Monday, August 04, 2008

John Robinson's Circus 1929 #1


Scan10545, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

I remember when the origin of this show in the 1800's was in debate and Dick Conover got the last word with a publication of a booklet.
Maybe Dick Flint could elaborate.
The title was very well known, particularly in the South and several show owners lusted for it's use with such titles as "Don R. Robinson" and "Famous Robinson" the latter owned by Jerry Mugivan and Bert Bowers.
On March 6, 1916 Mugivan and Bowers finally succeeded in buying the show from the Robinson family and immediately sold the equipment to Ben Wallace since all they wanted was the legitimate rights to the John Robinson name,
They still owned the show in 1929, now the American Circus Corporation but by this time lacked the prestige of the Corporation's Hagenbeck-Wallace and Sells-Floto Circuses.

AMERICAN CIRCUC CORPORATION 1929

Sells-Floto Circus- 30 cars (Zack Terrell Mgr.)
Hagenbeck-Wallace- 30 cars (C.D. Odom Mgr.)
Al G. Barnes Circus- 30 cars (S.L. Cronin Mgr.)
John Robinson Circus- 25 cars (Jess Adkins Mgr.)
Sparks Circus- 20 cars (Henry B. Gentry Mgr.)

Posted by Buckles at 8/04/2008 07:08:00 AM

3 comments:

Mike Naughton said...

Where did the meaning of "a John Robinson" originate in regards to a performance situation that required a speeded up presentation?

My understanding is that when a situation calls for a quick pace to the show that it was called "a John Robinson".

How did this become known as "a John Robinson"?

Just curious.

04 August, 2008 08:16
Anonymous said...

The question of the origin of the John Robinson show goes back to the era of historian C.G. Sturtevant, Just before his death about 1952, in his last letter to Dick Conover, Sturtevant discussed the weak evidence of Robinson’s start. Conover, however, was the first to question in print what he called the “Myth of 1824” in a brief 1953 Bandwagon article. Bob Parkinson took up the cause in a longer 1962 Bandwagon article followed by Conover again in his 1965 book “Give ‘Em a John Robinson.” While the book focuses on the grand parade of the show in the early 1900s, replete with cottage cages and, believed Conover, the equal of other bigger shows of the time (a big claim), the first chapter title is “Debunking the Myth of 1824.” Stuart Thayer assisted the disbelievers, probably all circus historians by this point in 1984, with the most thorough review of what is known about Old John’s early life in another Bandwagon article that year.

Briefly, the myth begins in 1884 with some advertising boasting that it was Robinson’s 60th year (but, Bob Parkinson had found a newspaper ad for 1871 boasting of Robinson having owned a show for 40 years—that would be 1831. In 1899, the supposed 75th anniversary, the story is written up in the show’s route book based upon information given by clown John Lowlow, long the show’s chief fool through three generations of Robinsons. Of course, the American Circus Corporation, eagerly acquiring the genuine “Old John” title (it had been operating Famous Robinson) in 1916, reprints the Lowlow-inspired legend in the route book that year and continues to make much of the supposed century mark for the 1924 season and after. Gil Robinson’s 1925 book, Old Wagon Show Days, happily picks up on the theme.

What is the truth, as best can be determined by Conover, Bob Parkinson, and Thayer? In summary, I’d deduce that Old John, when a very young John, ran away to the circus in the 1820s while a teenager (his birth date is confusing, probably having been pushed back by son Gil since not many teenagers likely owned a circus). Thayer provides our first contemporary evidence of John the First in the circus business in 1832 where he is listed as a “stilt dancer” in a Columbus newspaper. In a Feb 1834 New Orleans newspaper, he appears as a rider working for the older brother of his future partner, Eldred. References to Robinson in the 1830s are scattered, suggesting he is working his way up the ladder. Thayer assigns his first proprietorship to the year 1842, eighteen years later than the myth states but certainly many showmen put in 18 years before realizing the ambitions of ownership. The 1884 claim of 60 years might have been for years in the business and, as time went on, how easy is it for a third generation show owner to claim the first year of his ancestor’s involvement as the first year of ownership?

As to the phrase to “Give ‘Em a John Robinson,” it is equally as difficult to trace its early use. Meaning to shorten a show due to impending bad weather (and perhaps for other reasons, as well!), it is an expression sooner voiced on the lot than ever written down.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

04 August, 2008 21:14
Anonymous said...

In 1952, the Ringling show played
Beloit, WI on Labor Day which was Sept 1, that year. Every advance man had to tell my dad the story of the colored lady and her son. The story goes that Ringling was playing down south on Sept. 1, and the son asked what the poster said. Mom replied that it was Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey, the Greatest Show on Earth, Sept. 1, and that was the John Robinson circus.
Incidentially that was the only year the Ringling tried to get sponsors for every date. Beloit was the second largest attendence on the road just behind Oak Ridge, TN.
I walked the down town route with Eddie Jackson and it was one of the best experiences that I ever had. Starting with breakfast at a cafe where Eddie said that the best breafast was cantalpoe ala a mode. Which he proceeded to buy for my breakfast.
The sponsor got $2,000 for the 2sellout crowds, which at the time I thought was a good profit, but I later realized the the show made a hell of a lot more.
The ushers were moving the people out of the show to seat more people and were charging them 50 cents more for straw seats in front of the blues. You can see the show better down in front!
Bob Kitto

05 August, 2008 20:22

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