Hall has followed the vicissitudes of circus life. He has been wrecked in the West Indies, protected from the fury of mobs in Monterey, Mexico, by Mexican soldiers, and almost caused an international dispute in Gaudaloupe by knocking the mayor of the city down in protecting his life and property. He has traveled through every state in the Union by wagon or rail, except California, Montana and Nevada.
Back in the 50's Hall ran away from his home in Manchester, N. H., with the old Howe and Cushing circus. Stowed away on the top of a wagon he managed to elude the eye of the wagon master and began his career as a follower of the tinsel. He was put to work as a candy butcher, and sold his wares inside and outside the show tents. Then he was given popcorn to dispose of and by this lucky chance came his idea of the popcorn brick and his sobriquet in the circus world of "Pop Corn George."
Greeley Liked the Popcorn
Horace Greeley, then editor of the New York Tribune, ate some of the popcorn Hall made into bricks and liked it so well he wrote about it in the Tribune. Some one showed the article to young Hall and he went to New York to find Greeley and if possible secure his financial aid in making popcorn bricks for the New York public. Greeley was not in the Tribune office when the thirteen-year-old boy called, but Solon Robinson was, and mistaking him for the great man, Hall told him his story and asked for the loan of $10 to start his "factory." Robinson became the backer of the enterprise and all that winter young Hall made his popcorn bricks in an attic and sold them on the streets of New York. In securing his loan from Mr. Robinson young Hall gave his note in hand for the sum named and agreed to deliver one brick to Mr. Robinson each day for a month. One of Col. Hall's choicest possessions now is the same note endorsed as paid by Solon Robinson.
During the winter months Hall sold popcorn in New York but when spring came the smell of the circus and the longing for the outdoor life took him back to the wandering nomadic life. For many years he worked around circuses during the summer months and in New York winters. These were the days of the travel by wagon and after a hard day's work he would curl up on top of a loaded menagerie wagon for the trip to the next town. Many a time he was forced to climb down during the night and put his shoulder to a wheel stuck fast in the mud of a country road.
Some Old-Time Circuses
The names he conjures with now as his former employers are long ago forgotten by this day and age. Seth Howe and Cushing, Joe Pendleton's Wonderful Menagerie, Jim Myer's Great European Menagerie, Sloat and Sheppard, Dan Rice, the funniest clown that ever lived, Bollard and Bailey and Richard Sands' Great Aggregation of Wonders of the World were among the men he worked for.
Hall belonged to the days when the shows consisted of one ring and this ring lighted at night by candles stuck in tin cups and placed in front of the reflectors about the ring side - days when the circus and menageries traveled as separate enterprises, the difference being that the circus carried seats for the audience and the menagerie did not, but had a professor who explained the animals and a few trained horses that always began the show with the famous January act.
In Mexican Revolution
In 1886 Col. Hall had his own show in Monterey, Mexico, when a revolution broke out. Fearing his property would be destroyed Hall appealed to President Diaz, then a general in the Mexican army, for protection and 1,000 Mexican soldiers were detailed to save his life and property. A year before he had almost caused an international dispute in Guadaloupe by knocking the mayor of the municipality down in protecting his show. Hall was arrested, thrown into prison and his show dismantled. Aided by the American consul he reached the United States. It was in Mexico that Col. Hall and is popcorn bricks made their greates hit. Ladies used to drive up to his tents for the fragrant bricks, paying fifteen cents for popcorn that he had carried months in his wagons, not being able to replenish his stock.
Each winter Hall would take his shows to the West Indies when cold weather approached, going as far south as the Central American republics and then back through Mexico to the Untied States when spring came. One of his former partners, M. Carta, was a victim of the St. Pierre disaster several years ago. In 1886 he was in Galveston, Texas, when that city was nearly destroyed by fire and during the awful night when the fire raged he was forced to move his show six times to preserve them.
Has Model Wisconsin Farm
But now the Colonel's trooping days are over. He stays at his home in Evansville paying occasional visits to Janesville. His wife and daughter Mabel Hall, are with the Hargreave show, exhibiting Columbus, the largest elephant now alive and a cage of savage leopards. A son, George Hall, is an acrobat of note and another daughter is a snake charmer, at present in Cuba.
His farm is a model one. His tobacco sheds are among the largest in the country, and his tobacco fields are all drained by the tiling system put down years ago when tiling was unknown in this part of the country. In one shed are some old chariots, devoid of gilt and paint, a ticket wagon or two, a few cages minus all decorations and a few animals that he keeps in reserve for his wife's leopard cage, to remind him of days that are past.
His one pet is a tiny pony, so small that the Colonel can carry it and it follows him about like a dog all day. At night it sleeps in a box behind the stove.
Old Circus "Freak" Still Alive and Hearty at 70 Years of Age
"As a recipe for longevity I should say have your neck broken, abstain from the use of flesh meats and do not use alcoholic liquors," writes J. E. Clifford, general press representative of the big Sells-Floto Shows.
"I was forced to this conclusion," he continues, "by meeting Barney Baldwin, famous as 'the man with the broken neck,' in Hobart, O. T., the other day.
"Mr. Baldwin modestly confesses to being three score and ten, man's allotted span, and he doesn't appear a day over forty-five years of age. He is hale and vigorous, weighs 210 pounds, and hasn't aged a bit since I saw him as a star museum freak twenty years ago. But perhaps most remarkable of all is his wonderful memory. He goes back before P. T. Barnum, Dan Costello, Cooper and Hutchinson in the circus business, you know, and he recalls the stirring things of those strenuous pioneer days as clearly as if they happened yesterday.
"Baldwin was also one of the intimates of the original John Robinson and he has a fund of anecdotes relating to that picturesque Southerner that would fill a book.
"He tells about a visit to the Robinson show make to Hickman, Ky., in the early 70's. The lot was just adjoining a negro Methodist church and when the crowd began to collect to watch the canvasmen put up the top, the old darkey preacher thought it would be a good idea to get some of them in his church, make a little talk and pass the hat.
"To that end he began to ballyhoo by ringing the church bell with all his might and main.
"The spectators didn't pay much attention to it but old Robinson was greatly irritated by the bell. Finally, when he could stand it no longer, he donned a devil suit - a sort of a Mephistopheles affair - in which he did a riding act, ran up into the belfry and confronted the old darkey with this:
"'You blankety-blank-blank imp of Satan, you can ring like hell if you want to, but I have got the crowd.'
"The preacher, who thought the real thing stood before him, was nearly scared to death and nearly broke his neck falling down the belfry stairs."
Iowa, Des Moines, Aug. 24. Harry Besha, with the Gollmar advance, was in Des Moines last week and spent the day out in the park. He said that the Gollmars made good from a money standpoint in the copper region, and that the season will be as large as ever in point of receipts.
Agent DeWolf, of the tall type and long words, was in Des Moines last week looking after the press contracts for Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.
Fred Buchanan of Yankee Robinson fame says that he will have a two-ring circus next year.
"The Great Sells Show will not go out this year," said Frank A. Lemon of Dobson, Mo., to a SHOW WORLD man. "Mr. William Sells entered into a contract with me for the purchase of my train, my animals and a certain number of horses. He was to pay a certain amount of cash, but his financial matters did not materialize as he expected. It is a great disappointment to Mr. Sells, for I believe that he is a very competent showman and would have made a success of the scheme as he outlined it.
"Will I ever go out again? I may. I am not an old man, although I have spent many years in the business. I am over sixty years of age. I am rather contented on my farm here. Beneath my 205 acres there is coal and oil. The land is worth $1,000 an acre and there is no better spot in the world than Dobson." - Jay.
Denver, August 24. The resignation of Max Fabish as treasurer of the Orpheum was announced. Max had just returned from a summer season with the Sells-Floto shows and, apparently, was fixed at the Orpheum for the season. A few weeks ago he had an offer to manage the new Sullivan-Considine house at a substantial increase in salary. Martin Beck met the increase and went it better and Max decided to stay. Then came a wire from Klaw & Erlanger offering such an increase in salary if Max would take the management of the Shubert theater, Kansas City, that it could not be declined, and Fabish left at once for New York to confer with his new bosses. . . .
Pawnee Bill's Live Agent
The advance cars of the Pawnee Bill show are decorating everything within fifty miles of Denver and the man, woman or child who is missed by the bright colors and posters will be in very hard lines indeed. Jim Curran is looking after the interests of the big show in his usual hustling way and will see that the tents are packed to the limit for the two days they will be here the first week in September.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
SHOW WORLD'S special correspondent with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth sends in the following newsy personal gossip, a reflect of the daily life under the big tents:
We had our own water show in Dubuque, where the big show encountered the rainstorm of the season on Aug. 15. Pluvius let loose on us about 1:30 o'clock in the afternoon just as the people were streaming into the show, and kept it up all day until it seemed as though the clouds could hold no more. About 9 o'clock thunder and wind joined the forces with the rain, and this combination of untoward elements brought the night performance to a somewhat abrupt conclusion, the audience becoming nervous and making tracks for home. As the water was almost knee deep on some parts of the lot, much bedraggled lingerie was displayed, and quite a number of canvasmen earned winning smiles from thos members of the fair sex who permitted themselves to be bodily hoisted over the wettest places by strong masculine hands. The good humor of the entire audience was remarkable and infectious, and they seemed very appreciative of the efforts put forward by the management and men in helping them out. The rains caused wash-outs all along the line, and it was afternoon before the show pulled into its next stand - Cedar Rapids. That city was crowded with expectant show-goers, all circus-hungry, and the loss of the afternoon show was as keenly disappointing to the thousands of country people as to the management. Many of them stayed, however, and we played to capacity at night.
In Clinton, Ia., we had the pleasure of entertaining Alf. T. Ringling, who interrupted an automobile pleasure tour to take in the Barnum & Bailey afternoon performance.
Ernest Cooke distinguished himself the other night, stepping bravely in the breach between two Teutonic combatants, and thus preventing what looked like incipient internecine war. Although there was nothing sanguinary about the warfare, it most certainly was wordy, and really, you know they might have come to blows had he not ordered them all to bed! Professional jealousy is very silly.
Plans Circus for Panama
Tote Siegrist is very busy these days. Tote is going to show the people down around Colon something just as wonderful in its line as the "ditch" itself, and should really be complimented by the Federal government on his intention to give the canal workers a chance for a little recreation in the midst of their national work. He and his advance guard, Caesar Guilietti, spend their leisure time in "routing the circus," and arranging the many details coincident with the formation of an entirely new show-shop.
Some men chew their tobacco while others content themselves with gum. But the irrepressible Dexter has a fastidious taste which eschews both the one and the other. When you meet him, and ask him for the plug he will haul out a package of dried beef with which he regales his masticatory membrane.
Davenport turned out two fine houses on Monday. The ferry was kept busy on Sunday and Monday taking the show folks over to Rock Island. The latter city has Davenport eclipsed by a hundred constellations when it comes to hotels.
One hour and ten minutes from the time the last wagon reached the lot to the opening of the doors is pretty good, John Burke. I don't know if you times it, but that's what you accomplished in Quincy on Wednesday, Aug. 21. From Galesburg into Quincy is 99 miles, and it was 9:15 when the last section rolled in; Baldwin Park, where we showed, is a stiff three mile haul, but the doors opened to an enormous crowd at the advertised hour of 1 o'clock.
By the time this bulletin goes to press, another happy marriage will have been celebrated, and one more link forged for life between the ladies and men's dressing-rooms. On Sunday, August 26, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, so we learn from most reliable sources, one of the brightest young acrobats and clowns with the show will lead a pretty young English aerialist to the altar of Hymen. Who said her name was Lizel? It's supposed to be a real secret. Well, all the world loves a lover, and our young friend hasn't ever attempted to disguise that he was most hardly smitten by Cupid's dart, so here's long life and happiness to them both.
Mr. Hendrick's page of cartoons created great enthusiasm, and his talented grasp of the salient features of the circus in a visit which only extended over a few hours made a hit.
Doc. Freeman is spending a few days with the show, and Charlie Hayes is putting in a little vacation back with the show, now that he has finished his advance work.
Betting is brisk in the dressing-room on the closing date.
McClure says he spent a very charming Sunday and Monday at Rock Island.
Harvey Watkins is acting as adviser to Tote; there are few men in the circus world who can put a programme together as he can. The late James A. Bailey was his teacher.
Writes History of Trip
Charles Andress' route-book is to contain a brief survey of the show's journeyings during the five years which have elapsed since its return from conquering Europe. Not the least of its magnets will be a reduction in price to 75 cent.
George Conklin, our menagerie superintendent, lost a Red River hog the other day. George states that piggy had been in his care some twenty odd years. They live long undre Conklin.
Dan Fishell (Bill Jones!) left that dainty home of drama, which he so ably superintends in St. Louis, to visit his old love - the circus - at Quincy. At the Garrick Dan enjoys sybaritic quarters which might be well envied by a bank president, but he loves to leave it gilded walls and four-fold carpeted floor to tread again the pungent sawdust, and recall those happy days when he was "only a circus agent."
Talking of press agents, of course, you have seen "Coxey's Magazine," a bright and interesting little monthly - the product of w. D. Coxey's versatile brain. How Uncle Bill finds time to write articles for magaziens, edit one of his own, issue dainty little volumes of erudite verse, besides inducing obdurate editors to give him front pages for the Greatest on Earth, is a mystery which baffles. Franc-Tireur.
Officials of and Noted Visitors to Barnum and Bailey's Great Show
Reading from left to right in the upper row are George Conklin, H. C. Freese, H. L. Watkins, Louis E. Cooke, Frank Hyatt, E. Allen Frost and Walter K. Hill. In the lower row from left to right are Ernest Cooke, George H. Degnon, Charles ("Pink") Hayes, R. C. Campbell, J. P. Fagan and Charles R. Hutchinson.
Notable Show Men
Barnum & Bailey Officials and Visitors Are Pictured
The picture of the officials of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth presented herewith is a notable groupe of some of the foremost circus men in the country; men who have been prominently identified with circus organizations for years, and have a wide-spread reputation for their executive ability.
George Conklin is the superintendent of the zoological aggregation of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, and has held that important position for many years. The fact that the complete menagerie is constantly in such splendid condition redounds to Mr. Conklin's credit, and has made the Barnum & Bailey zoo a much admired and discussed part of the show.
H. C. Freese, who contracts for circus feed and teams in Chicago, enjoys the acquaintance and esteem of every contracting agent visiting the city.
Harvey L. Watkins, assistant manger of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, is one of the best known figures in the circus world. Mr. Watkins received his instruction in the rudiments of the circus business from the late James A. Bailey and profited much by the instruction of that master.
Has the Publicity Bureau
Louis E. Cooke occupies the important dual position of advance manager and general agent for the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth and Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and is a man of great practical experience as an advertiser, writer, organizer and creator of telling effects, having been associated with and enjoyed the confidence of such master minds as the late James A. Bailey, P. T. Barnum and Adam Forepaugh.
Frank Hyatt has been for many years superintendent of the Barnum & Baiely show and is commonly acknowledged to be the best-posted man in his particular line of endeavor in the world. Mr. Hyatt has many friends, both within and outside the circus world, and is a man of sterling qualities.
E. Allen Frost is a well-known Chicago attorney, who bears an enviable recored and has a widespread acquaintance among professionals.
Walter K. Hill was formerly the Chicago representative of the New York Clipper, and afterward served as the New York representative of a western publication. He is now making a splendid record as press representative of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
Ernest Cooke is the official "checker" for the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth and a man of ripe experience. Mr. Cooke is well and favorably known in the profession of entertainment.
Looks after Excursions
George H. Degnon is the excursion agent and personal representative of Louis E. Cooke, the general agent, and bears the reputation of being upright and trustworthy to the highest degree.
Charles "Pink" Hayes is identified with the Barnum & Bailey organization in the important capacity of contracting agent.
Robert Casner Campbell is the London representative of THE SHOW WORLD and the founder of the American Posting Service in Chicago, the largest in the world. Mr. Campbell is the president of The Billposter and Distributor of New York, the official organ of the association. He will remain in London for three years, where he will represent the association and this publication. J. P. Fagan, general railroad contractor of the Barnum & Bailey show, and Charles R. Hutchinson, the astute manager of that organization, complete this notable groupe. The photograph was taken especially for THE SHOW WORLD by Charles Andress.
Will Ringling's Drop Parade?
John Ringling Visits Barnum & Bailey to Note Effect of Abandonment
In a recent interview with a representative of the Janesville (Wis.) Recorder, who visited the Barnum & Bailey show at Rockford, Ill., Aug. 12, Mr. John Ringling, who was also an interested spectator of the Greatest Show on Earth, said:
"Of course we do not take our hats off to any of the circuses, and the way the people have been crowding our tents shows they like us. Possibly the fact that we still continue to give the biggest and best street parade ever put out helps us in our crowds, but then the acts given under the 'big top' pull for us, and people are walking advertisements for the show. The present season has been a record one, and we have been compelled several times to put up the sign to turn people away. Packed to the ring bank on several occasions, we have had hundred on the outside, and there has been times when we could have given three performances and had a full tent each time."
Mr. Ringling showed his good feeling for everybody on earth and admitted the Barnum Show was a good one, and that they had a partial claim to being the best on earth. Asked as to whether or not the headquarters of the Ringling Bros.' circus was to be moved from Baraboo, John simply smiled and said, "You ought to know better." The quarters at Barboo have been added to again this year and now stand as one of the best circus winter quarters in the world, and in the same city the members of the company have a quarter million dollars invested in homes that cannot be duplicated in the state of Wisconsin.
Mr. Ringling went to Rockford particularly to notice the effect that lack of parade had on the size of the audiences. He seemed surprised to see the immense crowd, according to the Recorder. It is probable the Ringlings will abandon the parade next season.
Will Expend $100,000
Director General H. H. Tammen of Sells-Floto Show Plans Improvements
The "quality circus" of the country, next season, will be the Big Sells-Floto Shows, if nothing happens to prevent maturing plans from being carried out. H. H. Tammen, director general of this circus has already begun the work of re-organization and he has planned to spend about $100,000 in building over and improving the show. This provides for some new Pullman coaches, several gondola flats and new stock cars and some of the biggest and finest cages and dens ever built. The menagerie and zoos are also to be materially increased and one dealer now has an order for a big "hipp," several zebra, elephants, camels, leopards, panther, half a dozen sea lions, and hundreds of monkeys and birds.
The ring performance is expected to be the "classiest" ever put under canvas. It will abound with American and European feature acts while the celebrated Potter and Siegrist families are framing up the most sensational aerial act this country has ever seen.
Every modern and practicable circus improvement to facilitate the getting up and down of the tops and the comfort and safety of the patrons, will be secured and no expense is to be spared in any department.
Costumes for performers, riders, etc., will be the most costly and elaborate ever used in the circus business, and the new parade features are expected to be more than revelations. There is to be a fine automobile band wagon, too, and all the advance cars will be fitted up with electric lights inside and out.
The present season, under the general direction of H. H. Tammen and the personal management of his brother, Rank, has been by all odds the most prosperous year the Sells-Floto or the Floto Shows have known, and demonstrate to Mr. Tammen's satisfaction that his idea of circus business is a good idea.
Fred McMann Welcomed
Fred McMann, manager No. 3 advance car of the Big Sells-Floto shows, was given a rousing reception at Chickasha, O. T., during his visit there recently. McMann was one of the original "two-blockers" of the pioneer days of Chickasha, but overlooked a chance to buy what are now the four best corner lots in the business center of the town, for $15.
Maybe his old townsmen felt sorry for him because he missed this one chance of his life - but in any event they made his stay pleasant.
Mr. McMann has re-organized his force on the No. 3 advance and it is now lined up as follows: George Edmunds, boss billposter; Al Turrell, T. B. Whistler, Fred McKeand, W. F. Jackman, R. E. Kennedy, Ray Yearout and George Lovewall.
Honored Dead Comrade
Last week the leading people of the Van Amburg Show, when in Rigway, Pa., paid a visit to the grave of Lee Marshall, the cowboy rider who was killed by a bucking broncho a few years ago. The band and the entire company held memorial services at the cemetery after the afternoon performance. The service was conducted by Al Armer, and the grave was decorated with many beautiful floral tributes. Among the show people who were with the Younger and James Wild West when Marshall met his death are Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fick, Tom Tucker, W. Baird, J. Reynolds and others. They were pleased to see that their old friend's last resting place was being well cared for, and tendered their thanks to the Ridgway authorities.
Notes of the Ringling Bros. Shows
Dick P. Sutton and family, managers of the three theaters at Butte, Mont., entertained a number of the staff and performers of the show while were were in Butte.
Quite a number of the show people visited the state penitentiary at Walla Walla, Wash.
The Patty Bros. will go to New York when the show closes, where they will begin a long engagement at the Hippodrome.
Victor Bedini, of the Bedini troupe of riders, bought two fine horses at Baker City, Ore., and is breaking them in for a new act he is going to do next season.
Frank Kauffman celebrated his twenty-second birthday at Spokane, Wash. The Swatstika Club, of which he is a member presented him with a pair of elk teeth cuff buttons. Mr. Kauffamn received many other gifts, both from his family and friends in Europe.
Business has been big all through the west. At Dillon, Mont., we had quite a snow-storm in the morning before the parade.
John D. Tippett has leased the privileges and program with the 101 Ranch Wild West show at Brighton Beach, Long Island, N. Y. He retains his interest on the Warpath at Jamestown, dividing his time between the Exposition and Brighton Beach. The 101 Ranch will close at Brighton Beach Sept. 8 and will go to Philadelphia. It is reported that the aggregation will then take to the road and show en route, to the 101 ranch at Bliss, Okla.
Jas. A. Curran writes from Denver, Colo., under date of Aug. 20: The advetising car No. 1 of Pawnee Bill was in Denver Aug. 19 and 20, billing the Pawnee Bill Wild West Show, which will exhibit in Denver Sept. 2 and 3; Boulder, Sept. 4; Longmont, Sept. 5; Fort Collins, Sept. 6, Greeley, Sept. 7; Cripple Creek, Sept. 9; Colorado Springs, Sept. 10, and Pueblo, Sept. 11. Mr. Ed. Arlington has made arrangements to exhibit in Pueblo for the Pueblo state fair at the fair grounds.
The outlook for business seems very good for the Pawnee Bill Wild West Show, as it is the first time it has ever been in this section of the country. Mr. Ellis, who was the general agent with the show, resigned that position in Denver last week, from which place he will go east and attend to other business.
A. S. Conlon, owner and manager of the black top tent with the Buffalo Bill Wild West show, who was operated upon two weeks ago for appendicitis and has been convalescing at the Lakeside hospital, rejoined the show at Champaign, Ill., last Wednesday.
Al Landman has become the advertising agent of the original Cole Younger-Nichols Amusement company and is making a host of friends in his new position.
The Topeka, Kan., city council has passed an ordinance increasing the license fee for circuses to $300, $400 and $500, according to the size of the show. The citizens are protesting at the exhorbitant charges.
Tales of the Tank Towns
By Clarence J. Copeland
Port Huron, Mich., may have its full quota of prominent men, but it is safe to say that in the eyes of the small boys of that town no one is regarded with greater awe or admiration than Vassar Cameron, the daring aerial artist and strong man, known professionally as Cameroni. Fifteen years ago Cameroni was following the plow on a farm near Port Huron, but he was constantly dreaming of better things and when he joined the Forepaugh show as canvasman and stake driver, it proved to be a stepping stone to the realization of his dreams. While with the Forepaugh show he became very much interested in watching a performer who did a number of feats suspended by the teeth from the topmost part of the big top. He believed if he could do a similar act at a much higher altitude, there would be a great deal of money in it. The hard work of the circus had given him muscles like iron and this, combined with his light weight - 121 pounds - made him well equipped for the act. The first attempt was more successful than he had dared to hope and after many trials the act was brought to the state of perfection in which it was shown at White City, Chicago, the first two weeks in July. This performance consisted of a wire cable stretched from the dizzy height of the White City tower to the top of the Water Chutes structure. Cameroni suspends himself from this wire by means of a stout leather strap attached to a small wheel. One end of the wire being much lower than the other, gives the performer enough momentum to carry him with considerable speed. Cameroni makes the act more effective by firing two pistols while on his mad flight in midair. As an interesting illustration of the vicissitudes of the show business, Cameroni mentions that several seasons ago when the famous Jackson family of bicyclists were featured with the Forepaugh show, he was working as a flunky in the cook-house with the same show. During his White City engagement the Jackson family were on the same bill with him as one of the outdoor Hippodrome attractions.
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Show World, September 7, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 11), pp. 6, 7, 10-11, 14, 18, 20-21. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Kenmore Spends Day with Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows
Combined Tented Aggregations Provide Rare Treat to Patrons at Hammond, Indiana
By Charles Kenmore
I am not accustomed to making trips to Hammond, Ind., but when a show of the pristine quality possessed by the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows Combined (a name to conjure with, these days), comes to the very gates of Chicago without clamoring for admittance, then Mahommet goes to the mountain. Thus, on Aug. 24, attractec by the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace magnet, I forgot the unkindly things the newspaper paragraphers have said of Hammond in the past and after several hours of delightful recreation spent beneath the tents of this justly celebrated circus aggregation of wonders, I am forced to the admission that hence forth my memories of Hammond as well as of the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows Combined ever will be as roseate as a summer morn in the tropics.
I dare not go to the length of saying that this is the peer of all circus aggregations now touring the country, nor do I think my friends, Messrs. Hagenbeck and Wallace, make such a claim, but I will say with emphasis that in numerous respects its bewildering array of special features are unexcelled in the variegated tented field. One needs to be Hydra-headed these days to catch a glimpse of all that is transpiring in three rings and on two stages and even then one is filled with a depressing sense of one's optical shortcomings at a time when visual concentration is an absolute essential to the complete enjoyment of the occasion. With the thousands of Hammondites who thronged the place at the afternoon and evening performances, I darted my glances from one ring to the other, peeked here and there with eagle-like quickness so as to take in most of the show, forgot that I had cultivated an excruciating crick in the neck and trudged homeward, marvelling at the immensity and completeness of the modern twentieth century circus spectacles.
Evolution of the Circus
When I think of the old-time wagon circus which it was my supreme delight as a boy to visit, and contrast it with the gigantic shows of the present era. I am forcibly impressed by the evolution which time, environment, the march of progress of the new idea and the unceasing changes of public taste for tented amusement have produced. To see a show of the magnitude of the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows Combined today, and to compare it with its humble predecessor of forty years ago, furnishes the same surprising revelations that a comparison of the modern up-to-date metropolitan emporium with an old-time country store provides. To see a circus such as this is like going into an Oriental bazaar in the hope of seeing all its wonders at a glance. The impossibility of the task soon manifests itself, but the thought that one has at least seen something stupendous fully compensates one for missing details which in the end a fervid imagination knows how to supply.
To describe in detail all I saw in my day with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows is no insignificant job, as a glance at their massive programs will prove. I recall with delight the antics of an army of clowns, headed by such "Rube" artists as Mr. and Mrs. Bert Davis, who did laughable stunts; twenty - count 'em - elephants in a series of remarkable manoeuvers; a bunch of seals who do all sorts of things from juggling flaming brands to riding horses as they balance huge rubber balls on their snouts; lions, tigers and polar bears fraternizing in loving companionship, yet growling fiercely as with set jaws they perform their remarkable feats to the thunderous applause of the enchanted crowd; picturesque equestrian novelties including trained horses of almsot human intelligence; aerial acrobatic feats without number, serious and comic; women drawn to dizzy heights suspended by their teeth until my snags ached from very sympathy, while others played pranks on horseback which would baffle you to do on a ball room floor; and a score of other acts, winding up with the Roman hippodrome and jockey races which fairly drew the juvenile element in the crowd to their feet with resounding cheers. To get an idea of some of the things I saw at this show i refer my readers to the cartoon proved by my friend Mr. Hendrick, which is published elsewhere in this issue of THE SHOW WORLD.
Rich Menu of Novelties
The entertainment opened with a parade of the principal performers and exhibits with elephants and dromedaries enough to stock the entourage of a Rajah. This was followed by "the charge of the Royal Black Huzzars," by the Rhoda Royal group of gentlemen riders arrayed in Continental uniforms. Then came the fun, fast and furious and diverting enough to satisfy the most chronic dyspeptic. Herman Boger toyed with wild animals of the jungle in a steel enclosed arena, in marvellous fashion. I shuddered with apprehension as he sported with these ferocious beasts for only a few days previously one of his assistants had lost a hand in the capacious maw of a lioness he was fondling. Fortunately the thrilling performance was concluded without the loss of a human member or the effusion of blood.
Now came bounding jockeys in conjunctive achievements, as the press agents might say, Reno McCree and Lulu Davenport. While they disported in one ring, George Rowland and John Swallow rode in wonderful style in another. Percy Phillips then introduced his trained elephants, who did everything from riding bicycles to turning somersaults. Charles Judge next displayed a pair of man-eating Bengal tigers, who rode elephants and leaped through hoops of flame as if they loved the exercise better than they feared Judge's ever-ready cracking whip. Reuben Castang made more elephants do wonderful feats and then Art Adair and his comedy band of musicians melange, which might grace the head liner spot on the best bill in the finest vaudeville theater ever controlled by my esteemed friends, Kohl & Castle, or Klaw & Erlanger, who know a good thing when they see it. Whether or not the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association has evil designs upon Hagenbeck-Wallace I know not, but I saw Jake Sternad in the audience and when Jake travels from Chicago to Hammond to visit a circus, there's something apt to be doing in the booking line.
Astonishing Aerial Sensations
Now came the Delno tourpe in a "superb programme of asatonishing aerial sensations, denoting unexampled bravery and phenomenal training," as the program has it. Well, I will testify to the correctness of this phrasing. In this display the Three Alvos and Hotura and Kawara appeared to signal advantage. The Van Diemons, in revolving teeth gymnastics, won shouting favor, while Emma Donavan, who by the way, is mistress of wardrobe of the show, a position in which she shines no less brilliantly than as the foremost aerial ring artist in the world, did some remarkable work in mid-air. The efforts of Horace Webb on a revolving ladder, Stella Miaco, who does everything except fall from her trapeze, Anita Faber, who exercises musically on a single trapeze, Sicheka, a Japanese who slides ropes as a lad does a steep bannister - all these were received with marked favor by the delighted crowds.
The Savoys, in their acrobatic act with three dogs, provided relishable entertainment. Then followed bewitching Winnie Sweeney and Lulu Davenport in a bare back riding act which might have set a cowboy's teeth on edge for very envy. While the merry Andrews and harlequins disported for the edification of the grand stand, Reuben Castang and Charles Judge forced more lions and leopards to do equestrian stunts in the steel arena. This done, a number of clowns permitted themselves to be blown up in an automobile and while the crowd laughte Millie Ginnett and Lillian Davis gave us a sample of bare back riding as it is done when his majesty, King Edward, visits the hippodrome in Lunnon. Then follow the Golden Troupe of Russian Dancers in graceful terpsichorean figures which stamped them as artists to the core. The Petrofsky troupe of dancers did some Russian dances in clever fashion.
Interesting Array of Acts
No come in quick succession Fredrick Drahn and his drove of trained zebras; Captain Alaskus with his trained seals, which evoked hearty cheers from the multitude; Harry Schubert and his tourpe of horned pets in comical feats; John Fuller and his contortion horse easily as a gamin of the Ghetto stands on his head; the Raven Trio, in expert acrobatic specialties; the Tasmanian Troupe of acrobats in bewildering feats; Paul Brachard, Ida Miaco the De Verns, Charles Cheser and the great Stantz in placing contortion acts; Grace Jenks and Austin King, graceful riders; Miss connors and Anita Faber in displays of thoroughbred driving; Carrie Norenberg, Ida Miaco, Kirk Chambers and John Fuller in demonstrations of high school equestrianism; and Joe Litchel and Miss Savoy, who ride trained menage horses.
Give Patrons Value Received
All this is by no means all, for the Hagenbeck-Wallace combination believes in giving its patrons value received. While Charles Judge is putting a trained seal through a series of wonderful riding feats in one ring, the Rowlands, seven of them, in another circule, do remarkable things in a tally-ho, such as turning somersaults from their seats to the backs of the horses, standing on each other's shoulders while circling about the ring and jumping on and off the running horses with the agility of Dervishes. The clowns have another inning and among those who deserve especial mention at my hands are Lon Moore, Fred Jenks, Art Adair, D. King, Delmont and Stentz, Jack Dell and Hart, Sam Lewis, and the irresistible Bert Davis and his wife, who excited my risibilities with a series of Rube portrayals, which for naturalness I have not seen surpassed.
The closing events were the Roman hippodrome and jockey races, which roused the audience to a high pitch of enthusiasm. The participants were Tom Muller and Emma Donavan, Marie Ellsee, Ida Miaco, Jack Dell, George King, Sam Lewis, Albert Golden, Harry Thomas, Austin King, William Carier and Andie Dobbins. To all of these, as well as to the obliging officials of the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows Combined, I owe my heartfelt thanks for the enjoyments of an occasion the memory of which will not soon fade away.
Lew Nichols, Showman
Veteran Amusement Manager Has Not Missed a Season in Thirty Years.
Lew Nichols, manager of the Cole Younger and Nichols Theater-Amusement Co., was born in Kankakee, Ill., in 1857, and entered the circus business as a candy "butcher" with the old John Robinson show, which was then a wagon show. Since that date until the present year Mr. Nichols has never missed a season.
In 1878 he made his first appearance as a side show talker with the Hillard & Demott show under Colonel Goshen, the side show and privileges being controlled by Tom Haley. In 1879-80 he was with W. E. Coop [sic W. C. Coup?] as a candy man, and in 1881 made the side show, opening and concert announcements with the Cooper & Jackson show. In 1882 Mr. Nichols controlled the side show with the Beckett organization, and in 1883 had the side show with the Clark, Rose & Carroll European show. In 1884-85-86 Mr. Nichols maanged the side show with the Harris Nickel Plate Shows, and in 1887 was with J. H. Barrett.
During the next four years he was with John McMahon, and in 1892 joined the Ringling Bros. circus. The following year he was idenfified with the Sells Bros., and then became affiliated with the great Wallace shows, where he remained for four years. At the end of that period Mr. Nichols re-joined the Ringling Bros. and remained with them for three years. In 1901 he spent the season with the Campbell Bros., and in 1902 became identified with the Cole Younger & Frank Farner Wild West; in 1903 he traveled with the big Sautell shows, and in 1904 with the Welsh Bros.
During the winter of 1904 he was with the Orton show and afterwards bought a plantation show at Griffin, Ga. After that Mr. Nichols became associated in the carnival business with E. W. Weaver, then with Dick Peeler, and at present is the sole owner and manager of the Cole Younger & Nichols shows. Mr. Nichols is well and favorably known in the amusement world as a man of initiative and force, and invariably "makes good."
George M. Hodge is Putting His Experiences into an Interesting Series
One of the most interesting series of articles on the old-time circus is now appearing in the Nashville Tennesean under the title, "Tales of the Big Tops." They are written by George M Hodge, a newspaper man with a long and varied experience in the show business. He was connected at various times with the Bostock-Ferrari animal show, the Gaskel-Mundy carnival, Ringling Bros.' circus, the Cincinnati Fall Festival, Heck and Middleton and other amusement concerns, and was the original "Raffles" or Find-me-and-get=$100-man, so extensively used by the daily press as an advertising and circulation scheme. Mr. Hodge is the Nashville correspondent of THE SHOW WORLD and will from time to time contribute special articles of interest to professional people generally.
Vaudeville Circus
A "vaudeville circus" is the latest thing in tent show, and Wheeling, W. Va., is its starting point. It will be known as the National Amusement Company and was formed by F. M. Whitney, W. J. Lester and Claude Nelson. The show will carry forty-five people and will give performances under the auspices of some civic organization in each city visited. The large tent will be arranged with a substantial stage as well as a ring. The acts include equine, equestrian, acrobatic, aerial and vaudeville turns.
Master of Transportation Murphy of the Buffalo Bill show was the victim of a serious accident at Bloomington, Ill., recently during the loading of the train at that point. He was caught between two cars and crushed badly. He is now undergoing treatment at the Bloomington hospital.
Guy F. Steely, press representative for Ringling Bros.' circus, says that Boise, Idaho, is one of the best show towns he ever saw. There are about 20,000 inhabitants, and he thinks they all attended the show twice, or tried to.
Bert Morphy, Singer
At Luna Park, New York, on Decoration Day last, Bert Morphy, "the man who sings to beat the band," pitted his stentorian tones against those produced by the efforts of Lemlein's Military Band. . . .
. . . "Gentlemen, it has been said that I sing to beat the band. Be that as it may, I would think of me as the man who cooks to beat the band . . ." Morphy, it is said, comes by his cooking ability honestly, his father, the celebrated Colonel Alexander Morphy, crown solicitor for the counties of Kerry, Cork and Clare, having been the most famous epicure and amateur chef in all Ireland. The family is a noted one, the singer's elder brother being Major Henry J. Morphy, commanding the second battalion of the "Old Eighty-sixth," Roayl Irish Rifles. Bert's full name is Hubert Timothy John Aloysius Morphy, and he was educated at Lord Peter's College in Surrey.
When his father died young Morphy had to leave college and shift for himself. He went to Australia, but finding nothing there to his liking he decided to leave at once for America, without even waiting for his remittance from home. As he had no funds, he was obliged to stow away, and as luck would have it he chose the very boat on which Mme. Sarah Bernhardt and the Sells Brothers' circus were sailing. Since then Sarah has been a tent attraction herself.
As soon as the crew discovered him, Morphy, like all stowaways, was put to work and, by a fortunate chance, was placed in the cooks' galley. Then came the captain's birthday and Morphy volunteered to make a fine frosted cake. It was a wonder and the captain sent for the young man. He complimented him before all the passengers and asked:
"What else can you do?"
"I can sing a little," replied young Hubert modestly.
He sang so loudly and so well as to earn the enthusiastic applause of Mme. Bernhardt, and an offer from the Sells Brothers to join their big show and sing under canvas, which he did for three years.
Since that time he has sung with every band of prominence in the United States. For years he was a resident of Chicago where he became very popular, but two years ago left the Windy City for New York, where he has since lived.
