Hagenbeck Wallace TIGER AND CLOWN (1938)

Hagenbeck Wallace TIGER AND CLOWN (1938), originally uploaded by bucklesw1. From Chris Berry The other day Buckles mentioned that during the "Loading Show" at Circus World Museum, the script made mention of the largest audience ever under canvas being at a performance of the Ringling-Barnum circus in Concordia, Kansas. It made me think of this poster. During the 30 or so years that Hagenbeck Wallace was on the road, hundreds of thousands of lithos were posted for the show, however this was one of the last bills, as Hagenbeck Wallace - leased from the Ringling interests by Howard Y. Bary - closed forever (along with so many others) at the end of the 1938 season. This particular poster, printed by Temple Litho of Mason City Iowa, is not as graphically pleasing as the vast majority of those that carried the Hagenbeck Wallace title - however it does promote "Blacaman" the "animal hypnotist" - one of the biggest acts on the show in 1938. As for Concordia - in addition to making history as the setting for the largest under-canvas crowd ever, it was also where the first section of the Ringling Bros train wrecked early on the morning of May 17, 1892. Despite the fact that the train derailed killing two circus workers and 26 horses, the show did go on - playing Corcordia on May 18 with a reported 4000 on hand when the show opened.