Monday, February 27, 2006

Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus 1948


When the Ringling Show brought over the German elephants in 1947 they decided to sell off a number of old timers the following winter at $2,000 apiece. Obert, Kelly and D.R. made a trip to Sarasota and bought four "Cross Country Babe", "Emma", "Jess" and "Victoria". No sooner had they brought them home to Hugo they sold "Emma" to Louis Goebel and "Babe" to Curley Vernon (United Exposition Shows) for $4,000 each giving them two free elephants. This is what the herd looked like that year with their new Chevrolet blankets.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it recorded as to which was the last elephant of the original Barnum&Bailey elephant's to go?
Also the last of the
Forepaugh-Sells elephant's(when they merged ).

B.E.Trumble said...

I'm eternally grateful that there are no more "cheap" elephants in the world. This morning on the way to school my soon to be twelve year old son Robin mentioned that he figured his grandmother's barn was big enough for elephants. I said, "But it's already hard enough to get you to take your dogs to the beach. He said, "Duh, dogs aren't elephants."

Ryan Easley said...

Buckles,
Can you give us the history of Cross Country Babe ?