Visit Old Circus Friends
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Show was favored with a visit from Miss Mary Rhodes and Miss Jewel Delmar at Indianapolis recently. These young ladies were for several seasons with the Wallace circus. Miss Delmar has retired from the business and is living the simple life in Indianapolis, while Miss Rhodes announced that she had renounced the show business forever and would wed a prominent business man of St. Louis early in December and make that her future home. Both ladies were warmly received by their many friends in the dressing room of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows.
Ringling Bros. Show Kings
The wonderful success of the Ringling Brothers, proprietors and managers of the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows and the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. shows, and, if present indications count for anything, appear to have secured a heavy interest in the Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill shows, reads like a tale from Arabian Nights. In a comparatively few years, starting with a small wagon show outfit, the Ringling Brothers have steadily forged ahead until they are now looked upon as the kings of the tented world.
The Ringling Brothers have always pursued an ultra-conservative policy, dealing with their patron and employes in a scrupulously exact manner, keeping faith with the amusement-loving public in a way to win the admiration and unswerving loyalty of a multitude of circus devotees, and in all of their dealings have maintained a high standard of business integrity. The deportment of their great shows has undoubtedly accomplished much in lifting the circus profession to a high plane in the estimation of the general public.
One reason for the success of the Ringling Brothers is due to the fact that in all things they act as a unit, working to a common end. The vast machinery that operates the Ringling shows works in perfect unison, with the inevitable result - success.
Col. William F. Cody, known to the boys of America as Buffalo Bill, came, saw, and conquered Chicago as he has other cities. There is only one Bill and when he is gathered unto his fathers, the most gallant and picturesque character in "winning the west" history of this country will have passed away, but never to be forgotten by those who admire pluck, bravery and all those attributes which make the real man. May your trip to the happy hunting-grounds be long deferred, Bill. So say we all of us.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
With his customary breezy good nature, the special correspondent of THE SHOW WORLD with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, relates the happenings of the past week, and life under the big tents is both amusingly and truthfully depicted in the following notes.
The spirit of prophecy was fulfilled, and the prescience of this column established by the wedding which took place last Saturday at Ottumwa, when, true to our predictions, the marriage bells rang out in joyous celebration of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Henry. Cupid's arm has been right busy this season with the "Greatest Show on Earth," and the victims of his shafts have been numerous. Our inquisitorial searchlight causes us to believe that this column may shortly have another spasm, and reveal yet two more suppliants at the altar of Hymen.
That was a long and dusty haul at Keokuk, and the ever spick and span Dan Fishell had to invest in a whisk broom in order that his immaculate appearance might retain its pristine purity. We were all sorry when Dan left us to return to the habitat of Anheuser-Busch, for he's a favorite both front - and back - of the Big Show.
It takes much to awaken Keokuk, but the Greatest drew them from their inner-most lairs, and the dust thrown up by the wheels of every conceivable class of rigs lingers in our throats yet.
General agent Louis E. Cooke sandwiched a day with us, between one of his rapid-fire inspections of the tripel advance, and left us for Chicago at Ottumwa.
The "Call of the Wild"
The other day, as "Mickey" Graves was shouting to the boys to "put them down to first," and then went rambling half way across the lot simply because the liner was a "little hot," an observant wag remarked that it was "The Call of the Wild!" Keep it up, Arnold, and some day you'll be a ball player.
The spirit of inspiration is again upon Harry Clarenz, who is writing a four-act drama of strength and originality. Harry Barnum, capitalist, has read and approved the manuscript, and it is not unlikely that he will financially back Harry in his Thespian venture. Much romance has been woven in the career of "handsome" Clarnez; for the picturesque details thereof consult the annals of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, where his stentorian voice made the welkin ring as he introduced the features of that splendid entertainment.
Steve Miaco is to be congratulated. Whether it be mere will-power, or Christian Science, he has obstinately refused to lie up, and has not missed a performance, although suffering really badly from yellow jaundice. As Steve slowly lowers from the vertical to the horizontal while still blowing his trombone, a convulsed audience never dreamed its merriment was occasioned by a very sick man. We're sincerely glad you are better, Steve.
Going to Sell Medicine
The voice of rumor states that the ever good-humored "Kid" Lovell goes out with a medicine show this winter, where he will double handling out the paste-boards and doing a bending act. His bosom friend, Buf Williamson is authority for the statement that, as a bender, especially of one-arm plunges, "Kid" is without an equal in this fair land!
Nowadays, whenever a small group of showmen is encountered, earnestly whispering, you may bet that part of your summer emoluments which you haven't blowed, they are engaged in the creation and formantion of a new show. Toto Seigrist is the exception. Working, and not talking, he might almost be dubbed the "silent showman."
Pete Conklin is still at the hospital in Bloomington, but is so far convalescent that he is allowed to walk around a little. It is hoped that he will be able to return home to Coney Island very soon.
Connubial affection is beautiful, but is unseemly when unduly displayed in public. A little self-restraint may be expected from even the youngest, and is both manly and matronly. A word to the wise, etc.
Caterer Henry has Many Friends
The wisdom of the decision of the maangement to do its own catering instead of conceding the same to a caterer has been most amply proved this season. It is safe to say the "Greatest" has the finest dining-tent on the road, and a load of credit is due to Charley Henry. His courtesy is proverbial, and there was never such general satisfaction with the food supplied as is now evinced.
Owing to wreck ahead of us out of Marshalltown, we were very late getting into Waterloo, Ia. It was noon before the last section arrived, and once again, we struck a lot black with country visitors anxious to invest in the purchase of amusement. Manager Hutchinson induced the railroads to hold their outgoing trains, however, and the greater portion of the crowd patiently waited. From their apparent satisfaction, judged from the applause, it may safely be assumed they felt that they had not waited in vain.
"Doc" Freeman is again with us, and is busy contracting acts and performers for 1908.
The sterner sex has been silently rebuked by the formation this year in the ladies' dressing room of a "Non-Scandal Club," whose fair members are bound by solemn tie and oath to fine and expel any offending member who may breathe aught derogatory to any living being. The sweetness of their social intercourse is ministered to by the addition of cups of tea, served "a l'anglaise." That, under the soft and subtle influence of this most harmless of narcotics, the little band of non-knockers may find a pleasing word for even mere man is the wish of -- Franc-Tirer.
An Educational Show
Miller Bros. 101 Ranch, a Truthful Exposition of the Wild West. By William Sidney Hillyer.
Brooklyn, N. Y., Aug. 31. We of the effete east, who have gathered our ideas of the west and frontier life from the thrilling pages of the glorious romances of our youth, or from the less bloodthirsty lucubrations of our more modern scribes, have had our imaginations revivified, some of our opinions rectified, and our education general more advances by the realistic portrayal of western life so picturesquely given by the Miller Bros. at Brighton Beach Park, Coney Island, in their 101 Ranch Wild West. These men modestly disclaim the title of showmen, yet they have conceived a production which the most astute and experienced of that ilk might well feel proud of being the progenitor of.
Orginally born of an idea to convey to the public some conception of their large ranch at Bliss, Okla., and the attractivenes of life thereon, this production has grown under their skilful management and that of their able assistants far beyond thier original expectations, and has become by far the most successful outdoor entertainment that has ever been produced at Brighton Beach. It has been widely and extensively advertised in the most able manner and the merit of the show has caused it to be so talked about that twice a day the vast amphitheater holds crowds of interested spectators.
The performance well deserves the favorable comment it has created, for from the moment of the grand entry to the thrilling climax of the attack upon the emigrant train by the Indians, every minuted is filled with something stirring, thrilling and clever. After the grand entry the following introduction takes place: Cowboys from Headquarters, band of Sioux Indians, bunch of cowboys from Cowskin Camp, band of Cheyenne Indians, bunch of cowboys from Horseshoe Band, band of Araphahoe Indians, band of cowboys from the Dogie Camp, band of Ponca Indians from Ponce Reservation, band of Moki Indians, horse rangers from Bar L Division, bunch of Oklahoma cowgirls, Lon Seely, Chief Bull Bear of the Cheyennes, Chief High Chief of the Sioux, Milt Brown, chief of cowboys; W. N. Kennedy, arenic director. This introduction makes a very picturesque feature. It is followed by the attack on the stage coach. This, while a somewhat familiar feature with performances of this kind, still has an element of novelty in the exciting way it is managed.
The fancy and trick riding of the cowboys, their races and those of the cowgirls and Indians are daring and nerve thrilling. The Indian war dance, the buffalo chase by the Indians, the quadrille on horseback, the roping and riding of long horned steers by the cowboys, the lariat throwing, the rifle shooting of the steer by Lon Seely with his hands, and the riding of bucking bronchos, are immensely entertaining and stirring episodes in the performance.
The quick justice dealt out to a horse thief has its humorous side for the spectators, but the man who is dragged the whole length of the arena at a horse's heels with a lariat around his body must needs be of good constitution to stand the shaking up he gets twice a day.
The performance in the arena is brought to a close by a realistic reporduction of an emigrant train crossing the plains in the early days. The pioneers camp for the night and are attacked by the Indians who burn the wagons before they are driven off by the cowboys who come to the rescue.
After the performance the majority of the spectators go into the Indian village, where they see western camp life at short range and watch Uncle Dan put his trained animals through their course of stunts.
The proprietors of this excellent production are Zack T. J. C. and George L. Miller. Their executive staff consists of Sam S. Waller, general agent; Oswald J. Cathcart, treasurer; R. E. Hague, Jr., secretary; W. H. Kennedy, arenic director, and Grant Richardson, press representative.
Big Show Close Oct. 19
THE SHOW WORLD has been officially informed that the Barnum & Bailey and the Buffalo Bill shows will close the present season on Oct. 19. The names of the closing stands have not been divulged but announcement of same may be expected within a fortnight. Both shows have made big money this season and have given great satisfaction to a multitude of patrons.
Organizing Indoor Circus
Rhoda Royal, "Prince of Horse Trainers," and famous producer of equine novelties, now identified with the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace shows combined, where he is presenting twenty thoroughbreds as a leading feature of the big show performance, transacted business in Chicago last week and during a call at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD stated that he had under process of organization The Royal Indoor Circus, which will play the principal cities of America during the approaching fall and winter season under the auspices of fraternal societies.
Mr. Royal is a pioneer in the indoor circus branch of the profession of entertainment. He enjoys the acquaintance and esteem of manages and artists everywhere. Mr. Royal will make definite announcement of his plans for The Royal Indoor Circus within a few days.
Pawnee Bill in Colorado
James A. Curran writes to THE SHOW WORLD from Denver, under date of Aug. 27: Ed. Arlington, of the Pawnee Bill Wild West, is still in Denver. Advance car No. 2 arrived yesterday and will cover routes in the following towns: Denver, Boulder, Loveland, Fort Collins, Greeley, Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and then into New Mexico.
There has been quite a controversy between Mr. Arlington and the city of Denver in regard to allowing the Pawnee Bill parade to take place on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2. At this writing they have not, as yet, received their parade permit.
The Trades Assembly of Federation and Labor have tried every possible way to keep the Pawnee Bill show out of Denver and to have its license revoked. The labor people stated that Labor Day was theirs and they did not want anyone to interfere with them. There was a long article in the Denver Times of Aug. 26, in regard to the matter, but the labor people cannot succeed in shutting out the Pawnee Bill shows.
THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of The Stake and Chain News, published "in the interest of the folks with the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows, Combined," which is a unique publication in that it is the only one of its kind in the world. It is well printed, well edited by Dr. U. C. Crowley, newsy to a surprising degree and readable form "kiver to kiver." As a source of information, The Stake and Chain News is as eagerly sought for and read by other circus people as it is by the members of the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows.
Jerry Mugavin, part owner of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, was absent from that organization last week while on a visit to the Van Amburg circus.
THE SHOW WORLD general staff was represented by Warren A. Patrick, Charles Ulrich, J. Schuyler Clark and Z. A. Hendrick, among other Chicago visitors to the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows at Hammond, Ind., Saturday, Aug. 24.
Gentry Brothers' animal show had two additions to the collection in Oklahoma recently. A baby camel was born, and soon after a broncho colt saw the light. Both are thriving under the careful superintendence of their keepers.
What is regarded by showmen as the liveliest bit of billposting of the season was accomplished by the Forepaugh & Sells circus force at Huntington, Ind., recently. Eight men covered a 160-foot board and a 50-foot board in exactly nine minutes.
George D. Steele, official adjuster of the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. circus, was a welcome caller at THE SHOW WORLD offices last week.
J. D. Newman, traffic manager of the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus, spent a few hours with the show at Hammond, Ind.
Charles E. Cory and C. Lee Williams, of the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows will leave for an extended European trip at the close of the present season. While abroad they will arrange for several big foreign acts for the coming season.
Art Adair, Fred Jenks, Lon Moore, E. Hart and Bert Davis and wife are making a great hit with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows this season. The clowning is a strong feature of this aggregation.
From current rumors it would appear that most of the larger circuses will close unusually early this season. The railroad situation in the south presents many obstacles and may force early closing of the big shows.
It is rumored that the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows will play a long season south and that to facilitate movements there is to be made a considerable reduction in the equipment of that organization.
Hammond, Ind., is not generally considered a good circus town, but the records will have to be changed now that the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows have broken the spell.
It is rumored that several artists with the Barnum & Bailey show murmured when it was announced that all bookings for the "Big Four" would in the future be arranged through one booking agency and declared emphatically that they would refuse to pay a five per cent fee. This is an age of centralization and it was but fair to presume that the circus interests would get together sooner or later.
THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of post-cards from Fred a. Hodgson, formerly manager of Orrin Bros. Circo, who with his wife is spending the heated term at their summer home on Orrin Island, Georgian Bay, near Collingwood, Ontario. Fred reports a recent catch of forty-sever bass in Georgian Bay waters and that his place is a perfect Paradise for disciples of Isaac Walton. Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson are enjoying splendid health with never a thought of the circus and its many cares.
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows played Delphi, Ind., recently, and on the same day the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show played Logansport, twenty miles distant. Fred Hutchinson, manager, Mr. Griffith, manager of the side shows, and Mr. Whitehead, auditor of the "Buffalo Bill" Show, paid the Hagenbeck show a visit.
David J. Jarrett, twenty-four-hour man with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows, was in Chicago last week purchasing supplies, and was a caller at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD.
The Gentry show, under the management of Herbert Matty, is playing to good business throughout Illinois. Charles B. Fredericks and Rhoda Royal visited the Gentry show at Geneva, Ill., Aug. 27.
Mrs. Sutton, a member of the Van Dieman troupe of aerialists, fell while performing the butterfly act with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows at Rensselaer, Ind., Friday, Aug. 23, receiving serious injuries that will keep her confined in the hospital for several weeks.
Jake Sternad and Jack Hoeffler accompanied by their wives visited the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows at Hammond, Ind., Aug. 24.
The Norris & Rowe circus is encountering the best of circus weather, and is showing to such crowds that people were turned away at both performances at Sault Ste. Marie. Frank Miller, with his riding dog Vic, and the Banvad family in their flying and casting act are the features of the show. Both acts brought a burst of applause. The Mora Trio are on the aerial bars. Doc McNulty rejoined the show recently after a two weeks' visit to Chicago and brought the spotted family for the side show back with him.
Z. F. Holland, who was with the Robinson shows all Summer, opened a circus recently at Riverview and reports that it is meeting with every success. If the good business continues Mr. Holland will remain at the park until the close of the season. Mr. Holland intends to rejoin the Robinson show at the opening of next season.
Parker Has Carnival Boats
Colonel Charles W. Parker has caused to be constructed by his carnival supply company two boat carnival shows which will be seen at New Orleans during the Mardi Gras time. This innovation will undoubtedly prove highly successful as it is an absolute novelty in the way of entertainment. Colonel Parker has also manufactured three jumping horse abreast "carry-us-alls" which will be used in a carnival for the first time. The Cramer-Tyler Company of the C. W. Parker Shows has enjoyed a most prosperous season, and at Winnepeg attracted larger crowds during its fortnight engagement than any two shows that ever played the town.
Have Ringling Brothers Purchased Control of Barnum & Bailey Show?
Report Is Strengthened By Recent Organization of the Universal Booking Agency, Which Will Book All Circus Acts in the Future.
A notice was posted in the dressing room of the Barnum & Bailey Shows Saturday, Aug. 24, to the effect that the booking of all artists for the Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Brothers, Forepaugh-Sells Brothers and Buffalo Bill Shows would be done through the Universal Booking Agency, W. W. Freeman, manager, Chicago, Ill., and that artists desiring engagements for next season were requested to address that agency. The notice was signed by Charles R. Hutchinson, manager of the Barnum & Bailey shows.
The posting of this notice naturally created much astonishment in the Barnum & Bailey dressing rooms, and to the arenic artists it appeared that the big circus sensation so long anticipated had really arrive. The announcement that all acts for the above mentioned shows are to be booked through one agency in Chicago would seem to mean that the Ringling Brothers have secured the controlling interest in the Barnum & Bailey Show or are to run it for the company.
Show May Have Been Sold
As one prominent showman in Chicago last week expressed himself: "My idea is that the Barnum & Bailey Show is to be sold - or has been - that the company will be dissolved and that the proceeds of the sale, including the $605,000 reserve fund, will be divided, according to law, pro rata, among the stockholders. This would give Mrs. Bailey, no doubt, considerably over $300,000 for her share. As she owns the name and rights for America, she probably would get something extra for that. The recent deal includes the Buffalo Bill Show, which has made hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit this season.
"The Barnum Show has also made big money and has given great satisfaction, so that the sale (if one has been made) has not been because of financial trouble, but evidently because Mrs. Bailey wants to relieve herself of all interest in it and future bother."
On Market for Months
It is a well knnow fact in circus circles that Mrs. Bailey's interest (something over 52 per cent) in the Barnum & Bailey Company, Ltd., has been on the market for several months, and it is also known that the Ringling Brothers have had under advisement the purchase of her interest. According to rumor, two of the five Ringling Brothers have been, until recently at least, adverse to the purchase of the Barnum & Bailey stock.
It is a peculiar fact that not a single individual, so far as we can learn, with the Barnum & Bailey show has been engaged for the coming season. This pertains to the working departments as well as to the artists. None of the general staff or the advance agents have been re-engaged and it is given out that they will not be until the end of the present season.
It is rumored that J. P. Fagan, the present railroad contractor of the show, is to go back with Wallace and that R. M. Harvey, now acting as contracting agent of the Barnum & Bailey Show, is to be general agent for the Tammen shows next season. THE SHOW WORLD has been unable to confirm these rumors, up to the time of going to press, and the announcement is to be taken for what it is worth.
Will Become Show Monarchs
If it proves to be a fact that the Ringling Brothers have really purchased the controlling interest in the Barnum & Bailey Show, it will make them the veritable monarchs of the circus world, for besides owning and controlling the Ringling Brothers Shows, they already own the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers circus. The success of the Ringling Brothers has been meteoric. Their circus career covers scarcely a score of years and from a very small beginning, they have in a double decade arisen to the highest pinnacle in their particular branch of the profession of entertainment.
W. W. Freeman, who manages the Universal Booking Agency, which according to the notice recently posted with the Barnum & Bailey show, is to do all of the booking for America's four greatest tented organizations, is a man of great executive ability and enjoys a world-wide acquaintance. Having had a number of years of practical experiende in the circus business, he is admirably adapted for his present duties.
Top
Show World, September 14, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 12), pp. 6, 12, 22, 23, 24-25, 31, 32, 36, 37, 39. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Col. George Washington Hall
One of the oldest and best known showmen in the world is Col. George Washinton Hall, of Evansville, Wis. He achieved fame as the inventor of the pop corn brick, which has been a delight to millions of children.
Circus Performer Dies
Albert A. Crandall, a well known circus performer, who has been with Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Brothers and Forepaugh & Sells shows, died at his home in New Albany, Ind., Aug. 31. For several months he has been in poor health and left the Forepaugh-Sells show to receive medical attention, intending rejoining them in his home town Sept. 7. Mr. Crandall was 36 years of age and leaves a wife, La Crandall, the well known wire performer, and two small children. He was a member of the Elks, and New Albany Lodge No. 270 had charge of the funeral.
Sim Brothers' Circus will be here Sept. 10. The bills are promising somethign big.
Forepaugh-Sells Circus exhibited in New Albany, Ind., Sept. 7.
Famous Showman Dead
Lewis Sells, the Last of the Original Circus Owners, Passes Away
"I want to see the canvas once more, for I am going to die," said Lewis Sells, the well-known retired showman, Wednesday afternoon, as Clark Doughty took him to see Buffalo Bill's show. It proved to be the last time Sells saw the ring and the sawdust, for he died the evening of Sept. 5 at his home, 1223 Neil Ave., Columbus, Ohio.
Lewis Sells was born in 1841 at Columbus, and held various positions after leaving the public schools until he drifted into the auction business with his brothers, Peter and Allen at Burlington, Iowa. They moved to Chicago, where they peddled dry goods, afterwards returning to Columbus. In 1872 the Sells Brothers show was organized, and was conducted by the brothers until January, 1905.
Lewis Sells was the last of the five brothers that helped to put the circus on the plane that it occupies at present. He was a finished showman, a man of sterling worth, and had many friends in and out of theprofession of entertainment.
[Advertisement] Byron N. Hulburd's Great Western Shows, Byron N. Hulburd, Gen. Mgr., Clyde W. Ingals, Gen. Supt. Wanted at Once and for Season 1908, Circus and Wild West People in every line of the tenting world. Riders with or without stock (male and female), ground acts, aerial acts, feature acts of high class order. Clowns that are clowns, wire walkers, jugglers, acrobats, hippodrome people, 10 cowboys, 10 cowgirls, lady riders, rough riders, Russian Cossacks, Arabs, Japs, Turks, strange race people, Indians, scouts and guides. Horseback ropers, fancy ropers, wild animal acts, domestic animal acts, 10 lady buglers, 50 chorus girls. Musicians for band of 50 - must be A-1 men, well up in circus work. Side show and concert people of all descriptions. Colored Band that can put on Minstrel Show, cake walkers, coochee dancers and Turkish musicians. Working men and bosses in all departments of the tenting world. Best of wages and accommodations to all. Advance agents, press agents, bill posters and A-1 advertisers in all departments.
For sale, all privileges, gaming and all others. State all and lowest in first letter. Tell just waht you do and will do - do not misrepresent - to the Great Western Shows, Beaver Falls, Pa.
Notice. The Byron Hulburd's Great Western Shows offers engagement to good people until December, 1908 - over one year's work. We will be out in the South until December, then to Cuba, West Indies, and the Northern part of South America. No tickets. Just been stung. Respectfully yours, Byron N. Hulburd.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth continues to attract the largest and most enthusiastic crowds in its history, and everybody is kept busy in the numerous department seeing that they are maintained to the fullest efficiency. The correspondent of THE SHOW WORLD sends in his customary budget of news from the big tented aggregation.
With the exception of a jump to Albert Lea, Minn., Thursday, Aug. 29, the Greatest Show on Earth has been playing to the prosperous farmers and well-to-do city folk of old Iowa for the past eleven or twelve days. The crowds of agriculturists who drive into town daily in well-appointed rigs - for your Iowa farmer is a connisseur of horse-flesh - would indicate that, notwithstanding a not over-warm summer, money is plentiful in ruraldom.
The financial potentialities of the revolving film have proved a lodestone in that astutest of all treasurers, John Stevens. As John considers cold weather as a personal affront, we may look for his "Nicelodeom" somewher in the south or southwest this winter.
At Fort Dodge, our stand on the last day of August, the crowds on the lot in the morning came close to witnessing a public electrocution. In some incomprehensible way the wire "guy" of a trolley-car post had become a live "conductor." Now, awaiting the elevation into the air of the menagerie top, several of the camels had been hitched to the post in question; evidently dissatisfied with the unduly waiting for breakfast, one of the camels proceeded to try the wire as a breakfast food. The current running through her body, and unable to disengage herself, the camel's cries attracted the circus and other people to the spot, and it was a moment or two before the unfortuante animal's dilemma was grasped. Superintendent Hyatt just put it down to the natural contrariness of the species, and remarked that she was merely tangled up in the wire. It remained for Tom Lynch, who, with customary ubiquity, "just happened" ther, with a handy pull-up tram, to hitch his horses to the unfortunate Saharan barque and pull her off. Although the shock must have been unusual, to say the least, no diminution was notices in the camel's appetite afterwards, but wire as a diet will doubtless be less attractive in the future.
Flandreau Works the "Kids"
The truth of the old saw that habit becomes second nature is curiously exemplified in the case of John Flandreau. Besides officiating as head door-tender, John works the "kids," and with much good nature and blarney stimulates the eager and youthful "extra help" to perform prodigies of labor. And in the winter time, after a hearty breakfast (he is none of your anaemic trenchermen, is John), you may see him absent-mindedly strolling around the street of New York City asking little boys industriously bent for school and culture if they wish to "work for a ticket." At least Flandreau maintains he has almost been arrested two or three times by policemen suspicious of his intentions! John's numerous friends will be glad to know that there is no visible decrease in his embonpoint. Pete Stanton and Reggie Whitehead please note!
Iowa's thriving capital was still crowded with sight-seers and visitors left over from fair week when the Greatest Show on Earth showed there Monday, Sept. 2. All day long the magnificent street-car service shot its cars past the beautiful Capitol out to the show-grounds. It was Labor Day and the stores were closed, so small wonder that its pleasure-loving populace turned to the circus for distraction. We turned them away by thousands in the afternoon and showed to capacity at night. Talking of street cars, Fort Dodge's antiquated three-car service is a 10, 20 and 30 show in camparison with Des Moines' $2 traction facilities.
While rumors are galore, and each day evolves a new prophecy, an imperturbable management quietly and unostentatiously leads the Greatest to new turnaways and greater business.
Afraid of an Easy Stunt
The idiosyncrasies of the profession form a theme that never fails to attract the interest of a curious public, who never tire of dissecting the foibles and inconsistencies apparently expecially peculiar to those who "are here today and gone tomorrow." And, truly, the layman sometimes hat sufficient justification of his wonderment. For instance, in Des Moines last Sunday, didn't Isabelle Butler most positively decline to take a turn on the great swing at the fair grounds, and admit that she was fearful of the dreaded thing? Yet, twice per diem, for three seasons, have we witnessed the self-same lady execute the "Dip of Death" with nonchalant interpidity, displaying an indifference to danger amounting almost to fatalistic stoicism!
George Connor, who runs the best sideshow on the road (which, of course, is our own), is adding French to his already versatile and facile tongue. He is taking lessons from Liberra, who is at once a cultured native of la belle French and a most remarkable curiosity, i.e., a double-bodied man. So when Connor gets round to the Quebec provinces again, the front door will listen with astonishment and envy when he makes his fluent openings in the language of Moliere and La Fontain.
A week ago, in this column, we allowed dyspeptic spleen to vent its sullen mood in fanciful satire upon the baseball prowess of one Mickey Graves, and, to our shame be it recorded, ventured to inform that able superintendent of "props" that, with time and practice, he might yet one day claim to be a not unworthy exponent of the national game. To-day a dejected front-door nine, marshalled together with vaunt and idle boast by Messrs. Hutchinson and Watkins, bows its prostrate head abjectly in the dust.
Mickey Proves His Prowess
Our own special baseball reporter's following graphic description will explain: well, it came off at Des Moines and now Mickey Graves is doing an expansion act that would cause even Sandow to turn green with envy. Cause, his "Cubs" trimmed the "Front Door Shining Lights" to the tune of 6 to 0. This is the long-heralded game of baseball which has been the talk of the show men, and the "fans" were out in full force not only to applaud Mickey's phenomenal work at first base but to swell the receipts of the "Tigers" social fund. As a financial venture it was a success, but when viewed from the standpoint of an exhibition of the national game it was about as bad as the "Bungtown Nine" in its palmy days ever put up. There were misplays galore, and the error column grew to such proportions that the official scorer was compelled to secure a sheet to record them all. "Spot" Gerome, the umpire, officiated in a manner that would have put Hank O'Day in the shade and earned for himself a reputation as an umpire which any of the men who handle the indicator could well feel proud of.
Chance Misses a Chance
If Chance could have been on the grounds and witnessed the wonderful exhibition of Mickey at the initial bag he would quickly have handed him a contract for 1908. The best the F. D. S. L.'s could do was to get a man to third in the first inning, after that it was a case of one, two, three until the end. Even "Papa" Grunatho, who, by the way, has become a regular patron whenever a game is played in town, begged the umpire to call the game and end the agony. It is rumored that "Mickey" engaged a professional pitcher to work on "props" for a few days in order to win the game; we have no positive proof of this fact, but the gentleman certainly dished up a bunch of curves which had the Shining Lights reaching all over the diamond in their efforts to connect with the sphere. Murphy, who pitched for the front door boys, also handled the horsehid in a clever manner, and it was through no fault of his that the game resulted as it did.
Carl Clair is very much improved in health and intends spending a vacation with his sister in Spokane. Pete Conklin writes from Bloomington that he can now walk the distance of the Big Top. It doesn't matter to Harry Mooney whether elephants, horses or dogs are to be trained. When you see what Harry can do with a pair of "Bulls," a team of ponies and a brace of Dalmatians as he puts them through uncommon evolutions, you also will voice your admiration, together with the children and Franc-Tireur.
Small Shows Will Thrive
Fred Buchanan, Owner of the Yankee Robinson Circus, is Optimistic
Fred Buchanan, owner of the Yankee Robinson Circus, visited Chicago last week to secure bookings for the new Majestic theater at Des Moines, Ia., and in course of conversation with a representative of THE SHOW WORLD at the offices of the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association, made the following statement concerning the circus situation:
"The merger which the Ringling Brothers are reported to have effected wil not, in my opinion, affect the small showmen to any appreciable extent. My reason for making this statement is the fact that the wagon show and the immense circus aggregation play territory that is entirely different. By very reason of its immensity the large circus organization is obliged to play a city that will enable it to draw money from the surrounding towns, while the proprietor of the wagon show can play smaller cities with profit. The expense account of a show like mine and one of the class of Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth cannot be reasonably compared, and it is owing to these facts that I do not think the small showman is affected to any great extent by the merger, if it has been consummated as reported."
When questioned about the prosperity of the past season, Mr. Buchanan had only good words. "The Yankee Robinson did a greater business this year than any wagon show that I know of in the last fifteen years. It was really phenomenal; everywhere we went we were greeted by large crowds who had the money and were willing to spend it, and as a result the bank account of the Yankee Robinson is proportionately swelled. But it is not only my show, but all the circuses, that are meeting with prosperity. The Barnum & Bailey circus showed at Des Moines Labor Day to one of the greatest crowds ever assembled under canvas. Owing to the fact that it was a Monday stand, all day Sunday was spent in preparation for a record-breaking crowd, and the big top spread was six pole instead of the ordinary four pole. 'Extras' were placed in every available space, and at that 5,000 people were turned away at the matinee. The haul of the Des Moines Railway was 30,000 more than normal, and Harvey Watkins, assistant manager, is the authority for the statement that it was the greatest crowd of the season.
"Des Moines is a great amusement city. Ingersoll Park was packed every night thoroughout the summer, and the excellent bills that were provided by the management were so heartily appreciated that hte park gained the sobriquet among the performers of 'the good park' There are over five thousand people in Des Moines employed in the insurance business along, and the citizens are all 'spenders.'"
The new Majestic theater is expected to open some time during the present week. It will form part of the Orpheum circuit and will play the best attractions, all through the year, being booked by the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association. THE SHOW WORLD wishes Mr. Buchanan and his association in the enterprise every success.
Circuses Invade Texas
J. E. Clifford of the Sells-Floto Show tells of the Coming Tours
J. E. Clifford, general press representative of the Sells-Floto shows, writes THE SHOW WORLD under date of Aug. 31 as follows:
Texas, for all of its queer laws and heavy penalties, will not lack for circuses this fall. At least four of the big shows of the country are contracted there now, and it is also possible that some of the smaller ones may take a chance in the land of great distances.
Last week Dallas was a mecca for many circus generals, and no doubt many smooth deals were framed up. One evening in the Oriental hotel the following diplomats met in conversation, but the weather was the chief topic of discussion: John Ringling and Charlie Wilson, representing the Ringling Brothers and the Forepaugh-Sells shows; Ed Burke, representing Pawnee Bill's Wild West, and W. R. Musgat and J. E. Clifford of the Big Sells-Floto Shows. Later in the week Sam McCracken of the Ringling Show and Harry H. Tammen, director-general of the Sells-Floto Shows, were also on hand.
Sells-Floto Blaze Way
It is definitely decided that the Ringling show will only make Ft. Worth and Dallas, with one or two other towns necessary to get in and out, giving the balance of the country to the Forepaugh-Sells Show. Pawnee Bill will also make nearly all of the state and so will the Sells-Floto people. This show was first into Texas and it inserted the opening wedge whereby it was made possible for the others to follow. The Sells-Floto people, through their attorney, De Witt C. Webber, of Denver, also knocked out the arbitrary rate ruling made by the railroads for the movement of show trains. After the railroad people had submitted their rates Mr. Webber went with them before the state railroad commission and in nearly every instance there was a big reduction. Following this move the railroads refused to accept the business, but the commissioners simply issued an emergency order and the railroads had to haul the cars whether they liked it or not.
To the credit of Texas, it is said to have the only sure-enough state railroad commission in the United States. While its members have almost despotic powers they are men of brains and rare good judgment, and disposed to see justice done all around. They are not to be imposed upon by either side and seem determined that the railroads shall not hold up the show people as they had planned.
Its erudite and "fair play" railroad commission is the one saving grace in a once great state now straddled by an Old Man of the Sea in the shape of freak legislation and cranks of more variegated complexion than they used to raise in Kansas.
There are rumors in Texas that the Hagenbeck-Wallace show will also invade this territory later in the season.
Pawnee Bill in Colorado
Jas. A. Curran writes to THE SHOW WORLD from Denver anent the Pawnee Bill engagement in that city as follows: "The Pawnee Bill Wild West Show opened in Denver Labory Day, Sept. 2, 1907, and though they did not give a parade on account of the labor parade, they did a world-record business, turning away hundreds in the afternoon and evening. They also played to a big matinee and the prospects for business in the other Colorado towns for the show looks as if it was going to be big.
"This is the first time the Pawnee Bill show has been in Colorado, andit was largely on account of the excellent billing and the fine showing they got, that gave them this big business.
"We wish them all success possible, and hope to see them in Colorado again next season. From the manager down to the agents they were shown all the courtesies possible, and we wish them long life and prosperity."
No Truth in Wallace Rumor
It was reported in Chicago last week that B. E. Wallace had purchased the Hagenbeck interests in the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows Combined. THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of a communication from C. Lee Williams, associate manager of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, dated Sept. 3, stating there is no foundation for the rumor.
Joseph Mayer
One of the best known circus men in the country is Joseph Mayer, who publishes the official program for the Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill shows. His headquarters are in the Bailey building, 27 West Twenty-second street, New York.
Ahead of Buffalo Bill
Lewis E. Cooke has added new laurels to his already enviable reputation as an able advance manager by the meritorious showing being made this season by the advance forces of the Buffalo Bill show, working under Mr. Cooke's direction. Here is the roster:
General Agent - Louis E. Cooke
Traffic Manager - M. Coyle
Press Representatives - John M. Burke and Walter K. Hill
Contracting Agents - D. F. Lynch and S. H. Semon
Excursion Agent - Geo. H. Degnon
Checker-up - L. H. Monterey
Advance Car No. 1: Car Manager, E. H. Wood; Secretary, A. R. Cahill; Boss Billposter, S. R. Derringer; Billposters, H. Newman, H. Mitchell, E. Delmars, J. Dannenburg, D. W. O'Connor, C. Haley, W. Hart, W. McNeill, J. Frame, J. Binkley, F. Handrup, I. Koch, D. Sherman, J. Williams, E. Rush, O. A. Spear, H. Mars, P. Lyons, W. T. Morrison, C. Stewart. F. Barber, porter.
Advance Car No. 2: Car Manager, Dan DeBaugh; Boss Billposter, Al Hall; Billposters, F. Smith, T. O. Perkins, E. Erickson, W. H. Hunt, H. Nation, I. A. Meyers, H. I. Nulton, B. Reiss, M. J. Goodman, F. Flandreau, J. Corcoran, G. Wilson, J. Hatfield, H. Mason, J. Kelly. J. McAlister porter.
Advance Car No. 3: Car Manager, Walter Ford; Boss Billposter, W. D. Winn; Billposters, J. Byrnes, B. Rich, C. Hoffman, J. Reppert, W. Montrose, H. Irving, L. Proteau, A. Tetu, I. Soloman, J. Dobbinson. R. Lee, porter. L. Monterey, checker-up.
The Ringling Roster
The following is a list of the executive staff and advance employes of the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest shows:
Owners and Managers - Ringling Bros.
Agent - Samuel McCracken
Local Contractor - Nick Petit
Press Representatives - Jas. J. Brady, Thomas Namack, Guy Steeley and Chas. A. White
Local Chicago Agent - Ralph W. Peckham
Special Agents - Wm. H. Horton, M. F. Nagle, Wm. Carr and John Nevins
Checker-up - Walter Wrappenstein and A. Aabcam.
Advance Car No. 1. Manager, Frank Estes; Boss Billposter, Wash Hoskins; Billposters, Wm. Shea, Ed. Gugan, P. Collins, Geo. Kugler, Bert Wheeler, E. W. Harris, F. Coxe, Fred Jones, R. H. Butler, Jos. Kugler, H. A. Blackman, J. Jilson, J. F. Whitmore, Frank Pollock, C. O. Damon, E. A. Fausher, John May, Wm. Gilby, John Coughlin, John E. Lyons, W. E. Baird, Z. Luckensmeyer, Ed. Whauseidler, F. J. McFarland.
Advance Car No. 2: Manager Tom Dailey; Billposters, J. R. Felius, Tom Dransfield, Jas. Kist, Wm. Krebs, Walter Becker, L. D. Comstock, L. R. Blackburn, Jack George, Paul Comes, A. W. Jackson, Harry Hammond, Walter Meeker, Harry Hook, Chas. Manrose, C. W.Chubb, Geo. Kempf, E. J. McCabe, M. J. Lyons, John Benoe, H. Mercier, John Stough, Carl Waters, P. R. Train, M. J. Noel, Sam Drew, Al Gilbert.
