Thursday, November 29, 2007

Mabel Stark with Al G Barnes Circus 1934 possibly

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the back drop around the arena? Would this have been taken inside the menagerie? Doesn't look like much height to the tent.

Buckles said...

This isn't a tent, it's a practice area set up in winter quarters.
Since Miss Stark is in wardrobe, she must be posing for publicity pictures. Side wall might be hung to obstruct view of the activity in the background.

Roger Smith said...

Something vanished this comment last night. Maybe the new sending format.

We had this photo above the inside office door at the Compound and of course it was stolen during our closing auction. I have an entire set of these, very posed for publicity as Buckles notes. I have 11 x 17s of some of these. On the back of one, the year 1920 is written in pencil.

Roger Smith said...

I meant to note on the back of one of the photos in this set, 1920 (and nothing more) is written in pencil.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all your comments. It looks like I was way off on this one. I read in a local newspaper microfilm dated Oct 1934, Stark was working a 20 tiger act. I only count ten here.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone offer an explaination of the arena sections resting on poles over the cage?

Anonymous said...

Now we know why Forbes built his arena sections so strong. They were to hold up 1/4 poles and spare sections to keep the new cats from jumping out and over the cage during training sessions during the winter. I can count 12 tigers in this photo.
P.J.Holmes

Anonymous said...

I'm still trying to figure out this new way to comment.

The arena sections atop the poles may have provided a sort of psychological barrier to animals calculating a leap for freedom, but the space left open makes me wonder still what the thought truly was. Roger Smith