Saturday, March 17, 2007

Hagenbeck-Wallace Parade #13


Finally here is a wagon that I actually made parade with in 1954 with King Bros. Circus.
It dated back to the Gentry Show in the early 1900's.
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Posted by Buckles at 3/17/2007 06:10:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there were two of this style, called the "Gentry Twins," and the one that was with Hagenbeck-Wallace wasn't the same one that was later with the King show and still later at the Hall of Fame in Peru.

These were built in Peru by Sullivan and Eagle for two Gentry units in 1902. One went with the show James Patterson bought, later to the King brothers and on their shows under the Gentry, Main and Cole titles, to the aborted Ingraham-Rutherford show, ended up with George Christy who sold it to Dr C S Karland Frischkorn who put in on rubber pneumatics and from him to Floyd King.

The other one has a foggy early history but by 1916 was on Jerry Mugivan's John Robinson under which title it remained through 1924. The Corp may have leased it to the 1925 Gollmar show and definitely to the 1926 Heritage show. Jess Adkins of Hagenbeck-Wallace picked it for their great 1934 parade and it was left at Peru to be burned in the great pre-WW II fire there.

17 March, 2007 11:17
Buckles said...

I wondered about that, the calliope Floyd King had was a steam calliope.

17 March, 2007 12:01
Anonymous said...

Each of these wagons served at different times to house either a steamer or an air calliope. Bradbury thought the Hagenbeck-Wallace one began life with a steam calliope but by it's days on the Robinson show held an air model.

The one on the King show was apparently an air cally wagon for most of its days. The steamer that was later installed in it was said to come from the Water Queen showboat.

I wonder if some reader can help me with the following: In 1963 we played Winona, Minnesota with Beatty-Cole. There was an old steamboat on display there and nearby I saw what I thought was the King Bros calliope wagon covered by a tarp. Years later the King cally was sold to the Hall of Fame in Peru and I never did find out for sure if what I saw in Winona was the same wagon. Any help out there?

17 March, 2007 13:22

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