Advance Car No. 3: Manager, Geo. Goodhart; Billposters, Chas. Mikesell, Chas. Knox, J. B. Smalley, Wm. Mahler, C. W. Tide, Elmer Mahaffy, John Thomas, W. Hope, Nick Navery, Jerome Diehl, Henry Mahler, John Wynn, F. E. Dodge, C. A. Bostwick, J. M. Roebeck, John Connor, Roland Jarvis, M. F. Coughlin, Fred Stewart, Al Hunt, Dan'l Condon, Walter Nissen, M. McLaughlin, J. A. Aalberg, Harry Johnson, C. E. Inman, J. C. Hart, James Beeler, Miles Edwards, Gus Jenkins.
The Ringling Bros. are playing to one of the biggest seasons in their history. Complete harmony prevails in every department of their great organization.
Barnum & Bailey Advance
The Barnum & Bailey advance forces have performed wonders this season under the capable direction of Louis E. Cooke. The following is the roster of those who have blazed the way for the Greatest Show on earth during its 1907 tour to end Oct. 19.
General Agent - Louis E. Cooke
Traffic Manager - J. P. Fagan
Press Representaives - Willard D. Coxey and James D. De Wolfe
Contracting Agents - R. M. Harvey and C. W. Hayes
Excursion Agent - Geo. H. Degnon
Special Agent - Alf. Riel
Checker-up - Grant D. Van Osten.
Advance Car No. 1: Car Manager, Lester W. Murray; Boss Billposter, Thos. Conners; Billposters, W. R. Jacobs, Jas. Gregg, W. D. winn, W. Coates, J. Campbell, C. McBean, Bailey Eckman, A. G. Little, W. P. Fisher, E. Boucher, F. Maurer, W. Pfeiffer, R. Armstrong, Geo. Frazier, M. J. Acton, Frank Harvey; Boss Lithographer, Chas. Parks; Lithographers, H. L. Rohrback, C. S. Canby and Geo. Hedges; Chef, Walter P. Humphrey; Waiter, W. R. Genther; Porter, E. C. Jacobs.
Advance Car No. 2: Car Manager, Victor B. Cooke; Boss Billposter, E. Tice; Billposters, H. E. Hanson, Harley White, W. B. Corbett, J. A. Lyons, M. Thawley, L. Sullivan, R. Scott, Walter Kettlewood, J. Powers, W. T. Garrety, M. J. Goodman, Frank Busch; Bannerman, M. Ipp; Lithographer, J. H. Curran; Lithographers, Bannermen and Billposters, C. Vickerman and F. C. Turner; Secretary, W. Heiler; Chef, C. Jones; Waiter, M. J. Kerwin; Porter, R. Bean.
Advance Car No. 3: Car Manager, Oliver Lester; Boss Billposter, A. Strain; Billposter, Carl Clark, C. Clegg, W. P. Caulfield, H. Stoll, W. Parsons, W. B. Christian, R. Graham; Lithographer, J. Heinie; Lithographer and Billposter, Ednon Cromwell; Chef, C. O. Havens; Waiter, W. T. Grady; Porter, A. Mitchell.
Will Make Large Picture
Charles Andress, of the Barnum & Bailey Show, is making rapid progress in collecting photographs of performers and circus people for the largest photograph ever made. When completed it will contain over 1,200 people. This photograph is being made irrespective of any particular show. The center will be made up of the representative circus men of the past and present, in this and foreign countries; and the rest of the photograph will be of performers and musicians, staff officers, etc., of the various shows throughout the country.
B. E. Wallace Optimistic
Part Owner of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Show Tells of Future Plans
When the rumor of B. E. Wallace's purchase of the Hagenbeck holdings in the Hagenbeck-Walalce show reached this publication a communication was addressed to Mr. Wallace seeking confirmation of the widely spread report. Mr. Wallace's reply is as follows:
"Carrolton, Ill., Sept. 4. Dear Mr. Patrick: Your favor of the 3d inst. is at hand and in reply to your inquiry, I beg leave to advise that this combination of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Show will remain as it has been this season. All the interested parties in the show are well pleased with the season so far and we think with favorable weather in the south, our season willb e an extraordinarily profitable one.
"In reopening the show next spring, we shall even strive to make it bigger and better than it has been this season, and we have every confidence in the future of the show as there is plenty of room in this country and plenty of territory for a big, independent circus. Yours very truly - B. E. Wallce."
Gollmar Show for Sale?
It is rumored that the Gollmar Brothers circus is on the market if a suitable purchaser can be found to take over the property. It is reported that the Gollmar Brothers are playing to a very prosperous season and that the sale is prompted solely by the desire to retire form the circus business.
Freeman Returns to Chicago
"Doc" W. W. Freeman, general manager of the Universal Booking Agency, which handles all the bookings for the Ringling Brothers, Forepaugh-Sells Brothers, Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill shows, returned to Chicago last week after an extended sojoun with the Barnum & Bailey show where he effected arrangements with a number of the leading artists for the next circus season.
Kilpatrick in Australia
In a recent communication to THE SHOW WORLD, E. J. Kilpatrick, writing from Melbourne, Australia, states that A. L. Baird, one of the most enterprising outdoor amusement managers of Australia, has departed for England vis the United States to pick up ideas.
Mr. Kilpatrick states that he has been in the circus business ever since he went to the far East, but after a recent tour of Queensland with William Anderson, has decided to drop it and will enter commercial life. Since leaving the States, some months ago, Mr. Kilpatrick has covered Australia, India and Java.
The great distances in Australia and India, with consequent high transportation charges, make it almost impossible for traveling attractions to make big money. With all that, Australia is a wonderful country and with forty million more people would be the best show country in the world.
Royal Indoor Circus Itinerary
The Royal Indoor Circus will open its tour about Dec. 1, and its itinerary will probably include the following cities: Toledo, Ohio, Detroit, Grand Rapids Mich.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Chicago, Springfield, Ill.; Indinapolis, Ind.; St. Louis, Mo.; Davenport, Des Moines, Ia.; Omaha, Lincoln, Neb.; St. Joseph, Kansas City, Mo.; Topeka, Hutchinson, Wichita, Kan.; Enid, Musgogee, Oklahoma City, O. T.; Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Beaumont, Tex.; Shreveport, New Orleans, La.; Mobile, Birmingham, Ala., and Atlanta, Ga. A glance at the official program evidences General Director Rhoda Royal's fine distinction in the ensemble of professional talent.
Sells-Floto in the South
A communication to THE SHOW WORLD from Press Representative Hennessy of the Sells-Floto Shows under date of Sept. 1 says: "The first week of our Texas engagement has been played, Amarillo being the first stand, Monday, August 26. The enormous business done in Quanah, Vernon, Wichita Falls, Henrietta and Bowie exceeded the expectations of the management. Harry H. Tammen, our general director, joined us in Amarillo and will remain ten days. The Oklahoma and Indian Territory engagement of the Sells-Floto Shows proved the best in the history of this organization."
Illinois, Paris, Sept. 7.
Hagenbeck-Wallace Combined Shows, Sept. 11.
I was cordially received at the Hagenbeck-Wallace Car No. 1 which was here last Wednesday. Foster Burns has recently been placed in charge of this car, having formerly been on the Brigade. John G. Reese, the former manager of No. 1, has gone ahead of the car. Mr. Burns said that the car would spend Labor Day in Paducah, Ky., and that they would make an "Idle Day" of it.
Jamestown Exposition, Sept. 7. Cal Ferrari split his aggregation of animals and circus acts, which consituted his attraction on The War Path. One part has been sent on the road, playing the state fairs. He had some trouble with the Department of Concessions last week and refused to pay his percentage of concessions, claiming with many other concessionaires that business had not been up to expectations, owing to the incomplete conditions that obtained at the opening of the Exposition. He closed for one day, but re-opened the following day.
Nature Faking By Circuses Must Cease
Top
Show World, September 21, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 13), pp. 3, 22-25. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Rhoda Royal
Rhoda Royal is known the country over as "the prince of horse traienr" and famous as a producer of equine novelties. As a purveyor of startling effects with the aid of beautiful horses and accomplished artists, Mr. Royal need concede to no one.
Mr. Royal was born in Washington, D. C., in 1865 and at an early age joined the Barnum show. Since that time Mr. Royal has been affiliated in different capacities with the great circus interests of the country, including the Adam Forepaugh, Ringling Bros. and the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. At present Mr. Royal has twenty head of thoroughbreds with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows, which have gained for him the sobriquet of America's greatest horseman.
Mr. Royal is also the general director of the Royal Indoor Circus, a high class circus organization playing under the auspices of fraternal societies. A glance at the program of this enterprise and at the list of artists employed would stamp it as a great undertaking. The itinerary of the show includes the principal cities of America, whose fraternal societies have welcomed the opportunity to enjoy an exhibition of such high class.
Mr. Royal is well and favorably known to both the profession and managers as a gentleman of sterling worth and a master showman. Charles B. Fredericks is associated with Mr. Royal in his latest enterprise and THE SHOW WORLD wishes the gentlemen and the Royal Indoor Circus every success.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Traveling with a big tent show gives an observant person a great opportunity to study mankind in various stages of temper and termperament, as the following notes from the special correspondent of THE SHOW WORLD with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth will prove.
To paraphrase an old saw, some are born "lucky" and some have "luck" thrust upon them. When George Clonklin's $800 "sparkler" is not shedding its effulgent rays from the bosom of that gentleman's shirt, thereby rendering almost unneccssar Charly Stock's illuminative efforts in the menagerie, it reposes in the capacious recesses of George's trouser pocket. Hastening from the car the other night at Red Oak, Ia., shortly before the train left town, in order to restore peace between two refactory zebras, a hasty move of George's hand brought the diamond from its resting-place. In vain did he dig and delve along the track, and in the car. Elusive as the sex which is supposed to hanker after possession of diamonds, this rival of the "Koh-i-nor" refused to give the responsive glitter. No loss, however great, would ever cause Conklin to allow his pets to travel the line of steel alone, and, with heavy heart, George climbed back in the car to fall into uneasy slumber, the while myriads of "rocks" piroutted and danced around him, mocking his ineffectual attempts to grasp them. He returned there from Nebraska City the following day. Despite vast rewards, and the co-operation of a rustic population, George's downcast features told of his failure on his return to the show. Once more, he sought his couch in gloomy spirit. Then came dream, and he clearly saw the truant stone of price nestling in a crack in the car-floor. A jump from his bed, quick prising of planks with a handy crowbar. Even as the dream had foretold, there lay the diamond. Once more is the menagerie a realm of brilliant light.
Bucked Against State Fair
Why not tell the truth? We didn't turn them away at Lincoln Saturday night, Sept. 7. It was the last day of the state fair, and a great calm had spread like a pall over the home of Chad Wertz and William Jennings Bryan.
Brethren, love one another! This also applies to clowns.
"Aby" Bates does not give "Lydia Pinkham" to his herd of mighty "bulls." Bates does not admit, though, that pink pills for pale people have stimulated his own appetite.
Omaha - still the eastern outpost of the west (although Sunday lid is almost as tight as at St. Louis) - when the Greatest on Earth left you Monday night, it was not the dust of her feet that she shook upon you, but rather a whole host of peons and praises for your big-hearted way of doing things. Twice that day were disapointed circus lovers turned away from the big show from the east.
Fred La Mont's Carmen Troupe have signed for next season with the Wallace Show. The "Laird of Peru" has also, we believe, engaged the Kennard Bros.
Charley Bernard is worrying about the "Tiger Cub," but Stocks says that as long as eleven true and loyal men remain who will conduct that most excellent organization, the B. P. O. T. can never be dissolved. The "Tigers" have done much good in a most practical and unostentatious way during the last five years, and it seems a pity that the order should be abandoned.
"Doc" Freeman is again with the Greatest on Earth, and the hearts of the bosses are glad, for he has extended to them the invitation to come back next season.
Nimrod After Big Game
There is much polishing of gun barrels these days, and woe to the unhappy squirrel and the fearful bunny who dwell within range of Gradna's gun.
Car Number One will soon return to winter quarters. Its manager, Lester Murray, has done his usual good work, and found time, and the good-will, too, to endear himself to the best band of billposters in the country. Lester is a disciplinarian without being a martinet. The best proof was the handsome diamond-studded Elk pin presented to him a short while ago by his boys on the car.
Mrs. Charles R. Hutchinson and daughter return east from Omaha last Sunday.
Charles Andress' annual route-book is nearing completion.
C. R. Hutchinson's skating rink at Bridgeport will again be under the genial management of Charles Bernard.
October 17 looms forth now, but as a cloud the size of a man's hand, but it will not be long before a check will be handed us at each meal. The hosts of Fourteenth street have already burnished the silver, and counted the cutlery.
September 10 - Norfolk, Neb. For the first time, the Northwestern landed us in late. But they waited out in front under a broiling sun, and how those Olson's and Peterson's poured down on the perspiring ticket-takers was a wonder! The Greatest rolled into Grand Island the next day about four hours late, and again turned 'em away in the afternoon.
Fancy a two-pole menagerie top with the Greatest on Earth! And yet that's what we had in Nebraska City, the smallest lot of the season. Bates' elephants and the camels and led stock were in a grove forming a kind of annex - quite jungle-like - and Shafer's candy stands were left out.
Sickness and accident have been happily rare this season. That it may so continue to the end is the devout prayer of all gentle readers and - Franc-Tireur.
New Machine for Circuses
The onward march of progress and the substitution of machine labor for the labor of man are the marvels of the nineteenth century. In the advancement the circus has been in no way backward, and possesses improvements today that were formerly unheard of. One of the greatest labor savers is the "stake driver," with the Gollmar Bros. circus, a picture of which appears herewith. The machine is driven by gasoline engines, saves the services of twenty-five men, and accomplishes the work in far less time. The difficulty that circus proprietors formerly encountered, when their workmen took leave of them for the more profitable harvest fields is, in a great measure, overcome by this mechanical device, with accomplishes the work with more expedition. The "stake driver" may rightfully take its place among the labor saving devices of the century.
Roster for Big Shows
The following are the complete rosters of the executive staff and advance employes of Robinson's circus, the Sells-Floto circus and Pawnee Bill's Wild West:
Robinson Circus
Proprietor - John F. Robinson
General Manager - John G. Robinson
Assistant Manager - Edward Cullen
New York and Foreign Representative - Gil Robinson
General Agent - Oliver Scott
Railroad Contractor - George W. Aikens
Press Representative - Doc Waddell
Local Agent - Walter Murphy
Assistant Local Agent - M. C. Service
Advance Car No. 1: L. H. Heckman; Steward, Harvey Bell; Boss Billposter, F. F. Smith; Billposters, E. Perkins, Nick Crook, J. Dodson, F. A. Rockfollow, F. a. Kelger, William Blake, D. Rogers, H. Huber, M. Ray, William Chaplin, H. MOrton, J. I. Springer and William Brown.
Advance Car No. 2: Manager, W. M. Dale, with a crew of 14 men.
Sells-Floto
Owners - The American Amuseuemt Co.
General Manager - H. H. Tammen
Active Manager - Frank Tammen
General Agent and Railroad Contractor - W. R. Musgat
Press Representative - J. Edgar Clifford
Adjuster - Col. Frank Robertson
Local Agent - H. L. Massie
Special Agents - James McElroy and Nels Lausten. Checker-up - Otto Essinger
Advance Car No. 1: Manager, H. O. Smith; Boss Billposter, H. Collins; Billposters, C. C. Cuen, Bert Stiter, John Cavanaugh, J. C. Tinsley, W. W. Ward, Chas. Foster, Gus Hesse, Jack George, Jos. McCaw, Joe Heard, C. Penney, Geo. Williams, Joe bele, F. Pinkham; Lithographers and Bannermen, Jack Harris and Wm. Moorehead; Program Man, Fred Wild; Porter, H. C. Bernheim.
Advance Car No. 2: Manager, Fred McMann; Boss Billposter, A. G. Vermette; Billposters, A. Terrell, Geo. Edmunds, C. Burg, J. Morton, F. Johns, C. Hurt, J. H. White, F. G. McNulty, Will Green, Fred Colby, J. Merritt; Lithographers and Bannermen, C. James and Phil Johnson; Program Men, Geo. Moyer and Harry Craig; Porter, Alex Milton; Paste Maker, Claude Cooper.
Pawnee Bill
Proprietors - Major Gordon W. Lillie, Pawnee Bill Co.
Active Managers - Major Gordon W. Lillie and Edward Arlington
General Agent - Edward Arlington
Press Representative - W. C. Thompson, Dick Radford and Paul Harrell
Local Agent - H. I. Ellis
Special Agents - Joe Rosenthal and Peter Bahr
Checker-up - Al. Clarkson
Excursion Agent- Hugh L. McLees
Advance Car No. 1: Manager, P. W. Herrell; Billposters, Wm. Perrault, Walter Cochrane, Jas. Judge, N. T. Spicer, Chas. E. Gannon, Evan Garrison, Geo. Compte, J. Billings, Geo. Nelson, W. P. Cahill, E. Malloy; Lithographers and Bannermen, Jas. C. McCormick and Jos. McCarty; Program Man, A. C. Spencer; Cook, Fred Burdick.
Advance Car No. 2: Manager, Alton Osborn; Billposters, B. W. Foster, B. W. Foster, H. J. Sinken, Pete Dunn, Fred Kettler, R. L. King, B. Hannan, Jimmy Lyons, Chas. Wilson, Doc Ingram, S. Hettle berg, Neil Murray; Lithographer, Leo. Salomon; Program Man, Tom Briggs
Advance Car No. 3: Manager, Joe Rosenthal; Boss Billposter, Jas. J. Sullivan; Lithographers and Bannermen, Jas. W. Dee, J. W. Whalen.
Prosperity Is Remarkable
Harry Earl of Hagenbeck-Wallace Show Tells of His Trip
Golden prosperity in its best, brightest and most substantial form extends from one end of the country to the other, according to Harry Earl, general press representative of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and one of the best known newspaper men in the United States.
Possibly there is no line of business that offers greater opportunity for studying commercial conditions than that of a circus press agent. Being thrown daily with editors, reporters, business men and railroad agents, the general press representative of a big circus has unlimited chance to ascertain conditions in various localities.
"I have made many cities, towns and hamlets since the opening of our season," writes Mr. Earl from Nashville, Tenn., where he made headquarters last week, "and I can truthfully say that never before in all my experience on the road have I ever seen such prosperity as prevails today. The south is forging forward in a splendid way and is destined to become the real commercial center of the United States. In southern cities I see evidences of the forward movement of the progressive spirit of wealth. Factories are coming south, eastern capital is seeking investment in southern territory and on all hands progressiveness in its happiest form is to be seen."
Close of 101 Ranch, No. 2
Unique Show Organized by Miller Brothers, Ends Prosperous Season
Miller Bros.' 101 Ranch, No. 2 closed a very successful engagement of six weeks at Brighton Beach, New York City, Sept. 9. The company was disbanded in New York, but this week the Indians and fourteen buffalo are being exhibited at the State Fair at Louisville, Ky., and going from there to the Inter-State Fair at Kansas City, open Sept. 23 for two weeks, and thence to Bliss, Okla., the headquarters of the Miller Brothers.
The Number One company of the Miller Bros. is still at the Jamestown Exposition, where, on account of the greatly increased attendance, it will remain until the close of the exposition season. The original contract of the Miller Bros. with the C. W. Rex Amusement Company under whose direction their show is being presented, was to terminate on Oct. 5.
The show, from reports, is breaking all existing records for attendance at a wild west exhibition given at the exposition, with the single exception of the Buffalo Bill famous engagement at the Chicago World's Fair.
THE SHOW WORLD is informed that Miller Bros. have contracted with Brighton Beach for the appearance of their 101 Ranch show greatly enlarged for the summer of 1908. It is understood that negotiations are under way for a European tour to follow the New York engagement.
Hargreave's Circus Prosperous
John Henry Rice, the veteran circus agent and advance manager of the Great Hargreave's Shows; Clyde Andrews, contracting agent, and Sam Banks, press representative, were recent callers at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD. They reported a very good season, and stated that the Hargreave shows will close about Oct. 26. M. S. Bodkin is handling the Chicago lot and license affairs for the show, which will play Chicago lots for three weeks. The first stand was at South Chicago, Sept. 13, where the show remained for three days. The itinerary comprises Grand Crossing, one day; Sixty-ninth and Halsted, two days; Fifty-fourth and Ashland, two days; Twentieth and Western avenue, two days; La Grange, one day; Maywood, one day; Harlem, one day; Austin, one day; Forty-eighth and Lake, two days; Chicago and Hamlin avenues, one day; Homan and North avenue, two days; Campbell and Diversey, one day, and other stands.
Sells-Floto in Texas
Press Representative Hennessy of the Sells-Floto shows writes THE SHOW WORLD from Tyler, Tex., under date of Sept. 8 as follows: "It is certainly amazing to the management of the Sells-Floto shows the wonderful business the show has been doing this year, especially throughout Texas. The manager of any show would be considered demented to troop the South before October. In Fort Worth, Sept. 2, which was Labor Day, the show had a turn-away at both performances. Dallas, 3, was a repetition of Ft. Worth. Edward Burke of the Pawnee Bill Wild West Show was a visitor and was entertained by W. R. Musgat, the general agent, and J. E. Clifford, the general press agent. Terrell, Mineola, Marshall and Longview were big. The weather is hot but the attendance is good."
"Dutch" Meyers, a "Broncho Buster" of the Pawnee Bill Show, who recently had the misfortune to fall beneath a moving train and lose both of his lower limbs, is doing nicely at the Mercy Hospital, in Dubuque, Ia., according to a recent letter from Alfred J. Saunders, a retired showman living in that city.
Josephine Sinnot, at one time the undisputed "Queen of Bareback Riders," and widow of the late William Forepaugh, is dead in Philadelphia. She was 57 years old, and had for many years lived with her daughter, known in arenic circles as Manny Forepaugh, a trapeze performer. In her prosperous days Josephine Sinnot was a generous woman and gave away a fortune.
The Fashion Plate Circus closed its season Saturday, Sept. 14, at Lancaster, N. Y. This organization, according to reports, has enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity this summer. It is said that Walter L. Main intends to put out a 22-car circus next spring. The winter quarters of the Fashion Plate shows are at Geneva, Ohio, where the equipment has been stored.
Car No. 3 of the Forepaugh-Sells Show is in charge of Mr. J. F. Harper, with the following crew: Rufe Irons, John Luster, Ben Horton, H. J. Selliger, Ed. Jones, Frank Cullen, Harry Smith, Joe Horton, R. L. Fulton, George Ryan, James Sullivan, John Wingo, A. R. Stives and C. W. Hines.
Top
Show World, September 28, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 14), pp. 8, 18, 23-25, 34, 35, 39. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Dan S. Fishell, the popular manager of the Garrick theater in St. Louis, was born in Louisiana, Mo., June 5, 1876. He moved to St. Louis twenty years ago and has made that city his home ever since. Throughout his boyhood and youth he was prominently identified with amateur theatricals in the Mound City. At the age of 23 he took out a minstrel show of his own, which played a season of one performance, lost $17 and closed. After a period in charge of the show print department of the Great Western Printing Company, he was engaged as manager of Ellery's band, with which he served for three seasons. During this same period he did the booking and directed the publicity for the Bostock-Ferari Carnival Company.
His management of some of their street fair engagements won him a national reputation and caught the attention of James A. Bailey and Louis E. Cooke, who got him for the press staff of the Barnum & Bailey circus. In that capacity Mr. Fishell became one of the best known press agents in the business. When he joined the Shubert forces in 1906 he left an army of friends with the big tent show. He managed the Garrick all last season most successfully and is now handling the Klaw & Erlanger Advanced Vaudeville interests in St. Louis.
Charles W. Seeley
Perhaps the best known showman in the Untied States is Charles W. Seeley, at present the official adjuster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He has been connected with all the big circuses in various executive capacities for nearly half a century and is a power in his profession.
Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1907
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Hugging the warm belt as the autumn approaches, the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth goes on it golden way rejoicing, and THE SHOW WORLD correspondent finds much to amuse and instruct in the daily doings of the army of entertainers that make up the vast aggregation. He sends the following notes:
The Greatest Show on Earth is at Chillicothe, Mo., as I write, and the usual admiring crowd is gazing sky high aat the inimitable performance of Youturkey upon the high wire, part of the program of the morning free show. The sun is sizzling as only a Missouri and Kansas sun can sizzle. Even Stevens, the imperturbably treaure, has shake his coat. Andress is happy, and as he tosses on his uneasy couch during these hot, sullen nights, the vision of 1,000 acres of waving corn waxing taller, without ceasing, day and night, brings contentment to his soul. It will be strange if we don't see him fraternizing with many a Great Bend farmer at some of these Kansas stands!
We showed Beatrice, Neb., the other day. As a relic of departed glory, the main street of that city is laid with a line of steel - tribute to the ambition of some forgotten, albeit enterprising, traction company - but "the lines are rust, the cars are dust, and the conductors' souls with the saints, we trust." (This with apologies to, we believe, Sir Walter Scott.) "Kid" Lovell remared that it was "the most successful failure the city had suffered"!
Accident to "Papa" Grunatho.
There is a vacancy in the ranks of the elderly gentlemen who serenely play solitaire of nights, between shows, in the dressing room. Grunato pere became, unfortunately, mixed up in one of the tandem teams a week or so back and was obliged to enter a hospital at Kansas City. Meanwhile, the charming Grunatho Sisters - real sisters, and really charming - continue to captivate audiences by their grace and dexterity. As the injuries do not appear to be serious, they hope to have Papa back with them when we reach Kansas City.
The Greatest on Earth turned thousands away at St. Joseph, Mo., Sept. 14, at both performances.
W. D. Coxey spent a few hours with the show at Leavenworth Sunday, the 16th. He intends to devote considerable attention this winter to his infant - "Coxey's" - incidentally enlarging that magazine and broadening its scope.
"Big Mac," who loads our trains, Dan Taylor and Jack Kuhlmann have commenced letting their hair grow long.
Old Mr. Beddow, the range rider of the government military reservation at Leavenworth, Kan., our stand on Monday, Sept. 16, says the Greatest on Earth occupied more of Uncle Sam's land than any other show.
Charley Bernard is no respecter of persons, and the connection must remain clear. It was a wee bit hard on you, Degnon, and also on the front door, who like to make rare visits pleasant remembrances. But you'll come back, won't you?
General Agent Louis E. Cooke was with the Greatest at St. Joseph, Mo.
Schafer and his candy-butchers are busy these equatorial days.
With Jimmy Johnson up, Doc Elliott says Charley Scroggins would get in the money every time.
The "Tigers" hold their annual reunion at Kansas City, Sunday, Sept. 23. There will be great eatings and speechings, and a smoker to follow, enlivened by vaudeville talent. As a post-prandial orator, Chauncy Depew is not in the same street with our own Charley Stocks.
Ladies Plan Special Feast
And then - it almost got by the writer - that little band of lovely ladies, whose motto reads, "love and good-will to all men - and woman," are to have their own seance in Kansas City. A local caterer has been hard at work for several weeks, and next Sabbath morning will be spent by the members of the club decorating the private dining room they have engaged. Confess, you male things, that you would give much to be able to play the part of "Peeping Tom!" But the coarser and sterner sex is rigidly barred.
The spirit of prophecy is again upon us. Pete Bell is in the matrimonial market, and bidding has been brisk for Pete is debonair and popular with the ladies. You may bet Saginaw against the field, though.
"Little Bo-Peep, she lost her sheep," is the nursery rhyme that Steve Miaco recollects most clearly among all his infantine memories. Who will be the faithful memories. Who will be the faithful sheep-dog and bring the wondering and erring sheep back to their fold?
Other things besides scenery and sunsets often seen by him who "runs and reads" as he takes his walks abroad between shows.
Look out for opposition down in Panama, Tote!
In his able conduct of a difficult program, Mr. Ducrow has maintained, and, if possible, increased his reputation as premier equestrian director this year. "Billy" Ducrow is liked and respected in and out of the dressing room. When he and Ernest Cooke get together, younger men may learn much from two men who know a show from front to back.
Charley Andress has commenced his annual story that "after forty years in the business it is high time a man retired," etc., and how pleasant it would be to spend next summer building that apartment house in Chicago. Whichever way he bets, though, you may be sure that, as the irrepressible Con Foster used to say in those little poker games, "the old gentlemen is got 'em." Meanwhile, route-books will be ready on time.
All the principal and bareback riders now here will ride for the Greatest on Earth again next season. That they are the best in the business is evidently the opinion of the management as well as the unalterable belief of. Franc-Tireur.
Circus Merger Still in Doubt
While it would appear that the Ringling Brothers have secured control of the Barnum and Bailey show, it has been found impossible as yet to secure direct confirmation of the reported merger of circus interests. There is still a great deal of uncertainty as to just where the Barnum and Bailey-Ringling Brothers deal stands. It is true that "Doc" Freeman goes ahead booking performers and hiring bosses for the new season, while out of New York comes a seemingly authenticated story that there is a hitch in the negotiations especially in regard to the Buffalo Bill Show.
Fashion Plate Shows
It appears from recent reports that the Fashion Plate Shows omitted Lancaster, New York, which was to have been their closing stand Sept. 14, and made a night run to Geneva, Ohio from Medina, N. Y., the Sept. 13 stand. The show was leased to and operated by the North Central Amusement Company, an Ohio corporation. Walter L. Main held stock and officiated as general director of the company. The show is now in winter quarters at Geneva and it is said arrangements are pending for a settlement of some kind with workingmen, performers and other members of the organization. The Fashion Plate Show, it is understood, was to have made a long tour South.
It is reported that Cole Bros. Show shipped three cars of their outfit to winter quarters last week preliminary to making a tour of the South.
It is reported that the Charles Sparks Shows, considered by many to be one of the strongest five-car aggregations on the road, has enjoyed a very prosperous summer season.
Bert Davis and wife have signed with the Hagenbeck-Wallace show for the season of 1908. At present they are taking the waters at French Lick Springs, having left the Hagenbeck-Wallace Show, now on its southern tour, to open with a carnival company.
Ringlings Want a Permit
A representative of Ringling Brothers' circus is sitting down tight in the office of the mayor of Dallas, Tex., and interviewing the aldermen in an endeavor to get a permit for the show Oct. 10. Several years ago, at the request of the State Fair Association, the city council passed an ordinance forbidding any circus to show in the limits of the city during the progress of the annual fair. The dates set in the ordinance were from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19, at that time the period of the fair.
Since that time the fair meetings are later, but the ordinance has never been repealed nor changed. In the last two years, Ringling Brothers have induced the council to give permission for the October show. The Commissioners, while not ready to act at once, promised the representative there would be no opposition to the show.
The Forepaugh-Sells circus pitched its tents inside the fair grounds at the Williamson County Fair, at Marion, Ill., Spet. 19, and the people were turned away at both performances. The managers of the fair concluded to make the circus part of the attractions on the ground, rather than have a rival on the outside. The arrangement was a big success for both the fair and the circus.
Robinson Knows His Friends
"The Billposter and Distributor," in the circus department of its September issue says:
"John Robinson's well-known old-time aggregation is playing the shuttie-cock game through Ohio, Indiana, and Illionis, and knowing ones wink the eye when they remark that 'Uncle John will never let the show get out of reach of Cincinnati's long-distance telephone call.' Still it must be admitted that 'Marsa' John knows what he is about when it comes to successfully routing a show that has been in existence over eighty years."
"Old Pop" Semon, who has been contracting far in advance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, closed the season early in August and returned to New York.
"A most important bit of circus news was wafted across the Atlantic from London last month to the effect that A. A. Stewart, New York representative of the Strobridge Lithograph Co., who was abroad recently, had been busily engaged in buying up all the English stock of the Barnum & Bailey circus that he could secure for Ringling Bros. This will not be surprising news in some quarters, while in others it is bound to create an endless amount of conjecture and speculation."
Cooke Transfers Headquarters
Louis E. Cooke, general agent of the Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill shows, who has been making his headquarters during the past summer at the National Show Print Offices, Tribune Building, Chicago, departed for New York Thursday evening, Sept. 19, where he is now making his headquarters at the Bailey Building, 27 West 22nd street. During his brief sojourn in Chicago, Mr. Cooke has endeared himself anew to members of the Chicago professional colony, and his presence will be missed on the local Rialto.
Will Close at Richmond
The Buffalo Bill Show will close at Richmond, Va., and the last three stands preceding the end of the season will be Jacksonville, Fla., Savannah, Ga., and Wilmington, N. C.
The 1907 tour of the Buffalor Bill Show has been remarkably free from mishap and altogether it has proven one of the most successful in a financial way ever known in the history of that organization. Every department of the show has been handled in an efficient manner and the delightful harmony existing both in front and back with the show in all departments has had much to do with the success of the tour.
Hargreaves on Chicago Lots
The Hargreaves circus and menagerie had a big day at Whiting, Ind., Thursday, Sept. 2, the matinee "house" being comfortably filled and the night audience overflowing the seating capacity.
Friday, Sept. 13, the show inaugurated a three-weeks engagement on Chicago lots, opening at the Ninety-second stree lot, South Chicago, to good business.
The Hargreaves show is one of the most pretentious one-ring circuses on the road, fourteen double-length cars being required to transport the enterprise, and the main tent being a one hundred and forty-foot round top with two fifty-foot middle pieces. When the spread of canvas is up, it presents an appearance not unlike that of a big one. The performance is highly meritorious and gives splendid satisfaction. The program is presented with remarkable smoothness, for which France Reed, equestrian director, should be given much credit. Those who should be complimented on the excellent condition of the stock are N. H. Walker, boss hostler, and Dr. D. M. Ulrich, veterinarian.
The Hargreaves show has been out since April 20 and, despite the bad weather which has prevailed generally throughout the season, the busines as a whole has been satisfactory. This has been due, in a large measure, to the efficient work of the advance forces, under the direction of J. Henry Rice, general agent. William Sands, manager of the No. 1 advertising car, has done good work, as has local contractor Clyde Andrews.
The executive staff of the Hargreaves show is composed of Thomas Hargreaves, general manager; J. Henry Rice, general agent; Josh Bailey, business manager; Sam J. Banks, general press representative; J. Frank Longbotham, treasurer; Wes Pike, secretary and bookkeeper. The car managers are No. 1, William Sands, with twenty men; No. 2, George Mathews, with ten men. Mrs. J. Henry Rice has charge of the excursion work.
Among the salient features of the Hargreaves show may be mentioned. France Reed, principal bareback rider; Mr. and Mrs. Herman Griggs, principal riders, introducing a novel three-horse trotting act; the three De Holmans, aerialists and acrobats; the Cowden trio, aerial artists; George Colby, rider; Prof. Fred Locke, animal trainer; William Tessler, head balancer on trapeze; Miss Blanche Reed, equestrienne; Miss Mable Hall, elephant trainer.
Side Show That Attracts
Manager McFarland Has One of the Best with Hagenbeck-Wallace
W. H. McFarland, manager of the side show with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, has a national reputation as a side show director and his present offering is without doubt one of the finest in the country. The exhibits are most interesting, and the brass and velvet equipment of the different platforms make the interior in its entirety very handsome.
The following is the roster of the side show: W. H. McFarland, manager; Jack Manly, Punch and Judy; Frank Scott and wife, glass blowers; Mlle. Brazie, trained birds; McFarland and sister, knife throwers; Grace Clark, snake charmer; Clark Bros., bag punchers; Tariton & Tariton, musical act; The Scrantons, lighting artists; Prof. Paige, clay modeler; Mlle. Corina, mind reader. Oriental theater, Ethel Delmar, Beatrice Lesley, Mabel Vernon, Frank Maloff, Jacke Vik and Silar Maron. Ticket-sellers, Henry Rodepouch and J. P. Sweeny.
The P. G. Lowery Concert and Minstrel Company is undoubtedly one of the most versatile companies of its kind under canvas, as it is in three parts - band, orchestra and minstrel company. The members of the band includ P. G. Lowery, band master and cornet soloist; Tom May, solo cornet; Geo. Thomas, first cornet; Richard Jackson, clarinet; A. Victor, first alto; J. H. Lewis, second alto; H. B. Washington, trombone; Jas. B. Hall, baritone; Wm. May Ef bass; Tony Barefield, B. B. Bass; Jno. Carson, snare drum; Whittier Viney.
The minstrel company enlists the services of the following comedians and singers: Billy Arnte, comedian; Paul Carter, comedian; Master Mose Harris, youngest of all colored comedians; J. H. Lewis, comedian; Geo. Thomas, vocalist and dancer; Whittier Viney, vocalist; Mamie Thomas, sougbrette; Maggie McClellon, vocalist; Tony Barefield, basso profundo. The center is ably handled by the clever Arthur Wallage, one of the greates of all extemporaneous parody singers. The minstrels are ably supported by the following members of the orchestra: A. Victor, violin; H. B. Washington, violin; R. Jackson, clarinet; Jas. B. Hall, trombone; Wm. May, bass; Tom May, clarinet, and Jno. Carson, traps.
Ranch Show Passes East
Miller Bros.' Western Exhibit Proves One of the Season's Attractions
"On six days' notice and without a scrap of 'advance paper,' Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Wild West Show swept into Brighton Beach, where the Boer War perished and Pawnee Bill failed, and scored instantanously. You may talk about your comging, seeing and conquering, but I believe the success of the Miller Bros.' show at Brighton Beach establishes a record in the show business."
Sam C. Haller, one of the best known advance men in the country and representative of the Miller Bros. at Brighton Beach, made the abot statement to a representative of THE SHOW WORLD in Chicago last week.
In regard to conditions at the Jamestown Exposition, Mr. Haller was unable to make any authoritative statement upon present conditions, because he has been absent from the Exposition for some weeks, but he said the reason the exhibition lost so much ground in the first part of the season was due to the fact that the visiting newspaper men were not properly escorted about grounds, and spread the news of the failure of the exhibition instead of boomingits merits.
In conjunction with several newspaper men Mr. Haller formed an associaton that met the visiting representatives of the press and saw they attended the particular attractions they were exploiting. As a result the editors on their return home became enthusiasts about the success of the exposition, and a great amount of good was done.
The Miller Bros.' 101 Ranch No. 2 closed at Brighton Beach Sept.8, although the show at Jamestown will remain until the exposition closes. Mr. Miller stated that the Miller Bros. were well satisfied with the season at Jamestown, and expected the exposition to end in a burst of prosperity.
