Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus 1932/ Elephant herd

When John Ringling purchased the American Circus Corporation in 1929 the five circuses included 57 elephants ranging from 13 with Hagenbeck-Wallace to 9 with Sparks. By 1932 however, due to the Great Depression two of the shows had already been taken off the road. The John Robinson elephants were divided between Hagenbeck-Wallace and Sells-Floto which was easily accomplished since all three herds shared the same barn in Peru. Above we see Cheerful Gardner's 1931-32 twenty elephant herd with H-W and directly behind the second man from right are two of the males "Tommy" (one tusk) and "Prince". Absorbing the Sparks elephants into the Ringling-Barnum herd was also a "no brainer" since the Sparks Show shared the Sarasota Quarters and all they had to do was change the title on the bull car. This brought the RBBB herd up to 41 dispite the fact that the 1933 "50th Anniversary" tour boldly claimed 50 elephants.