Saturday, April 25, 2009

Cole Bros. Circus 1941 #2


Scan11596, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 4/25/2009 06:07:00 AM

5 comments:

JIM ELLIOTT said...

Who may be able to tell me, where the name, for the chimp, John Daniels III, came from?
Thanks, JIM ELLIOTT

25 April, 2009 08:16
Jim A. said...

May have some relation to the gorilla purchased by John Ringling in 1921 named John Daniel. The gorilla was raised in London by a young woman, Elizabeth Cunningham. Her father had captured the gorilla for her. The gorilla didn't survive long on the show. Two major challenges could have been a major change of environment and the lack of effective drugs for respiratory problems.

I'm waiting for Richard Reynolds to give us the full story.

25 April, 2009 17:30
Richard Reynolds said...

There were two John Daniel gorillas. I wrote a circus gorilla paper that was publisehed in BAndwagon. Here is what I said about them


JOHN DANIEL - - Since 1918 this gorilla had been a London pet of an animal loving British lady, Miss Alyce (or Alyse) Cunningham.

She kept him in her apartment and from time to time showed him to the public in the London zoo. He proved that gorillas could survive given proper care and attention. Through trial and error, patience and perseverance Miss Cunningham learned the nuances of gorilla keeping.

Miss Cunningham’s methodology was later replicated by the original owners of both Gargantua and Toto.

In 1921 John Daniel was sold. His owner claimed that she did not know he was headed for a circus. But he was. Animal dealer and exhibitor John T. Benson, an Englishman by birth, made the arrangements that saw John Daniel delivered to Ringling-Barnum at the old Madison Square Garden in March 1921. He was the very first gorilla with an American circus

Right away he began to deteriorate and failed to survive the Garden date, dying there during April. His remains went to the American Museum of Natural History where they were received on April 18, 1921 and assigned catalogue no. 54084. However, that was not the end of Miss Cunningham’s gorilla story.

JOHN DANIEL II - - In 1923 she got another young male from Gabon. He was initially named Sultan and later John Daniel II. He too came to America and toured with Ringling –Barnum throughout its 1924 season.

This time Miss Cunningham came as well. She literally lived with him throughout the tour. That seems to have been a key to his good health, thus avoiding the fate suffered by his namesake.

The circus did not own this animal. He belonged to Miss Cunningham throughout. He traveled with her on a sleeper on the fourth section of the train, was taken by automobile each day to the showgrounds

He was shown to the public in the menagerie within a tall mesh enclosure that looked like an aviary. He was often in the backyard being photographed with the likes of clowns. Sometimes, between performances, he was allowed to play in one of the performing wild animal arenas (big cages) in the big top. At season’s end Miss Cunningham took him back to England.

He appeared that following winter (1924-25) with the Bertram Mills winter show in London’s Olympia. For that he came into the ring on a light lead, marking the first time a gorilla had ever appeared in a circus performance though it does not appear that he did any “tricks” in the circus context of that word. John Daniel II died in London in 1927.

Cole Bros. merely ursurped the John Daniel name for its chimp. At least they did not try to pass him off as a gorilla. There have been many instances of that in circus history.

25 April, 2009 19:26
sonia chivers said...

John Daniel Gorilla belonged to my husband's (Tim Penny) great aunt Alyce Cunningham. he was purchased from a well known London Store by my husband's great uncle Major Rupert Penny because he could not stand to see John Daniel on display in the shop window. Our family hold original documentation and photographs on the real story of the much loved John Daniel. Alyce was also owner of John Daniel II. Sonia Chivers

07 May, 2009 20:23
Unknown said...

This is a mail for Sonia Chivers. Do you have photographs, documentation or movies about John Daniel and his family. Who was Edna cunningham ?
Can you tell me the real story of the much loved John Daniel ?
With many thanks,
Nicole Herickx


24 April, 2017 12:36

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