Circus Ring Sickness Real
At a recent performance of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth one of the clowns staggered from the ring; he threw himself, groaning, on the grass in the dressing tent. A shout of laughter followed him. "Let them laugh," the poor fellow muttered. "They think because I ran out with my hands clutching my stomach that I am joking. Little do they know the agonies of ring sickness that are now racking me. Pass that bottle, will you? Ring sickness is like sea sickness: you get it from continually running round and round and round a circus ring. Ring masters get it more frequently than clowns, and I have even seen horses with a touch of it."
Clint Francis, general contractor of Walter L. Main's Great Fashion Plate shows, closed his season of twenty-two weeks on Sept. 16, and was re-engaged for next season.
The Hargreaves Circus experienced a blow-down on the Sixty-ninth and Halsted street lot, Chicago, Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 17. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Charles Andress writes from the Barnum & Bailey Show that the big composite circus photograph, upon which he has been working for some time, is finished and will soon be ready for mailing. Circus people and the profession generally are looking forward with no small degree of anticipation to the presentation of this masterpiece.
John and Charles Ringling have gone to California in John Ringling's private car.
It is reported that William Sells is in Kansas City making arrangements for taking a circus to the Isthmus of Panama. The circus that Tote Siegrist of the Siegrist-Silbons, now with Barnum & Bailey, is organizing, is also going to the Isthmus, so that the canal workers will have plenty of arenic entertainment during the winter.
Gus Ringling, general agent of the 4-Paw-Sells show, is much to the regret of his friends and business staff, reported to be in very bad health.
John Fagan, who has made a record as railroad contracting agent with Barnum & Bailey this season, has definitely signed with the Hagenbeck-Wallace show in the same capacity for next season.
A number of this season's bosses with the Barnum & Bailey Circus will be transferred to the Buffalo Bill show next season.
Charles Andress, legal adjuster with the Barnum & Bailey Circus, has begun the erecting of a handsome apartment house on Douglas boulevard, Chicago.
W. D. Coxey, general press agent of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, spent Sunday, Sept. 8, with the show at Leavenworth, Kan., visiting with Manager Hutchinson, John Stevens, Dexter Fellows, Harvey Watkins and other members of the big show's busines staff.
Notwithstanding the prejudice of the circus performers against booking through an agency, "Doc" Freeman, manager of the Universal Booking Agency, has been notably successful in signing big circus and wild west acts for the Big Four for next season.
Frank C. Bostock, who has had many years of experience as an animal trainer and showman, is about to establish a training and breeding station at Jacksonville, Fla., where he will erect a special building. Mr. Bostock is a man of large wealth and has written many books on the nature and habits of wild animals. His name is better known in the United States than in England, where his permanent home is maintained.
The Sells-Flot circus will end its season in Venice, Cal., on or about Nov. 29, and will winter there as in past season. As an inducement to winter in Venice again, the show managers were promised a reduced assessment on their property, which last year was taxed on a valuation of $21,000. F. A. Short, lessee of the Midway, has contracted to provide quarters for the circus while it is being prepared for next season's tour.
Al Ringling visited the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. shows last week.
Salvail, the well known card manipulator, widely known in the circus profession, is playing in vaudeville. He may go with the white tops next season.
Del Fuego was a caller at THE SHOW WORLD offices while in Chicago last week. Del is appearing with the Sells-Floto shows this season. His performing goose is a factor of the big show performance.
A report reached Chicago Saturday, Sept. 21, that the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Shows were to winter at Bridgeport, Conn. This would seem to verify the fact that the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey-Forepaugh-Sells Bros.-Buffalo Bill deal had really been consummated. Up to the time of going to press THE SHOW WORLD has been unable to confirm the Bridgeport rumor.
Barnum and Bailey Plans
Louis E. Cooke to Be Identified With Big Show as at Present
There is no question but that Louis E. Cooke wills still be identified with the Barnum & Bailey or Buffalo Bill show - and probably with both - no matter what may be the result of the negotiations between Ringling Brothers and those representing Mrs. J. A. Bailey's interests in these big show. Mr. Cooke's advance staff, which has been recognized as one of the best ever organized, are, with one or two exceptions, at his disposal, and will undoubtedly remain with him. R. M. Harvey is already undre contract for one or the other of the two shows as contracting agent, and the engagement of others will shortly be announced. It will not be long, eithere, before the exact status of the big circus deal will be known.
Under certain contingencies James D. DeWolfe, contracting press agent of the Barnum & Bailey circus, and Lester W. Murray, manager of Advertising Car No. 1, will spend the winter in Florida. Tentative plans for the outing have already been made. General Press Agent W. D. Coxey will spend the winter in New York. Dexter W. Fellows, who has successfully handled the press work back with the big show this season, will winter at his home in Fitchburg, Mass.
The Barnum & Bailey show will close the season at Dyersburg, Tenn., Thursday, Oct. 17, instead of at Carmi, Ill., Oct. 19, as originally announced. Cairo and Carmi were cut out owing to the impossibility of securing a lot in the former town, and the run from Dyersburg to Carmi was too far to make the jump feasible. The show will run home via the Illinois Central to Mattoon, Ill., and then over the New York Central lines, via Albany and the New York, New Haven & Hartford to Bridgeport. There are other routes for getting to New York, however, and already there is active rivalrly among the railroad traveling agents to get the business of the performers and other employes. Practically everybody will go to New York, but from the metropolis there will be a general scattering of circus people to Panama, South America, Mexico and Europe.
Manage Victor B. Cooke, of the Barnum & Bailey advertising car No. 2, reports that the billposters on his car have not only been particularly industrious this season, but also that they have saved an unusually large amount of money. Although the men have been permitted to draw as liberally as they pleased, it will take several thousand dollars to "pay off the car." The largest balance of the season will, as last year, go to Edward P. Tice; the second on the list is Larry Sullivan; Walter Heller is thired, J. Lyons fourth, M. Thawley fifth, W. VanDien sixth, Harley White seventh, and George Battis, William Garrity, Joe Hyland, Davy Muir, L. Schlenk, G. Brown all close with gratifying sums of money to their credit. Victor Cooke's success in handling the car this season has also been pronounced.
Victor B. Cooke, manager of advertising car No. 2, Barnum & Bailey circus, will celebrate his return to Newark, N. J., by being united in marriage to a charming young lady of that city.
Circus in Cotton Belt
Clint Francis in writing to THE SHOW WORLD under recent date, says: "I have recently returned from a prospective trip through the South and note that the cotton season will be at least four to six weeks late this fall, owing to a protracted period of damp and rainy weather early in the spring. The seed on the lowlands was replanted three or four times. The crop throughout the upland country promises fairly well. The price of cotton is good, and while there may be a shortage in the crop, good prices will be maintained. There will be as much money in circulation as usual and no doubt the smaller shows will find it profitable to play a long season in the south."
The Great Van Amburg Show playing through Western Ohio is experiencing good business and is enjoying a prosperous season all the way round. Isaac V. Strevig is general agent.
Lew Nichols, writing from Whitesboro, Texas, under recent date, says that the business of the Cole Younger & Nichols Theater Amusement Company, in Greenville, Texas, was great at the night and day fair. There were over 10,000 people on the grounds every evening. Governor Tom Campbell and Senator Culberton were in attendance. Lew says there is no trouble to get towns in Texas for his attraction, and he is now negotiating to appear at the Louisiana State fair.
Spader Johnson and Van Mervelle, now presenting their clown novelties with signal success with the Barnum & Bailey show, will play the principal vaudeville circuits this winter and will introduce Mr. Johnson's original Brainstorm Automobile, Clown Barber Shop and original Bull Fighting Donkey in a burlesque representation of a Spanish bull fight.
Charles Ringling and family are enjoying a tour of the British Isles and Chicago friends are in receipt of picture post-cards showing scenes in Ireland where Mr. Ringling and his family are at present sojourning.
Tom North's Circus Notes
Gentry Bros. No. 1 Show Has Small Fired, But Delay is Brief
Tom North sends in the following interesting circus news:
"The No. 1 Gentry show had a 'one-end' burn-out recently at Greensburg, Pa. One of those unaccountable things that no one can be blamed for. Just a happening. Big top was dropped before chandelier front of band stand was taken out, and blugh! that's the answer. W. W. Gentry immediately dispatched Frank Gentry to Chicago to 'that equal to any emergency' tent house, the Murray Company, and two days after the fire things moved nicely under a 40-middle with a round end.
"Speaking of the Steubenville, O., Fifth ward gang occurrence, W. W. Gentry advised me it was the most atrocious conduct he had ever encountered. When the fact became known that the show was packing up to pull out and not give the evening performance, Mr. Gentry was accosted by several of the best class of residents who apologized for the actions of the hoodlums and also expressed deep regret that they were unable to reverse Mr. Gentry's orders to pack up and pull out. They also claimed, according to Mr. Gentry, that the gang ruled politics in the Fifth ward and consequently seemed to do as they pleased.
"Everything looks spick and span with the show. 'Wink' Weaver has all stock in excellent shape and feels justly proud. 'Jack' Dwyer does different things and also the privileges. Genial Jack is a fine fellow. Somewhat of a newspaper man, too, judging from the way he handled the Altoona papers.
"Did Frank Gentry ever tell you the Mr. Majestic story?" You've missed a treat if you never heard him tell it. W. W. claims Frank is the best 'fixer' a-goin' and I guess that's going some.
"One thing made a great impression on me and that was W. W.'s statement: 'Everybody working on the top and wagons are the same that left San Antonio with the show last March, exepting two!' Every tented aggregations trouping this season has had 'help trouble' and plenty of it. Now what is W. W. Gentry's answer?"
Frank ("Slivers") Oakley, the college-bred clown with the Barnum & Bailey show, is slated for "advanced vaudeville" time this coming winter. Slivers is a master in his particular field of amusement endeavor and is the originator of many clown novelties.
Rhoda Royal, the "Prince of Horse Trainers," declares his indoor circus will eclipse all previous efforts in this line of endeavor. Charles B. Fredericks, busines manager of The Royal Indoor Circus, has established headquarters in the Grand Opera House building, Chicago, and is booking time for the approaching tour of hsi organization, to open Dec. 1. Secretaries of franternal societies will have opportunity to secure the finest attraction of its kind in America.
Rhoda Royal has lined up an exceptionally strong programme for his indoor circus, which is to open Dec. 1 and to appear in a number of the larger cities this winter. The Royal horses, with the Hagenbeck-Wallace show, will be a feature of the indoor circus.
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Show World, October 5, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 15), pp. 3, 10, 12, 17, 19, 22. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Gus Sun
Gus Sun is the promoter of the Sun circuit, booking representative and amusement director of the National Vaudeville Managers' Association, and must be given the credit of inaugurating vaudeville in the smaller cities of Ohio and Pennsylvania. When but nineteen years old, Mr. Sun was manager of a circus, later he made a success of the Gus Sun minstrels, and disposed of his interest to embark in the vaudeville business. . . .
Texas, Houston, Sept. 28. Sells-Floto Shows have placarded the town with large posters for the 30th of this month, and from the description of its attractions it would appear that they are coming here stronger than ever, and likely will receive large patronage.
The Forepaugh & Sells Bros. Combination have also posted the town with its advance notice of two performances to be given here on Oct. 15. Considering the ideal circus weather here, it is safe to predict that both circuses will do a large business.
Georgia, Atlanta, Sept. 28. A lively circus war is going on between Hagenbeck-Wallace Show Sept. 30, and Buffalo Bill, Oct. 7. So far the Hagenbeck-Wallace has the better of the fight. They have secured some splendid banner locations in the center of the city.
Circus Opposition in Texas
Edward Arlington, general advance manager of the Pawnee Bill Show, in writing to THE SHOW WORLD from Dallas, Tex., where he is making his headquarters at the Oriental Hotel, says: "Business best in the history of the Pawnee Bill Show. Four turn-aways at Denver, following the Ringling Bros.' engagement in that city. The record day of the show at Denver. Opposition galore in Texas, with the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. and Ringling Bros.' shows. Ed. Burk making the great showing with our aggregation. Business conditions in the Lone Star state generally good. Crops excellent. Season on the whole big for Pawnee Bill."
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Our correspondent with Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth goes in for "heart throbs" this week. He demonstrates that in the rush and bustle of the circus there come up many interesting episodes of the kind that make "the whole world kin." Here are his latest notes:
At Moberly, Mo., the other day, Charles Andress spied a gentle man hovering round the "Legal Department" top, as though he had something on his mind. Thinking it might be an order for a 1908 route-book, Charley invited the shy gentleman to enter. Carefully and even reverently, drawing a hand from his pocket, the stranger produced a photograph of a dainty little maiden of some six summers or thereabout, garbed in the costum of a juvenile equestrienne. Guess whose portrait it was? Josie DeMott's - and she hasn't changed such a whole lot since, except, maybe, in the length of the skirt! Yes, Charley has the photograph, although the gentleman from Missouri was loth to part with it. His father had taken him, when but a wee laddie, to a circus, and the little fellow cried so vigorously for "little Josie DeMott's" picture that papa had to purchase one, and it had been treasured by its owner ever since. Only one more of the thousand hearts the lady has, all unknowing forever conquered!
Herr Grunatho is much better, and will have returned ere this goes to press.
Charles George, better known as "Puggie" and "Deefy," who has been ill, has requested THE SHOW WORLD to express his thanks to the management of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth for the uniform kindnes demonstrated toward him while he was in the hospital.
Dan Fishell's Affinity
Dan Fishell came up the river to Hannibal, Mo., to see his "affinity," that is, of course, the circus. Everybody knows, that as far as other affinities go, Dan, like Pharaoh of old, has hardened his heart. The Garrick and Dan are what the Germans call "Tagesgespraech" in St. Louis.
Great elation reigns throughout the tops of the Greatest. At the Greenfield Country Club Fair, Bridgeport, Conn., the blooded Texan mule "Jenny," owned by Manager Charles R. Hutchinson, was awarded the blue ribbon. Anne Louise is the happiest young lady in Bridgeport.
The Greatest on Earth showed at Hannibal, Sept. 19, and people were furtively looking for copies of "Huckleberry Finn." Perhaps Twain is read more in "furrin parts" than at home, nowadays. A 10 o'clock arrival and a long haul retarded the opening of the matinee until 2:20, but the crowd "stayed with us."
Many were the eternal friendships sealed and sworn among the fair members of the "Afternoon Tea and Intellectual Refreshment Women's Club" last Sunday, at the banquet in Kansas City, Midland Hotel. And you all know how enduring sweet girls friendships are.
Kansas City - that stamping-ground of showmen - Ed. Knupp, the general agent of Cole Bros.; Frank and "Frost" Lemon; A. H. Barkley, railroad contractor of the Parker forces; Colonel C. W. Parker; Fred Gollmar; Ed S. Martin, manager of the Al. W. Martin's Uncle Tom's Cabin show, and other. The Greatest played to two packed houses there.
It costs real money to get home nowadays after the close, doesn't it? Not like the old days when they took Mr. Artist home half way across a continent for a few dollars. It is Guilietti or Andress for rates.
Tigers Banquet a Success
Harry Gray - the showman's friend - made all the arrangements for the Tiger's Banquet in Kansas City. That function was a great success, and a new lease of life for the B. P. O. T. is assured. [note: Benevolent Protective Order of Tigers]
Charles Bernard, winter manager of the Park City Rink at Bridgeport, is deeply immersed in correspondence, and the initiation of new features for that popular Connecticut institution.
Warren Patrick just "loafed aroun'" the white tops Sunday and Monday at Kansas City, looking as happy as - well, as happy as any managing director of a rapidly increasing circulation looks.
No. 1 Car - Lester Murray's - gets through this week. Getting near the end, brothers and sisters.
Dexter, Charles and Warren had an interesting evening last Sunday. Charley Andress says it made his head ache trying to find his way through the labyrinths of the two newspapermen's high-falutin' vocabulary.
Who hasn't got a dog with the show? Echo answers who? The two latest dog-fanciers are John Stevens and Con Foster. At the rate this brace of hounds are growing, both thos gentlemen will soon be looking for larger apartments.
Harry Monney has received an offer to go into vaudeville.
The event of the week was a presentation to Charles R. Hutchinson, our manager, of a handsome solid silver coffee set, by the members of the gentlemen's dressing-room. After expressing their appreciation of his tact and fairness in dealing with them united, aand severally, the hope was expressed that both he and Mrs. Hutchinson might live many more years and enjoy increasing prosperity - which wish is sincerely subscribed to by - Franc-Tireur.
Bert Davis and wife have joined the Cosmopolitan shows. Bert is a busy booster for the New Republic.
Charles B. Fredericks is booking some excellent time for the Royal Indoor Circus. Best program ever arranged for an enterprise of this character. Royal knows talent.
Walter L. Wilson, manger of the circus department for Baker and Lockwood, famous tent makers, Kansas City, called at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD, Friday, Sept. 27. He says his firm has enjoyed the biggest business of its career this season. Wilson is a hustler and the Baker and Lockwood "brand" enjoys a world wide reputation.
With Barnum & Bailey, the C. W. Parker Carnival Co. and Al. W. Martin's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Kansas City, Monday, Sept. 23, had the three big ones "that do not parade." All played to large business.
Eddie Martin has constituted himself an active booster for the New Reliable. More power to you, Eddie.
Harry Gray, whose emporium at 209 West Fifth street, Kansas City, is the favorite rendezvous for professionals playing the Missouri metropolis, renewed old acquaintances with the Barnum and Bailey forces last week.
Spader Johnson is framing up a lot of new clowning stunts for the Sells-Floto show next season. He will be principal clown for the Tammen aggregation. Enough said!
"Slivers" Oakley will play "Advanced Vaudeville" time after the Barnum & Bailey show closes. He has arranged a potpourri of comicalities that will tickle the risibilities of vaudeville devotees on the K. & E. circuit.
Tote Siegrist is formulating some very ambitious plans for his forthcoming tour of Panama and Central America. THE SHOW WORLD will divulge them in due time.
Williamson & Gilbert are putting on a good "turn" with the Barnum & Bailey concert this season in spite of the fact that Brother Wiliamson is suffering from a severe attack ofsciatic rheumatism.
Frank (&) "Frost" Lemon got a touch of the fever while visiting the Barnum & Bailey show at Kansas City.
A bad runaway during the parade marred the Sells-Floto engagement at Austin, Texas, recently. Several persons were badly injured.
Fred Gollmar has confirmed the report recently published in THE SHOW WORLD that the Gollmar Bros. show is for sale.
Ed. C. Knupp is making his headquarters in Texas.
Mrs. Bert Scott, of the Yankee Robinson show, visited the Barnum & Bailey circus at Kansas City, Monday, Sept. 23.
W. H. Rice, business manager of The Flower of the Ranch, was among the coterie of professionals in attendance at the Barnum & Bailey show at Kansas City.
Fred Gollmar has shaved his luxurious mustachios. Makes him look ten years younger.
The Hagenbeck-Wallace, Van Amburg and John Robinson shows are reported to be playing to big business in the South.
Has Eye for Business
When the No. 2 car of the Barnum & Bailey circus was in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, Harley White, the billposter, took advantage of the proximity of his home town, Jefferson, to get a day off to visit his parents. Being of a thrifty disposition Harley took a bundle of lithographs, dated for Des Moines, and had the local billposter put them up as a personal favor. He also used his popularity with the local newspapers to get some notices for the show. As a result, notwithstanding that the town was not otherwise billed, tickets were sold by the local railway agents to Jeffrsonians visiting the big show at Des Moines. The distance is 66 miles. Harley stands especially well in Jefferson. He is the owner of a substantial house, which he has paid for out of his savings as billposter, and is always sure of a warm welcome when he goes home.
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Show World, October 12, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 16), pp. 3, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 20-24. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Ringling Brothers, Monarchs of the Tented Field
Pat-Chats
Pertinent Paragraphs, Personal and Professional, by Warren A. Patrick
The announcement of the acquisition of the Barnum & Bailey Show by Ringling Brothers came to the world of showmen like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. It was like popping the question to Priscilla" "It was so sudden." But there were a few close observers of the Ringling's career who were not so greatly surprised as they might have been. There are seven Ringling Brothers, five of whom are owners of the "World's Greatest." Henry and "Gus" were employes the former in charge of the main entrance, and the latter manager of No. 1 car. The owners of the big show have made a good deal of money, it is true, in the last few years, but it takes a great deal to make a satisfactory division among five individuals, and it was but natural to suppose they would, as the opportunity offered, expand to larger proportions.
Some eight years ago they put out the John Robinson circus as a sort of annex to the big show, and two years ago they joined the late James A. Bailey in the purchase of the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. shows, the total purchase price having been stated at the time of the deal as $150,000. The Ringlings subsequently acquired control of this show with Henry Ringling as manager and "Gus" as general agent. It proved a money-making proposition and they were so pleased with the result that success merely served to stimulate their ambition. As an example of the secrecy with which the operations of this famous quintette of showmen are conducted it may be stated that hardly any "wise ones" in the show world ever dreamed that the Ringlings had in mid the purchase of the controlling interest in Barnum & Bailey show. It was because of this that the exclusive announcement by THE SHOW WORLD of the sale to the Ringlings came as a jolt to circus men throughout the country.
Well, the Ringlings are now undisputed monarchs of the tented field. Until recently their reputation was national; today it is international and they are known and admired throughout the civilized world. Those who know the Ringlings best are their most sincere admirers. And it is only right that it is so.
The acquisition of control of the Barnum & Bailey show places the Ringling Bros. decidedly at the head of the procession, and really when you come to think of it, who would ever have conceived such a thing possible even two short years ago. But there's nothing impossible in the show business. There are a good many showmen still living who will recall the advent of the Ringlings in the tented arena. There wasn't much of a flourish of trumpets either when they "advented. Yankee Robinson was a sort of a foster father to the boys in the late '70s and up to the time of his death he was the announcer in the big ring. He was often heard to declare that "these five Ringlings are destined to become the greatest showmen the world ever saw." He believed it, too. His prophecy has been fulfilled.
The forbears of the Ringlings were Lutherans, and very strict Lutherans at that. Ringling pere was a hard working mechanic in a small Wisconsin town and tried to make hard working mechanics of his seven boys, Al., Alf., Gus, Charlie, Otto, John and Henry. Now you may say what you please, but fate will assert itself. You can't make harness makers out of a lot of virile, ambitious lads who thing they can harness Fate. But this is all beside the question. We all know about the meteroric career of the Ringlings. None of them is old. In fact they are in the very prime of life and presumably more ambitious than ever before. Since having got hold of the show business in the United States, why shouldn't they galvanize into real life the moribund one ring European show imitations. It's certain they'll reach out a little further. Power and its influence is a sweet possession to the sons of men, and the Ringlings are very human.
Ringlings' Rise Metoric
It seems, to the writer of this brief tribute, like a few short months since the Ringlings began to force themselves into public notice. We used to hear of them in a vague way as five boys hailing from Baraboo, Wis., with a circus. The large centers of population knew them not, but Mankato, Stillwater, Sleepy Eye, Winona, Minn.; River Falls, Madison, Green Bay, Oconto, Wis., and various and sundry Iowa and Illinois minor towns knew and applauded, and the drummers! Well, the drummers of the entire central west constituted themselves press agents without pay to toot the Ringling horn. And so they thrived, growing, growing always.
From a "one-ringer" to a "two-ringer" and at last a "three-ringer," emerging in the early '90s from a wagon show to the proud prominence of a railroad show, and not at all adverse to entering the lists against the real big ones, to wit: the Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill aggregations. Who that was on the salary list of the Ringling show in 1895, as was the writer, will ever forget the fierce opposition fights raging all the way from Boston to St. Louis and back again across Indiana between the Davids of the Ringling shows and the Goliaths of the Barnum & Bailey combination. It was a costly proposition, too, for the big contestants.
This was the last of the opposition fights between the Barnum & Bailey show and the Ringlings. Bailey was obliged to "recognize" the sturdy and determined young men from Wisconsin, and making a virtue of necessity the opposition clans got together last year and entered into an agreement to cut out the opposition.
Life Story of the Ringlings
When James A. Bailey died suddenly at the beginning of the 1906 season there was a good deal of guessing as to the future of the "big" show. Showmen realized the Ringlings were now the leaders in the circus field, but how few dreamed they would absorb the "B. & B." outfit! But they have done so and it seems timely for me to offer a brief biography of the now famous showmen.
First in point of age is Al, whom we all know as the equestrian director of the Ringling Brothers show. He is 54 years of age, a tireless worker, full of nervous energy and universally liked by circus performers everywhere, because he sympathizes with them, knows all their cares, fears, hopes and ambitions and has always the glad hand ready for a conscientious trooper. Alfred T. has always had charge of the press work and is well and favorably known in every newspaper office in the land. Much of the detail connected with the press department is now delegated to his subordinates while he spends much of his time at his charming home near Baraboo. Charles is the general agent of the show. He is quiet and reserved, but most genial and has many friends. He also has a beautiful home at Baraboo. Otto is the general treasurer and a close student of history, politics and finance. He is a most omniverous, all-devouring reader, and noted for his keen sense of justice. He has never affected general society but in his quiet way gets about all life has to offer. John is the general railroad contractor and is the "baby" of the quintette - a years ago. Some people have declared that he is the brains of the show. But no member of the Ringling firm has a monoply on brains. It is a sort of a five-fold combination of brains working toward a common end. That it is a successful one is now so plain to all the world that all who run may read.
How Will Power Be Used?
What concerns the "perfesh" just now is to know what use the Ringlings will make of their newly acquired power. Will the Universal Booking Agency be used as a lever to squeeze every semblance of independence out of the circus trooper? Will high priced feature acts be placed on a par with ordinary circus stunts and be paid accordingly? One can see at a glance what might be accomplished in this connection. It remains to be seen if it will be done under the new dispensation. Suppose a high class circus performer, feeling aggrieved at certain dictorial policies the "Trust" might attempt to put in force, should apply to the courts to have the "trust" dissolved, on the ground that it is a combination in "restraint of trade," i.e., a powerful money oligarchy of five people combined to fix despotically the value of an artist's services. What would happen in these circumstance? I do not intend to inimate that these conditions will arise. But they might. Perhaps the worshipful guild of circus performers, fearing the arbitrary measures of the "Trust" may decide to unionize. Wouldn't this be a state of things. The Circus Performers' Union vs. the Circus Trust. Shades of Dan Rice! Wouldn't it jar all of us if the kaleidoscopic conditions in the show world should bring about a change like this. Farewell then to the romance of the circus.
Let us hope the Ringlings, with a keen recollection of their own early struggles, will remain the same humane, sympathetic quintette of circus men we knew in the early 90s. They have all the money they need. Let them still bear in mind the sorrows, struggles, aspirations and loyalty of the highly places yet lowly artist of the aerial apparatus as well as the maiden of the high wire. I believe in the good intention of the Ringling Brothers and trust I will never have occasion to alter my good opinion.
Vaudeville Seeks Circus Acts
According to the Kansas City (Mo.) Times, the circuses threaten to complicate the vaudeville situation under the caption "The Merry Vaudeville War." The Times in a recent issue says:
A new element has appeared in the vaudeville "war" and now the rival syndicates are threatened by an enemy which may force them to joinin a common cause. The rival is the circus combine.
"The bone of contention has been the big, top line circus acts,", said a circus man last night. "The growth of the vaudeville idea and the difficulty of securing a sufficient number of high-class attractions has compelled the vaudeville managers to reach out after aerial, riding and other acts that are popularly supposed to be purely arenic in their character. Naturally, when big circuses like Barnum & Bailey's or Ringling Brothers have expensive attractions of this character engaged for the summer season they oppose their appearance on the vaudeville stage in cities where they are to appear later on.
"Formerly circus employes went abroad for the winter. More recently they have been accepting vaudeville engagements, and this has caused the circus managers in many instances to insert clauses in the contracts prohibiting the practice. This, naturally, has increased the zest of vaudeville managers for circus act and in the last two years the competition between the circus and the vaudeville stage for the big features has been extrememlyu spirited.
"The recent organization of the new Klaw & Erlanger vaudeville syndicate has not only still further complicated matters but the demand for circus acts in vaudeville has increased to such an extent that the circus managers have apparently no choice between the two vaudeville trusts. This would not be so alarming if the vaudeville managers were content to engage circus performers for a period beginning with the close of the circus season and ending with its opening in the spring.
"In the Barnum & Bailey circus company, there is scarcely a big and important act that has not been corralled by one or the other of the vaudeville syndicates for the coming winter. The Grunatho Sisters go with Klaw & Erlanger; the Novellos have been placed under contract by Keith and his co-managers, and a long list of other acts have been engaged or are being negotiated for.
"As one means of meeting this attack of the vaudeville giants the circus syndicate has organized a booking bureau of its own, and already has a number of special agents in Europe securing novelties for next season."
Texas Circus Notes
Orange, Texas, October 3, terminated five of the most prosperous weeks in the history of the Sells-Floto shows in Texas.
San Antonio, September 23, was a turnaway at both performances.
Cuero, Beeville, Victoria, Wharton, attendance was large.
Galveston, Saturday, the 28th. Capacity at both performances, as was Houston, the 30th. Four Bengal tiger cubs were added to the menagerie while en route from Galveston.
O. W. Colquitt, of the Texas Railroad Commission, was a guet of the show in Houston and was entertained by Harry Tammen and Judge DeWitt C. Webber.
The Elephant Club, composed of members of the bands of the Sells-Floto shows, tendered a banquet in honor of its president, Mr. Park Prentiss, at New Braunfels, Texas, Saturday eveing, September 21. Covers were laid for eighty persons, at which all the delicacies of the season were served as well as other things. An impromptu speech by Colonel Frank Robertson, the assistant manager of the show, on the "Discovery of the Oyster," made a most pronounced hit. Everyone present spent an enjoyable evening.
Thomas Ryan, formerly assistant manger of the Sells-Floto shows, has been appointed manager in place of James A. Morrow, resigned.
The Van Amburg show will clear Manager Mugavin a lot of money this season. Everyone who enjoys Jerry's acquaintance will be glad to know of his success.
C. W. Wilson, traffic manager of the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. shows, left Chicago, Monday, Oct. 7, to confer with his chief, John Ringling, at Dallas, Texas, this week.
Wenona & Frank, the champion rifle shots who have been featured with the 101 Wild West Show, enter vaudeville at the close of the season.
Miller Bros.' 101 Ranch Wild West closed at Jamestown, Saturday, October 5. It is declared that other attractions will close long befor November 30.
Hill Joins Kohl & Castle
Walter K. Hill, well and favorably known to the profession of entertainment, has joined the Chicago professional colony, having been engaged by Mr. C. E. Kohl, at the conclusion of a very successful tour as contracting press representative in advance of the Buffalo Bill Show, to act in a special capacity for the Kohl & Castle interests in Chicago. Temporarily Mr. Hill will serve as manager of the Chicago Opera House in the absence of Mr. Frank H. Rivers, who is indisposed. Upon Mr. Rivers' return to active duty, Mr. Hill probably will be associated with Lyman B. Glover in the press department of the Kohl & Castle vaudeville theatres.
Louis E. Cooke, general agent of the Buffalo Bill show, has re-engaged Mr. Hill for the 1908 season, his duties to commence in New York next February. It will be remembered that Mr. Hill for a number of years represented a New York publication in Chicago, and later did the pioneer work for a western amusement weekly in New York City.
Mrs. John Barton, wife of the well known circus privilege manager, was a guest at the Palmer House, Chicago, last week. Mr. and Mrs. Barton will spend the winter at their farm in Virginia.
Harvey L. Watkins
Harvey L. Watkins, Publicity Agent and Assistant Manager of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. A young man today, he has behind him a record of twenty years' continuous service - with one exception, i.e., one season spent as manager of the New York baseball team. In the course of these two decades he has filled almost every executive position with the mammoth enterprise, always exhibiting an indefatigable energy, untiring loyalty and devotion. Persona grata in the editorial rooms of America and Europe, his enthusiasm in the cause he represened threw opne the columns of the most conservative newspapers during the years when he was press agent both with and ahead of the show. On the two occasions when Barnum & Bailey visited Europe, Harvey Watkins worked day and night side by side with the late James A. Bailey carrying out the details directed by that great and lamented showman.
For many years his figure has been a familiar one at the New York docks, where he has met and assisted through the customs many a strange freak or nature and a multitude of foreign troupes, induced to leave lands beyond the seas to make their debut in that great home of cosmopolitan entertainment - Madison Square Garden. An infinity of detail incident to the opening performance each season has always rested upon his shoulders, and on rehearsal night his nervous activity has smoothed out the rought places.
Since Mr. Bailey's death, Harvey Watkins has formed part of the Big Show's management, this year filling the position to Manager Charles R. Hutchinson.
Hayes Flirting With H. & W.
It is rumored that Charles Hayes, local contracting agent for the Barnum & Bailey show, many be indentified with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows next season. Charles is a versatile man. For the past month he has managed the No. 2 advance car for the Buffalo Bill show. He will make good wherever he goes.
Adam Forepaugh and Sells Bros.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
In spite of the crypt-like silence that prevails in circus circles regarding the reported taking over of Mrs. Bailey's interest in the Barnum & Bailey Show by the Ringling Bros., THE SHOW WORLD is reliably informed that the deal has been consumated.
When "Doc" Freeman recently visited the Barnum & Bailey Show and engaged artists for the coming season he openly stated that contracts made were for the Barnum & Bailey Show under the management of the Ringling Brothers.
The fact that several of Barnum & Bailey bosses have been engaged by the Buffalo Bill management for the season of 1908 may cause some little friction, as it was understood by the Ringling Bros., according to reliable advice given this publication, that the working organization of the Barnum & Bailey Show should remain intact until the closing stand of the Greatest Show on Earth.
Cody Management to Stay
It will be interesting news to the circus world to know that under the provisions of the Ringlng Bros.-Forepaugh-Sells, Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill deal, that while the Ringling Bros. will own the Buffalo Bill Show property that organization will continue under the Cody-Bailey management. In other words, the Buffalo Bill Show will be leased from the Ringling Bros. instead of from the Bailey estate. Louis E. Cooke will be the general agent.
We are reliably informed that practically every artist with the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Enormous Shows United has been re-engaged for the season of 1908.
The question frequently asked on the Chicago Rialto these days is, will the Ringling Brothers, now that they have secured the controlling interest in the Barnum & Bailey Show, open with the "World's Greatest" at Madison Square Garden, New York City, next spring?
Parade Question of Interest
Another query that frequently arises is, will the Ringling Brothers restore the Barnum & Bailey parade next year? It is a fact that the Ringlings have made several visites to the Barnum & Bailey Show this season to note the effect of no parade. Mr. Al. Ringling, who was in Chicago, Monday, Sept. 30, is said to have declared that there will be no parade with the Barnum Show next year.
It would appear that at least one of the K. & E. "advanced vaudeville" theaters is playing to big business. The Garrick at St. Louis is reported to be playing to capacity nightly, with frequent turnaways. Much credit for this prosperity must be given to Manager Dan Fishell, who has secured an almost endless amount of publicity for the "advanced vaudeville" bills. Being an old time circus man, Fishell appreciates the value of publicity, and knows how to get it for any interest he represents.
Louis E. Cooke
General Agent of the Barnum & Bailey and the Buffalo Bill Shows
W. E. Franklin Re-engaged
W. E. Franklin has been re-engaged as general agent of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows Combined for the season of 1908.
It is understood that Mr. Fagan will receive the largest salary in his career as the general railroad contracting agent of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows next season.
Roy Feltus has been re-engaged as assistant manager of the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Shows for the season of 1908. Mr. Feltus has made a very creditable showing in this capacity, and has endeared himself to the management and his associates.
Circus War Is Opened
H. H. Tammen, of Sells-Floto, Throws Down Gauntlet to Opposition
The circus department of The Billposter and Distributor, in its October issue, just off the press, is particularly interesting. The following excerpts will be read with interest by followers of the white tents:
"A. S. Stewart, New York representative of the Strobridge Lithograph Co., sailed for Europe on the new Cunard liner lusitania, on Saturday, Sept. 21, presumably in the interests of Ringling Bros. It is now definitely known that the reported deal between Barnum & Bailey and Ringling Bros. is being handled by Mr. Stewart, who has been a leading factor in the various consolidations which have taken place between the big circuses in the last twenty years.
"From Austin, Tex., comes the interesting announcement that Harry H. Tammen, the well-known publisher of The Denver Post, and general manager of the Sells-Floto circus, has decided to wage a fight to the bitter end against certain show interests which he terms the "circus trust." He has already notified the Texas railroad commission that he and his lawyers will appear before that body on Oct. 8 to protest against the railroad companies of that state making contracts to haul the cars of any show forming a part of the so-called circus trust. Mr. Tammen, it is asserted, will contend that he has indisputable evidence that a circus trust does exist; that it was organized for the purpose of shutting out opposition in the tent show business, and that it is clear violation of the Sherman and Texas anti-trust laws. It is further stated that should the railroad commission fail to afford him the desired relief, Mr. Tammen will appeal to the attorney-general of the state and to President Roosevelt if necessary. This Texas attack is said to be only a preliminary skirmish to the warfare that will follow against the combine in all parts of the country.
"Ike C. Speers, manager of Gentry Bros. Famous United Shows, writing from Lewiston, Idaho, under date of Sept. 8, says that his aggregation is the finest tented show that ever traveled, and that business in the main has been enormous; that he meets many princes among the billposting craft, and his heart is always with them, having been one of the 'Iowa pioneers' himself."
Buchanan Branches Out
Yankee Robinson Show Will go on Rails With 18 Cars Next Season
THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of authentic advice to the effect that Fred Buchanan intends to put out the Yankee Robinson Show next season with eighteen cars, and that the equipment will be brand new, from big top to cook house. It is now one of the leading wagon shows of the country, and playing to turn-away business in Iowa.
The roster of the executive staff is as follows: Fred Buchanan, proprietor; C. W. Buchanan, manager; E. Hayse, press representative; Mrs. A. Bishop, ticket taker; B. Marmon, ticket seller; Ross Ashcraft, boss hostler; Harry Gray, assistant boss hostler; "Pie" Ellis, boss canvasman; Tom Gill, assistant boss canvasman; Ed. Crockett, manager of privileges; Wm. Spierie, twenty-four hour agent; D. M. Spayd, steward; W. H. Quinnette, advance agent with eight men. The personnel of the show includes sixty-five people. Arch Webb is the bandmaster, with fourteen men.
