| My dad wrote on the back: A strange picture, looks like it was posed, sitting out in the middle of a field. Or as I am sometimes quoted as saying, "We're on the wrong lot!" I'm sure everyone has heard the tale of the office dog that would bury a bone under the wagon each day and spend an hour the following morning trying to locate it. |
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Barnum & Bailey #1
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7 comments:
The B&B high roof ticket wagons, in existence by 1888, were on B&B in the 1890s, then swapped for two with low profile on BBWW for the 1898-1903 Europe trip. Remaining at Bridgeport, they went back onto B&B in 1903. One ended up on the Miller Bros. & Arlington outfit.
I never heard the tale of the office dog. Is there more to the story?
Charging premium prices for the best seats in the house goes all the way back to Mr. Barnum. $12 for a box of six seats in the late 1800's equates to a significant investment!
Don Covington
Don, I was thinking the same thing. That a $2.00 ticket in the 1890's was at least as pricey as a $40 ticket today. One thing that always strikes me was the relatively flexibility of ticket prices on the shows as late as the 1930's. When the economy was bad, ticket prices went down. Filling seats, not the price of the seats was the mantra, because the per cap made up the difference once in the tent. When was the last time a modern show lowered ticket prices?
I have way too much fun with numbers. The dollar is 1890 was worth around $25 of today's dollars (Actually the 1900 Dollar is now worth about $23.22.) So a Reserved seat was around $18.75, a Box Seat around $50.00, and the cheap seats were probably around $12. Pretty good deal considering the show you were getting.
Notice the sign to check where your money is. That's a sure tipoff to the pickpockets.
What's this google/blogger shit that makes me sign on to google to enter my name???
Bob Kitto
I noticed the paint job lists a Naval display. Any idea what this was? Was it in a seperate tent, in the Big Top or menagerie? Was it only this one season? Was the US Navy involved?
Interesting!
Bob
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