Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus 1928 (From Dave Price)

"In the late 1920's Hagenbeck-Wallace played a number of fair dates as a grandstand show. On this day Sept. 3, 1928 at the Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln, they claimed to have played for the largest crowd ever to see a circus performance. Rick or Dahlinger would probably know the attendance numbers. This photo was left me by an old time billposter. It is about four feet long and since my scanner can't handle that, I have scanned the performing area only. Much of the rest of the picture is taken up just showing the huge crowd. There were 14 aerial ladders on the front of the grandstand and they don't show up here, also Eddie Ward's trapeze rigging didn't make the cut, though a rigger is seen on the way up or down. On the left side of the canopy you can make out Eddie Woeckner leading the band, though some of the boys had to work out in the sun like everybody else on the show. Right under the bandstand, that must be the first section of Beatty's chute. In the foreground those three suits have "office" written all over them. Do you recognize Odom? Sam Dill was his assistant that year.Maybe Herb DuVal the 3rd. Bert Cole retired as Equestrian Director after this date, though I can't spot him in this picture. He was replaced by Allen Houser. Beyond the bandstand is a piece of scenery for their opening spec "Geisha" and right in front of the bandstand we see the Davenport riding act about to come on. You see the elephants have performed in the end rings and Cheerful has taken them around to the front track for the long mount. In the background we can see two tops, which makes me think the show had a midway of sorts down that way. The low top at left must be the side show and the taller one with the flags to the right must be the menagerie. On the left you see that the show set up their own seats, same as the far end of the back side but on the front side the people sat in the permanent grandstand and you can see a race track between them and the performance. Look how many people are standing down in front of the elephants, just toward the viewer from the last elephant, you can see a photographer with a camera on a tripod, so he wasn't the only guy taking pictures that day. Our shutterbug simply signed his work as "Hale, Lincoln, Nebraska." (To those unaware, this picture can be enlarged a bit by clicking on it. Actually I find the narration as interesting than the photo.) Buckles, I just remembered that the 1959 Sterling-Wallace daub picture is for Trinidad, Texas the very town where you and your parents visited and spent the night on the lot. I was back on the show for some reason and I remember the first thing you did when you pulled on the lot was to start driving stakes for the line. I believe this was shortly before you and Barbara were married.