News from Buffalo Bill
The Buffalo Bill show did not give an afternoon performance at Louisville, Ky., Sept. 28, the show train not arriving until 4 p.m. It was delayed by a wreck near Frankfort, Ky. A freight train ahead of the show train was ditched, which delayed the show several hours. The evening performance was given to one of the largest crowds ever seen here under canvas; in fact the crowd was so dense that they were packed to the arena ropes, and extra details of police were necessary to hold the people back that the performance could be given.
Popular Al. Conlon, who is manager of the Black Top, and who was seriously ill in Chicago, has rejoined the Buffalo Bill show. Al. lives in Louisville, and his many friends were glad to see him out again.
Dan Cloud, who has been with the show for many years, is still "up and doing," and a good SHOW WORLD booster.
Frank Hall, who is doing press work for the show, is a great admirer of the modern Show Paper as well as H. W. Dunlop, who is authority for the statement that more SHOW WORLDS are subscribed for and read with the Buffalo Bill Show than any other amusement paper.
Ray Thompson Makes Good
The Lexington (Ky.) Herald in a recent review of the Buffalo Bill show says: What might be termed something modern for an exhibition of the Wild West type, is a trained horse called Joe Baiely. But Joe has such great intellect that it was found necessary to make himpart and parcel of the show. Ray Thompson, the trainer of this great horse, is certainly the best trainer of horses in the world, and he has no acknowledged competitor. No man can ride Joe Bailey like his master, Mr. Thompson, and when the rider and horse come prancding into the arena it is plain that Joe is no ordinary anima. Joe does not gallop and change, picks up a handkerchief from the ground, does an Oriental dance, and then apparently satisfied with the applause of the thousands present goes down on his bended knees to show his satisfaction to the audience.
Where Will Harvey Go?
R. M. Harvey, general contracting agent of the Barnum & Bailey Show has returned to his home at Perry, Ia., after finishing an eminently successful season with the Greatest Show on Earth. Mr. Harvey is a bit reticent regarding his plans for the coming season. It was recently reported that he had been engaged by Louis E. Cooke, either for the Barnum & Bailey or the Buffalo Bill Show. It has come to our knowledge that Mr. Harvey has been made the recipient of flattering offers from at least four of the leading circus organizations, including the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows and the Ringling Bros.
Royal In-door Circus Plans
The Royal In-Door Circus, which is to appear in a number of leading cities of America under the auspices of fraternal societies this coming winter, opening De. 1 or thereabouts, will undoubtedly prove one of the most meritorious enterprises of this character ever arranged. As on equestrian director and judge of talent Mr. Royal's reputation is well known. The business affairs of the company will be in charge of Charles B. Fredericks, who has been making his headquarters in Chicago, leaving last week to visit amuseument committees in Louisville, Indianapolis, Evansville, Terre Haute, Ft. Wayne, Detroit, Lansing, Bay City and other cities. The success of the enterprise is a foregone conclusion.
Lewis Hipple's Equine and Canine Circus is now in winter quarters at New Albany, Ind. Prof. Hipple is breaking in several new acts and will play a few vaudeville dates later in the season.
LIndey Bros.' one ring circus has been playing the smaller towns in Southern Indiana, and have been doing a good business.
Adjuster Chas. Davis, of Ringling Brothers Show, ran up against Humane Officer Reynolds at Los Angeles a few days ago, when he had less than two hours to present his case to the court. The result was that he was compelled to plead guilty to the charde of permitting children under twelve years of age to perform in the circus. He was fined $50, which he paid. The children did not appear at the last performance. The peculiar part of it all is, when Reynolds knew the children were billed to appear, why did he not cause the arrest earlier in the week?
Ringling Bros. Circus pulled away from the theaters the first half of the week at Los Angeles. For three nights and matinees the large tents were crowded to their utmost capacity. Nearly 100,000 persons witnessed a most excellent performance.
Confirmation of the circus merger has been the all engrossing topic on the Chicago Rialto the past week. It will not be surprising if the smaller circuses pursue an "anti-trust" campaign when it comes to opposition with the big combination next season. This mode of procedure might prove extremely vexatious if put in vogue in some of the more radical western and southern states. Good circus press agents would be much in demand and the moulders of public opinion play a more important part than ever in the conduct of tented amusements.
Lew Nichols, manger of Cole Younger & Nichols Amusement Co., now playing to good business in Texas, is visiting the Pawnee Bill and Ringling Bros. shows this week.
Cole Younger & Nichols Amusement Co. at Brady, Texas
The season of 1907 will go down in the history of the Pawnee Bill show as one of the biggest in the career of that organization. From information at hand we learn the present tour is the record for the past three seasons.
W. H. Rice, late business manager of the Flower of the Ranch, now playing to excellent business in Missouri, and who left for New York Saturday morning, Oct. 5, to become identified with the William A. Brady forces, was a caller at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD. Mr. Rice recently visited the Cole Bros. show at Pacific, Cuba, and Rolla, Mo., and informs us that the show is enjoying a big season. At Lebanon, Mo., Sunday, Sept. 29, hundreds of people were camped out along the country roads, unable to secure hotel and livery accommodations, awaiting the arriveal of Cole Bros. show, which exhibited there the following day. While at Lebanon, Sunday afternoon, a fire broke out, threatening a serious conflagration in the residence portion of the town, which was fortunately averted through the arrival of the circus water wagon. Everybody with the Cole Bros. shows seems to have plenty of money. The season will come to an end in Arkansas about Nov. 18.
Dame Rumor has it that William Sells hopes to launch a circus aggregation this fall. We have endeavored to connect with Bob Terry, the merchant, to confirm this interesting report.
M. S. Bodkin has been doing some effective work in looking after lot and license affairs for the Hargreaves Shows in Chicago. The Hargreaves Circus, now meeting with a fairly good run of business on Chicago lots, and to close its season in the near future, will winter in Chicago, and it is understood the plans for next year's call for a decided increase in the equipment.
Thomas Hargreaves
The well known circus proprietor whose organization is now meeting with success on Chicago lots.
Famous Circus Woman Dead
Mrs. Agnes Lake, Performer and Owner, Passes Away at Her Home
Gray-haired men and women, more than the present generation, heard with regret of the death of Agnes Lake, the old-time circus woman, who recently died of old age. She was accounted the best slack wire performer the saw dust ring ever saw. She was also an unusually well skilled rider. Her daughter, Emma Lake, now Mrs. Robinson, has always been regarded as the best "high-school" woman rider in the country. Agnes Lake ran away with a circus at 17. At 81 her name is revered. James A. Bailey and Buffalo Bill were practically started in life by her husband, and her career as a circus performer reads like a romance.
Mrs. Lake was born in Doehme, Alsace, in 1826. Her parents' name was Mersman. They came to this country when she was about four years old and settled in Cincinnati.
When Agnes was 17 there came to Cincinnati the famous Spalding & Rogers circus. It had with it an attractive young fellow named Lake, who was a clown. Agnes fell in love with him. She ran away with him and married him and from that time on her life was linked inseparably with the circus. Her husband's real name was Thatcher, of the well-known family of Bordentown, N. J.
The young bride go tired of doing nothing on these journeys and under her husband's direction she practiced for slack wire performance and soon became so expert at it that she was known throughout the circus world as the greatest in her line.
For nearly 15 years she worked with her husband. They saved their money and in the late 50s her husband formed a partnership with John Robinson, and Robinson & Lake's circus followed. This partnership lasted for three years, when each partner went his way, and Lake started a circus of his own.
Beginning of James A. Bailey
With the Robinson & Lake circus there had been a small boy named Gordon [sic McGinnis], picked up in a hotel at Pontiac, Mich., to help out Fred Bailey, one of the chief employes. He took Bailey's name eventually. When the Lake show became one of itself, Mrs. Lake insisted, against her husband's judgment, in making the young fellow, who had now grown up, general agent of the show. That young fellow was the late James A. Bailey, of the Barnum & Bailey show.
The circus stopped at Granby, Mo., one day, and while there Lake had trouble with a desperado named Jake Killen, who sneaked up behind him and shot him through the heart.
Mrs. Lake then went on with the show and made money. One day out in Abilene, Kan., "Wild Bill" Hickok, the law-and-order man for frontier towns, good fellow generally, with a lot of notches on his gun, caught sight of Mrs. Lake. It was love at first sight. This was in the early '70s. He said he was going to marry her, and eventually did so.
"Wild Bill" had a protege named "Bill" Cody, and had got him a job with the United States scouts which was "Wild Bill's" occupation for several years. Cody afterward took Mrs. Lake's daughter to Europe with his Wild West show and had her ride before Queen Victoria, and one of Mrs. Robinson's treasures to-day is some dried flowers of the bouquet which the queen sent her. "Wild Bill" Hickok was killed by Jack McCall, a desperado.
Elephant Fire Brigade
This story of a circus elephant comes from Wheeling, W. Va., and the story man at Muncie, Ind., had best beware, or his laurels will be torn from his throbbing brows by the new Munchausen. Here is the tale:
"Bacil [sic?], an elephant over two hundred year old, said to be the mother of the famous Jumbo, owned by the John Robinson circus, saved a man from death the other day. A freight train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had been wrecked near Morgantown and the engineer was caught underneath. The wreck caught fire and it seemed that the man was doomed. Two sections following the wrecked train having aboard the circus coming up, Bacil lifted the wrecked engine with her trunk from the body of the engineeer, and he was taken out just as the flames reached him. Eight other elephants were organized into a fire department, and going to the Monongahela River, filled their trunks with water and extinguished the burning cars."
Barnum & Bailey Notes
The Correspondent of The Show World Tells of Last Week's Events
The good people of Ottawa, Kan., enjoyed the privilege of seeing two big shows meet on Sunday, Sept. 30. That town was the Monday stand of the Greatest on Earth, and owing to delayed service, the Forepaugh-Sells Show passed through there on their way to Iola just as the last sections of the aristocrat of them all rolled into Ottawa. Re-unions were the order of the day, and the daughters of the Marsh hotel saw more show-folk than they had ever dreamed of. Numbers of Forepaugh-Sells people stopped over at Ottawa, and a pleasant little dance was pulled off. Then, more handshakes, likewise more kissing, and the midnight train took them off in the blackness of a Kansas night to the "tops" that are so ably handled by DeVinney ("Irish").
"Rags" is no more. To you who knew not Rags this may mean little. Only a dog, but such a dog! He was with the Greatest since Minneapolis, whither he was sent in custody of Jimmie D. DeWolfe - a present from Lester Murray to Manager C. R. Hutchinson. Clean of limb, straight of back, head up and square on his feet, he was a gentleman of the canine race whom it was a pleasure to know and a privilege to be acknowledged as a friend. Those honest eyes laughed with the very joy of youth as he made his regular morning round of salutation to every department. He had but one enemy, and, sand though it be to record it, it was the implacable hatred which burned in his breast for good old "Phil" (you know Phil in the white ticket wagon if you have ever visited the Greatest) that caused Rags' premature and shocking death. Seeking to waylay "Phil" at Joplin, Mo., on Sept. 26 of this year of grace, that wily fox-terrier led "Rags" beneath the wheels of Juggernaut in the shape of an interurban electric car. His back and spine completely broken, he nevertheless died game, and we buried him, with hats off, on the show-lot - a smile still on his face.
Topeka Raises the Rate
Circuses take warning! After the agent's visit Topeka passes resolution incorporating the show-grounds (Fair grounds) in the city limits; then, at the last moment, raises the license to $500!
What a ball game that would have been at Ottawa, Kan., had it only come off! Murphy was in great fettle, and there was universal disappointment at the untoward elements. How we would have licked those Forepaugh men, you can hear them say. What about this, Forepaugh athletes? Did you say, "Dallas, Texas"?
That mix up in the jockey race at Parsons, Kan., when four horses and men mixed it up together on the ground, at the turn, looked pretty bad, but, happily, neither jockeys nor gee-gees were hurt.
George Conklin and John Flandreau are buying healthy animals for their animal show in Arkansas. Animals must be cheap. You may think this is only gossip, but there has been a lot of other gossip this summer that wasn't only talk - so say the cook-house garcons.
That hat Mrs. Louise Stickney bought in Topeka was - is, rather - a perfect dream, isn't it? Quite a "derniere creation," in fact. But, whether driving her beautiful white horse in an "all-white" buggy, or in street costume, the lady's exquisite taste and charm are only equaled by her horsemanship - or should on say "horsewomanship"?
Willie Sells, accompanied by Mrs. sells, was a guest with the Greatest on Earth at Topeka.
Don't you really think that all automobiles should be made for two? Did you ever notice that lots of folks who wouldn't carry a "midnight flash" follow very close on the heels of the lantern-bearers down these dark, black Kansas roads?
Spader's Stunt Popular
Spader Johnson and Dan Marvelle's comic barber stunt goes better than ever. As this is being written, the frantic applause from the Big Top at Spader's ludicrous shaving can be heard at the front door.
Fred Derrick - England's foremost equestrian - is counting the weeks till the arrival of Mrs. Derrick, who has been in England all summer.
Dallie Julian may ride with the Rowland Troupe this winter, in view of the marriage of a certain charming young lady to an equally charming young gentleman. Fred Ledgett says he will remain at Rockford.
Johnny Rooney and Carrie have put in a lot of real, hard work this summer between times, and will do an acrobatic act during the winter - a novel and original conception of their own.
Giovanni Capucci - professor of tonsoriality with the Greatest on Earth - celebrated his birthday the other day. He distributed cigars among his many patrons and customers - but didn't give Doc Ivers one!
Pete Conklin is gradually recovering strength under the care and nursing of his mother at Coney Island.
Con Foster is slowly, but surely, turning the red ticket wagon into an annex to the menagerie. Following the purchase of two hounds last week, his latest acquisition is in the form of two parrots, which - so the lady said - will develop a fluency in speech second only to Dexter Fellow's special brand of circumlocutory oratorical effort.
There is little reason for circus performers to lie idle the long, cold winter, while the doors of vaudebille stretch open to welcome the good acts. That this will ultimately redound to the common benefit of all concerned is a theory and belief of Franc-Tireur.
With the Forepaugh-Sells Circus
Fred Zobedie, whose experience in the show business has been wide and varied, having girdled the world, will forsake the circus at the close of this season. He is booked for 25 weeks over the Klaw & Erlanger Circuit, commencing Dec. 2. Next season will, most likely, see him in Australia handling some big sensational act.
That clever family of acrobats, The St. Leons, have signed with Fred Thompson to open in his new production Dec. 1.
The Borsini Troupe will be a cracker-jack this winter or may guess is way off. A new top man has been secured, who will handle the comedy in a coon make-up. Two women and two men will complete the act. I will try to describe their new big trick, finally perfected after a year of practice. A small table on which is placed a globe. Willie Borsini stands on the globe, balancing a fifteen foot perch, on the top of which Hugo Borsini does a hand stand at right angles to the perch, impersonating the living flag. This is "some balancing."
Next season Oscar Lowande, who has been with the Forepaugh-Sells Circus for the past nine years, will take out his own circus from Reading, Mass. The plan is to follow the old style, one-ring circus. He will feature his somersault from horse to horse. Mr. Lowande was the first to do this trick in America. His former big hit, the tally-ho act entitled Derby Day, will also be featured, with a number of old time acts to be produced, such as: Pete Ginkins [sic Jenkins?], the drunken sailor, Old Indian act and Shepherds and Shepherds. These are all riding acts and forgotten by almost all but the circus families.
A. G. Lowande will spend the winter in Panama, taking life easy; incidentally he will purchase a new mule. - "Chirick."
Cheer Up
Our circus friends should remember that there is "no spot too high to reach, and nothing too good to be true." You never can tell what is going to become of us in this work-a-day world. Fate plays strange pranks. The humble ticket seller of the circus of today may be the proprietor of the greatest show on earth tomorrow - or the publisher of a metropolitan newspaper.
Don't be down-hearted, even if you are "handed a lemon" in the midst of prosperity, and when you are trying to do the best you can. Wrong rights itself in time. It is the natural law of evolution. Be individual, even at the cost of being considered conceited. Respect yourself, even though you may be called an idealist and a dreamer. Remember character is a valuable asset, and that oft-times it is better than a bank-roll. THE SHOW WORLD offers a helping hand to every humble worker in the circus world, and again reiterates: CHEER UP.
As exclusively announced in a previous issue of THE SHOW WORLD, the Gollmar Brothers' circus is for sale. The Gollmar Brothers, wishing to retire from the circus business, offer to sell their entire equipment. Attention is called to their advertisement elsewhere in this issue.
With its mighty resources, and flying the independent banner, the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows should play to a splendid busines next season, barring a general financial depression, of which there are at present no indications. We are inclined to believe that the management of this great circus organization overlooked a choice opportunity when they "passed up" Chicago this year. Chicagoans have not ceased to remark about the wonderful 1906 engagement of the Hagenbeck Show, nor have they forgotten the merits of that aggregation. In laying out the route for next season we beg to suggest to the honorable management that it include the Windy City in its itinerary.
[Advertisement] For Sale. Wishing to retire from the Circus Business, we offer for sale Gollmar Bros. Greatest of American Shows. The Finest and Best equipped one-train Show on Earth. BAR NONE; New, modern and up-to-date; Menagerie consisting of Elephants, Camels and 15 cages of first-class Animals, including the finest Hippopotamus in the world; 17 head of young and well broken ring stock - can be purchased with or without use of title, with or without first-class winter quarters. If you mean business come and see the Show and get prices. Just completing a highly profitable season. Show can bee seen at Wellston, Okla, October 14; Bristow, I. T., 15; Ada, I. T., 16; Weleetka, I. T., 17; Chelsea, I. T., 18; Republic, Mo., 19; then at Baraboo, Wis. Gollmar Bros.
Top
Show World, October 19, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 17), pp. 2, 8, 11, 17, 20-21, 38. All information should be checked with additional sources.
[Advertisement] EnRoute with Campbell Bros. Show, 1907
Capt. Dimitri and his Troupe of Genuine Russian Cossack Rough Riders in Difficult Feats of Horsemanship. Want to hear from managers for next season for other troupes. Third season Campbell Bros. Shows. Perm. address, 236 Fourth Ave. New York City
Mizuno Troupe of Japanese Artists. Seventh season a feature with Campbell Bros. Shows. At liberty December 1st for vaudeville. Managers write. Permanent address, Fairbury, Neb.
Fred Castello, equestrian. Permanent address, Box 476, Henderson, N. C.
Orrin, Nettie, Melvin Hollis, equestrians.
4 Lamy Bros., acrobats. Permanent address, 916 Vine Street, Quincy, Ill.
The Brays, Harry, Clara, novelty tight wire artists.
Arthur Lind, unsupported ladder.
Chas. Barnett, mule hurdle and jockey acts.
Raleigh Wilson, clown. Permanent address, 892 Central Park Av., Chicago.
Crandell Bros., acrobats and aerialists.
Gore's Concert Band, en route Campbell Bros. Shows, re-engaged for next season. Permanent address, Wichita, Kan. Paul Gore, director.
H. L. Kelly, circus steward. Permanent address, 2415 "N" St., S. Omaha, Neb.
E. F. Albee
Campbell Bros. Show
Campbell Brothers' Circus
The Campbell Bros.' Shows is a well-balanced, high-class circus organization that is enjoying a most gratifying season. Reports from the territory covered by this aggregation go to prove that it has seldom failed to meet with favor in the many cities it has visited, and that both the audiences and press have remarked upon the diversity and quality of entertainment purveyed. A traveling representative of THE SHOW WORLD recently visited the show, and had the following to say concerning it:
"The exhibition which the Campbell Brothers are offering this season is well worth seeing. I entered the big top just in the nick of time to see the grand entry and tournament which afforded opportunity for the display of handsome costumes and beautiful horseflesh. The picturesque statuary and posing act of the Seven Delameads was succeeded by Raleigh Wilson's clever clownsong, and then the rings were given over to a whirlwind jockey act. At the close of the breathless divertissement Fred Castello and Crandall & Barnett were heartily applauded.
Well Trained Elephants
"I wonder what a circus would be without the elephants, especially such clever pachyderms as the Campbell Bros.' show possesses. The herds of performing elephants under N. T. Clark and Vin Wallace amused until the laughter rose above the sharp barking of Harry Bray's dogs, which occupied the stage. After some clever should and foot perching by Kikuchi & Edee and Coe & Senko, Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Hollis in one ring with Fred Castello and Norman Davenport holding forth in the other, gave a two-horse carrying act that was one of the prettiest and most graceful exhibitions I ever have seen.
"The novel aerial Ferris Wheel act by the five charming Galarmo sisters and the perilous and interesting acrobatic act furnished by the Four Lamy Bros. were close rivals for applause in which I must admit I joined most heartily. I have seen a great many wire acts that were labled 'novel' but which on presentation proved to be anything but new. I just make the statement so you will understand that when I say the tight wire exhibitions of the Covenes and the Brays were 'novel' they were all that the word implies.
"The menage acts contributed by Chas. Barnett, Mrs. Orrin Hollis, and Vin Wallace were highly enjoyable and strictly up-to-date. After a number of aerial acts contributed by Norma Davenport, Inez Smith, Jennie Blunt, Crandall Bros., Millard Darnell and the two Lamy Bros., the ring was given over to the clowns, the merry knights of slap-stick and bladder who gamboled and fooled artistically and cleverly, sending the spectators into screams of mirth. Raleigh Wilson was the chief of the merry gentlemen and the list included W. E. Donahugh, W. E. David, Snapper Garrison, Chas. Barnett, Vin Wallace, Jesse Roberts and the Steele Bros.
Some Remarkable Feats
"After the merry lads of the painted face had gone their way, Chas. Barnett and Vin Wallace gave a mule hurdle act that was very funny. The next stunt to engage my attention was the clever Jap hand-balancing of Edee Mizuno and Einie Mizuno. Otto Weaver also showed that he could balance some.
"The bareback act of Norma Davenport and the principal act of Orrin Hollis succeeded the balancers, and I do not recall when I have seen a prettier display of horsemanship or better trained equines. The acts pleased mightily and as the mounts of the artists curvetted out of the rings the big top rang with applause. After some Jap foot posturing by Coe & Senko and some deft juggling by the Brays, the Crandall Bros. gave an exhibition of lithsomeness and strength. The Hippodrome feature, Capt. Dimitri's troupe of genuine Cossack rought-riders, performed a notable array of difficult feats of horsemanship, and showed themselves to be daring equestrians.
"The circus closed with the races, and after the gayly-caprisoned animals had flashed around the arena I joined with the throng that filed out of the tent. I felt that I had enjoyed myself thoroughly, witnessed an exhibition of merit, and that the Campbell Bros. were good showmen."
Circus News
The following interesting notes are furnished by our correspondent with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth:
When the Greatest on Earth hit Clay Center, Kan., it was well on into the forenoon, and the falling rain was of that kind which is easily described as "dripping wet." Consequently, that metropolis did not wear any extraordinary aspect of activity or enthusiasm and the majority of the boys amused themselves sending away the local picture-card to their luckier friends.
"Scroggins" is only a circus horse, but you must know the Greates owns a few "ponies" that could easily give the boys a run for their money. "Doc" Elliott has always proudly boasted that he had a while lot of them in his string that could show a half in :55 or better. Fred LaMont didn't think so, others shared his opinion, but "Doc" made good,and sent Scroggins round the track at Topeka in :53 1/2. Time taken by two local race-track men. But then, it is conceded that the B. & B. races are the fastest "ever given under a circus tent."
The close proximity of Hutchinson to Great Bend afforded Charlie Andress an opportunity of spending Sunday on the farm. He put in a busy day riding over his vast estate, and, upon his return, reported "all well." The hard winter has no terrors for Charlie - farms, route-book and the photograph of a thousand faces will buy the maple syrup for his wheat-cakes in Porkopolis.
Dexter Fellows will issue an interesting "brochure" at the close of the present season, entitled "On a Slow Train Through Kansas." This trouping from one stand to another on the excursion trains which bear their thousands to the Greatest on Earth has raised his ire, and sandwiches, crackers and sardines have been his fare so often, that a square meal put in front of him by Charley Henry in the cook-tent looks like a banquet.
The busiest man around the show nowadays is Caesar Guilietti; he has charge of the special train from Dyersburg - our closing stand, Oct. 17. Judging by the promises made, and Caesar's efforts, that gentleman intends to outrival Cook of tourist fame; if those who travel under the Portuguese banner don't have the best of everything in the way of railway comforts, 'twill not be the fault of the urbane Caesar.
A heavy and continuous gale precluded all possibility of even raising the Big Top in Hutchinson, Kan., last Monday. A good stand - one of Kansas' best - and the city was full of chagrined would-be circus applauders.
Presentation are the order of the day. This time, the honored recipient was Mr. William Ducrow, equestrian director of the Greatest Show on Earth. Sam Bennett quite distinguished himself - oratorically speaking - when he gracefully handed Mr. Ducrow, in the name of the entire dressing-room, a very handsome gold chain, and charm, and gold links. May he live long to wear them!
Graceful riding by the Meers Sisters will be a feature of Tote Seigrist-Eddie Silbon Panama circus. Georgie and Danny will be there to clown, too. An orchestra has been engaged, and many additions to the original programme have been added. The workers down on the "Ditch" have a treat in store.
Buddie Williamson and wife returned. Buddie's rheumatism - though not cured - is better.
How quickly after the performance will the special leave is the current topic?
The only ones who rejoice that Con's parrots are not exactly what would be termed voluble are Messrs. Byrne and Beard, the accountants. They say there is already enough talking in the red wagon.
You all wish this was Dyersburg, don't you? To be honest with you, so does - Franc Tireur.
P. J. Mundy Hurt by Lion
P. J. Mundy, one of the best known animal trainers in the United States, lies in a critical condition at a private infirmary in Nashville, Tenn., suffering from a terrible wound inflicted by his trained lion "Prince." During a recent stand in Detroit, Mr. Mundy was struck by "Prince." His right side was horribly lacerated. His left arm was also badly torn. The Mundy Trained Animal exhibition was one of the features of the recent Tennessee State Fair at Nashville. When that city was reached Mr. Mundy suffered a relapse from his wounds and was forced to enter a hospital.
Sells-Floto Prosperous
H. H. Tammen Says He Will Put Out Finest Circus in America. By H. H. Buckwalter.
Denver, Colo., Oct. 12 - "If unlimited money and the best brains in the land can accomplish it, the Sells-Floto Show will have the greatest amusement enterprise on the road next year."
This is the enthusiastic statement of H. H. Tammen, one of the proprietors and the active manager of the shows and the people who know Tammen well believe he will accomplish what he undertakes.
Tammen has been with the shows all season, with only occasional trips to the headquarters in Denver. The treasurer reports almost unbelieveable profits as a result of the brain work of the chief director, but this does not satisfy Tammen.
"We have made so much money that we have actually lost track of the exact amount," he continued. "I have money enough to last me as long as I live andthen some to spare. This season we fired all the experts and started out as a lot of amateurs to handle the business and burst it trying if we could not make it go. Well, the amateurs, somehow, had an idea of what the people wanted and how to offer it to the crowds, and the money just naturally started rolling in with increasing strength until it was a golden flood and we have enough in the bank to carry us over the winter and a couple of summers, too, if necessary.
"I am going to get the best, biggest and highest-priced circus acts on earth and the finest trains and accomodations with which to care for them. If that doesn't win money it will earn satisfaction for us and I guess we have enough laid away to keep up the game for seasons if necessary."
People who know Tammen understand this statement to mean just what it says and the predictions are that with the enthusiasm of success, the power of gold burning his brain and the untiring energy behind him, the wide-awake manager of the Sells-Floto aggreation will make a showing that will be truly astonishing and the result will be a perfect orgy of startling amusement features.
Premier Artists and Undisputed Arenic Champions
with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth [Advertisement]
R. H. Dockrill, Equestrian Director, also High school Menage Horse Trainer and Breaker of Trick Horses from two up to the Big 60-Horse Act. Permanent address: Delavan, Wis.
The Great Siegrist and Silbon Troupe, the greatest Aerial Act on Earth. 10 consecutive seasons with Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth. Re-engaged for season 1908.
The Rooneys, Carrie, John.
Fred Ledgett and Dallie Julian, novelty equestrians.
Josie De Mott, the renowned and only Somersault Equestrienne in America.
Charles Wertz, the only Principal Leaper and undisputed champion of all champion Double Somersault Throwers in Americal. Those that think not, I am open to compete against them. Isabel Wertz, Chariot Driver. Permanent address, 2727 Q St., Lincoln, Neb.
Pete Bell, Champion Double Somersault Leaper (of Bell and Henry, Comedy Acrobats). Re-engaged 1908.
Greatest Wire Act on Earth with the Greatest Show on Earth, La Troupe Carmen.
Europe's Premiere Equestrienen, Rosa Huttemann, and her two famous Arabian Stallions. Menage, Tandem and High Jumpers. Seven years with Barnum & Bailey. Management Cesar A. Guilietti, 120 E. 27th St., New York City.
The Five Castrillons, Cuban Acrobats.
Celia Sebastian, High School Menage Equestrienne and 4-Horse Chariot Driver.
Arthur Borella, Clown Musical Comedian.
Two Coles, George, Eleanor, Novelty Tight and Bounding Wire Artists in Vaudeville.
Steve Miaco, Clown Comedian Producer. Will rejoin his act known as "Little Bo Peep and Sheep" in vaudeville, at close of season in Chicago, for 25 weeks.
Marie Devere, the World's Most Famous Sword Swallower. Where others end there I begin.
Winston's Sea Lions are educated. They do more novel juggling and comedy than all others.
The Biggest Thing in the Side Show was Beautiful Marie, the English Fat Girl.
The Girl Who Rides the Dip of Death, Isabel Butler.
Ella Bradna and Fred Derrick, equestrians.
Spader Johnson & Dan Marvelle, eccentric comedians, and their comical donkey, "Ballum."
The Geromes, Grecian Roman Statuary.
McNulty, King of Wooden Heads, new and novel ventriloquist act, different from all others, the only act of its kind in the world. Open for dates Nov. 11. Address: McNulty, 6041 Prairie Ave., Chicago.
Prince Youturkey, world's greates "High Wire Walker." A sensational free open air attractions with the Barnum & Bailey Show for past two seasons, 1907-07. Best drawing card for park fair, carnival and indoor amusement.
The Novellos, the European New Act. Latest novelty tricks, including two elephants, two ponies, five dogs. Artists all. In all twelve people.
William Ducrow, equestrian director.
Joseph V. Sherry, comedian. Booked up until December, 1908.
Billy Kinkaid, the Mad Juggler - Tin Cans.
4 - The Bayrooty Troupe - 4. Oriental Wonder Workers, Gun Spinners, Sword Combats, Whirling Dervishes. Open date December 1. Address 106 E. 14th St., New York.
Libbera, Doubled Body Boy.
Axel Henrickson, The Scandinavian Champion. Sky Sailing.
Manuel Herzog and Josefine Koubek, with his Troupe of Trained Horses.
Kitamura Japanese Troupe, eight in number.
"The Girl in White," Louise Stickney and her beautiful Snow White Equine.
Arthur Cody, who dances himself into popularity with all patrons of the Barnum & Bailey concert. Four styles of dancing. An entire new and up-to-date act for the coming season.
The Floral Monarch of the Vegetable Kingdom, Vito Baseli, who makes a Vegetable Patch Look Like a Flower Garden. The very latest novelty.
Ryan, Zorella & Jenkins, originators of up-to-date circus comedy.
Scenes of Pawnee Bill's Show Now Touring the Country with Great Success
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Show World, October 26, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 18), pp. 10, 26, 27, 35. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Speaking of Bloomington [Indiana], here are a few of the famous at present "off the lot" that you can see there daily; Chas. Rawls, formerly treasurer of Ringling Shows and at present assistant cashier of the First National Bank; Taylor Coons, first agent of the Gentry shows, now running the leading hotel, Bowles; H. B. Gentry, engaged in constructing a $15,000 business block of white enameled brick; W. H. Hinds, formerly connected with Gentry Shows and now manager new Harris Grand Opera House; H. J. Feltus (father of Roy Feltus, assistant manager Forepaugh-Sells Shows), at present owner and editor of the Bloomington Star; Mel Faris, for nineteen years with the "tops," also formerly connected with Whitaker and Nash enterprises, now conducting a large real estate office.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
The Sells-Floto Shows, according to report, have just won for themselves and all the smaller shows of the country a most signal victory before the state railroad commission of Texas, by having railroad companies declared a common carrier of circus property and paraphernalia.
This is the first case on record where such a stand has been taken, and it is directly at variance with the opinion written by Interstate Commerce Commiccioner Cockrell, former sentator from Missouri, under which the railroad officials have chuckled and thought they rested so securely.
There is no doubt that this new decision of the Texas railroad commission will ring from one end of the country to the other and may establish the precedent whereby other state commissions can proceed to give circuses some relief from heavy transportation charges.
Decision Opens Up Texas
It certainly opens up Texas to each and every show that cares to invade that territory, and prevents the bigger shows, or any trust or combine, from oppressing the smaller shows or receiving any discrimination in rates over less powerful opposition. For in declaring all Texas railroads common carriers of circuses the commission added that it had the power to fix and govern transportation charges, and also that there could be no rate discriminations. Neither did the railroads assume any extra or hazardous risks in transporting circus property and all promulgated tariffs must be published.
Nothing so far reaching or forceful in the interest of the smaller shows has ever gone on record before and, according to our correspondent, the credit for the victory lies with DeWitt C. Webber, of Denver, general counsel and one of the owners of the Sells-Floto Shows. Single-handed and alone he mapped out and conducted the campaign against the railroads, and was opposed by the flower of the legal talent of all the Texas roads and their allies. More than 200 prominent railroad officials and lawyers were present at the hearing when Judge Webber presentee the brief containing his protest.
Proved Case by Figures
They laughed at his presumption and tried to make fun of his contentions, but before the hearing ended the shoe was on the other foot. Judge Webber presented a schedule of the rates made in Texas for his show last season and this, showing an increase of about 100 per cent, and then proved to the entire satisfaction of the commission that the cost to the railroads for handling circus trains had not increased and that the plea of the railroads that they assumed an extra and hazardous risk in carrying circus property existed only in their minds.
The brief of Judge Webber also hinted broadly that certain opposition circus influence was behind the advance in Texas rates for the Sells-Floto Shows this year, and that such influence had been brought to bear to shut the Sells-Floto circus out of Texas.
Showed Discrimination
He further pointed out where one road had refused to transport his show over 300 miles of its lines, pleading an excess of other business, and then turned around and permitted a circus to use 700 miles of the same road for a cost but little in excess of what the Sells-Floto people were paying per jump on another branch of the same road.
Another important point still to be decided by the Texas railroad commission is whether or not it shall force the railroad companies to adopt a schedule of fixed charges for the transportation of circus trains and publish such a tariff.
Circus Pass Fiends Squelched
Persons Who Demand Free Seats for Trivial Reasons Being Turned Down. By E. E. Meredith.
Circus people seem to have some kind of a working agreement by which they are refusing passes to deserving people, and this combination in restraint of courtesies is causing many well-known showmen to come in for their share of adverse criticism. The general delivery clerks of the postoffices are especially indignant at the way they are being treated and are getting back by handling the circus mail very carelessly. Railroad men are complaining that passes are not as free as they used to be. Car managers in several instances have refused to give passes to the boys in the yards, it is alleged, and the crews have retaliated by bumping the cars during the night so the men could not get a good night's sleep. Billposters say they do not get enought tickets to fix their friends and acquaintances, and some newspaper men complain that they can't get complimentaries enough to look after their advertisers.
This is a very serious matter. The circus could not exist but for the interest taken in it by the general public,and if the men in power do not open up they will find that the people who have long been accustomed to getting courtesies will heap coals of fire on the heads of the managers of tented enterprises by going up to the wagons and buying tickets.
Call It a Cruel Shame
Whether the movement is the result of some pre-arranged plan or not is a question. The same system seems to be in vogue with all the big shows and the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ticket Beggard" is now investigating the matter. In every state complaints are being made and the public has not been so aroused in many years.
Hard-hearted B. E. Wallace actually refused to give passes to a Grand Rapids man who had seen Carl Hagenbeck's zoo at Stillingen, Germany. Cold and calculating Harvey Watkins refused to recognize the profession in Appleton, Wis., and turned down a man whose brother runs an airdrome. Major John M. Burke has gone still further. A man brushed against the Major in Chicago, turned around and apologized, recognized Buffalo Bill's friend and comrade, asked for a pair of seats - and was refused. Major Gordon W. Lillie, who is noted for his liberality, refused passes to a man who has a brother living in Pawnee, Okla.
A. G. Ringling, while down in Indiana watching some opposition work, refused to give seats to a messenger boy who delivered a telegram which had been lying in the office for only the thirty-six hours that the great showman had been in town. Walker K. Hill refused to give seats to a waiter in a Boston hotel and was impolit enough to suggest that the waiter buy a ticket with the various dimes which Hill had given him during the week. James De Wolfe was rather short with tickets to a newspaper which only charged him four times the regular rate.
Some Odd Requests Refused
Many more instances can be cited. John Ringling refused to give "comps" to a man who said the circus king had the finest private car he had ever seen. "Doc" Waddell turned down a newspaper man who gave him a cut of Mrs. Fiske to use in the country weeklies. Willie Sells did not have tickets for the Sells-Floto shows at several Kansas stands. W. E. Ferguson would not listen to thepleas of a cab driver who carried him up-town to the hotel for fifty cents. A similar case in which Louis E. Cooke figured cannot be proven, but it is certain that he has attempted to hold down the free list with the Barnum show in no less than four different places. Jimmy Davis, of the Hagenbeck-Wallace show, turned down a man who sold him some fine chickens. Lester Murray argued with a man who wanted twenty-two tickets for a banner place, and at as many as thirty points lithographers have refused to give more than seven tickets for a bill in a good window right opposite the postoffice.
In former years there was never any trouble for people to get passes to a circus. The mayor and city council was always provided with a pad. The man who did any slight favor for anyone connected with the enterprise was looked after. Any attempt to reduce the size of the free list is looked upon without approval by those who have been seeing the shows free, and it would not surprise those who are watching developments if the matter is brought before the Inter-State Disburse Commission.
