Buckles Blog: Asia Tableau

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Scan000010156, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

This is Asia (Photo #20) as seen in 1903 when constructed for Barnum & Bailey. to commemorate their 5 year European Tour.

Anonymous said...: The B&B bandwagon and the four continental floats were really a tribute to Bailey's trips to Australia, South America and Europe. He'd gone further afar than just about any other American showman. The four 1903-built B&B continental telescoping tableaus were dismantled and converted into box body tableaus about 1917. The carved tops were converted into small floats. Recently a late B&B photograph surfaced that showed one of them being towed in parade behind the wagon of which it had once been part. Confirmation of their use in B&B specs has yet to be discovered. They went into unknown hands following the clearing of the Bridgeport quarters after 1927. The top figures from Africa are now at the Henry Ford Museum, others from Europe are in the Smithsonian. The rebuilt and restored bottom of Asia is in Baraboo. While sitting abandoned in Rochester, IN, after Cole use, many of the original carvings were pried off of it as souvenirs. They were replicated during a recent restoration.; 15 September, 2007 09:04
Anonymous said...: The figures which topped the four "Continent" wagons were inspired by earlier statue groups of which two sets exist: One at the Albert Memorial, London, and another at the U S Customs House, Lower Manhattan.

Stuart Thayer once commented to me on which set served as the actual models for these; I believe he must have said the New York set, since I believe the circus carvings were from that city.; 15 September, 2007 23:28

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