Thursday, March 29, 2007

Barnum & Bailey floats and tableaux #9


Alas, all my father wrote was "One of the finest tableau wagons ever built".
Nothing more.
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Posted by Buckles at 3/29/2007 05:58:00 AM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one of a group of three very similar wagons built by Wm Leonhardt Wagon Works in Baltimore for the 1910 Norris & Rowe.

Wm P Hall got them after the show failed and they were on the Ranch show for a time. This one passed to Buchanan's Yank show, which as you know became the basis for the 1921 Howe's Great London, in which year Mugivan and associates incorporated.

Of course the 1921 Howe's became the 1922 Gollmar and most of that show went into the 1923 Robinson. The wagon vanished during the 1920s, probably in a Peru fire.

The outside sunbursts may indicate that this pic was made on Howe's 1921, since the following year the wheels were replaced with inside sunbursts.

29 March, 2007 12:30
Anonymous said...

Buckles, you’ve inserted several wonderful parade wagons in this series under the heading of Barnum & Bailey but a few of them were never associated with B&B. This one, noted as one of the finest by your father, a great expert on wagons himself, was built in Baltimore by the Leonhardt wagon works with carvings by Spanjer during the winter of 1909-10 for the Norris & Rowe circus, one of a series of four parade wagons. Norris & Rowe soon folded and the equipment went to Peru and was sold to Ben Wallace and William P. Hall. This wagon went to Halls’ Lancaster, Missouri, farm where it was stored until sold to Miller & Arlington for their 101 Ranch show and used 1913-16. That show became the Buffalo Bill-Jess Willard affair (Arlington & Willard, owners) for 1917. Horne’s Zoological Arena Co. of Kansas City bought the show property and this wagon sat out the 1918 season before being sold to Fred Buchanan for his Yankee Robinson circus for the seasons of 1919-20. This show was acquired by Mugivan and Bowers who took the best of the equipment from their now two shows to troupe a single 25-car Howes Great London for 1921. As their number one bandwagon, this wagon became known to historians as the Howes Great London bandwagon. Mugivan & Bowers renamed their Howes show Gollmar for 1922 but took it off the road for the next season and moving this wagon to John Robinson where it was the number one bandwagon for 1923-24. Mugivan & Bowers dropped parades for 1925 but the resulting drop in business resulted in their resuscitation. This wagon disappears at this date, probably being lost in a winterquarters fire that destroyed a barn full of Robinson equipment at Peru about 1926.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

29 March, 2007 12:37
Anonymous said...

An additional note: the outside sunburst carving on the wheels shown in this photo were replaced during the winter of 1921-22 by inside type sunbursts (i.e., the full length of the spoke shows).
Dick Flint

29 March, 2007 12:41
Anonymous said...

To Dick Flint: enjoyed your comments as well as Dave's. You said there were other wagons in this series that were not on B & &. I would be interested in wich of the others were not on B & B.

29 March, 2007 17:55

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