| The attached photos of the Rubin & Cherry Exposition were scanned from two Tru-Vue 35mm film strips: A NIGHT AT THE CARNIVAL Parts 1 and 2. These are copyrighted 1940, so the photos must date from around that time. (By 1940, most everybody had jobs and money again thanks to all the work that was being generated from the industries supplying war material to Europe.) If Rubin & Cherry's 1941 season was anything like Ringling-Barnum's, they must have taken out a big show indeed. (As these photos are parceled out, I'll be interested to read the comments of those bloggers who are knowledgeable about the Rubin & Cherry show and American carnival history.) |
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Rubin & Cherry 1940 #1 (From Eric Beheim)
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5 comments:
A fascinating set of photos. I don't consider myself to be a Carnival historian of the likes of Bob Goldsack or Bill Hall however Robert Spivey in Petersburg, Va. and myself wrote a lengthy article for the Carnival Midway on the Cetlin & Wilson Shows that is currently being printed in segments.
I think a fair way of understanding the Rubin & Cherry Show is to look at the 1940's in general. Royal American Shows was already the granddaddy of all carnivals with Strates and World of Mirth at the top of the list. All of these owned their own trains. Cetlin & Wilson was still a gilly show, unloading everything they owned off of rented train cars and hauling it to the lot then having the train cars pulled away.
As seen in the first photo, most shows used a huge walk through entrance on the lot and neon lighting was definitely in wide spread use. Many carnivals carried more shows than rides. For instance Cetlin & Wilson had ten tented attractions from Motordromes to girl revues to menageries but only had 9 rides and two of them were children's versions.
By 1940, many shows, circuses and carnivals, had gone under from the great depression. Carnivals in particular were snapping up all the circus flatcars they could find. A great majority of the Corporation shows equipment ended up on carnivals such as the Art Lewis shows and World of Mirth. At the same time, a couple start up train shows like the Clyde Beatty railer came to the defunct Beckman & Gerety carnival to find their starting train equipment in 1944. The Dodson Shows 25 car Carnival called it quits in the early 1940's and offered the entire show for $70,000.00.
Many Carnivals and circus acts were tied together over the years. The Clyde Beatty Circus was a back end attraction on the Johnny J. Jones Carnival in 1941. The Cetlin & Wilson show was offering the Zacchini family doing a flying trapeze act and the cannon act as free midway attractions in 1940. Cage acts as well as elephants were prevalent on carnivals during this time frame.
The S.P.C.A. was out and about everywhere you went and greatly hinder the use of some animals in towns and bothered nothing in others. Many of the operating motordromes featured a riding lion routine.
Electricity was available everywhere and was not always show owned. Many carnivals in particular had transformer units that tapped into the local electric lines to provide the shows power. World Of Mirth ordered ten 50 KW generators from International Harvestor in Chicago during the winter of 1940 / 1941.
By 1942, the war effort was in full swing and greatly crippled the travel plans of many a show with Railroad regulations hurriedly slapped in place and later modified as the war went on. One such regulation said all rail shows had to be parked by Dec. 1, 1942.
In closing, I will mention that one for sure and maybe two wagons from the Rubin & Cherry shows are still in existance at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo.
Bob
This is only half the set. I'll send out the rest next Saturday.
The breadth and quality of Rubin & Cherry while Rubin Gruberg was still alive is evident in these photos. The outfit has well-maintained, decoratively-painted equipment, illuminated with modern incandescent and neon lighting. The employees are clean and well dressed, the wardrobe is high quality, there's no "cheap John" stuff anywhere. Like much R&C equipment, the PTC carousel visible in the background of one view had extra special ornamentation on the rounding boards. Despite it being 1940, money was being spent so that the show would attract more midway patrons.
Gruberg's outfit was always a contender for the best dates and for a number of years he and his wife operated two railroad shows. The Johnny J. Jones Exposition and the multiple Wortham outfits were the "boss" shows into the 1920s, but Wortham died prematurely, as did Jones. That opened the door for RAS to leap ahead via the combination of Carl Sedlmayr,, Sr. [who had the Coop & Lent side show]heading up the front and the Velare brothers [former acrobats] working the rides and lot. The trio rose to the top despite being in the middle of the Depression because they were very progressive in their spending on technology and show quality, always improving. But, their split brought the first RAS to an end. After the ACA collapsed much of the R&C outfit became the ressurected RAS under Sedlmayr. It grew into the 90-car giant that is remembered today.
Interesting photos and commentary. The only thing I can toss in is that Jules Jacot went to Mexico in the 30's and worked cage acts is his wife's family's large carnival.
Just a note of interest. There is a guide to Tru-Vu and View Master that supposedly lists every film and reel that was ever sold but, the 2 reel Carnival at Night was never mentioned. Have enjoyed this set since I was very young.
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