Sells-Floto to Close Season
J. E. Clifford, general press representative of the Sells-Floto shows in a recent letter to THE SHOW WORLD, says: "The Sells-Floto Shows had a very pleasant and profitable engagement in New Orleans. Five performances were scheduled in three days, but only four were given because the railroad company failed to deliver some slightly damaged cars on time. We will close our season in Venice, CAl., Nov. 9, and then go into winter quarters there. Work of rebuilding will begin at once. Few things to showmen generally as the recent decision of the Texas commission declaring for the first time that railroads are common carriers of circuses. The commission's final ruling as to the schedule of fixed charges for circus movements will be awaited with interest by circus proprietors the country over.
Will Build Circus Quarters
A dispatch from Geneva, O., informs THE SHOW WORLD that Walter L. Main intends to rebuild the circus winter quarters which were destroyed by fire a little over a year ago, and on a more extensive scale. The present plans call for three large brick buildings which will cover considerably more area than did the former structure. The new buildings will be one story high, and are to be equipped with all modern conveniences for show purposes.
Two Show World Cartoonists
Z. A. Hendrick and Ben Cohen
Top
Show World, November 2, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 19), pp. 17, 20, 21. All information should be checked with additional sources.
The Six Flying Banvards sailed from New York for Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 17, where they are to open at Schumann's Circus, Nov. 1, and will then appear on the circuits in France and England. The Banvards are booked until May, 1908, with foreign time, and their bookings in this country will cover several months following their European tour. The Banvards rank among the leading aerialists of the world.
Messrs. Otto and Al Ringling, of the Ringling Brothers, were with the Barnum & Bailey show at the close of its season in Dyersburg, Tenn., a few days ago.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Advance Men End Season
Ringling Bros.' Staff on Car No. 1 Depart for Their Winter Homes
E. J. Snoyl writes to THE SHOW WORLD, as follows:
"Advance Car No. 1 of Ringling bros. World's Greatest Shows closed in Fulton, Ky., Oct. 22, after a very successful season of six months and nineteen days. All the boys went through the season without a single mishap and enjoyed a banquet at the close with Wash Hoskins as toastmaster and chief lecturer, telling of his connections with the one show for sixteen years. The boys have spread to all parts of the globe as an eagle spreads its wings.
"Frank Estes has gone back to Vinings, Ga., to tell his experiences to the townspeople between cirgarette puffs; Wash Hoskins will reach St. Albans, W. Va., in time to get married to the postmistress, for they say it is a sure thing this fall; Bill Shea will be found along Broadway, New Yokr,sniping ash barrels this winter; C. O. Damon and son will winter in Oakland,Cal., and will Pete Collins; Fred Coxe will be head broom in Marion, Ind.; Frank Pollock will be found in Fort Wayne, Ind., with the bill posting company; 'Pop' May will go to Sandusky and rest up this winter as 'Pop' has been one of our best workers this season; Ed. Fancher will own his own plant next season in Pendelton, Ore.; J. E. Lyons will be found in Boston with the Donnelly forces; App. Kugler will be with the Opera house at Appleton, Wis., as will his brother Joe; W. E. Baird is going to Winona, Minn., to be marshall again this winter; J. Stough will hike back to Weatherford, Tex., to help build a new city hall; Zeke Inman doesn't just exactly know what state he will call home this winter; John Coughlin, our programmer, is going back to Holyoke, Mass., and last but not least, our genial press agent, Chas. A. White will head his own show this winter through the middle states."
La Mont Shows Close
The La Mont Bros. America's Greatest Shows closed a highly successful season of twenty-fout weeks at Kell, Ill., Oct. 21, going into their new winter quarters at Salem, Ill., the following day. Taken as a whole the past season has been by far the most successful season in the history of the show. The bad rainy weather which it had to contend with at the first of the season was met with a spirit seldom found around aggregations of this kind - everybody striving to make things agreeable for his fellow trooping friends - which resulted in perfect harmony and good will, continually looking for the brighter days which finally came, and the last days were such as to fill each one with a dread for the time when we should say goodbye as the last strains of Home Sweet Home floated softly away on the cool night air.
At Kell, the closing point, the management gave a banquet to all the employes of the show and a large crowd of visiting friends from Salem and elsewhere, after which a vote of thanks was extened by the entire company to the manager for his kind and courteous treatment shown during the season.
Immediately after arrival in their nicely appointed winter quarters the carpenter and painters will begin their work of putting everything in first class condition for 1908. All canvas will be new. The size of the big top increased to two rings and a stage, several new tableaux, new band wagon and the menagerie increased to twelve cages and next season former patrons of the show will find it almost double in size compared with what it was.
Ringlings Buy English Shares
Stockholders of Barnum & Bailey Sell Out for $400,000
According to a London cable, a meeting of the English shareholders of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, Ltd., was held in the city of London, Oct. 22, at which a vote of approval of the contract made by the directors to sell that circus to the Ringling Brothers for a consideration of $400,000, was carried. Joseph T. McCaddon, a director, and Delevan A. Holmes, counsel for the directorate, acted as chairman and deputy chairman, respectively, of the session. The purchase of the English shares of the Barnum & Bailey show makes the Ringling Brothers absolute masters of the circus field in this country. It is understood that by this deal the Ringling Brothers come into possession of a number of shares of stock in Madison Square Garden, New York, and it is reported that it is their intention to open with the Ringling Brothers World's Greatest Shows at Madison Square Garden next season, while the Barnum show will open at the Coliseum, in Chicago. This latter rumor has not been confirmed.
Charles Andress Is Busy
Charles Andress, official adjuster of the Barnum & Bailey Show, is in Chicago after an eminently successful season on the road with the Greatest Show on Earth. Last week he transacted business in Fargo, N. D., where he has considerable property. Upon his arrival in Chicago from the Barnum show, he found a thousand orders awaiting him for the B. & B. route book. Mr. Andress' time is now pretty well engrossed in looking after his new flat buildings, which he is erecting on the west side. Charles never lets any grass grow under his feet either on or off the road.
Circusman Starts Theater
Lew Aronson, manager of the Annex, with the Gollmar Brothers circus, after concluding a very prosperous season with that organization has, with his brother, Newman Aronson, rented the Odd Fellows building in Baraboo, Wis., and converted it into a playhouse known as the Bigjou theater, to open Monday, Nov. 4, with high-class vaudeville and moving pictures. This will be the only theater in Baraboo, and should prove a success. Lew Aronson has been re-engaged to act as side show manager for the Gollmar Brothers' shows for the season of 1908. He reports the tour just closed as having been an eminently prosperous one. The show closed at Republic, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 19, and the paraphernalia is now stored away in the winter quarters at Baraboo.
Gift for Victor Cooke
Especial interest was given to the closing of Advertising Car No.2 of the Barnum & Baileycircus, at Dyersburg, Tenn., Oct. 4, by the presentation of a handsome and expensive traveling bag to Manager Victor E. Cooke, by the billposters and others on the car. Although Mr. Cooke had insisted on the most rigid discipline, his justice as well as his desire to make things pleasant and agreeable was universally recognized, and the gift was an expression of the high regard in which he is held. The presentation was made by Press Agent W. D. Coxey in the presence of the entire staff of the car.
"Ike" Speers, the general manager of the Gentry Bros. shows, was in Chicago last week, accompanied by Mrs. Speers, and favored THE SHOW WORLD with a call. He reported a prosperous season.
National Alliance, Billposters and Billers of America
Oliver Lester has just returned to Philadelphia, where he has made his home for some years. The boys of No. 4 are very proud of "Ol" Lester. He has won his spurs by good, hard work. Beginning in an humble capacity, he has risen to the important position of Manager of Barnum & Bailey's Car No. 3, by reason of conscientious attention to duty. He knows how to manage men and how best to serve his employer's interests. For many seasons past, he has been connected with Philadelphia playhouses during the winter months and has made many friends in that city.
Circus Boys Arrive Home
The boys of No. 1 car, Barnum & Bailey's show, have arrived in town, loaded with money, but looking for work. Boss Tommy Connors took the car from Dyersburg, Tenn., the closing date, to the winter quarters at Bridgeport, Conn. Jimmie Gregg, Frank Harvey and Harry Rutter dropped off at Philly and home to remain here all winter.
Top
Show World, November 9, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 20), pp. 6-7, 14, 17, 20. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Official Route Book Ringling Bros. Show
THE SHOW WORLD herewith exclusively presents the route book of the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows for the season of 1907 which will be found to contain matters of interest, not only to the profession, but to the general public. It is as follows:
Macomb, Miss. Nov. 2. We are nearing the end of the most prosperous season in the history of this circus, the closing stand being Fulton, Ky., one week from tomorrow. At that time we will have covered the entire country from ocean to ocean and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, visiting in all thirty-three states and territories.
Aside from the accident at Albany, N. Y., that cost the life of Assistant Property Master Harry Parish, and the sudden deaths of Edward Keeley at San Francisoc and Clinton Lefgrien at Boston, the season has been a fortunate one in other respects than financially, for there has been little sickness and the weather has been delightful.
Otto Ringling, at the head of affairs for the splendid system that has made it possible to build and tear down the great canvas city every day and move it without mishap from place to place. Thomas Buckley in charge of the ticket wagon, and his worthy assistants, C. L. Roser, James J. Brooks and Alfred Wisenhausen, have handled the crowds without friction, and Mark Kirkendall in the reserved-seat wagon has made a good record. Alfred Witsenhausen, in addition to his work in the wagon, has been doing the lightning ticket-selling act at the down-town office.
Adjuster Davis has Malaria
The legal adjuster of the show is Charles Davis, a royal good fellow, whom, wer are sorry to record, is now playing a limited engagement with the malaria which he joined out in Oklahoma. Special Officer Charles E. White has kept the show as clean as a Quaker picnic; Dr. F. J. Riley has skillfully attended our slight medical wants, and Jules Tournour has brought us our mail.
The strenuous twenty-four hour stunt has been performed by William L. Carr and John Nevin with much success; Walter, alias "Red," Wappenstein, has seen that the lithographs are hanging, and J. B. Abacom has toured the continent, with us and all around us, as route rider.
The advertising corps, under the guiding hand of Charles Ringling, has left a streak of lithographs behind them that would span the globe. Samuel McCracken, as general contractor, N. J. Petit, as special contractor, and Mike F. Nagle and W. H. Horton as special agents, are largely responsible for the success of the season; and Excursion Agent Ralph Peckham has brought the farmers into town by the trainload.
Car No. 1, managed by Frank Estes, is manned as follows: W. H. Hoskins, William Shea, Frank Coxe, Joseph Kugler, Frank Pollack, E. A. Fausher, J. E. Lyons, John Coughlin, C. E. Inman, P. Collins, F. A. Damon.
George Goodhart has brought up the rear with Carn No. 3 and the following men in his charge: Gerome Diehl, Charles Know, William Mahler, Charles Tiede, Charles Bostwick, Charles Mikesell, Ed Wachter, William Hope and M. A. Edwards. The brigades in the charge of Nagle and Horton have also traveled from these cars.
Publicity Department Strong
To Alf. T. Ringling belongs the credit of a well planned campaign of newspaper publicity. Charles A. White has done the newspaper contracting, and following him with a new line of descriptive writing have come Col. James Jay Brady, Guy F. Steely and Thomas Namack, who, by the way, has just left to take up his winter work as manager of actor William H. Crane.
It is the skill of John Ringling that has routed the show so successfully. From the very outset business has been big. With the opening engagement at the Coliseum, Chicago, April 4 to 24, the show began its tour of triumph, doing a flip-flop lengthwise across the state with a touch-down at Kankakee and Clinton, and playing the week of April 29 at St. Louis in rain and cold to the biggest business ever seen there.
Then the show headed eastward wiht one stop, Monday, May 6, in Indiana at Anderson, three stops in Ohio at Piqua, Columbus, and Urichsville, touching West Virginia at Wheeling and ending that week at Washington, Pa. The route continued with Johnstown, May 12; Uniontown, 14; Braddock, 15; then back into Ohio, at Youngstown, 16; Akron, 17, and Cleveland, 18.
The week of May 20 was filled in New York state at Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady and Troy, bring the show for the next week into Boston, where once more in rain and chilly weather the record for business there was broken. June 3 found us at Worcester, and after the next two days at Providence, R. I., we lingered with much success in Massachusetts, making in succession Fall River, Lawrence, touching New Hampshire, June 13, at Manchester, and skipping across Massachusetts with stops at Lowell, Fitchburg and Springfield, into Connecticut, where we played New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury.
Back Again to West
Playing June 22 at Holyoke, Mass., we made the next week in New York state at Albany, Herkimer, Auburn, Batavia, Dunkirk and Jamestown. The next week we spent in Ohio at Elyria, Canton, Wooster, Mt. Vernon for the Fourth and Kenton; thence back into Indiana at Marion, Kokomo and Crawfordsville, and again through Illinois at Paris, Litchfield, East St. Louis, Macomb, Rock Island and Monmouth, touching Iowa July 18 and 19 at Ft. Madison and Centerville.
We finished that week at Brookfield, Mo.; began the next at Kansas City, playing Lawrence and Junction City, Kan., and Lincoln, Fremont and Kearney, Neb. A Sunday run brought us to Denver, where we remained two days, thence proceeding in Colorado to Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Boulder, ending the week at Cheyenne, Wyo. Monday, Aug. 5, found us in Ogden, Utah, whence we stopped at Salt Lake City, Logan, Idaho Falls, Butte and Dillon. The week of Aug. 12 took us through Boise, Idaho, Baker City and La Grande, Ore., Walla Walla, Colfax and Spokane, Wash. The longest run thus far brought us to Bellingham, Wash., on the following Monday, from which place we proceeded down the coast, with stops at Everett, Seattle for two days, Tacoma and Centralia, Wash., then a week in Oregon at Portland for two days, Salem, Albany, Eugene and Medford.
On the Pacific Coast
The next four weeks, beginniing Sept. 2, were spent in California as follows: Redding, Chico, Marysville, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Napa, Oakland 8 and 9. Alameda, Santa Cruz, Salinas, San Francisco 13 to 16, San Jose, Stockton, Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield, Los Angeles 23, 24 and 25, Santa Ana, Riverside and San Bernardino. Speeding all day Sunday over the hot sands, we finished the month next day at Phoenix, Ariz., playing the next three stands also in that state at Tucson, Bisbee and Douglas, and completing the week at Deming, N. M., and El Paso, Texas. With all but the last day in Texas we played the next week in Abilene, Weatherford, Fort Worth, Dallas and Sherman, ending the week at Durant, I. T., touching the following week in Oklahoma at Shawnee, El Reno, Enid, Hobart and Lawton, with the Saturday at Chickasha, I. T. We remained in the territory two more days, at Tulsa and Muskogee, thence going into Arkansas for Ft. Smith and Fayetteville, with Friday at Aurora, Mo., and Saturday at Jonesboro, Ark.
The next week began with a rush at Memphis, Oct. 28; then Clarksdale, Miss., 29; Greenville 30; Port Gibson 31; Baton Rouge, La, Nov. 1. Saturday and yesterday we did a booming business at New Orleans, and today looks good here. We have traveled this season nearly 20,000 miles and we still have the following towns to make: Jackson, Miss., Nov. 5; Kosciusko, Miss., Nov. 6; Aberdeen, Miss., Nov. 7; Tupelo, Miss., Nov. 8; Birmingham, Ala., Nov. 9; Jackson, Tenn., Nov. 11 and Fulton, Ky., Nov. 12.
Performance a Marvel
The performance directed under the master hand of Al Ringling, with William ("Bud") Gorman as his assistant, is beyond question the best program ever presented by the Ringling Brothers. There are so many foreigners in the company that the train is a veritable Tower of Babel. Among the more important on the long bill are: the two Kauffman troupes, cyclists; the four Holloways, wire; Chas. Carlos, dogs; the eight Belfords, acrobats; the Clarkonians, trapeze; The Clark Brothers, riders; the eight Jordans, wire and trapeze; the Kitamuras, Jap troupe, jugglers and equilibrists; Claud Rood, wire; Lil Kerslake, pigs; Art and Florence Jarvis, riders; Mr. and Mrs. Homer Hobson, riders; Mr. and Mrs Paul Devine, riders; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stickney, riders; Marguerite and Handley, acrobats; John Miller, contortionist; Harry De Marlo, contortionist; Livingston Trio, burlesque bars; Aerial Smiths, three Millettes, trapeze; Nola Satterfield, rider and trainer; the Patty Brothers, head walkers; the Aerial Shaws; the Alvarez troupe, burlesque bars; Pearl Souder, George Sardorf and George Mealye, elephant performers; the Lagard troupe, acrobats; the Marno Trio, head balancing; the Mirze Golems, acrobats; Riccobono, trainer of the "Good Night" horses; the four Manello-Marnitz, acrobats; the Toreadores, burlesque bull fighters; Horton and Linder, burlesque bars; Jos. La Rex, contortionist; Prosit Trio, comedy acrobats; Frank Shadel, burlesque riding and mule training; Mr. and Mrs. John Agee, rough riding and fancy driving; the Bedini Family, riding; Jack Foley, Roman rider; John Mercer, mule act; Roy McDoanld, rider; the Schenk-Marvelly troupe, acrobats. The headliners among the fifty clowns are: Al White, Dick Ford, George Hartzell, Sr., Jules Tournour, the three Milvo Brothers, Al Miaco, Tom Roberts, Frank Morris, C. Hopper, Stewart Butterfield, Geo. Hartzell, Jr., John Tripp, George Kealey, Dan Curtis and Cecil Orwin.
Concert Performers Good
The concert has had its share of liberal patronage and it has deserved it. The headliners are: McDade and Welcome, singing and dancing; Leeds and Le Mar, singing and burlesque boxing; Charles Hopper, blackface monologue; Billy Howard and Violet Esher, singing, talking and dancing; Brown Brothers and "Doc" Kealey, comedy musical act. The side show, under the management of Lew Graham, has broken all records. Lloyd C. Guinter, Harry S. Noyes and W. Maurice Rucker in the ticket boxes have been three of the busiest men with the show. Leon Harto is the lecturer, and Capt. O. K. White the door-tender. The attractions are: Ella Ewing, Missouri giantess; Little Lord Robert, smallest man on earth; Sig. Arcaris troupe, impalement act; Leon Harto, ventriloquist; Verda Wren, athletic wonder; Mohammed Kahn, Hindoo conjurere; Rose Valero, serpent enchantress; Eddie Badger, musical act; Charles B. Tripp, armless phenomenon; Old Zip, original "What-Is-It"; Wolford and Nevelle, German comedians. Wilbur C. Markwith's Huzzar Band is furnishing the music for the annex. The members of the band are: Austin C. Reynolds, Charles F. Marswith, Wm. P. Juned, Henry W. Mingert, Wm. A. Dunham, Earl A. Gore, Sam L. Barnard, Harry F. Wright and Daniel Pupillo.
John Kennedy (Portland) is the boss canvasman of the side show, his assistants being Mike Lally, Cecil Smith, R. P. Murphy, W. R. Tumbler, G. W. Potter, P. L. McGovern, E. H. Hall, Frank Manning, William Owens and B. McGoran.
In front of the electric theater stands J. A. Wiggins, his assistants being Paul Wiggins, operator; Fred Welty, electrician; S. C. Starbuck, ticket-taker. Wiggins' boss canvasman is Herbert Runyan, whose men are Billy Nelson, J. O. Spooner, Alex Smith and Geo. Reynolds.
Handles Tickets at Door
The front door of the main show is in the able hands of Edward Alexander, whose assistants are John Shannon, Guy Baird, "Deacon" White, J. Mercer and Albert Cox, ticket-takers; Edward Sayer, distributor; and Robert Ripley and George Burke, door men.
When the visitor arrives in the menagerie, if he be thirsty, he will find the bland-voiced and affable Frank Parsons waiting to set him right. Parsons is assisted in pouring "lemo" and passing out peanuts by the following suave gentlemen: D. T. Parsons, Harry Clary, Ray Henderson, Byron Alerson, Ed. Morgan, Melvin Burtis, John Conerfoot, Clarence Farmworth, Joe Jordan, Joe Spencer, Chas. Brady, John Benson, Charles Hustead and Paul Welk. Now and then A. E. ("Butch") Parsons drops in for a day or two to look things over and we are always glad to see him.
The inside ticket sellers, under the supervision of William Howard, are an unusually spry and obliging set. They are Robert Courtney, Joseph F. Ferris, Stanley Dawson, Buck Ramsay, Fred Walker, Dick Welcome, Tom McDade and John Blowausch.
An alert corps of ushers have rendered great assistance in handling the crowds under the big top. There has never been the slightest confusion on either the grand stand or the reserved seat section. The chief ushers are Jim Rooney, Jim Harney, Dare Irving, H. W. Ross and Ray Worth. John Walker is the superintendent of the grand stand and Frank Dietrick has charge of the reserved seats.
Fine Band is Attractive
One of the most attractive features of the circus performance is Sweet's Concert Band, the make-up of which is as follows: Albert C. Sweet, director; Otto Naher, piccolo; Horace B. Cohnan, E flat clarient; E. E. Elliott, Geo. Hulme, Edward Abbott, Clive Yeager solo clarinets; H. J. Sloan, Wm. Simmons, 1st clarinet; John Getty, 2d clarinet; Vern Brown, 3d clarinet; Louis Karns, oboe; Fred C. Eastwood, bassoon; T. R. Brown, alto saxophone; Alex Brown, tenor saxophone; Mark Henderson, baritne saxophone; Frank Shipman, solo cornet; Percy Brown, first cornet; H. M. Jacobson, assistant first cornet; Grover Thompson, first trumpet; Frank Smith, second trumpet; Ed. S. Brady, first horn; Harry Downing, second horn; John Collins, third horn; Al Baker, fourth horn; Chas. Benner, first trombone; Otis P. Shive, second trombone; R. I. McKenzie, third trombone; Thos. Gilmore, bass trombone; Bert Moore, first baritone; Emil Peterson, E flat bass; Herman Johnson, BB bass; John Gockley, sousaphone; Ralph Henderschotte, tympani bells; Patsy Craig, small drum; Robert Jamison, bass drum.
Steward a Good Provider
And we can never forget our genial steward of the canvas hotel, A. L. Webb. He has fed us well and we appreciate it. "Ollie" believes in a bountiful table to make life on the road comfortable, and under the spell of his Sunday dinners we are made to forget our homes. His assistants, Mike Martin, C. Schultz and E. Bahr, also have our thanks. Here is the rest of the hotel staff: Michael Roach, Wesley Hicks, butchers; Herb Carley, vegetable man; C. W. Fowler, store keeper; Carl Krafft, door man; James Smith, pantry; Fred wilks, A. Anderson, R. Brason, camp-fire; Ernest Cads, laundry; Wm. Beyson, J. A. Davis, Jos. Murphy, Harry Parsons, Chas. Schlafter, Dan Liggott, C. McArthur, Oscar C. Booth, John Smith, V. Vaugh, kitchen force; F. L. Smith, Otto Herder, bread table. Waiters: F. R. Williams, Clyde Decker, Geo. Philips, Ed. Nolan, Clyde Odel, Joe Martel, F. Driscol, F. Thompson, J. Dorsey, T. Armering, E. Althoff, M. E. Hoey, H. Rumley, B. Lee, J. Tracey, J. Carpenter, Grant Whittington, Richard Denvahan, Lewis Rogers, Rosco Richardson, Otto Peterson, Leo Wood, Leslie Pasco, Frank Clark, Gus Jones, Mike McGovety, Harry Denny, Al. Jackson, Wm. Butler, Earl Leonhardet, A. E. Noble, Fred Zimmer, C. Thomas, Al. Stafford, H. Smith, W. Duncan, B. Hobbs, Ed. Walker, J. M. Davis, Frank Hilmer, John Nordine, R. Rice, C. Smith, J. Hall, J. A. Bevin, C. Shook, C. L. Lambert, M. Kuhar, C. Woodworth, J. Keefe, E. Foay, F. Larime, B. Lynchard, J. McDermot, C. Laughlan, Karl Clop, F. Devine.
All hats off to Charlie Smith, animal doctor and superintendent of the menagerie. With the exception of one of the giraffes that died in Chicago from injuries there have been no deaths in the zoological tent. On the other hand, three tigers were born during the parade at Lynn, Mass., June 10; an antelope at Colfax, Wash., Aug. 16; a nlyghau at Durant, I. T., Oct. 12, and more tigers at Ft. Worth, Tex., Oct. 9. Smith's assistants are: Cage men: Bert Stone, Con Castens, Frank Gleason, Red Delo, Henry Hill, Berry Dempsey, Fred McDougal, M. McDougal, Lawrence Sprague, Harry Brown, Richard Murphy, Clarence Brown, Ernest Freeze, Carl Hengen, John Willis, P. Wallace, Wm. Kasin, Frank Carlson, Ed. Rieley; camel men: Carl Newman, George Dale, Odin Jacobs, Richard Sanderlin, Al Humphries, John Fitzpatrick, Ed. Robinson, Chas. Hutchinson.
Takes Care of Pachyderms
And to Pearl Souder, all-roung animal trainer and elephant psychologist, we also defer. He has not alone the largets herd of elephants in America under his supervision, but also the only real educated elephants in the world. His assistant trainer is George Sardorf. His assistant superintendent is Walter Gelliland and his working staff is composed of Frank Gordon, Robt. Green, S. W. King, Charles Caison, Anthony Milford, Frank Johns, L. R. Stewart, Pete Vance, Fred De Lowdus, John Doyle, F. D. Hansen, John Bowen, Roy Biship, Geo. J. Dragon, Martin P. Smith, John Norton, Homer O'Neil, John H. Brown and William Hayes.
Too much credit cannot be given to the various working departments for splendid work under all circumstances. The superintendent of canvas, James Whalen, and his assistants, Thomas McAvoy, Harry Martin, Chas. Wilson, Mat Schomer and G. Rohabeck, never fail to have the many tops up and ready for the crowds by the return of the parade. Whalen's complete roster follows: J. Burke, Will Ellis, Sam Clark, Fred Thompson, John Keefe, J. E. Clark, Ossie Smith, Geo. Maechlin, D. Roy, Mike Miller, Jim Walker, Arthur Ashton, Laz Scott, S. P. Ramsey, Jas. Mitchell, Henry Grove, Chas. Offutt, Wm. Ewing, Geo. Johnson, C. Livingston, Joe Mulvihill, Jack Chadwick, Leslie Stine, Ed Small, R. Ripley, Perry Brown, Thos. Ward, Will Johnson, Dick Girard, Lester Heath, Henry Murphy, Geo. Moeller, D. Hubbard, W. M. Webb, Joe Brennan, S. J. Butch, Joe Furgeson, Peter Jackson, Al Fisher, Lee Whitaker, G. H. Williams, Cliff Palmer, Wm. Richmond, Geo. Burke, H. J. Soctt, W. Milles, C. Dement, D. Powell, Dare Coosh, Tom Coakley, Frank Clark, Henry Kline, Ed Comber, Mel. McCann, John Roy, E. Doucet, Geo. Woodruff, Wm. Snowden, Ed. Smith, Arthur Young, Jas. Locke, Herman Paff, Fred May, L. Sandhoe, O. Nichols, Floyd Smith, Tom Lewis, Fred Williams, C. B. Anderson, Al Swanson, Lewis Williams, John Williams, Jno. McDemott, John Kelly, F. Benjamin, Lewis Willis, Jim Dwyer, F. Pedro, Will Moore, Harry Smith, Wm. Godschalk, John Reed, John Douglas, Will Mack, J. Catlette, Al Durr, John Skelton, Jas. Blay, Sam Jones, Will Brooks, Ray Morgan, Will Montgomery, Wm. Groh, Jim Cranshaw, Frank Anderson, Posey Hauchins, will Johnson, John Henry, Rich Nichols, General Allen, Jos. Smith, E. Barrett, John Padova, Claud Anderson, Al Hartman, Sam Marshall, Geo. Edmonds, M. Hutchins, Harry Jett, Will BAndfield, E. Cameron, A. Frederick, J. Clagget, F. Sparschuh, Carl Franklin, Geo. Taylor, J. Thomas, Geo. Brannon, Walter Warren, Lon Pennington.
Horses Are Well Cared For
Thanks to the skill of Spencer Delivan [sic?], superintendent of baggage horses, and the faithful attention of his assistants, Charles Rooney, Henry Brown and George Law, the horses all look as bright and sleek as at the beginning of the season. The roster of Delivan's men is: Ed Shapper, F. Mellentine, M. Haffey, J. E. Trarer, Geo. Hulse, C. R. Robinson, Ed Flynn, Wm. Brock, Ernets Banks, Wm. Hether, Pat Galvin, Wm. Lewis, C. Gainney, Al Jones, Frank Collins, Clarence Smith, Cal Nordyke, Earl Stetter, W. Westmorland, John Woods, Mike Kelly, R. Nixon, F. Martin, Robt. Allen, James Smith, Ab. Scott, Ed. Waters, Chas. Deary, C. Rathenberg, Fred Taylor, Harry Jackson, M. Schaeffer, John Sullivan, Geo. Holton, Thos Grogan, Wm. Henry, Ed Webster, H. Matthews, Henry Brown, Hugh Corrigan, O. W. Foster Bert Dunlap, Fred Wilson, Jim Priest, J. R. Walker, Otto Herman, Al Carion, Gus Degenhart, Earl Saylor, G. Cullen, John Quigle, Rich Lorery, Geo. Wall, Chas. Lindley, L. C. Calvin, Walter Newton, Geo. Gray, Wm. Shedden, Ed McCune, Law Marshall, Geo. Culp, A. E. Ward, C. W. Deitz, Paul Widerholz, John Bartos, Dan Patts, W. Treagle, J. W. Haynes, G. F. Mangan, C. C. Ironmonger, J. D. Roulette, Chas. Cosgrove, Geo. Chapman, John O'Leary, J. Wells, J. B. Hill, F. W. Yeager, Joe Russell, John Rice, Ed. Stockton, J. P. Stacy, C. F. Gustin, Harry Miller, Tom Larkin, P. Lagassey, Art Bonin, M. Cuplin, J. P. Olivell, W. Benevay, L. Melanson, Clyde Gibbs, Horace Prentice, George Clark, Frank Reed, Pat Clark.
Robert Meek is superintendent of the ring stock, with the following men in charge: H. Stunford, Ed Young, Al Whitten, J. W. Richardson, Jim Stanton, Homer Howell, J. E. Elder, C. Dudley, Adolph Nelson, Geo. Belson, Chas. Richardson, Earl Parris, Rud Wallner, W. Kirkpatrick, Joe Hanlon, Early Cutland, A. McDonald, John McCrackin, Lewis Clayton, J. Bell, D. E. Kexton, Jas. Dooley, Jas. Younger, A. G. Smith, J. Morris, Mart O'Day, E. Ormsby. Harry Smith is the superintendent of trappings, his assistants being H. J. Barton, Geo. Hall, T. F. Nolan and Otto Weigand.
The property men, under Charles O. Miller and his assistant, Tom O'Connell, are an unusually alert and willing body of men whose names are: Peter Michett, Thos. Jenkins, Tony Martin, Thos. Titus, Pat Morgan, Chris. Burke, Fred Johnson, Fred Kaiser, G. G. Wanek, John Keane, L. Blascik, Chas. Hughes, C. J. La Mar, Geo. Nelson, Chas. Skinner, Harry Crippin, Joe Simpson, Oliver Nelson, John West, Alex Woods, Peter Moran, Jas. Mitchell, Jim Brown, B. McDonald, Chas. Dolliver, E. McCann, A. B. Ryan, T. J. Moon, Roy Dare.
Master of Transportation
Robert Taylor, master of transportation, is another who deserves credit for the neatness and dispatch with which the trains have been loaded and speeded on their nightly journeys. Here are his trainmen: Fred Blankenburg, Al Goetke, Chas. Sherman, Geo. Watson, Wm. Manning, Ed. Farley, Chas. Morrison, Joe Smith, Clyde Guill, John Richards, Harry Perry, E. D. Durkee, Harry O'Connor, S. Starbuck, E. Goetke, Roy Hockabart, John Ranen, Fred Jones, E. L. Hogan, Chas. Goetke, P. H. Collar, Wm. Nixon, Ed Bundy, Frank Hart, John Dillon, A. Hallgarth, J. W. Cookson, Henry Hill, Wm. Ramsey, Joe Ring, H. Burmaster, Herbert Weaver, Frank Woods, D. Monish, Sandy Lynch, Wm. Burke, Fred Barkow, T. Pranke, Paul Bradley.
Max and Paul Donschke have kept the lights trimmed and burning, with the help of Al Webb, H. Grossman, Andy Halmberg, R. Bega, Joe Cook, John Bald, F. Lagerm, Clint Burch and M. Hazlett.
The wardrobe is handled by Supt. Walter Wilcox and Harry Webb, Wm. Stewart, Geo. Ewing, W. Fleming, Ab Webb, Joe sims and Ed. Wright.
There is a superior body of mechanics with the show and everything has been kept in perfect repair all season. The roll of the various shops follows: Blacksmith - Jack Ehbauer, superintendent; Emil Erickson, D. R. Morrissey, R. D. Mills, Gus Larson, Chas. Clampitt, A. F. Cranshaw, M. Flanagan. Harness, J. H. Hoffman; carpenter, Bob Wise; stake driver, Len Prentice; sailmaker, Law Whedemier.
Refreshed by Rubien
After the night show, when work is over for the day, it has been our pleasure to gather in the cafe car, where mine host, Sid Rubien, has refreshed us with a cup of savory Java and a dainty lunch. Rubien's car, "the Seattle," is fitted out this year like a diner on the twentieth century limited, with Pintsch gas lighting system, polished urns and everything in the latest style. Manager Rubien's staff is made up of Fred Bushall, chef; Frank H. Greant, pantryman; Frank F. Jolly, bakeer; Charles D. Baker, assistatn baker; Harry L. Barrett, porter; Vincent Thomas, counterman; John Wallace, counterman; T. A. Osborn, counterman; James Morrisey, bell boy; W. M. Manning, watchman.
Let us pause and pay tribute to the Marhall Field of the sawdust, genial and obliging H. A. Weaver, who sells everything in his store from pants buttons to toilet water. His has been a strenuous life this summer. Arthur Freeman, the dispenser of balloons, has been another busy man. With his assistants, Ray and Earl Freeman and Jas. Downs, he has sold balloons enough to lift a battleship.
Wm. Fay, as superintendent of the dining cars Washington and Boston, deserves a laurel wreath for the lavish manner in which he has ministered to our wants at breakfast and supper time. On his staff are the following worthies: A. R. Erskine, chef; E. C. Lynch, cook; E. C. Moore, cook; Angelo Frank, cook; George Burgess, cook; W. J. O'Meara, head waiter; Sam Stoner, Jas. Burke, Harry Edwards, W. R. Teague, K. Mitchell, Geo. Harmon, V. McConnen, E. Armstrong, Ben Davis, waiters; Albert Roser, storeman; H. A. Aird, pantryman; John Selt, and Oscar Topez, dishwashers.
Care for the Sleepers
Paul Cunningham, as usual, is the chief porter, stationed on sleeper New York. His assistants are Frank Redmond of the Baltimore; Harry Taylor of the St. Louis; Robert Conneres of the Jamestown, Jasper McNeius of the Boston, Frank Pierce of the San Francisco. Charles Mosher has the care of the private car, Chicago, a position which he has held with becoming dignity.
The porters of the workingmen's cars are: Gus Goetke, Harry Williams, William Atkinson and Tom Stone.
The closing day is fast approaching, a gang of passenger agents has been following us up with an eye to business for their roads; and while be will be glad when the tents come down for the last time at Fulton, Ky., and we can go home once more, there will still be a keen regret at the parting with many good fellows whose companionship we have enjoyed so much.
Charles Bernard
Charles Bernard is secretary of the Associated Billposters and Distributors and well and favorably known in the theatrical and circus world. Mr. Bernard was born at Millersburg, O., in 1861, was reared on a farm and received only a country school education. He studied one term at the Normal School at Smithville, O. From 1877 to 1884 he worked as a solicitor for an insurance agency. He then became a theatrical and circus agent and in 1895 became affiliated with the Walter L. Main circus as treasurer. In 1898 Mr. Bernard left the show business and located at Savannah, Ga., where he established a billposting plant. In the same year he was made a member of the Associated Billposters and in July, 1901, was made National Secretary, which position he still occupies, having been elected for the sixth consecutive term at the convention held at Niagara Falls, July, 1907. In 1904 Mr. Bernard married a Blue Grass belle at Lexington, Ky., and attributes his commercial success in a great measure to her helpful influence. Mr. Bernard recently assisted in organizing and incorporating the Advertising Company of Porto Rico at San Juan, which will do billposting and bulletin work througout the Island of Porto Rico.
Royal Indoor Circus Opening
Tour of This Novelty to Begin in Louisville Under Favorable Auspices
The Royal Indoor Circus will open its forthcoming tour of the United States, under the auspices of Fraternal Societies in several of the leading cities at Louisville, Ky., where it will appear in the Armory under the auspices of Louisville Lodge B. P. O. E., No. 8. This lodge is famous for its charitable work. The Elks will devote all of their profits to charity, giving the Home of the Innocents and the Kentucky Tuberculosis Society, of Louisville, 50 per cent each. Delegates from St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, Minn., and Fargo, N. D., will attend the opening of the Royal Indoor Circus at Louisville.
Chas. B. Fredricks, who is handling the business affairs of the organization, writes that the Louisville affair will be the most pretentious event of its kind ever arranged in America. The Louisville Armory is particularly suited for an idoor circus, being 352 feet in length, 250 feet in width, with a space of eighty-two feet from floor to roof. There are sixty private boxes, which will be auctioned off by prominent members of Louisville society. The Royal Indoor Circus will be given in two rings and tan bark is to be laid for Hippodrome events. The building will seat 6,000 people. The First Kentucky Military band of forty pieces will furnish the music.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
For some time persistent rumors have been afloat to the effect that the Ringling Brothers have become partners with an English syndicate in the ownership of the Barnum & Bailey holdings, but have also bought the interest held by the English stock company, thus becoming sole owners and operators of the Barnum & Bailey circus as well as the owners of the physical equipment of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
Vast Holdings Reviewed
The extent to which the Ringling Brothers now dominate the circus world may be realized by a review of their various holdings. First there is the circus enterprise that bears their name, with its long trains, elaborate equipment, 658 horses, an extensive zoological collection and winter quarters at Baraboo, Wis., with great brick stables, training barns, hotel and animal houses; the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers circus with up-to-date equipment and extensive quarters; the Barnum & Bailey circus with main offices in New York, the leasehold for a term of years of the Madison Square Garden, vast winter quarters at Bridgeport, Conn., the trains, equipment and winter quarters at Stock-on-Trent, England, and lastly,the owners of the physical equipment of the Buffalo Bill show which they have leased to Col. W. F. Cody.
