Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Barnum & Bailey 1916 (Under Ringling ownership)


Scan11635, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

In response to Anonymous' comment below.


"There's a series of Barnum & Bailey parade photos taken at Winfield, Kansas on September 20, 1909. There are B&B wagons in the photos, like the 1903 Egypt tableau. There is also the 1902-built Forepaugh-Sells so-called "Spain" tableau, which was transfered over to B&B after the 1907 season. Based on a picture book of street scenes, Stuart Thayer was the first to accurately date and identify the B&B set. The B&B elephant men started to wear pith helmets, as on Ringling, after the brothers took over the show. So, this is probably B&B in 1909."
Anonymous

Posted by Buckles at 5/06/2009 08:44:00 AM

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, they also wore different hats in other years. The driver and assistant on America in 1908 also wore different hats.

You'll also see pith helmets on the 1910-1911 Forepaugh-Sells elephant men.

There were a bunch of things done on B&B that other shows didn't do. They had the side show band marching in the grand entree one year.

Ned Brill stood up on the bandwagon in parade, so he could be better seen.

There was a ladies band on B&B [and a few other outfits, too].

If you have a copy of Chappie's juvenile booklet "The Circus Comes to Town," on the fourth page of the parades section, in the middle, you'll see a photo of #105 Spain in parade at Winfield, Kansas in 1909---and the driver and his assistant are wearing pith helmets.

06 May, 2009 17:14

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