In response to your comment below, I lifted this picture as you suggested from Chappie's book and I see your point but playing Devil's Advocate, the teamsters on all all the shows of this period wore helmets.
From Anonymous:
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. |
1 comments:
A lot of people would have had to pour out into the streets to account for the change from this view to that of the elephants if they're both 1909. Maybe Dave is right, 1905 Ringling? You can see the same stone building on the far corner in both views.
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