Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Rochester, Indiana, Qtrs. (From Buckles)


Scan13231, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

These next pictures were taken about the time Mr. Berry's poster
was in use.
No idea who the elephant men are but this looks like an act that
had previously been booked out of Hall's Farm "George", Big Katy",
and "Juno" with shows like Sam B. Dill Circus, etc.

An unidentified party wrote on the back, "These buildings all burned down."

Posted by Buckles at 11/16/2010 06:09:00 AM

2 comments:

Ole Whitey said...

When the show was framed these buildings were lettered to read "Indiana Circus Corporation." They were later repainted to read "Cole Bros Clyde Beatty Circus." They must have used dime store paint as most pix show the lettering in bad shape as seen here.

That newer looking building in the background was built the late in 1936 and was used to work on the railroad cars during the winter (fortunately a lead track off the NYC&StL or "Nickel Plate" mainline was already in place before the circus moved in).

Beyond that and barely visible here was the a building with the mess hall in the front and the cat cages and indoor arena in the back; it was lettered "Winter Quarters."

As to the title here "Cole Bros Clyde Beatty Circus," Arnold Maley once told me this title was never seriously considered but I don't know if Arnold was there the first winter when they were talking about titles. The title certainly appears a number of places.

When the show played the Hippodrome in 1937, many of the newspaper ads read "Cole Bros-Clyde Beatty Circus" and in fact (since the New Yorkers knew Beatty's name better than they did Cole Bros) over the doors to the Hippodrome it just said "Clyde Beatty Circus.

16 November, 2010 11:35
Roger Smith said...

In FLOYD KING's "A Reminiscence, Pt. 2", in the Jan-Feb 1997 BANDWAGON, he writes this in regard to the Cole title: "The [Martin Downs Cole Bros.] show was auctioned off there at Erie [Pa.], and brought a sizeable amount of money. That ended the famous Cole Bros. Circus. The title was later picked up by Adkins and Terrell when I suggested it to them in Rochester, Indiana, when they went out [for] the Spring of 1935."

So here is King, claiming credit, maybe well-deserved, for reviving the Cole title, but we're left in his recounting with no conclusive time frame for adding Clyde Beatty--other than the fact that Adkins and Terrell got a major bank loan, in the depths of the Depression, on the strength of Clyde Beatty's departure from Ringling's Gumpertz regime, and his name in ink for their "Miracle Show".

Floyd King was General Agent, and turned out Cole paper with Beatty as a star act, but also massive amounts of Cole-Beatty title bills. King showed true foresight here, as Beatty's name was greatly enhanced when Republic Studios began their cliffhanger history in 1936, starring Beatty and Manuel King in their 15-chapter DARKEST AFRICA.

When the train rolled out for the premiere season of '35, it was lettered "Cole Bros. Circus with Clyde Beatty and Allen King". When King left, it became "Cole Bros. and Clyde Beatty Circus", and later cowboy movie star Ken Maynard's name was added after the lead names, until Cole closed in mid-season, 1938. Beatty moved to the sister-show, Robbins Bros., with his name again heralded right at the top.

19 November, 2010 20:50

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