Monday, July 23, 2007

Ringling Bros. animal dens #6


Scan10100, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 7/23/2007 06:12:00 AM

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know which of these animal dens were used (if any?) in the Great Milwaukee Circus Parade during the mid-'80's? I rode twice in wagons (one year with a lion, another year with a liger). The liger in I were in a Howe's Great London wagon, but it seems the other year may have been this wagon, or one very similar. Any CWM readers remember? Thanks

23 July, 2007 19:02
Dick Flint said...

Pat, none of these Ringling cages survive. If one side of the cage wagon you rode was closed and you recall corner statues on the wagon, then it would be one of two wagons at Baraboo. Both were constructed in the winter of 1882/83 for the Barnum & London show, part of an order of nearly a dozen constructed by Fielding Brothers of New York City. Only two survive from this grand group of wagons, regarded as probably the most beautiful set of cages ever constructed, and both are at Baraboo. Page boy figures grace the corners of one of the wagons but none are the figures original to that wagon; the other wagon features a whiskered gent on each corner. The Howes Great London wagon is no where near as old and is a plain cage with bars on both sides. Perhaps those involved with the parade in the 80s can be more specific as to which cage you rode each year.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

23 July, 2007 21:00
Dick Flint said...

The B&B pony hitch posted by Pete Holmes is one of the cages that were part of the Fielding order of 1882/83 I just described. Two of the four corner statues survive but the rest of the wagon rotted away in a Connecticut field in the 1930s.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

23 July, 2007 21:06
Anonymous said...

Thanks for your response, Dick. It must have been one of the two you described. The Howe's wagon you describe is correct; it was a very simple wagon, painted yellow, with a minimal amount of scrolling. The other was larger and far more ornate, but I can't remember if the carved corner figures were the "whiskers" or page boys. I have some photos of it, but they're on your side of the Pacific. Thanks again for the information!

24 July, 2007 07:07
Anonymous said...

The cage in this photo was assembled for the re-issue of Forepaugh-Sells in 1910-1911. It went to Ringling 1912/1913-1918 and then RBBB until they replaced the menagerie cages. The statues are from the 1879 Barnum "Orchestmelochor" organ wagon. The cage went to Ralph Emerson's wild animal farm and was then bought by a donor on behalf of CWM. There it was reconstructed as a replica, utilizing the undergear and the three remaining corner statues. So, it does survive, to a degree, in design and spirit, like "Old Ironsides."

One of the centurions or Roman soldiers from the big Ringling tiger cage, #65, is also at CWM. It likely came from a Forepaugh wagon.

The yellow Howes cage, #82, was reconstructed and now looks as it did on Golden Bros. in the early 1920s If you went to Baraboo you would not see the wagon as it was when you rode inside of it. It and the twin, the orange-painted #81, were Disney-reconstructed replicas. The skyboards and other details applied by Disney, including the faux number 82, were removed during the reconstruction. It now looks as it did while in actual circus service, not as on a movie lot in the mid-1950s.

The two original "page boy" corner figures missing from the Barnum & London tableau cage at CWM are in the Shelburne Museum. They were "whisked away" from South Houston, Texas, where the wagon was parked on George Christy's property. That was not a sanctioned removal, but the statute of limitations on the theft expired years ago.

The pony team is pulling the ex-Howes 1871 pony float, the vehicle that preceeded the steam calliope in B&B parades. It's not one of 1880s tableau cage.

24 July, 2007 08:32
Anonymous said...

Apologies to Sir Flint, the Holmes pony hitch photo shows a 1883 B&L tableau cage. There's another B&B pony hitch photo that includes the dragon. That is the one to which the comment is directed.

24 July, 2007 08:47
Anonymous said...

Thanks everyone for the wealth of information, and to you, Buckles, for providing this forum. I look forward to reading the blog daily!

24 July, 2007 17:32
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Ms. White,
You rode in a wagon like this, with the cat loose in the wagon, on parade?
If so, that seems AMAZING to me.

24 July, 2007 19:06
Anonymous said...

Casey, Larry Allen Dean road in someting similiar with one of his lions on RBBB. Nice talking with you today. I see by the poster's that you will be in Richmond on the 16th of August. Will look forward to seeing you. Wade Burck

24 July, 2007 20:47
Anonymous said...

Thanks, Casey. yes, they were loose. The liger was quite young, but the lion was an adult (it's just no one ever told the him he wasn't a St. Bernard! He was extraordinary). I have been very fortunate, I've had many wonderful cats over the years.

25 July, 2007 05:06
Anonymous said...

When Mary Ruth and Eloise were together on their first circus [King Cristiani] and being generally useful, Eloise would be the Snake Charmer and work the fighting lion in the side show and also ride in the small cage mounted on a straight job truck, with the lion in the daily street parade. Being somewhat of an intellectual she would sit on one of the reseve seat folding chairs and relieve the monotomany of the daily parade by reading a book, with the lion laying in the cage. Later, the next season on King Bros. Carlos Leal. the fire eater would ride with same lion, etc.

My Dad told me that it was traditional for a wild anaimal trainer to do just that and certainly old showman Floyd King would be aware of that and also Historian-Director Chappie Fox would have it a part of the Milwaukee Parade when possible.

25 July, 2007 08:40
Anonymous said...

In the wonderful discussion on animal cages your readers my enjoy this; In that very same King Bros. street parade I was one of the mounted parade marshals making the daily hike. The semi trailer hippo den slunk so low to the ground in the middle that it apperared ready to break in two, and on the hot days the hippo would lay in the tank of water. Standing on the main street corner with the towners, usually in front of the leading hotel would be a nondescript man with suit and tie on, who appeared to be maybe a doctor, lawyer, etc. with a yard stick in his hand. As the hippo den approached he would step forward and with the yard stick would reach thru the bars and try to get the hippo out of the water and on the deck to be seen. This was none other than Floyd King the bespecalled owner of the show and a little eccentric to be sure. He loved the parade, the hippodrome races in the big show and the wild life "ding Show" on the midway. He was soft spoken and referred to all of us as "son". What a guy.

25 July, 2007 09:15
Casey McCoy Cainan said...

I suppose every effort was made to insure horses were not passed by the cage while you were inside, I just remember taking the Franzen cage truck in some parades and the cats bouncing off the walls trying to get passing horses, dogs, or anything else. I wouldn't want to be in there without a seat for them to stay on.

25 July, 2007 10:18

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