Saturday, January 16, 2010

Equestrian Artists #2


Scan12561, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

9 comments:

Richard Reynolds said...

I’m, having trouble identifying the cage wagon in the background. This looks like RBBB in the late 1930s.

The only cage wagons kept in the backyard would have been the seal dens prior to 1938 and performing cats and sea lions in and after 1938.

I would like to say this is one of the sea lion dens but it does not look right. I cannot see a bathing tank.

Frank Ferrante said...

Unless the tank is in the center of the wagon, there isn't one. When I blew up the picture, you can see the wheels on the other side of the wagon and there appears to be a cat in the lower left hand corner of the wagon. (Of course my eyes ain't what they used to be and I can, and have been, totally wrong in the past!) ~frank

Richard Reynolds said...

Is the rider Dorothy Herbert?

She got top billing in the 1930s

J Goodall said...

I agree with Frank. It looks like a cat.

Jim A. said...

I noticed two ladders or sets of steps that led to the cages. Sea lions could negotiate them with ease. The tanks I've seen on a few sea lion wagons weren't very deep and could have been placed between the axles. Also the bars didn't go to the top; enough for ventilation but not enough for the hot sun. Looks like a sea lion den to me.

Roger Smith said...

The hair is not like we usually see it, and the cape blocks just enough of her face to give me pause. But under the glass, I'm voting this is Dorothy Herbert.

Anonymous said...

Yes,it is Dorothy Herbert in the Ringling backyard. Maybe someone has a better photo of the Ringling seal cages #93 and #94 to confirm the wagons id.

Buckles said...

The date on this publication is the First of May (no pun intended) 1941.
I think Miss Herbert had left the Ringling Show well prior to that.

Roger Smith said...

I knew Dorothy Herbert at the Compound in the mid and late 60s. She and husband A.W. Kinnard had the birds on fellow circus vet Burt Lancaster's film, BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ. I shared a few beers with their assistant, Felix, who had a little trouble with his English. His bosses were Senor and Senora A. Doob-yoo.