An Epoch in Circus History
This enormous transaction marks an epoch in the circus history of the world, the Ringling Brothers taking full control of the three greatest circuses in the world.
The acquisition of the Barnum & Bailey circus has not been particularly sought after by the Ringling Brothers, but is simply the inevitable result of a superior fitness on their part which it has not been possible for others to compete with.
For a generation the Barnum & Bailey circus has been one of the greatest amusement institutions in the world, and it was not many years ago when the Ringling Brothers were struggling for position in the circus world. They were then scarcely taken into consideration by the powers that controlled the field. But as each succeeding year found them larger and better and rapidly gaining in popularity, they became a subject of serious concern, and for the past several seasons they have been the formidable rival of the Barnum & Bailey organization. In fact it has been a case of Nip and Tuck between the two great shows.
Made Steady Advances
However, it seems that while others had reached the zenith of their power, the Ringling Brothers continued to advance steadily. They introduced the remarkable system and the almost military discipline which have made it possible to build a circus larger than any other and still move it from place to place; and they have fixed the circus business on an up-to-date bank-like basis hitherto unheard of.
Their recent purchases make them owners of all the great circuses in the world. By reason of the recent transaction it is claimed that the public will be the principal gainer, inasmuch as there being no longer such a thing as opposition, the vast fortunes heretofore spent in advertising wars will be devoted to the bettering of the entertainment, thus giving the people more for their money.
The three circuses will be operated as distinct organizations, but the advanced Ringling policy will prevail with each of them and they will be under the immediate management of the five brothers.
Detailed plans are not yet in shape for public announcement, but it is certain that extensive improvements will be made to all three properties.
May Get Control in England
It has not been announced whether the Ringlings will take any of their shows to Europe next season, but, with an entire circus equipment and quarters already in England, it would be a small undertaking for men of their enterprise and energy to control the circus business in England and the continent as well in America.
As usual, the Barnum & Bailey circus will open next spring in Madison Square Garden, New York, while Ringling Brothers' World's Greatest Show will begin its season in the Coliseum at Chicago.
Incidentally the much discussed report that there was, or was likely to be, a circus trust, now becomes impossible, as all the big shows are now owned by the Ringling Brothers, a private partnership.
Jack Sutton, All Round Showman
Jack Sutton, manager of the Vandieman aerial act and the Tasmanian acrobats, was made a member of the Montgomery Lodge No. 48, T. M. A., at Montgomery, Ala., last week. After the show a party of brothers and performers visited the lodge room, and a few other places, and made merry until train tiem. Mr. Sutton is also a charter member of the I. O. O. F. at Greeley, Colo., and is well and favorably known in the vaudeville and circus world. He first introduced wild west attractions into the circus business in 1883 with the Barnum & Bailey, and Hutchinson shows. He also took the first band of Pine Ridge Sioux Indians to Europe. In 1885 Mr. Sutton put on Sells Bros. Wild West and successfuly introduced wild west in a one-ring circus for King & Franklin. Mr. Sutton also gave wild west shows on the coast and took the first show of that caliber to Australia, where he enjoys the same wide-spread renown as Buffalo Bill does in this country.
Fred Jewell has been engaged as band-master for the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, season of 1908.
Bailey Eckman, of the Barnum & Bailey No. 1 car, is working on the New York Central liens this fall and winter.
It is reported that Manager Kennedy of the Parker Shows is making preparations to go south with a ten-car aggregation for the fall and winter season.
Announcement cards have been issued announcing the marriage of Virgiline Louise Cooke to Mr. Alton Purdy Tisdel. They will be at home at The Hawarden, Washington, D. C. The bride is one of the charming members of Louis E. Cooke's family circle.
Lewis Sells Barrett, well and favorably known to the circus profession, having been identified with a number of the larger shows prior to his retirement into private life as the proprietor of the Delavan Hotel, was married to Miss Anna Carey in Delavan, Wis., Oct. 21.
H. H. Tammen, director-general of the Sells-Floto Show, writing to THE SHOW WORLD, under date of Oct. 23, says: "The Sells-Floto Show is doing good business, and we were successful in having the Texas railroad commission rule that railroads are forced to carry us at the same proportionate rate as the big shows are carried. We are going to re-equip our show so that it will be, as a physical proposition, the very best equipped show in all America in the way of performance, and so far as out judgment and ability go we will endeavor to employ the best performers that money can obtain for the season of 1908."
Joseph T. McCaddon and Delevan Holmes, director and counsel for the Barnum & Bailey directorate, returned to New York from London last week.
John D. Tippett has closed with the Parker Shows and is looking after his interests "on the Warpath" at Jamestown exposition.
Thomas Rankine, official announcer of the Buffalo Bill Show, has returned to his home in Chicago, for the winter, after closing an eminently successful season. During a recent call at THE SHOW WORLD offices he informed us that the Buffalo Bill show played to turn-away business at its closing stand, Richmond, Va., Oct. 19, and that the season on the whole was probably the most phenomenal experienced in the history of that, or any other tented organization.
Top
Show World, November 16, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 21), pp. 11, 13, 16, 17. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Louisville, Nov. 9. At the Armory Miller Bros.' 101 Ranch Wild West have been doing a banner business. Thousands have witnessed the performances, in fact the business has been so big that four extra performances were given. The show is undoubtedly one of the best of its kind. The Miller Bros. have a novelty that won instant favor, many new acts being given. Miss Summerville and her high-school horse are a strong card. Wenona and Frank in a startling shooting act are away from the others. Bill Pickett and his steer throwing sunt startled the audience. The show closed its season in this city and the Miller Bros. shipped direct to their big ranch at Bliss, Oklahoma. Geo. Elzer and Fred Burns of the 101 Ranch Wild West are in the hospital here suffering with pneumonia. J. C. Miller is giving them every attention.
The Rhoda Royal Indoor Circus will be here at the Armory the week of Nov. 25. The advance sale of seats, under the auspices of the Elks, is big.
Bell Takes Matrimonial Leap
Pete Bell, a member of the team of Bell & Henry, who recently closed with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth and are now playing in vaudeville, was married to Eva Scranton Zeno, last week, at St. Paul's Cathedral, Grand Rapids, Mich. Miss Zeno is the clever and pretty member of Zeno, Carl & Zeno, who were playing an engagement at the Bennett theater at the time.
George Cording, known professionally as George Duval, for years featured with the Oriental Show of the John Robinson circus, died in Chicago Nov. 6, at the age of 52 years. His remains were taken to West Point, Ill., for interment.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Gathering up the scattered threads of gossip at the end of the season, THE SHOW WORLD correspondent, who traveled with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, writes some interesting chat about the closing days of the 1907 tour as follows:
The path of the Greatest on Earth through Oklahoma was a triumphal procession and a victorious invasion. Guthrie, Oklahoma City and McAlister greeted the great show with the lusty enthusiasm of a virle and alert community - the welcome of a strong race. Sunday, Oct. 13, our last Sunday run for 1907 - was the longest jump of the season, and night had long descended ere the troupers reched Little Rock. Tuesday saw the tops in Brinkley, Ark.; on Wednesday the city of Memphis lived up to its reputation by handing the Greatest two ace-full houses.
And at Dyersburg, Tenn., Oct. 17, under a cloudless blue sky and the southern sun, the tour of the Greatest for this year of grace 1907 drew its moribund breath and a thousand people who, for some seven months, had moved and had their being in more or less communal harmoney, scattered and departed their divers ways. May happiness wait attendant on them all!
Of a surety the season 1907 will go down in circus records as a unique one. Interest, at least, was not lacking. Changes and rumors of changes were the diurnal "ordre du jour," and each cook-house bulletin heralded a new dynastic succession. Certainly some might complain of dearth of news, for the "wise guys" were always with us. Stupendous wagers (of words) were made, and many who knew but little talked exceeding loud.
Some Early Happenings
When the Committe of Omniscience was not foretelling coming events, the elements combined to make things lively. Didn't the dressing-room blow down on the first night out in Reading, Pa., causing Mr. Novello, of Novello's Acrobatic Troupe, to inquire whether that particular top was always "dropped" in that particular - not to say peculiar - manner? And for two solid months, didn't everybody freeze almost to death? Not until St. Louis did the Greatest bask in the sunshine so thoughtfully ordered for it by the ever-increasingly-popular Dan Fishell. The only people with the show who never felt its genial rays were Treasurer John Stevens and Assistant Treasurer Con Foster, neither of whom emerged during that whole wonderful week from the mausoleum of shekels in which they were buried and which were poured into the wagons by the show-loving citizens of the city of malt!
France has its "League of Dames for the Elimination of War," and not to be outdone the feminie dressing-room of the Greatest on Earth organized a club whose avowed mission was to breathe naught but good of all men - and women, too. Thus were the knockers disarmed, and 'tis said that a sweet and affectionate atmosphere reigned among the fairer half of the performers.
Tote Seigrist broke a bone of his left hand in the early part of the summer, and did the perforced "invalid" act for months, but the world's greatest aerial act went on.
Josie De Mott achieved her back somersault twice per day on all and sundry rings.
A deputy sheriff pulled a 42 Colt on MacDonald the last day of the season at Dyersburg, and that young gentlemen confessed to being "plumb scairt."
Dexter Fellows presides over the pharmaceutical emporium at Fitchburg, erstwile evolving new and weird lingual stunts for next season.
Gossip of Noted People
J. T. McCaddon returned Oct. 30 after a particularly rough voyage on the Kronprinz Wilhelm.
Derrick & Bradna were featured in New York at Keith's Fifty-eighth Street house; then they were at 125th Street and the week of Nov. 10 at the Fifth Avenue house.
The invincible Caesar Guilietti, general advance agent of the Seigrist-Silbon Panama Circus, sailed Oct. 26 for Colon.
Eddie O'Neill has gone to Philadelphia, where his latent abilities are to be highly developed under the guiding hand of Dan Fishell.
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Butler are putting the finishing touches to an ice-skating specialty, which is to be a world beater.
Charles R. Hutchinson is very busy, for the Park City rink opened its doors to an expectant Bridgeport public, Oct. 31. Charley Bernard is doing great publicity work, even lapsing into verse in his enthusiasm for the cause. Bernard's handsome figure is as familar at the rink as it is in the Big Top.
Nov. 14 will be a red letter day in the lives of Reginald Whitehead (lately accountatn of the Barnum & Bailey show and Buffalo Bill's Wild West) and Miss Millie Ginnet, daughter of the famous English circus proprietor of that name. It will be their wedding day.
Pete Conklin is again on his feet, and looks far from being candidate for a halo yet. As a matter of fact, he looks remarkably well for a man who has suffered as much as he has during the last six months.
Joe Mayer took Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Watkins for a ride to Larchmont. Harvey says now he will never go again. First the irrepressible Joe was arrested, almost, for speeding, and then on the start back for home, some stupid crank broke. They rode home from Larchmont to Harlem in the street car. Perhaps you may have made that street-car trip on a chilly fall day? Joe maintains it is the first time an accident has occurred; Harvey just as stoutly maintains it was a frame-up premeditated and pre-arranged for his discomfort.
Big Shows Under Roof
The two shows - Barnum & Bailey and the Wild West - reached Bridgeport winer quarters practically simultaneously. It looks like a railroad car breegin establishment now!
Rose and Harry Wentworth have signed with Pubiliones, and sailed Oct. 26 for a long engagement in Cuba.
Chas. Andress was in North Dakota for a few days after the close of the Greatest, engaged on some knotty adjustment cases, but is again in the bosom of his family.
General Agent Louis E. Cooke must feel deserted. On Oct. 19, he gave away his daughter Virgiline in marriage, and ere the passing of another moon, his eldest son, Victor, who has managed B. & B. No. 2 advertising car the past two seasons, will have joined the ranks of benedict.
Bought the "Greatest" Outright
Ringling Brothers are now in complete possession of the Barnum & Bailey show. The formal transfer was made at Bridgeport, Conn., Thursday, Oct. 24. The Ringlings bought the show outright from the directors, and contrary to the general opinion did not invest in any of the stock held by Mrs. J. A. Bailey, or the share-holders in the company. The negotiations were handled by Al Stewart of the Strobridge Lithograph company, who acted as agent for all the parties concerned in the deal.
Liquidation of the affairs of the Barnum & Bailey Show,Limited, is something in which the Ringling Brothers are not concerned. There is no doubt, however, that it will formally be authorized by the share-holders at the annual meeting in London in December. It is expected that the affairs of the company will all be closed up early in the new year, so that there will be no delay in making the pro rata distribution of the funds in hand to the share-holders on both sides of the Atlantic. The Ringlings purchase is more comprehensive than at first reported, as the sale included the cars and other property owned by the company and now at the winter quarters at Stoke-on-Trent, England, as well as the title for Europe and America. It is thought not improbable that one of the Ringling shows will visit England in the near future.
John Ringling declared to a representative of The Billposter and Distributor, when questioned about the future of the Barnum & Bailey show: "There will be no change in the name or the policy of the Barnum & Bailey show. The innovations will be onlysuch as have contributed to the success of our other shows. The winter quarters will remain at Bridgeport, and in having each year eclipse the previous one in achievement we shall only be endavoring to maintain the high standard of this great enterprise.
Circus Goes to Panama
The Siegrist-Silbon circus will open at Kingston, Jamaica, about the middle of this month, and will spend the greater part of the winter months in Central America, playing in the vicinity of the canal zone. Caesar Guilietti, the general agent, recently sailed from New York for Panama to inaugurate his advance campaign.
Louis E. Cooke Announces Staff
Louis E. Cooke, general agent for the Buffalo Bill show, has annouced his staff for next season, as follows: Michael Coyle, traffic manager; R. M. Harvey, general contracting agent; Major Burke and Walter K. Hill, press representatives; Lester W. Murray, Victor B. Cooke, and E. H. Wood, managers of the three advance cars respectively. Mr. Wood is at present manager of the Cincinnati Billposting Co. In selecting his lieutenants for the coming season Mr. Cooke has evidenced his keen ability in determining the superior qualifications of the men who will blaze the way for Colonel Cody's great show in 1908.
Circus News Notes
The engagement of Reginald Whitehead, auditor of the Buffalo Bill show, to a prominent member of the Rowlande Troupe, late with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows, is announced. The wedding will take place in New York in a few days.
Otto Ringling has been spending several days at Bridgeport, Conn., looking over the newly acquired Barnum & Bailey show, organizing the winter work force, and making arrangements for the refitting of the property.
In a recent communication to THE SHOW WORLD, Walter L. Main, writing from Geneva, O., says: "I have no plans at present. Am busy rebuilding the winter quarters which were destroyed by fire about a year ago. May have a big show next year."
Lizzie Rooney, one of America's best known equestriennes, favored the executive office of THE SHOW WORLD with a call last week, while on a shopping visit to Chicago. Miss Rooney for the last three seasons has been featured with Gollmar Brothers circus and is spending the winter months at her home in Baraboo, Wis.
Top
Show World, November 23, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 22), pp. 4, 8, 16, 17, 18. All information should be checked with additional sources.
London, Nov. 4. Barnum & Bailey Sale. At last the cat has been let our of the bag to the English stockholders and this (sometimes) hazardous operation was performed Oct. 22 by Delevan Allen Holmes, who is deputy chairman of the company and holds just sufficient stock to enable hom to be on the board, and who presided over a large and representative meeting at Cannon Street Hotel. It transpired that the present board had entered into a contract with A. A. Stewart (on behalf of Ringling Brothers) for the sale of all the movable property connected with the show in America, also the cars and other pharaphernalia in England at the sum of $400,00. Mr. Holmes said that when all assets were realized and claims settled, it would leave between £8 and £9 to be paid on each share. "You invested on a speculative venture," he said, "you bought stock in James A. Bailey. You betted on his life, did you not? He is dead. You have no longer any interest in him. His genius is gone. There is a chance for you toget back this much of your money and take no chances." The company was registered here in February, 1899, with a capital of £400,000 ($2,000,000) issued at 25 per cent premium. Since then the stockholders have received divideneds aggregating 53 1/2 per cent, so that if Mr. Holmes' best hopes are fulfilled, the stockholders, after waiting nearly nine years, will not get their money back.
Louisville, Nov. 16. Snyder's Wild West show which is quartered for the winter at New Albany, Ind., have been giving nightly exhibitions to good sized crowds the past week. The Snyders will enlarge the show for next season.
Connecticut, Bridgeport, Nov. 16. George Baters, for twenty-three years chief elephant trainer for Barnum & Bailey greatest, has severed his connection with the show and returned to his home in Rhode Island. Mr. Bates was the only trainer who could handle Columbia, the original Baby elephant.
Pete Bell and Eva Scranton Zeno
A well-known team of comedy acrobats, formerly with Barnum & Bailey's show, who are about to embark in vaudeville, is composed of Pete Bell, the famous funmaker, and his bride, Eva Scranton Zeno. Pete Bell was of the clown team of Bell and Henry on Barnum & Bailey. The new team will be known as Bell, Henry and Zeno. Mrs. Zeno-Bell does "doubles" to the net with an ease and grace. At one performance she turned thirty-four consecutive somersaults.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
A recent issue of THE SHOW WORLD noted that circus passes like railroad passes, are becoming scarcer and that as a result many well-known showmen are coming in for a large share of adverse criticism. The item recalls an instance some years ago upon the occasion of a visit of the Forepaugh and Sells Bros. shows to Webster City, Iowa, when the genial press agent would have wished for a situation of the kind. It was in the good old days when passes were as plentiful as water in a prohibition town. The press agent had been as generous as usual with his passes - to his sorrow, for the show did not exhibit, and at least one block of complimentaries had to be redeemed.
The circus was dated for Sept. 19, 1901 - McKinley's funeral day. It rained in Webster City that day as it has seldom rained before. It was almost a cloudburst and continued all day. The circus started to unload, but gave it up as a bad job. Early in the day it was announced that "out of respect to McKinley" but one performance would be given. Circus men know no rain or other inclement weather bad enought to prevent an exhibition. Later when there was not the lightest indication of a let-up in the falling torrents the management gave it out that the circus would respect McKinley's memory to the extent of fore-going any exhibition at all.
Settle the Advertising
The press agent called at the office of the Freeman-Tribune to settle the advertising bill. Circus people always expect to pay at least twice the regular advertising rate and throw in a bushel of "comps" besides. C. D. Hellen, now editor of the Des Moines Tribune, was business manager of the Webster City paper at that time. He pulled out the advertising bill, which was promptly paid. Would the paper kindly announce in its edition tomorrow that the Great Adam Forepaugh and Sells Bros. shows had given over both exhibitions in Webster City out of respect to the memory of the nation's last, martyred president? Certainly, and the press agent started to leave the office, chuckling at the ease with which he had secured a notice that would be worth hundreds of dollars for advertising purposes.
Redeems Passes for Cash
But hold. The office had half a hundred or so complimentaries. The show was not exhibiting. What was the paper to do with them? Oh, why - well, the press agent did not know. They might make good souvenirs. Yes, but Mr. Hellen had made the company a rate on its advertising in which the tickets had been figured. If the show was not going to exhibit, why the tickets much be redeemed, that was all there was to it.
The circus man haggled. He had never heard of a like procedure before. It was most unusual. It was, well, it was a hold-up! But the newspaper man persisted and the upshot was that the circus man redeemed the complimentaries he had been so free with.
So, doubtless there is in the world today at least one circus press agent, or formers agent, who will welcome the new regime under which a block and tackle is necessary to pull a complimentary or two from a circus advance man, owner, manager, employe or what not.
Pawnee Bill Show Closes
After Traveling 1,800 Miles and Exhibiting in Eighteen States, Organization Closes
Pawnee Bill's Historic Wild West and Great Far East show closed its season at Denison, Tex., Nov. 9, after giving two performances to a packed and delighted audience. 700 performers received their salaries and the "hold-back" given for good conduct and continuous service. The aggregation sum paid them was in the neighborhood of $25,000. A great number of the members of the show remained at Denison to recover from the arduous campaign which commended at Nashville, Tenn., last April
Pawnee Bill's is the most picturesque and conspicuous figure of the enterprise, his feats with fire arms being especially noteworthy. Gathered about him are the representatives of the earth's two extremes - the East and the West. There are nearly a hundred Indians with the show and denizens of Asia, Africa and Australia are all to be found in the Far East department.
The show has been in Texas for the past month and has drawn tremendous crowds. In almost every city visited the big tent was insufficient for the throngs eager to witness the performance. Following the performance at Denison the special trains moved the show to Pawnee, Okla., its winter quarters. THE SHOW WORLD is informed by R. M. Gray that a most touching scene occurred when Prof. Lankford's band played "Home Sweet Home," and the employees of the show all shook hands feelingly with the popular director.
Circus Has Brilliant Close
Sells-Floto Show Goes into Winter Quarters Amid Festivities
Venice, Cal., Nov. 11. More than 15,000 people came yesterday (Sunday), Nov. 10, on electric cars from Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Ocean Park, Anaheim, Long Beach, the Palms, and many surrounding towns, to visit the Sells-Floto shows' last performance of this season and welcome home the best show on earth. Venice is fourteen miles from Los Angeles on the ocean beach, a little town of 1,500 people, a big Mid-Way, thousands of electric lights, canals and houses and streets built after the style of Old Venice, and is visited especially in winter by tourists, and in summer is the seaside home of all California.
The afternoon show was a turn-away; the same at night. The tents were pitched on the golf links. After the night show the circus people and the audience were invited to the Big Autitorium, where the National Mexican band was playing dance music and dancing and refreshments were indulged in until early in the morning. Park Prentiss' Sells-Floto band played on the Plaza bandstand, and the Sells-Floto sideshow Coon band will play darky tunes on the ocean pier.
All the Norris & Rowe folks were there. They played Los Angeles Nov. 11, 12 and 13.
Gentry Bros.' famous show, now playing Southern California, came in a body. F. A. Short, general passenger agent of the Los Angeles Pacific company, was field marshal of the day, and cars ran one minute apart from Los Angeles from 1 to 2 and 7 to 8 p.m. The town folks and circus folks helf renunions.
The Sells-Floto show wintered here last year and opened its season April 4. About $18,000 in salaries were paid to performers and workingmen, and a joyous band of shoppers went about. It probably is true that never in the history of a closing day was there such as big time and welcome extended to a last performance of any circus, or such hearty welcome with town frolic to a band of wandering gypsies.
The Sells-Floto farm is five miles from Venice. It contains 1,400 acres of land, sloping from the mountains to the sea, with gulches and forest. About 150 acres of flat land on which the grass is now three inches high awaits the 250 horses to be given freedom, shoes off, plenty to eat, sparkling mountain water, and what a good time they will have. Blacksmith shops, paint shops, canvas lofts, property rooms, wardrobe apartments, wild animal barns, elephant and camel corrals, all are at Venice.
The performers engaged for next season are: Spader Johnson and wife, principal clown and menage riding; Mr. and Mrs. Dan Marvelle, clowning and riding; the Aherns, equilibrium acrobatic acts; Melnotte, Lanole & Melnotte, acroatic wire act; the Ty-Bells, iron-jaw and knife-throwing acts; Phil Darling, clown; Clemings and McAlister, clown and concert acts; Captain Ricardo, animal trainer; Siegrist Troupe, return and riding acts; Cecil Lowande and wife, principal riding acts; Mrs. J. Corriea and John Corriea, Jr., principal riding acts; La Pasque Troupe, return casting and wire acts; Goldin Troupe, Russian dancing, etc.; P. F. Fitzgerald, clown; the Great Fowlers, acrobatic balancing acts; William L. Rice, clown; Joseph V. Sherry, clown; C. J. Sassaria Troupe feature clowings; Vane & De Clairville, Roman rings, etc.; Harry & Pearl Weydt, trapeze and Roman rings, etc.; Paul Ackerman, aerial hand balancing; Chas. Wertz, clown; Ottokar Bartik Troupe, buglers, fencing, etc.; Mlle. Nadge, acrobatic and contortion acts; Three Herbert Brothers, acrobatic, Roman ladders and comedy stilts; Ishikawa Brothers, Japaneses equilibrists; John Albion, clown; Bert Davis and wife, double rube act, side show; Charles Williams, Turkish flageolet; Jas. D. Murphy, calliope player; William Herrington and wife.
W. H. McFarland will have charge of the side show, and Park Prentiss is re-engaged as band master.
Two sensational features, the most wonderful ever (now a secret), not European, but Yankee creations, will be advertised as was never known before in circusdom.
Frank Tammen, general manager, will make his headquarters at Venice; De Witt C. Weber, general counsel, now at Venice, will be at the general offices, Denver, Colo. W. R. Musgat, general agent, Venice; J. Edgar Clifford, publicity department, Venice.
Many circus people of high standing, lately with the Barnum & Bailey shows, will join our forces; announcements later.
James D. DeWolfe, the well-known press contractor for the Barnum & Bailey show has returned to New York, where, after renewing old acquaintances for a week, he went to Boston and was engaged as press representative for Marie Doro, who made such a hit in the "Hub" as leading lady for William Gillette last year that she is expected to play out the present season at the Park Theater in repertoire.
W. H. Quinnett, generl agent for the Yankee Robinson's Circus, was a welcome caller on THE SHOW WORLD while in Chicago last week, on his way east after closing a successful season. Mr. Quinnett has been re-engaged as general agent of the Yankee Robinson's Circus for 1908, and will return west in February. The show will be put on rails next year.
John A. Barton, the well-known circus privilege manager, arrived in Chicago last week after a prosperous season, and will spend the winter months in the Windy City.
John McLaughlin, master of transportation of the Barnum & Bailey show will continue in that capacity under the Ringling Brothers' management.
John Ringling and W. W. ("Doc") Freeman, sailed from New York for London, Wednesday, Nov. 13. Combining business with pleasure, Mr. Ringling will remain abroad for a couple of months, and probably visit all the European capitols. Mr. Freeman is the manager of the Universal Booking Agency, which will place most of the circus acts for the coming season in America, and his trip to Europe is in search of arenic novelties.
James Jay Brady, general press representative of the Ringling Bros.' World's Greatest Shows, has arrived in Chicago and in a recent interview at the executive offices of THE SHOW WORLD declared the 1907 season, just closed, the greatest in the history of the Ringling Bros. organization. Mr. Brady will be identified with the Ringlign Shows next season and after a period of recuperation from the cares of the tour, recently terminated, will lay out the lines for the advance press campaign to be inaugurated early next spring.
Steve Miaco, of the Barnum & Bailey Show, is in Chicago, arranging time for his vaudeville act.
Ralph W. Peckham, general excursion agent of the Ringling Brothers' Shows, is spending a month at his San Jose, Cal., ranch.
Col. J. C. O'Brien, manager of the Campbell Brothers' privileges, has returned to Chicago after a successful season, and will spend the winter months at this palatial home in the Windy City. He has been re-engaged for next season.
National Alliance, Billposters and Billers of America
Notes From No. 4, Philadelphia. W. C. St. Clair has just arrive in this city after a long and laborious season with the Forepaugh-Sells show. So well has he demonsrated his ability that he has quickly risen to a post of importance in the advertising field. During the past season he had charge of the Skirmishing Brigade, consisting of twelve picked men. Their route was changed from day to day, according to the strength developed by opposition shows. St. Clair enjoys the distinction of never having been beaten in a paper and paste fight, and has earned quite a reputation for himself as a strategist. In many towns where he won out, the local papers gave him high praise for his work. The Ringling Brothers have signifed their intention to engage Mr. St. Clair for next season in an advanced capacity.
Notes From Local No. 1, Chicago. Local No. 1 buried Geo. Walsh, one of their oldest and most respected brothers, last week. Bro. Walsh was one of the oldest billposters in the country, being well known among old-time circus billposters.
Johnson & Marvelle in Good Act
"Spader" Johnson and Dan Marvelle, who recently closed with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, are now playing some of the Henderson time through Indiana and Illinois with an act entitled, Are You Next? The team opened at the Lafayette theater, Kokomo, Ind., and were held over for a second week. During the course of the act they introduced Baleam, the comical donkey, and an original trick hansome cab in a runaway scene in full view of the audience.
Cards have been issued by the parents of the bride announcing the marriage of Victor Bartlett Cooke to Alice Marie Kenny, both of Newark, N. J. The wedding took place Nov. 6. the bride is the daughter of a substantial business man. The groom is the son of the famous and brainy showman, Louis E. Cooke, and was manger of one of the Barnum & Bailey advance cars last season, and the coming season he will have the excursion car with the Buffalo Bill show.
Sells' Will Is Contested
The will of the late Lewis Sells, one of the original Sells Brothers, of circus fame, is being contestsed and a long and costly litigation is probable in the courts of Ohio. Mary K. Sells, an infant daughter, and Rhoda J. Sells, the widow, have begun proceedings to set aside the will. The defendants are Almenia Holt, Rebekah F. Barrett, Rachel Colby, Mary Green, Anna West, Lewis Colby and Mary Breen as executrix of the last will and testament of Lewis Sells. It is contested that the document filed and under which Mrs. Green is acting is not the last will and testament of the showman.
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Show World, November 30, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 23), pp. 20. All information should be checked with additional sources.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
Harry Earl, general press representative of the Hagenbeck & Great Wallace Shows Combined, was a recent caller at the Chicago offices of THE SHOW WORLD.
Mr. Earl said that the results of this season's tour, which extended from Brooklyn to Florida, were most gratifying, notwithstanding the fact that they experienced considerable opposition. At Montgomery, Alabama, the show exhibited a week after Buffalo Bill had visited the town and played to $9,000. They enjoyed two turn-away performances at Atlanta, and Mr. Earl says the show could have held over another day and been rewarded with two capacity audineces. The entire aggregation have been in the best of health and spirits. The show closes at Roanoke, Va., Nov. 11, to go into winter quarters at Peru, Ind. Next season will see it enlarged in many departments, and with an entirely new line of "paper," now being designed, which will be most elaborate and attractive. The Hagenbeck show, according to Mr. Earl, has used the largest variety of banners ever amassed to exploit a circus. The 1907 season has extended over twenty-nine weeks, and the directors look forward with great confidence to the year 1908. Next season will find Mr. Earl identified with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Show in the same capacity. He has now under consideration plans which should materially benefit the organization on its 1908 tour.
The many friends of A. G. Ringling will be pleased to know that after a period of indisposition necessitating his confinement at his home in Baraboo, Wis., he is enjoying better health.
Otto Ringling is making his headquarters at Bridgeport, Conn., where he is giving his personal supervision to the work of refitting the Barnum & Bailey show for the coming season.
W. S. Dunnington, formerly manager of advertising car No. 2 of the Carl Hagenbeck shows for two seasons, is now business manager for Dave Levis Uncle Josh Spruceby company (eastern). Mr. Dunnington writes that he will manager the car for one of the big ones next season, with a star cast of billposters and billers.
"Doc" Kealey, of the Ringling Brothers' shows, was a welcome caller on THE SHOW WORLD last week, while spending a few days in Chicago, following the close of a very successful season with the World's Greatest. Doc. will enter vaudeville in a fine act entitled: Four Brown Brothers & Do. Kealey, on western time with a high-class musical turn, opening at Minneapolis, Dec. 9, and playing to the coast. Doc. is an original comedian and has been identified with the Ringling Brothers' shows for twelve years.
W. H. McFarland, former manager of the Annex with the Hagenbeck-Wallace shows, after a brief stay at West Baden, following a hard season's work, visited the offices of THE SHOW WORLD last week. Mr. McFarland is en route to Venice, Cal., the winter quarters of the Sells-Floto shows, with which he will be identified next season as manager of the side show and concert. Mr. McFarland outlined his plans for the Sells-Floto 1908 side show. During the winter in Venice, Mr. McFarland will put on a Saturday and Sunday show.
Arthur ("Rags") Wollige left Chicago last week for Venice, Cal., to organize and take charge of a high class minstrel sho for W. H. McFarland. Mr. Woolige will be identified with the Sells-Floto side show next season as director of the minstrel entertainment.
Charles McLean, the well known boss canvasman, for a number of years identified with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, is at liberty.
Alfred Witzenhausen, down-town ticket agent of the Ringling Brothers World's Greatest Shows, is in Chicago, after closing a pleasant season on the road, and hs assumed management of the new Twelfth Street Vaudeville theater recently opened. Mr. Witzenhausen has been re-engaged by the Ringling Brothers for the season of 1908.
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Show World, December 7, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 24), pp. 3, 7, 9, 10, 20. All information should be checked with additional sources.
W. H. McFarland, Side Show Manager
W. H. McFarland, has been identified with the show business sicne 1876, his first venture in that field being as a boy magician with the Stone and Murray circus. Since entering the tented arena Mr. McFarland has been identified as side show manager with a number of leading circuses, including the old Adam Forpaugh show; Washburn & Arlington; Kelly & McFarland; Harris Nickel Plate; Forepaugh-Sells Brothers; the Great Wallace; Carl Hagenbeck and Wallace Shows Combined; and now is about to assume the management of the Annex and Concert with the Sells-Floto shows for the season of 1908. Mr. McFarland is forty-seven years old, and has a charming home at Titusville, Fla.
Nellie Revell, The Girl Who Says Things
Ft. Wayne, Ind., Nov. 22. Temple theater . . . I had the satisfaction of renewing acquaintance with Fred Rouen, formerly a gymnast, who used to troupe with me with the John Robinson Circus and is a flyman here now; also Hank Smith, the stage carpenter here, for years with No. 1 Car of the Wallace Shows, also our stage manager here, George H. Fisher, who was one of the opposition fighters in the old days of Cooper & Bailey and many a circus story went the rounds this week; you can almost smell the sawdust.
Louisville, Nov. 30. At the Armory, the Rhoda Royal Indoor Circus opened Monday. The performance is given in two rings and on an elevated stage. The star artists from the big circuses have been engaged by Mr. Royal. The Royal Black Hussars in a distinct innovation entitled, "Gathering of the Garland," and the equestrian novelty entitled, "Threading the Needle," was well received.
Lou Moore and his clown contingent provoke considerable laughter. The game of the rose on the Hippodrome track by riders representing various nations, was a novelty.
The McCree-Davenport troup and their canine pets received prolonged applause. Miss Emma Stickney, America's foremost lady hurdle rider, is a special feature and a good one. The famous Delno Troupe held the big audience spellbound by their daring exhibition. Miss Lulu Davenport, in a clever riding act, and Chester, the remarkable hand balancer, in a series of clever acts, got much applause. Miss Ida Adelade, in flexible physical culture exhibitions, and the Savoys with their troupe of well-trained canines are good. One of the distinctive features is John Agee in a marvelous and daring exhibition of wild west and rough riding.
The Van Diemans on the revolving Devil's Wheel is another novelty that went big. William Marks and Miss Daisy Frantelli are clever and have a good act. John Winslow and his mule made a big act. The flying Nelson Troupe, engaged as a special feature, present a daring act that received prolonged applause.
Iowa, Iowa Falls, Nov. 30. Col. R. M. Harvey, contracting agent with the Barnum & Bailey show last season, has returned to his home at Perry and will look after his opera house interests there until spring, having signed as contracting agent with the Buffalo Bill show for next season.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
There comes a time in life of every individual when he should, if he can, lay down the cares of toil, and pass the balance of his days in peace and quiet, free from the turmoil of business and away from the grinding worries of commercial life. Such a time has come to Mr. Charles Andress, who for the past forty-five years has been identified with the profession of entertainment. THE SHOW WORLD is sorry to announce Mr. Andress' retirement from the amusement arena.
At the age of fifty-five years Mr. Andress has decided to relinquish his interests in amusements and enjoy a well-earned rest, after a life of strenuous endeavor.
Mr. Andress was born in the village of Brockville, Canada, Jan. 15, 1852. The first ten years were spent under his mother's roof, when he was apprenticed with Capt. Thomas, the great English magician, as the boy ventriloquist. He remained with Capt. Thomas for a year and a half, and at the age of twelve started his own show.
Will Write for SHOW WORLD
It would be unfair to Mr. Andress at this time to dwell upon his life story, as that story will be told in THE SHOW WORLD under the caption, "The Ups and Downs of Forty-five Years in Show Life," the first chapter to be inaugurated in the Christmas Number and to be followed in serial form. The story will be profusely illustrated with cuts and pen drawings, demonstrating the experience of a boy starting in show life without guidance or assistance, and by his universal recognition from that branch of the profession to which he chose to devote his energies
The retirement of a circus man is an extraordinary event, for as a rule those identified wih the tented amusements in an executive capacity seldom relinquish the reigns until the Grim Reaper interposes. Circus life is one of activity, constant change, endless variety, and not all sunshine - a life where one must take the bitter with the sweet and call it all good.
Known in Circus Circles
Mr. Andress is well and favorably known to three generations in the circus business. The announcement of his retirement will come not only in the way of a surprise to his confreres with the larger shows, but will be received with no small degree of regret by all who have had the pleasure of being associated with the white tops. Genial, whole-souled and just, he has brightened the lives of a legion in the circus ranks, and his friends are limited only by his acquaintance. In his executive capacity as adjuster he has for a great many years been consulted both in a public and private way by those who desired authentic advice.
One of Mr. Andress' predominant characteristics is his magnificent will power, and this is strikingly illustrated in his withdrawls from activity in the face of many flattering calls made for his services, and in spite of the fact that for many years Mr. Andress has demanded and received the largest salary ever paid to anyone in a like position.
In retiring, Mr. Andress desires to have the circus and other people in the amusement world know that they are not forgotten, and that he is constantly looking at them with eyes of admiration and affection.
