John - -
Thanks for the fine photo. It was published in the October 1931 issue of
National Geographic (p.470) in an article by F.
Beverly Kelley called, "The Land of Sawdust and Spangles." That issue has the
best circus article ever run in NG over the years, in my opinion. A photo
supplement in that issue has the earliest color photos of the circus I have ever
seen.
I believe this shows the Brooklyn lot in 1927 where the show opened its
tented season. Note in the lower left that a tractor is pulling two tarp covered
wagons through an intersection, and the traffic is stopped to let them pass. In
'27 the show had opened in Madison Square Garden and then came to Brooklyn to
open the tented campaign. In those circumstances the wagons at the Garden
would have been towed across one of the East River bridges to the Brooklyn lot.
Of course all the tents would have arrived on the canvas section (no doubt via
Hell Gate bridge) and been set up in advance and ready to receive the stuff
coming over from Manhattan. The draft horses would have been sent from
Bridgeport Quarters to Brooklyn. 1927 was the last time the show went out of
Bridgeport.
It also occurs to me that this could be 1929,'30, or '31 after the two
indoor dates - - first in Madison Square Garden and then in Boston Garden, the
latter first being played in 1929. The wagons from Boston would have been sent
down by train and unloaded at some Brooklyn location out of sight to the left
of this picture.
Howard Tibbals looked through the NG photo archives, specifically to find
for negatives taken in connection with this article. He was most interested in
seeing the color out-takes - -ones not used in the article. But, he learned that
they only saved the negs for the photos actually used in the October '31
issue.
He did tell me, however, they had a larger b&w print of this one and it
shows more wagons being towed up that street behind the ones you
see here.
Incidentally, the late George Smith's records (now in the Pfening archives)
have a lot of information on the show's use of rented teams of horses to move
wagons to and from Madison Square Garden. The show's baggage stock was still
pasturing in Connecticut and later Sarasota and Peru when the Garden dates were
on.
Richard
|
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
From Richard Reynolds
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Thank you, Richard for such an informative discription of this photo. It certainly is nice to have people, such as yourself, that have taken such an interest in the circus , to inform we who are still trying to absorb this knowledge. THANKS AGAIN!
Richard,
I second what Jim said and keep them coming on all the details.
Great days of the circus.
Harry in Texas
Richard, thank you for sharing the photo and information. I have seen this photo enlarged before and you can see the opening were the cages are going into the menagerie tent on the left. Have always wondered if the Ringling press crew had this shot taken and Bev shared it with NatGeo later when he did his story. I can't remember if they gave photo credits in NatGeo for these photos or not.
Interesting layout of street angles also, with the multiple railroad tracks to the left. Looks like the streets are going over the raillines. Does anyone know the streets this lot may have been on? p.j.
Upon further investigation - - - I say this is not 1927. Take a close look and you can see the 4 banner line wagons lined up in front of the side show tent. They all have the solid panels - - no cloth ones.
RBBB did not begin to use 4 wagons for such purpose until 1929. They had only two before that so,in the earlier days, the banner line was composed of both wooden and cloth panels. Verdict - -this photo is either 1929, ’30, or ‘31.
The wagons shown in the street en route to the lot came off the train from Boston. Moreover, you can see the big gap in the menagerie sidewall which was no doubt open to admit the cages and lead stock, as 4pawfan said.
NG creditied the photo to Fairchild Aerial Surveys.
Dom Yodice who lived in or near Brooklyn may be able to identify the exact location.
I am wondering how many workers were involved in setting up the tents of the Ringling Circus? years ago?
Post a Comment