Thursday, July 21, 2005

Barnum & Bailey 1917/ The Greatest Show on Earth


I like this picture, maybe I should have had Shannon sharpen it up a bit. White City must have been an Amusement Park which would account for the roller coaster. The lot looks very tight with not enough room to erect the menagerie tent so the animal dens were placed in an oval with elephants standing in two rows butt to butt, the lead stock (camels, zebras, etc.) next and the three wagons beneath that would be the giraffe dens. For obvious reasons this is called a "corrall menagerie".
You may note that the big top has eight center poles which made the tent well in excess of 300' in length. From the size of the crowd it looks like the show made the nut that day.
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 7/21/2005 06:21:00 AM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckles,

Please have Shannon sharpen that image. That picture is amazing. I would love to see it at it's best. I remember whent eh Barnum and Bailey was the Greatest Show on Earth. It's too bad of corporate greed got the best of it.

21 July, 2005 08:35
Anonymous said...

That's a wonderful picture. It really makes my day. It brings back many terrific memories from my time in the circus. Back when the circus was king. Thanks for the pictures. RBBB circus is still the best the US has to offer.

21 July, 2005 08:49
Anonymous said...

The picture is ok. I have seen larger tents in Europe. The European circus doesn't get the credit it deservers. The European circus in it's prime had much better showfolk then what RBBB has today.

21 July, 2005 09:05
Anonymous said...

White City was a southside amusement park by the El with a well known coaster called The Flash. I believe it closed in the '30's. The name I think came from the glow of the many lights it burned at night.

As Chicago currently debates a ban on circus animals they might want to collectively recall that they once knew how to have "fun." Presently its so hard to remember "fun" when you have a couple feet of Animal Liberationist broom stick shoved up where the sun don't shine. Political Correctness is painful.

21 July, 2005 09:08

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