Tricks of Free Pass Fiends
James A. Morrow Tells of a Way to Regulate the Nuisance
In further corroboration of the evils of the free pass system encountered "on the road," James A. Morrow, who has been a successful side show manager and adjuster for a number of years, and at present promoting a number of amusement enterprises in Texas, writes THE SHOW WORLD as follows:
"The last issue of THE SHOW WORLD contains a very interesting article commenting on the free circus pass question, and to my mind simply strengthens an argument that I presented to the proprietor of an organization I represented in 1902, viz., All passes should be printed in two colors, and in red ink should inform the holder of same that if for any reason the show does not give a performance on day and date in city mentioned this ticket is VOID AND OF NO VALUE.
"When they accept same it becomes a part of the holder's contract.
"I recall an instance that occurred in Texas a few years ago. A certain show was billed to appear at Dublin, Texas, on Tuesday, Oct. 29, and for some reason the Frisco road would or could not fulfill its obligations which compelled the show to cancel the town and take the Santa Fe road to the following stand. As is usual, the management very promptly sent a trusted agent to Dublin to pay its local bills and make the usual announcements; and was repaid for their straightforward business methods in a mean and contemptible manner.
"A local wise one went from store to store, visited merchants, hotel keepers, property owners and others, gathering up their passes, which on account of its being an opposition stand was estimated at over 200, took the same to Brownwood, Texas, and disposed of them at a discount to the natives. He then returned to Dublin and divided the proceeds with the original holders, some of them being the same parties that the show had paid bills to. This is enough to force circus managers to use some method for protection."
Campbell Bros. Successful
Secretary C. E. Whitney Relates Some Facts About Season's Tour
C. E. Whitney, secretary of Campbell Bros.' circus, called at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD last week while recuperating in Chicago after a strenuous season on the road. Mr. Whitney says the tour just closed was moderately successful, and while not the best experienced, was satisfactory. The working forces are now busily engaged at the winter quarters, Fairbury, Neb., putting up some new buildings, including additional stables and a new ring barn.
The show will not be enlarged next season, but will be improved in all of its departments, and will carry twenty-five cars and two in advance, as heretofore.
During the season just closed no wrecks were experienced, but four days were lost on account of inclement weather. The company is mourning the loss of four of its members, including Charles Campbell (familiarly known as "Doc"), one of the proprietors; C. Mizuno, the head of a Japanese troupe, who had been with Campbell Brothers for seven years, who contracted a severe illness en route to Japan for talent. Upon his return to America he grew steadily worse, and being unable to do any work went back to his fatherland, where he passed away in September. Vernelo, the magician, and a side show orator, were the other two who crossed the great divide.
The tour covered a period of twenty-eight weeks, during which 14,000 miles of territory were traversed in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northa and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Indian Territory, Oklahoma and Texas. The show closed at Winnewood, I. T., Nov. 2.
Among the feature acts re-engaged for the coming season are the Lamy Troupe, Capt. Dimitri and his Cossacks, and Otto Weaver and wife. The show in its working departments is today organized throughout, with the exception of H. L. Kelly, who has been re-engaged as steward, and Paul Gore, who will direct the band as heretofore.
Mr. Whitney, after a pleasant visit, will return to Fairbury this week, and will assume his duties immediately upon arrival at Campbell Brothers' winter quarters.
Wallace Buys Hagenbeck Interest
THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of authentic advice that B. E. Wallace has purchased the Hagenbeck interests in the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Combined Shows, and is now the sole owner of this desirable circus property, including title and good will. It will operate under the same name as heretofore. The show is now at its winter quarters, Peru, Ind., where the work of refitting is under way. Many new attractions will be added, and the circus will enter upon the 1908 tour enlarged and improved in many respects.
The Ringling Brothers have confirmed the persistent rumor which has been current for some time, that the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers shows were to be permanently retired. The property of this organization is to be absorbed into the Ringling Brothers and the Barnum & Bailey shows. The Ringling Brothers intend to make both shows bigger and more compelling in thier drawing powers than ever.
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Thompson, late leading feature with the Buffalo Bill shows, presenting their trained horses, will sail for England from New York on the Minnehaha Dec. 7, to open at the Crystal Palace, London, on Boxing Day, Dec. 24. Mrs. Thompson is to ride her celebrated black mare, Irma G., without bridle or rein, in a high school act, and Mr. Thompson will ride Joe Baily, pronounced by experts to to be one of the best performing horses in the world. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson will remain abroad for an indefinite period.
The Cole Younger and Lew Nichols Shows, a high-class amusement organization with up-to-date moral shows, five sensational free acts and two uniformed bands, is now touring with great success through Texas. The route of the show through Texas follows: Temple, 9-14; Cameron, 16-21; Caldwell, 23-28; Breham, 30 to Jan. 4; Belleville, 6-11; Sealey, 12-18; Smithville, 20-25; Bastrop, 27 to Feb. 1; Elgin, 3-8; Austin, 10-15; Lockhart, 17-22; San Marcoes, 24-29; New Braunfells, Mar. 2-7; San Antonio, 9-14; Parsall, 16-21; Laredo, 23-28; San Diego, 30-April 4; Airie, 6-11; Brownsville, 13-18; Corpus Christi, 20-25; Port Lavasco, 27-May 2; Victoria, 4-9; Gonzales, 11-16; Cuero, 18-23; Eagle Lake, 25-30; Galveston, June 1-6; and Houston, 8-13.
The English stockholders of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, Ltd., held a special meeting in London, on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Canon Street Hotel, to ratify the sale of the Barnum & Bailey Show to the Ringling Brothers, and to appoint a committee of directors to close up the affairs of the company.
John G. Robinson has been laid up for the last three weeks with a broken ankle. He was injured while playing basket-ball, and writes that it has humiliated him very much to think that, after wrestling with elephants, tigers, horses, etc., with a circus for twenty years, he should be placed hors de combat by a game of baseball. he declares that in the future he will play marbles or fly a kite. Mr. Robinson is now able to get about his Cincinnati home with the aid of crutches and hopes to be out and around within a week or so.
Jno. Hathaway and J. Kelly will have the privilege car with the Campbell Bros.' show next season.
Prof. A. W. Reynolds, the director of the Pawnee Bill's Wild West band, is one of the most popular men on the road, as he always has the latest and up-to-date music. He won frequent encores in the tour of the south, where he is popular.
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Show World, December 14, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 25), p. 20. All information should be checked with additional sources.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
At a meeting of the shareholders of Barnum & Bailey, Ltd., held in London, Nov. 23, the affairs of the corporation were ordered to be finally wound up in accordance with the sale of the property some weeks ago. The following resolution was passed: "Having regard to the sale of the company's business, and accordingly that this company be wound up voluntarily, and that Messrs. J. T. McCaddon, D. A. Holmes and A. J. Greenop, three of the directors of the company, be and they are hereby appointed liquidators for the purposes of such winding up." It is expected that several months will be consumed in liquidating the affairs of the company and dividing the surplus among the stockholders.
The second of Walter L. Main's winter quarter buildings at Geneva, Ohio, has been completed, being a structure 80x120 feet, and is a far more substantial building than any of the old ones. Mr. Main has material on hand for a third building. He has been deluged with correspondence from performers, musicians and circus people in general, having received upward of a thousand letters for 1908 engagements. Mr. Main has been enjoying a rest which will be prolonged over the holidays, and will then decide whether or not to put his show on the road the coming season. As he will not be in position to answer applications he requests that artists refrain from sending them to him until he has announced his decision in the columns of THE SHOW WORLD, at which time he will answer all letters.
Among the prominent circus men who were familiar figures in the lobby of the Windsor-Clifton hotel last week were Roy Feltus of the late Forepaugh-Sells Show, who will probably be identified with the Ringling Brothers interests this coming season; Doc Loveridge, agent of the Forepaugh-Sells Show; Dave Jarrett, 24-hour man; Fred Wagner, agent, and Jack Newman, late railroad contractor, of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows; George H. Heiser; Allie Webb, Nick Petit and Charlie White, of the Ringling Brothers Shows; Lon Williams and J. B. Austin, of the Gentry Brothers Shows.
Several candy butchers, who were identified with the Fashion Plate and Forepaugh-Sells Bros. shows during the season of 1907, have formed an organization in Dallas, Tex., where the boys are wintering, known as the "Debuvating Club," which gave a Thanksgiving dinner in Dallas. The members of the organization are as follows: Jack Scobell, president; Gusky Reineman, treasurer; J. J. Holloway, Sir Knight; Jn. Haupt, the Invincible; Curly Flattery, Tom Maxwell, C. Hoyt, Tom Hanby, Homer Gooding, Harry Heath, John Boyd, Andy Krusz, J. O'Donnell, F. Heinig, Timmy Minahan, Ed Streeter and Max Schuettig.
George H. Heiser, the well-known circus agent, who has been identified with some of the leading tented organizatons as contracting agetn, and Nick Petit and Allie Webb, of the Ringling Brothers World's Greatest Shows, were among the distinguished callers to illuminate the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD in Chicago last week.
"Old Sleuth" McIntyre, for a number of years identified with the Harris Nickel Plate Shows, later with the Forepaugh-Sells Shows, has joined the executive staff of Melville B. Raymond, in advance of The Lady and the Lunatic.
Major Gordon Lillie is refitting the Pawnee Bill Show in the winter quarters at Pawnee, Okla., where he opens his season next spring. It is believed that the staff of the show will be practically the same next season as it has been during the past year. General Agent Edward Arlington is spending the winter months at his home in Brooklyn.
Bob Abrams and wife, of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, are wintering in Geneva, O., along with several other well-known people of the White Tops.
The Frank A. Robbins Show is in winter quarters at Glendale Park, N. J., undergoing repairs for the 1908 season.
J. Rial, press representative of the late Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Shows, favored the general office of THE SHOW WORLD with a call last Tuesday. It is quite probable that Mr. Rial will be indentified with the general staff of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth next season.
A rumor reached THE SHOW WORLD last week that the John Robinson Ten Big Shows will not make a tour during the season of 1908. Up to the time of going to press we have been unable to confirm this report.
Among the recent arrivals in Chicago is M. S. Bodkin, who will spend the winter months at his home in this city, after a successful tour of the south recently terminated. Mr. Bodkin has not divulged his plans for 1908, but will undoubtedly be identified with one of the leading tented organizations.
Charles Bruce, of the Bruce Duo, late with the Cole Brothers show, called at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD while in Chicago last week, and said that the season of 1907 had proved a most satisfactory one in every respect. The Bruces are about to inaugurate a vaudeville tour during the winter months, having already booked eighteen weeks.
Charles E. Cory, general manager of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, left for Europe recently for an extended tour, combining business with pleasure. It is presumed that Mr. Corey will pick up a number of European novelties for the Hagenbeck-Wallace big show performances next season.
Charls B. Fredericks, general manager of the Royal Indoor Circus, which recently played a successful week's engagement at Louisville, Ky., called at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD last week, and stated that the prospects for the Royal tour are flattering, as he has booked the show in several of the largest cities, including St. Paul, Minneapolis, Des Moines and Omaha.
101 Ranch Wild West
Miller Brothers, proprietors of the 101 Ranch, Bliss, Okla., and owners of the wild west show of that name, which was the leading feature for a period of twenty weeks at the Jamestown Exposition, brought the show into headquarters at Bliss, Okla, over the Santa Fe, on the morning of Nov. 7. With the exception of some saddle stock which was sold in the east, the entire aggregation returned intact. Unlike other organizations which draft their talent from the four points of the compass, the Miller Brothers simply gave a number of their employes a holiday, so to speak, and an opportunity to seeing the east. The live stock, cowboys, Indians, buffalo, and, in fact, everything shown in the arena came from the 101 Ranch, and upon the show's return to Oklahoma, instead of disbanding and going into winter quarters at great expense, the members have simply gone back to their places made vacant during their absence. It is a noteworthy fact that the exhibition was about the only thing in connection with the Jamestown Exposition which made any money. It is a bit premature to outline the campaign for next year, but should it be deemed advisable to again invade the east, many new and striking innovations, according to the Miller Brothers, will be added to the program, which will entitle the shows to a place in the front ranks as one of the largest and most unique exhibitions of the west.
H. H. Tammen's 1908 Plans
Owner of Sells-Floto Circus Visits Chicago to Buy Equipment
H. H. Tammen, director general of the Sells-Floto Shows and publisher of the Denver Post, and DeWitt C. Webber, general counsel for Sells-Floto circus, favored the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD with a call while transacting business in Chicago last week. They departed for the west Wednesday night, Dec. 5.
During his call, Mr. Tammen stated that the Sells-Floto shows would be materially increased in its car equipment for the coming season, and that the big show program would be one of extraordinary features with plenty of comedy. Spader Johnson will be principal comique.
Rhoda Royal, whose indoor circus is now attracting no small degree of attention in the larger cities, and who for a number of years has been identified with leading circuses, including Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Brothers, Hagenbeck-Walalce and Walter L. Main, will be the equestrian director.
Messrs. Tammen and Webber negotiated for the purchase of considerable show property while in Chicago.
J. Henry Rice, general agent of the Hargreaves Shows, was a caller at the executive offices of THE SHOW WORLD. Mr. Rice reports that while heavy rains were encountered in the beginning of the tour, the season just closed was successful. One of the performers lost his life in Ontario, Can., by falling off a moving train, which marked the only fatality. The show has gone into winter quarters at Hammond, Ind., and will go out in 1908 much improved and enlarged. The leading feature acts and most of the old advance will be re-engaged. Francis Reed will be the general director. Robert ("Diamond") Smith, and John Papperdine, the privilege man, will also make their headquarters during the winter at Hammond. Mr. Rice has been with the Hargreaves Shows for the last six years.
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Show World, December 21, 1907 (Vol. I, No. 26), pp. 4, 5, 9, 13, 39, 54, 77, 96-97, 101, 102, 131. All information should be checked with additional sources.
Ups and Downsof 45 Years with Circus
Written Exclusively For and to be Published in Serial Form by the Show World. By Charles Andress, former official adjuster of Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.
Chapter I.
As I lay down the cares of business, and retire from active participation in their busy whirl of my chosen profession, the striking scenes and incidents making up my career in the world of entertainment flash across my memory in panoramic review. In taking up my pen to record the reminiscences of my life I shall endeavor to bring to the minds of my readers an idea of the hopes and fears, the disappointments and successes, and the multitude of events which can crowd themselves into 45 years of life in the tented world, so vividly as to enable me, in fancy, to live them over again. I trust that the story will prove of interest to show people in generally, and especially so to the younger generation on the threshold of the profession.
My father, Socrates Andress, was a mechanic and wood turner by trade, of French-Canadian extraction. My mother's maiden name was Mary Ladd, of Scotch-Irish parentage. I first say the light of day in Brockville, Canada, Jan. 15, 1852, and my parents moved to a villiage in Michigan called Chesaning when I was two years old.
My father after a time erected a small mill, equipped with turning lathe and tools, and manufactured articles of furniture, the meager proceeds of which were the source of existence of his family, consisting of his wife and five boys, Edwin, Albert, James, Charles and Wilson. Shortly after my father got his little plant installed, he met with a severe accident in the machinery. Proper medical attendance was unheard of in that vicinity at the time, and it ministrations of his lived ones could not defeat the inevitable. After three weeks of agony he passed away, leaving him surviving his widow and five children, the eldest being about 16 and the youngest 2 years of age. I was 4 years old. The art of dispossession as practiced by members of the bar was even at that time in full bloom, and the lawyers soon cheated my mother out of the little plant my father had left as the sole asset of his estate.
The problem of securing a livelihood for a woman alone in the wilds of Michigan in those rugged days when self preservation was the first law of nature and the country, and charity began and ended at home, would have been a serious one. My mother, a frail woman, never weighing more than 100 pounds, with five hungry mouths to feed, faced a condition to quall the stoutest heart. With a bravery born of despair she entered upon her task and no opportunity was allowed to pass which could be utilized. In the struggle for existence she was compelled to take in washing, and I have known her to sit up all night knitting by hand a pair of stockings which she would take to the store in the morning and exchange for food for the ensuing day.
Despite the hardships my mother never lost her faith in Porvidence, and her loving kindness and teachings made possible a life where the barest necessities to us were luxuries. She strove to instill in the minds of her children a desire to live uprightly, and it is due to her teachings that I resolved early in life to follow the path of honesty.
And when in the vicissitudes of my life that path was hard to travel, the memory of that dear mother, and the unselfish example of her life, proved a staff which carried me safely across the tempting byways which ultimately lead to dishonor. It is not my intention to diverge from the subject of this article, but I am moved to express my conviction that it pays to be "on the square." The young man may not give this the deserved thought, but I want to say to you that when you reach the afternoon of life and the snow begins to drift through your locks, and you realize that Nature is giving its first warnings that your race is nearing a finish, and that you will soon stand in the presence of your Maker for judgment, the thought that you have lived rightly will permeate your being with a thrill of pleasure more potent a millionfold than the fleeting enjoyment of that which has been acquired through dishonest practices.
My schooling consisted of four years intermittent attendance at the little log, or slab, schoolhouse. The present generation, with its magnificent educational institutions, surrounded by grassy plots and gardens of flowers, equipped with every comfort which human ingenuity can conceive, will perhaps be amazed that a compulsory edicational law was not necessary to compel the attendance at shcool of the pupils in those days. The heavy snows rendered the roads well-night impassable, and the biting winds made sport of our shabby attire. My mother would fasten stockings and rags around our feet and when we arrived at the schoolhouse we would take them off and hang them by the wood fire to dry, going barefoot in the school all day. The possession of a pair of shoes was theinsignia of aristocracy, and we wore no shoes.
It will thus be seen that I have not had the benefit of even a common school education, and what I have gleaned of worldly knowledge has come to me by observation through many years of travel, assimilation through environment, and the result of hard knocks of practical experience. In this way I gained ideas that could never be absorbed through the perusal of printed pages. For those born in the lap of luxury, and who must co-mingle with the bright minds in the business world, book lore is a necessity. But my destinies were guided by Fate along different lines, and I have necessarily acquired my meager store of knowledge through the opportunites afforded. Before launching into this life story, which is to include reminiscences of 45 years in show business, I desire particularly to pray the indulgent forbearance of my readers for my deficiency in literary ability, and it is perhaps meet that I pause a moment at this point and acknowledge frankly my sincere gratitude to those with whom I have been associated, including the Ringling Brothers, Warren A. Patrick, Barnum & Bailey, Captain Thomas and his wife, and all those who have, in fact, been my tutors, for such knowledge as I have gained in this regard to enable me to express myself grammatically.
My eldest brother, Edwin, and myself were musically inclined, and he was in great demand at country dances, where I would accompany him and play second violin when I was only nine years old. Being gifted by Nature with powers of ventriloquism and mimicry I appeared in many of our school houses and Sunday school entertainments, and this led to my initiation in the show business. A magician by the name of Capt. Thomas who was giving exhibitions in the small towns of Michigan became interested in me and importuned my mother to allow me to accompany him on this tours. The pressing necessity of poverty and the fact that he offered the munificent sum of $19 a month for my services and was supported in his argument by the influence of some of the old town folks, including the tavern keeper, Mr. Fuller, finally overcame my mother's desire to keep me under the maternal roof, and she allowed me to depart from home as an apprentice to a magician.
I was then ten years of age. There were no railroads, and we truged wearily from point to point carrying our paraphernalia on our backs. A jolting ride in the cart of an obliging farmer over the rough roads was to us the epitome of luxury in travel. Arriving at our various destinations, footsore, aching and weary, we would give our exhibitions in school house, dance hall or church, as there were no theaters.
Retiring for the night, I can recall the heartaches experienced by that little homesick boy, lying in his bed, thinking of his mother and his brothers whom he had left for the first time in his life, and forcing back the tears which welled in his tired eyes. There was no telegraphic communication at that time, and letters were few. In his meanderings it was impossible to receive mail, and he was shut off from everything he held dear in the world. The conflicting emotions in his breast fought many a battle, but finally, realizing the responsibilities he had assumed, invigorated by boundless enthusiasm and fired with ambition, his desire for a career conquered, and he buckled on securely the armor of endeavor and determined to win his spurs in the arena of life.
(To be continued next week)
Good Circus Man Knows Much
To Be Proficient He Must Master a World of Details - Written Especially for The Show World. By Alfred T. Ringling.
What is a proficient circus man? What does he need to know? With how many trades and professions must he familiarize himself in order to conduct his business intelligently, economically and successfully? The answer is a thousand times longer than the question, and many times more difficult.
There is probably no other kind of business in all the world that demands from those who conduct it the same knowledge and familiarity of details as the circus business. If detail kills in the proportion that medical men claim, the average life of a circus man would be something less than a year; and yet there are several hundred specimens of health and vigor, who have seen season after season of these arduous tasks and show no lessening of their powers or virility. They die, as a rule - in time - but not like the good - young. Perhaps this lack of goodness saves them from the death-dealing detail. At any rate, they live on and on, and strive winter and summer, the winter for creative work, the summer for exploitation, and season after season sees their smiling, rosy countenances undimmed by time, changelessly, undauntedly looking from the billboards as sprucey as the lithographer's art can make them. Neither "Uncle Sam" nor "Columbia" can beat them at staying young - on the lithographs, and when seen on the lot, in winter quarters or at their favorite rendezvous, you will as a rule find the lithographs are unflattering as to strength, though possibly a little matter of twenty years complimentary as to youthfulness.
Circus Man Is Versatile
The circus man has at all times the brightness that belongs to wear. And why not? Is he not artist and business man at once, mechanic and general, promoter and conservative investor, fearless expender of fortunes and cautious feeler of the public pulse to determine how far his enthusiasm shall carry him; genius to design and plan,and talent to carry into execution, the real wonder among all men of affairs?
Take him first as the artist, because as artist he makes his first appeal to the public, the idealizer of the fierce and foolish, the grand and grotesque, the thrilling and soothing, the big, the little and the common things of the earth into a fairyland of surprising beauty and splendor. He revels in paint, in color, in gold, and from these and something to hang them to he evolves romance. Behold a horse, a man, a few yards of brightly colored cloth and some tinsel, all commonplace, everyday affairs transformed by the circusman into a Knight of Old, resplendant on his charge, haughtily reflecting back to the sun his brilliant rays and making the multitude gape with awe and wonder. See the poor confined beast of the jungle, the carved and ornate cage of his captivity made into a golden throne, from which the circus man makes him appear to be the regal Lord of Brute Creation.
Feats of Acrobat and Gymnast
What are the feats of acrobat and gymnast, divested of the accompanying music and manner of presentation? Wonderful tricks, perhaps, to marvel at and analyze, but scarcely sufficient to give us the thrill and feeling that these are a people of another world, such as the art of the circus man makes them appear. The circus man edifies his audience with a race between two teams of four horses each. He touches them up with the ornaments of the old Roman quadriga and transforms us thentieth century mortals into the presence of Nero, making us feel that we are breathing air redolent with the odor of the blood of slaughtered Christian martyrs.
The shapes, the designs, the ornamentations, the pictures, from the advertisements that herald the coming of the show to the last detail of its glittering parade and eye-pleasing specatcles are all to a greater or less extent the work of the circus man himself. It is his guiding hand that has directed and dictated to the end achieved, and he has been master of all the art details of the show, providing there is unity and symmetry in these as a whole.
How About the Mechanic?
So much for the artist, but how about the mechanic? Here is where he knows it all. He now steps out of his dreamland into the hard world of practical things. He knows that a sheet of paper is 28x42 inches, that printed on with four colors, black, red, blue and yellow, all the colors of the rainbow and the glories of the greatest of all the Greatest Shows on Earth can be pictured, the different kinds of papaer, prices and qualities, how many sheets are in each one of the many bills, how many in the total, the design and get-up of the descriptive books that herald his coming and every detial of cost and distribution. The brake that goes on a cage, a wagon, the kind and quality of harness, collars for horses, weight of heavy wagon to load, horse strength necessary to pull it, sills, platforms, equipment of railroad cars, how they should be painted, what kind of varnish will wear and look the best, the construciton of seats, center poles, lights, tents, feeding troughs for horses, division poles, how a giraffe can be kept alive the longest, the construction of cages for different animals, and so on, ad infinitu, details to the last little item needed to runa traveling circus, each and every one claims the attention and needs the intelligent knowledge of the practical and successful showman. And these are by no means indicative of the minute detail knowledge the showman must posess. Take, as an example, a cage; we will begin at the bottom, the wheels, which are the best to use and of what height and size, how ornament them so that the sundials will not drag in the mud, what kind of an axel to put them on, the springs, the body, the bars, the driver's seat, the length and breadth and general proportions, the weight and strength, the kind of removable sides for exhibiting the animals, the covers for protection of the gilded and richly ornamented vehicle? How this one item grows as we consider its various parts, and yet it is only one item among the multiplicity of things that constitute a circus.
General Organizer Needed
But what of the general? Ah, yes, I almost forgot the general. Yet he is needed to organize the army and order it to march. We must take our artist-mechanic, put epaulets on him, a cocked hat on his head and a sword in his hand to both point the way and to fight, for he must be a fighting man. He is only one, and he may be attacked from a hundred different quarters. He has the whole field to fight against, and there is no quarter to the vanquished. So he goes into the fray when necessary or expedient, and leaves a blood-red trail of dates and lithographs that would make the Battle of Waterloo look like a mothers' conference in comparison. To him, war is not waht Sherman called it - it is just a part of the business - his winter's planning and the summer's campaign. He is always looking for vantage points, ever on the alert for surprise attacks, and he routes and consels, measures strength and advantage, sends his scouts here, his sentinels there with his army ever moving for the hoped for conquest, and win or lose, his corps of war correspondents (the press agents) make victory their reports. "Ah, how we slaughtered them at Pine Bluff! It was pitiful about the opposition. All paper, regular snowheaps of it! Such dreadful carnage! But how we packed 'em to the ringbank, turned them away in droves, had to hook-rope the ticket wagon off the lot! So loaded with money!" And among them all, none is ever defeated until the dismal day of the sheriff's sale; but once out, he is out for good, for never yet has a fallen general of the circus arena ascended to a place of command. But after all, the poor fallen ones were not all that they should have been. Their makeup was incomplete; they were not artists, businessmen, mechanic, general, promotor, conservative investor, genius to command and talent to execute, all in one, for the man who can be all of these - and then some - why, he's the man.
The Ringling Brothers
Romantic Life Story of the Monarchs of the Circus World
Ringling Brothers are now the largest circus owners in the world. The three shows that focus capital into the millions, and employ people into the thousands, belong to them. Their influence is world-wide, and their physical holdings make them the greatest proprietors in circus history. Their rapid rise to the hightest honors of the business has the savor of romance and is peculiarly and creditably American. A score of years ago they were hardly known.
In 1884 five wholesome youths started out form their home town, Baraboo, Wis., to run a small wagon show. The mechanical effects were carried in eight wagons and one elephant made up the menagerie. Now they own more than fifteen hundred horses and nearly one hundred elephants. Each year their show has been added to solidly and impressively. In 1888 they quit the wagon means of transportation from town to town for railroad service. Two years later their rolling stock numbered thirty cars. About this time the acknowledged leaders of the circus business began to take serious notice of this aggressive Western concern. It had passed the quivering line of doubt and undertainty and was flourishing like the scriptural tree. Prestige, resources and confidence were written in bold and growing letters under the name of Ringling Brothers. The public liked their performance, the critics liked their grit and methods. This was too much for the traditional circus rings, so they sharpened their blades, refilled their powder pouches and started upon a campaign of destruction.
Opposition shows appeared the same day in the same town with Ringling Brothers. The feeling was ugly and the bemedaled heroes of many fierce circus wars were pitted against the five loyal, brave, resourceful brothers. Charles Ringling and Alfred T. Ringling, who inspire and control the publicity work of the wonderful organization, are keen judges of human nature, and always have for aides men who think and act quickly and dependably. Every move that wasmade to depreciate or injure the World's Greatest Shows was met manfully and defeated.
Meanwhile the show kept growing, profits were turned into additions and improvements, the fame of the firm name spread to all parts of the globe, opposition grew less active and timid, and, finally one morning the associated press surprised the world by stating the late James A. Baily had sold a half interest in the Adam Forepaugh & Sells Brothers shows to Ringling Brothers, who were to manage it.
Dan Rice's Famous Show
Through the courtesy of John E. Williams, the well-known city billposter of Oshkosh, Wis., the Billposter and Distributor, THE SHOW WORLD is enabled to present herewith a minature reproduction of one of Dan Rice's old programs, giving an interesting review of some of the special acts and features of his celebrated show as it toured the country more than forty-five years ago. The particular performance, in connection with which this program was issued, was given at Oshkosh on Saturday night, July 12, 1862, before an immense audience. Mr. Williams - then only a mere lad - witnessed this exhibition, in company with a score of other youngsters, all of whom were enthusiastic admirers of America's most famous and popular clown, the great and only Dan Rice.
J. D. Newman
A well known circus railroad contractor is J. D. ("Jack") Newman, who handled the railroad work for the Carl Hagenbeck and Great Wallace Shows Combined last season.
Cole Brothers Shows
[Advertisement] Wanted. Mackay's European Circus. Performing animal act to feature elephant, den of lions or leopards. Season opens June 15, 1908; Detroit, Mich. Address: Andrew Mackay, mgr., Rose Melville Sis Hopkins Co. Permanent address: 83 West Fort St., Detroit,MIch.
With the White Tops
News of the Tent Shows
The Sun Show, as it is familliarly known everywhere, is now in its thirty-sixth week of the present season, and still has five more weeks to fill, before it concludes an unusually pleasant and profitable tour.
During the current season, the show traversed the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
The opening occurred April 3, at Macon, Ga. The largest towns played by the show were Atlanta, Ga., and Louisville, Ky, and the smallest place visited was River Junction, Florida.
The show experienced no railroad wrecks or accidents, and no fatalities occurred during the summer. The general health of the people has been good, very little sickness prevailing. This can in a measure be accounted for because of the excellent sanitary arrangements in force both on the lot and the sleeping cars, and also the furnishing of pure water each day, the show employing its own miniature filtering plant, which is used to furnish pure water for all drinking purposes about the show. The management also carries its own physician, who is engaged to look after the wants of both employes and patrons of the show.
The show will again winter at Macon, Ga., using the beautiful and commodious Central City Park for the purpose. This place is conceded to be the finest and most healthful spot to be found anywhere for wintering a show.
Extensive plans are underlined for the next season. While the size of the show will remain the same, the general appearance of the aggregation will be greatly enhanced and newly embellished. This, together with a strong array of novel acts and features, also the advertising ideas, will make it doubly attractive. The seventeenth season (1908) will open during the latter part of March.
Roster of the Sun Show
This is the roster of the show at the present time:
Performers: The La Pasque Troupe, The Linsley Trio, Francis J. Boyle and Co. (four people), the Lignier Trio, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ashborne, Michael Cahill and Vivian Dinsmore, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Young, Eddie Vernell, Frederick Wright, William O'Dale, Master George Sun Jr., Matinho Dutton, Comical Runnels and the Ortana Sisters. William O'Dale is the Amusement Director.
Big Show Band: John Shelly, Howard Wartluft, William J. Hastings, Jack Grattan, O. F. Lassiter, Ed Lassiter, W. W. Plank, Edward Phelps, Arthur Bryant, Sam Cotton, Thos. Jasper, Harrison Thompson and Charles Gerlach, Bandmaster.
Working Bosses and Chiefs: James C. Cherry, master mechanic; Jack Benson, stake and chainman; Henry Richards, boss canvasman; Jas. Redmond, assistant boss canvasman; William (Uncle Bill) Randolph, boss hostler; J. L. Johnson, assistant boss hostler; Peter Eastwood, superintendent of dining tents; Thos. Hughes, superintendent of Bolte & Weyer light plant; Wilson Adams, superintendent filtering plant; Chas. Haeberle, Sr., blacksmith; John Johnson, barber; Claude Kent, trainmaster; Joseph Warwick, side-show boss canvasman; Adolph Phillips and Bill Greasly, car porters; Albert Oleson, boss property-man; William Guest and Dan Watts, cooks; Jos. Royal, head waiter, with twelve assistants.
Advance Forces: M. Burgower, local contracting agent; J. L. Springer, special agent; Chas. W. Gildre, advance car manager; Bert Moore, boss billposter, with fourteen general advertisers.
Ticket Sellers: Moses (Forest) Bermann, chief side-show solicitor; Connie Boyle, Jack Morgan, Jack Young, side-show solicitors; Col. H. H. Sylvester, chief reserved seat selelr; Bob Cook, Tom Lignier, assistants; J. Forest, chief concert tickets; Jack Morgan, Sam Williams, Jack Young and Tim Andrews, assistants.
Michael (Orton) Cahill, charge big show ticket wagon. J. J. Linton, charge of up-towon ticket office.
Oscar Rodgers, manager privilege car. George Thomson, boss candy butcher.
Clever Performers for 1908
For the season of 1908, the following clever performers have signed to appear in the "Big Show" performance: The Avalon Troupe (three people), the La Pasque Troupe (four people), Francis J. Boyle and Co. (four people), the Linsley Trio, E. Kirk Adams and Co. (three people), Harvey and Adams, the lignier Trio, Eddie Vernell, Frederick Wright, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Young, Theodore Arthur, A. C. Minen [Millen?], Frank F. La Vell and William O'Dale.
Charles Gerlach will continue as bandmaster, and will greatly augment his already splendid musical organization.
The tour through Florida up to the present writing has been a gala one. The weather is simply delightful and of the balmy tropical variety.
Boating, fishing and hunting are the three pleasurable pursuits engaged in each day by the performers and musicians. The no street parade idea allows the majority of the people to spend the morning in these outings.
Great preparations are being made for the Christmas day stand which will be at Miami, Florida. The Sun Show for the last three seasons has spent the Yuletide day at this beautiful ideal city. A special programme of amusements has been arranged for the morning. After the matinee an elaborate Christmas dinner will be served, which will be as attractive and up-to-date, as is possilbe to give under canvas. There will also be a mammoth Christmas tree with an abundance of presents and remembrances for the members and employes of the show.
Walter K. Hill, who is acting in a special capacity for the Kohl & Castle vaudeville interests in Chicago during the winter months, will report for duty in February in New York City to assume the position of press representative for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
It is reported on the Chicago Rialto that Col. Hugh Harrison, the famous side show orator and Kentucky gentleman, who for a number of years was identified with several of America's leading tented organizations, but who for the past twelve months has conducted a diamond brokerage in Seattle, Wash., will be affiliated with the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth next season in the capacity of manage of the annex. This report has not been confirmed, but so persistent is the rumor that we are led to believe that there must be ample ground for it.
Ed Delevan, Burt Weaver, Stanley Dawson and Ed Kirkendall of the Ringling Brothers Shows were shopping in Chicago last week and favored the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD with a call. Ed Delavan is the son of the famous boss hostler, Spencer Delavan, who has made the stock of the Ringling Brothers World's Greatest Shows famous the world over.
Fred Wagner, long identified with the Wallace Shows, and to be one of the contractors in the advance of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows during 1908, favored the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD with a call while in Chicago last week.
Bernie Wallace, treasurer, and James Davis, caterer, of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, have established a grill room in Peru, Ind., which is said to be one of the best appointed restaurants and cafes in the state of Indiana.
Harry Curtis, manager of the Cole Brothers Show No. 1 Advance Car, is wintering in Peru, Ind.
Thomas Rankine, late principal orator with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, is spending the winter months at hsi home in Chicago, and is a frequent caller at the general offices of THE SHOW WORLD. He has not divulged his plans for the coming season.
Steve Miaco, late of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, has booked southern time, and with his vaudeville act will be a feature at the Tampa Fair.
For the first time in many years Julian's Amphitheater at Havana, Ill., will not be the practice headquarters of well known circus people. An option has been secured on the groung it occupies by a mercantile firm and the building will probably be torn down. The place was the winter home of Billy Melrose, Slivers Oakley, Fred Ledgett, Dallie Julian, Linda Jeal, and other circus people for several seasons.
"Gus" Kraft and his trick mule "Dixie" after two months at their home near Havana, Ill., will spend the winter in Florida and other parts of the South playing fairs and similar events. The Forepaugh-Sells show has re-engaged the hurdling pair for 1908.
Mr. and Mrs. George W. O'Dole, who performed their respective unsupported ladder and wire acts with the Sells-Floto shows last season, will spend the winter at Havana, Ill.
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Lowande are still in California and will go with the Sells-Floto shows again next season as equestrians.
G. S. Van Osten, who has been the "checker up" for the Barnum & Bailey Shows the past few years is visiting his people in Tioga, Pa. "Van" will be with Mr. Cooke the coming season in the same capacity with the Buffalo Bill Show.
C. F. Hafley, who was formerly known in the vaudeville and tented world under the name of Frank C. Smith, has just closed a successful season with the 101 Ranch Wild West Show and has returned to Chicago, where he is booking several acts which he controls, for next season. His wife, Wenona, the Rifle Shot, also arrived here last week.
Opposition Brigade Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows
One of the most remarkable groups of circus agents was taken on Umbrella Rock, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tenn., Sunday, Sept. 15, 1907, a reproduction of which appears herewith. The party consists of the opposition brigade of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, under Frank Purcell, and includes Harry Stoop, manager Stoop's Bill Posting Co., Chattanooga, and Will F. Gardner, agent of the Candy Kid company, now en route. The H. & W. agents were particulary active in the opposition fight with the Buffalo Bill Shows.
Annie Tasma Sutton
One of the leading members of the famous Van Dieman Revolving Aerial teeth gymnasts is Annie Tasma Sutton, the outside whirles of that aggregation. She was the first to produce the teeth swivel act and revolving aerial wheel at the Tivoli theater, Adelaide, S. Australia, Feb. 23, 1901. Since that time she has toured the Orient, Philippine Islands, China, Manchuria, Japan and Sandwich Islands. She toured Mexico with Orrin Bros., 1902-03 and is now in vaudeville.
Columbus, The World's Greatest Dancing Horse
Ridden by M'lle. Somerville
The only horse doing Rag, Buck Dance, Two Step, etc. Works on any stage without a mat. Featured with Pawnee Bills' Wild West, season 1906, and 101 Ranch Wild West, season 1907. Weona & Frank Co., World's Sensational High-Class Rifle Experts. Originators of Science, Comedy, Music and Refinement in a Shooting Act. Featured with Pawnee Bills' Wild West, season 1904-5-6, and 101 Ranch Wild West, season 1907.
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