| It never fails to impress me how well groomed circus people of the day were. The gentleman at right appears that he might be a Wall Street Broker rather than having just crawled out of a bunk. |
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Forepaugh-Sells c1900 #2
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11 comments:
i think being well dressed may have paid a part in the role of the mystique circus people once had that made the shows so special and gave it a touch of dignity and class.
In those days if you were a boss or even an assistant you were expectede to appear well turned out. Physical labor was only for the gazoonies and you were aboce all that. Nobody expected anything other than your organization abilities and to be able to train. It also helped if you could outfight the rest of your crew. Kept them all honest.
An old rep show actor told me that in the 1920s when he started out, all personnel not needed on the lot were expected to be seen on the streets of the town dressed to the nines.
Did this policy also exist on circuses of the era?
Looks like the cage cut, might be the second section if the show moved in three cuts, or the second if it moved in two [about 50-60 cars total].
Just before I was transferred from Dallas to St. Louis in 1969 to work in the corporate headquarters office of Southwestern Bell Telephone, a VP of public relations had just retired. He insisted that all his staff be properly attired in business suit and tie--and hat--all the time in public. If he would see one of his staffers hatless on the street in downtown St. Louis during the noon hour, he would inevitably go up to the man and ask, "Where's your hat." And woe be unto that staffer if he wasn't wearing a hat the next time the VP spotted him.
I think that business-oriented dress code existed in practically all businesses until the mid-60s. When I was a punk kid in Oklahoma, my uncles used to come visit my mother almost every year from California. And when they and my aunts would pile out of the Packard roadster in which they had been traveling non-stop for the previous 48 hours or more, they would all be dressed to the nines, the men wearing white shirts, ties and suits, and the women their best Sunday dresses. And the first thing one of my uncles would do is to take me to the bus station in my hometown so he could get his shoes shined. I always thought he was a very rich man; turned out he was an oil well pumper for Sinclair Oil. Another pumped gas for a filling station, and a third worked in a WWII airplane assembly factory. My dad owned an auto repair garage; he only wore a suit and tie on Sundays.
And speaking of the qualifications for being a boss canvassman or other department head on the circus, I can remember when the foreman of a telephone line construction gang rose to his position by being able to beat up anybody in his crew.
I suppose circus owners like Ben Davenport and Dory Miller helped usher in the era when bosses dressed in khaki shirts and pants, suiting up in business attire only when they had to.
It's an era long gone. But I, for one, am glad that I never HAD to wear a hat to work. I remember being photographed as a 3-year-old wearing a hat and suit in the early 1940s. I hated that thing sitting on the top of my head then, and I hate it now. In fact, I haven't worn a hat since the early 1960s.
I have to admit, though, that seeing photos of the old circus bosses--and my uncles--dressed to the nines makes a mighty fine impression.
Lane Talburt
Lane,
I have to assume that you are retired and have enough time to write the great articles that have been published in the last couple of years. Remember the time we had supper in Mt. Pleasant, IA after we made a night jump on Sunday. Wish you could have stayed around for the whole next day. Huff and I got to see the RR cars that were locked up and the theatre historical society after lunch.
Also that afternoon, I was asleep with the tv on the weather channel and they issued a storm warning and I hot footed it for the show
about 3 in the afternoon. Almost lost the marque in the wind, but it cleared and we had 2 good houses.
Bob Kitto
Bob:
I am semi-retired (I'm currently in Wash. DC for a video assignment--it helps finance my hobby of interviewing circus folks around the country). The last time I saw you was on the Carson & Barnes show about three years ago in Rolla, MO. You were working security and trying to keep fans (like me) from taking a shortcut to their cars through the backyard during a gully-washer just after the matinee. I guess that would have been the last year that C&B was out as a five ringer. Gary Byrd had creatively found ways of trimming the fleet by eight trucks. I guess the Byrds have had to find ways of cutting back even more with the increased price of diesel.
Lane Talburt
Lane,
From what I understand Ben Davenport and Dory Miller were more the qualified to be Foremans of a telephone line construction gang, tie or no tie, if they had so chosen.
Your friend,
Wade Burck
Blondie LaBlonde told me a story about someone from the show standing in front of a hotel in a small town. He was wearing loud colored pants, a satin shirt, with a silk kerchief around his nsck tucked in the shirt at the top , & wearing a beret. I towner stopped & asked the showtimes, when he walked away the guy turned to a friend, and asked, "how did he know I was with the show?
Many years ago several of us guys were in that cafe across the street from Wayne Sanguin's place in Hugo. We were in a booth and I was sitting next to Arizona Jack Gagne facing the front of the cafe, so we were looking right into Wayne's side yard. This Young Barnum was sitting across from us all dressed up and he commented that "this is what real showmen wear."
Jack and I could see Dorey over at Wayne's place and Jack said, "No, what a real showman wears is..." and he proceeded to describe what Dorey was wearing, which included an old raincoat and high rubber boots and a wreck of a hat.
The guy across from us of course didn't pick up on Jack's point since he had no idea Jack was looking at Dorey. In a few minutes Dorey came over for a cup of coffee and when he walked in, Jack said, "See there? I told you that's how real showmen dressed!"
We all gave the Young Barnum the horse laugh but he didn't speak to Jack for several days.
I am interested in photos and/or related information on the S.H. Barrett Circus (1880s-1890s) that was operated by the Sells Brothers during this time. I've read the circus history page but I am looking for photos and other info. Can anyone help?
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