Thursday, February 08, 2007

Christy Bros. Circus 1920's #3

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Posted by Buckles at 2/08/2007 06:05:00 AM

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are the Tom Tucker-built cages that were later used to house the Beatty act on the Cole show starting in 1935.

08 February, 2007 08:14
Anonymous said...

Great set of photos. Cage wagons must have just been dropped by the Mack truck coming from the train. The group of four still pinned together. Animal dept gear on the ground to take care of their charges before parade. Photo must have been taken in the summer as the side boards are not on the cages. Always wondered where shows put them in the summer as I can't remember seeing them left on the flats,and that would have been tuff to work around for the train crew. Maybe had racks in the stock cars or something. Also wondering about the -CB- logo on the Christy cage wagons. If that helped in the decision of naming the Cole show? All that equipment being purchased from George and all they had to do was change the name and leave all the other logo's and scroll work on the wagons.
regards,
P.J.Holmes

08 February, 2007 10:21
Anonymous said...

On the Christy Bros. 5 ring Circus wagons built by Tom Tucker they were built right here in my home town of Beaumont, Texas, at the Gates handle factory building.
Also the show wintered here as well as Lee Bros. before they went to South Houston, Texas.
My folks told me in the winter time you could go out to the old fairgrounds and see the animals.
Fred Pfenings Bandwagon had a great year by year articles on christy Bros.
The best story was when George had an elephant with a cold and they cured it with a mustard plaster plus a gallon of moonsine that eh sheriff found for them.
Also the Chrsity show played two different towns in one day that was a logistical feat by rail in those days.
My old circus buddy and long time elephant enthusist from Houston, Texas, H. T. "Tex" Dreyfus was invited to Christy's birthday party and I went along and got to meet the man, and what a thrill for a circus nut like me.
Also from Tex Dreyfus I have in my collection the Chrsity contract from Everett James, bandmaster and father of the famous Harry James that was in the Chrsity band on drums and Terrell Jacobs contract also.
On the Cole Bros. name, wasn't it due to Floyd King, as he used it many years before and there was alot of paper at many of the printing houses that they could get real cheap???
I wish I could have been in Galveston, Texas to see the Christy parade when they had a flood and the water was deep down town and the calliope player played sailing sailing.
Harry Kingston
Beaumont, Texas former winter home of christy Bros. and Lee Bros. Circuses.

08 February, 2007 21:02
Anonymous said...

Once I was driving through South Houston and suddenly I recognized the old Christy winterquarters, or at least the main building. I pulled in and asked about Mr Christy and was reminded that he was the mayor and could be found at the city offices. So I drove up there and had a nice chat with the old Showman. Very enjoyable visit. He said he planned to write an autobiography and told me a story about giving an elephant an enema. Several years later he went to at least one Milwaukee parade and so a lot of people got to meet him there. I don't recall if Pfred's later bio on Christy mentioned the enema incident.

Yes, Harry, I think Floyd King did suggest the Cole title and on some of the new Cole Bros heralds they did use cuts that he had used on his Cole Bros. They may have been around since Martin Downs had the title out. I am not sure that any posters from Dr King's show were used by the Adkins-Terrell endeavor but they may have in the early days.

P M McClintock once wrote a dandy story about the Cole title and Erie litho.

09 February, 2007 11:00
Buckles said...

My father always spoke ill of George Christy claiming that after the show closed in 1930 a number of elephants were virtually starved to death.
In one of his letters he wrote "the elephants were forced to survive on cotton stalks and the west wind."
The two I got to know, "Dixie" and "Myrtle", were both stunted so there may have been something to it.

09 February, 2007 11:28

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