This is a post card and at first glance I thought it was Luna Park but on the back is printed Indiana State Fair. So it would be a carnival midway possibly Johnny J. Jones since they had the former Sun Bros. Circus elephants "Alice", "Gyp" and "Sue" during this period. I always hated doing the ride, the only thing worse would be having to fight your way thru a crowd to do it, like this poor bastard is forced to do.
Would you have any photograph's of the howdah elephants of Coney Island of the early 1880's? Particularly"Ceylon",whom it was reported was purchsed by the Cole Bros. show and shipped to their winter quarters in Utica New York and renamed "Big Sampson" whom they advertised as the largest elephant in captivity was Jumbo was still aboard the steamship THE ASSYRIAN MONARCH March 1882.
No I don't, in fact I wasn't aware they had elephants at Coney Island that far back. I recently sent out a picture of "Sampson" and his trainer George Conklin while with the W.W. Cole Cirus. Incidently, my great uncle Miles Orton married Cole's ex-wife (her name escapes me) but she didn't last long since she was ill suited for mud show life.
7 comments:
It looks like it was taken right out of Toby Tyler. Would you have any idea what show would this be?
Bob
This is a post card and at first glance I thought it was Luna Park but on the back is printed Indiana State Fair. So it would be a carnival midway possibly Johnny J. Jones since they had the former Sun Bros. Circus elephants "Alice", "Gyp" and "Sue" during this period.
I always hated doing the ride, the only thing worse would be having to fight your way thru a crowd to do it, like this poor bastard is forced to do.
Would you have any photograph's of the howdah elephants of Coney Island of the early 1880's?
Particularly"Ceylon",whom it was reported was purchsed by the Cole Bros. show and shipped to their winter quarters in Utica New York and renamed "Big Sampson" whom they advertised as the largest elephant in captivity was Jumbo was still aboard the steamship THE ASSYRIAN MONARCH March 1882.
No I don't, in fact I wasn't aware they had elephants at Coney Island that far back.
I recently sent out a picture of "Sampson" and his trainer George Conklin while with the W.W. Cole Cirus.
Incidently, my great uncle Miles Orton married Cole's ex-wife (her name escapes me) but she didn't last long since she was ill suited for mud show life.
I'm afraid that misery is in the eye of the beholder as well.
Bob
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