Monday, December 31, 2007

1908 Barnum & Bailey Program #7


Scan000010657, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

it looks like there may be more riding acts in this one show than exist in the entire world today. and i can remember when it seemed like almost every show -- at least almost every major show -- featured a riding act.

Buckles said...

In those days most everyone owned a horse which he had to harness up each day to fetch the groceries or even go to work.
Consequently they appreciated seeing one that was well disciplined.
I remember the great riding acts when all indoor circuses had dirt rings. When they went to ring mats there were fewer and with the advent of cardboard surfaces they disappeared completely.

Anonymous said...

Buckles; Beautiful job of scanning. These pages are as clear as a bell.

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Am I missing it somewhere, or was there no cage act?

24-HOUR-MAN said...

I remember them bringing dirt into the building for the circus, now they take it out.
One winter they brought frozen dirt into the Public Hall in Cleveland, & the acts all drove in to set up. By the end of the day the dirt had thawed & the trucks were all stuck in the mud, and had to be pulled out.

Anonymous said...

during the early part of the century there were often no cage acts on ringling or barnum and bailey. if i'm not mistaken, for a few years the only times ringling had a cat act was when they brought beatty into the garden and boston, then he went on the road with hagenbeck wallace and ringling went on the road with no cage act.