The recent postings of photos of the 1941 Ringling show reminded me that I have some photos of that year’s edition that were taken professionally by a photographer from the TRU-VUE Company of Rock Island, Illinois. (TRU-VUE was a forerunner of View-Master, and featured stereo (i.e. 3-D) photos on a strip of 35mm film that fed horizontally through a special viewer. TRU-VUE films were quite popular during the 1930s and ‘40s, particularly the Sally Rand titles. The company was eventually bought up by View-Master, which soon closed it down.) There were four TRU-VUE filmstrips of the 1941 Ringling show. No. 1 shows the unloading and scenes on the lot, No. 2 has some nice shots taken inside the menagerie, No. 3 has some action shots taken during a performance, and No. 4 has some shots taken inside the sideshow as well as some posed shots with clowns and performers taken in the backyard. Each filmstrip had 14 3-D photos. Some years ago, I submitted scans of some of the better shots. I’ve just now finished scanning in all 56 photos and will start sending them to Buckles on a regular basis. |
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
1941 RBBB (Set 1) #1 From Eric Beheim
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5 comments:
At about the same time as the Ringling set was put out there was another 2 reel set called " A Night at the Carnival", which is not listed in the guides to Tru-Vue and View Master. This set was shot on the Rubin nd Cherry Show.
I have seen the circus set cut up and mounted in 35mm slides, but never heard of any sets of the carnival being for sale either as film strips or mounted 35mm slides.
Bob Kitto
Bob,
I have the two Rubin and Cherry TRU-VUE filmstrips and will be scanning them as well. (I recently upgraded the memory in the laptop I use for scanning photos, and it seems like it's now doing a better job of saving the images.)
Not wishing to start a big controversy here but the wagon identified as #122 ticket wagon is definitely not a ticket wagon. It is either one #176-#177-#178-#179 pylon wagon(s). The #122 ticket wagon was built new by Springfiels in 1935, had a drop frame and was mounted on single pneumatic tires all around. It is a near twin to #121 with the same history. Both wagons are presently located in Baraboo, WI.
The wagon in question is one of the pylon wagons used in 1941 for the Bel Geddes designed midway. They were located at either side of the marquee and a pair was also located at the beginning of the midway. The tops folded upward and had the title spelled out in lights. They were 17' 6" long.
Potters loading lists are a great source to use but the show didn't always load according to a fixed order. Loading remained flexible due to a variety of reasons including lot conditions, etc.
Flint
I got these RBBB TRUE-VUE stereopticon film strips – sepia toned (with viewer) as a Christmas present in 1944.
They were a gift of a family friend, Roma Foreman who, with her husband having joined the Marines, had just moved from Atlanta to Menasha, Wisconsin to be with her mother and sisters (she was expecting a baby). It was one of my all time great Christmas presents.
They were my first circus photos and the only ones I had until I started saving RBBB programs in 1945. In 1948 I bought Chappie Fox’s **Circus Trains** book (Kalmbach), and it has some wonderful ones. In 1953 I took some myself. After that I got hooked up with Bob Good and Joe Bradbury; and , as they say, the rest is history.
My first circus book was **Fun By The Ton* that Santa Claus brought me in 1941. Santa managed to get it autographed by Beverly Kelley.
I still have the TRUE-VUE strips but the viewer has long sine gone kaput.
Most are RBBB 1941, as indicated, however, there a few from 1942 as well, e. g. the one of the ballet elephants in tu-tus.
I recall very well seeing the elephant men hooking on those tu-tus in the menagerie before the 1942 show here in Atlanta. That drew a big crowd to the picket line, and folks were amused at the preposterousness of the sight. I recall that one or more were pink though other pastel colors may have been used as well.
TRUE-VUE also had some dandy film strips from zoos. I had ones from Bronx, Brookfield, and London zoos.
I once had a catalogue of all the film stips offered by TRU-VUE
Richard,
The Tru View viewers are still available and can be found in antique malls, at antique shows and from people who deal in stereo.
As to Chappie's book "Circus Trains", he took many of the loaded train pictures (RBB&B) in Beloit WI, in 1946.
Also there is one he took near the end of WWII that shows Roy Bates (menagerie) helping unload the train. Roy said that that was one job that he really disliked.
Bob Kitto
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