B&B lady clowns 1896 (From Richard Flint)

B&B lady clowns 1896, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. The recent debate about the first female clowns hired by Feld may have suggested to some that they were the first female clowns in the circus. As many know, others preceded them such as Amelia (Mrs. Felix) Adler and Rose Hanlon in the last decades of the under-canvas Ringling era but it goes back even further. Miss Evetta Matthews, a European clown promoted in this 1895 poster as the only female clown, was featured by Barnum & Bailey in both 1895 and 1896. In 1895, she appeared with the Meers Sisters equestrian act, also making their American debut. The second poster, from 1896, shows two female clowns but the route book does not identify any Matthews' sister. The hyped ringmaster Miss Millie Dunbar, who was probably related to one of the men in the Dunbar aerial trio on the show, is listed in the season route book only as a charioteer driver and calliope player. In 1896, two men are identified as ringmasters but the only ringmistress is Nellie Reed. The role of women, who had long enjoyed a more egalitarian status in the circus than in mainstream culture, was increasingly featured in the circus of the 1890s as this and other posters and press articles of the era demonstrate. While the women's movement had been progressing for a number of decades, it was in 1893 that Colorado became the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote followed by Utah and Idaho in 1896. The astute Mr. Bailey and his press department capitalized on these contemporary social trends during years when it was attention-getting. Dick Flint Baltimore