Buckles Blog: Windjammers #5

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Scan13369, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Anonymous said...: According to my files this wagon is Ringling Tab. #3- clown bandwagon. It was formerly a Forepaugh wagon and Ringling acquired it around 1889-1890.It was rebuilt slightly a couple of times. It was on Ringling thru 1918 and was then sold to Christy. A good account of its history is in the Mar-Apr 1967 Bandwagon.
Flint; 27 March, 2011 16:20
Anonymous said...: The sides of this wagon were originally the skyboards of a big W. C. Coup organ wagon. It went from Forepaugh to the Ringlings. The organ bottom became a tableau on Forepaugh and then Buffalo Bill's Wild West, followed by Barnum & Bailey.; 28 March, 2011 09:28
Anonymous said...: Can anybody comment on the "Sousa's" that appears on the bass drum ?

Paul Gutheil; 28 March, 2011 11:22
Anonymous said...: Two Ringling clowns originated [or popularized] circus clown bands in the late 1890s [an earlier example or two can be cited]. They were all burlesques of the big, turn of the century, touring military-styled bands, like Sousa's. The Forepaugh-Sells clown band was publicized as "Soo-See's" band, and it may have been on the drumhead, too.; 28 March, 2011 12:14
Anonymous said...: However, the tuba pictured is not a sousafone.
Bob Kitto; 28 March, 2011 13:05

Buckles Blog