Richard Reynolds comments on Barnum & Baliey Giraffe picture

Richard reponds to this article CLICK HERE TO SEE THAT ARTICLE This photograph, though in the 1914 B&B program, was probably taken several years previous. The annual programs for B&B, Ringling and RBBB often ran photos of animals taken years earlier than the date of the program. This photo shows only three giraffes. The B&B press books of 1907, 1908 and 1909 refer to the three giraffes in the B&B menagerie. They were males Tom and Fritz and female Mary. This picture likely shows them. The man is almost certainly Andrew Zingraben (1861- 1931). A native of Hungary he joined B&B during its European tour. He was a veteran animal keeper with a long association with Hagenbeck. B&B bought two giraffes from Hagenbeck while they were in France in 1902 and Zingraben was employed to look after them, bringing them back to the USA with the rest of the show at the end of the 1902 tour. When B&B bought these two giraffes, their menagerie was without that animal. The earlier one had died on the ocean voyage from USA to England at the end of the 1897 tour so B&B had no giraffe on its European tour until the two joined out near the end in France. The two 1902 giraffes went out in 1903 but one was lost early in the season. The other made the tour but was injured on the way back to Bridgeport winter quarters and died shortly after the show arrived there. For the next year (1904) Bailey acquired four giraffes and placed them under Zingraben’s care. Two of them were Mary and Fritz. Zingraben was with B&B throughout its years as a separate show under Ringling control. He was with RBBB from the 1919 merger until his death in Sarasota on September 24, 1931. Owing to the devastation of the Great Depression, John Ringling had closed the show in Atlanta on September 14th. Zingraben went to quarters with his giraffes and died only 10 days after the final date in Atlanta. At the time of his demise one of his females was pregnant. She gave birth the following year in Harrisburg, PA. The new calf was named “Andy” in memory of him. Zingraben’s giraffes were the first breeding group with a circus. The first was born in 1910, followed by calves in 1912, 1914, 1916, plus the one born in 1932. In order those calves were: Jennie (or Jenny), born in 1910 - - later sent to the Boo based Ringling show and then placed on loan with the Bronx zoo because the merged outfit of 1919 had too many giraffes to carry on the road. At the Bronx she was bred and produced calves. She was again with calf when Hagenbeck Wallace picked her up while playing the Bronx on June 20, 1933. She gave birth to the calf in Peru just before the start of the 1934 season. Alas, owing to careless, negligent, and rough handling of the giraffe wagon while being loaded onto the flat cars in Peru to start the season, she fell, broke her neck and died. (Her calf made the 1934 H-W tour), Jenny had a longevity of over 24 years, the record for a circus giraffe, albeit many of those years spent in the comfort of the Bronx zoo. Harry, born 1912. one report had him with Ringling by 1914 and another said he was with B&B that year. Death date unknown. Annie (a/k/a Anna) born 1914. Died with RBBB on Aug. 9, 1934 at Peoria, IL. She had a 20 year longevity, very good for a circus giraffe. Louise born 1916. Died aboard the RBBB circus train at night en route from Columbus to Cincinnati on July 18-19, 1934. - -i.e., two giraffes lost within 3 weeks in the summer of 1934. Andy born in 1932 to Annie (see above). Died in the terrible menagerie fire in Cleveland in 1942. He sired the calf Henrietta born in Madison Square Garden in 1940. The mother of the first four of these calves was Mary. She joined B&B in 1904 and died with RBBB at Aurora , IL on July 21, 1924 - -a remarkable animal - -four calves and 20 years of trouping. Since she was wild born and about 2 or 3 year old when acquired by B&B in 1904, we must put her down as about 23 years old when she died. That is the best longevity for a giraffe that spent all her years on the road (as contrasted with Jennie who spent a long time at the Bronx zoo). Incidentally, the all time record for a giraffe in captivity is 37 year and one month, held by a female who lived in Miami from October 1958 to November 1995, first in the old Crandon Park zoo and then at the new Miami Metrozoo. Some wonder about the enclosure in which the B&B giraffes were exhibited as shown in the picture. They were rigid metal mesh pens, comprised of detachable panels.. When disassembled the panels were attached to the sides of the giraffe wagons for transportation. When assembled, a pen for four giraffes extended across the middle of the menagerie from the public viewing area on one side of the tent to that on the other side. B&B seems to have been the first with these rigid giraffe pen panels. They had them as early as 1904. Photos of the Ringling set up in the early years of the 20th century show giraffes enclosed within a pen whose sides look like heavy fish net hung between poles arranged in a rectangle.