Sunday, May 02, 2010

Barnum & Bailey #10


Scan12910, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 5/02/2010 05:44:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are some of the ten, or more, tableau cages from the 1883 Barnum & London show. Their heritage survives in three preserved vehicles: the ex-Christy "Beauty" tableau; the nearly original #66 [minus two Fiberglas corner images, the originals of which were stolen and are now at the Shelburne Museum]; and the extensively rebuilt #89.

02 May, 2010 07:54
Richard Reynolds said...

A well circulated photo, but this print is clearer than the one I have.

The animal on the right in the larger compartment is clearly a sable antelope. The one on the left in the smaller compartment looks like a blesbok, though the image of it is not as good. An official inventory of Barnum & Bailey animals in England, dated February 4, 1899, lists both animals of that species.

They are two of the most beautiful of the antelopes. That they are listed one behind the other in the inventory suggests that they rode in the same cage wagon, as shown here. Today, one could never exhibit antelopes in such close confinement without access to a pen or corral.

Back in this era, Barnum & Bailey as well as other large shows featured a lot of antelopes in their menageries. B&B’s 1899 animal inventory lists 11 different species of them. They are a large and diverse family of hoofed mammals, many of them of good size sporting beautiful colors, stripes, and impressive horns. They make a fine impression on the public.

04 May, 2010 12:36
Wade G. Burck said...

Richard,
Good eye. That is a blesbok and a sable. How they were kept from breaking their neck, or at the very least a leg, in a mad bolt is amazing. Either they kept replacing them, or as the blesbok "compartment" illustrates, were kept in very small area, with three side's solid.
Wade Burck

04 May, 2010 17:07

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