In 1939-40, an enlarged version of the Beech-Nut Circus played an extended engagement at the New York World’s Fair. Billed as the “Biggest Little Show on Earth,” this World’s Fair edition featured more than 500 animated acrobats, aerialists, animals and clowns. (This and the following images are all taken from frame captures from amateur movie footage showing the figures in motion.)
Today, Beech-Nut is primarily known for its line of bottled baby food. Does anyone know what became of all these animated animals, floats, performers, etc. that remained after these units went off the road?
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2 comments:
Between 1936-39 Beech-Nut, based in Canajoharie, NY, toured twelve 26-foot long trucks featuring a miniature circus and parade built to an approximate one-inch scale. Circus fan George Duffy purchased one of the trucks in 1942 and later presented it to the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown which later transferred it to the Somers (NY) Circus Museum. For a decade, they drove it around to promote their museum before selling it to a local collector who ultimately abandoned it in a field. Circus fan John Still, chief curator at the New York State Museum in Albany, retrieved the vehicle in 1980 but only quite recently have plans to restore it moved along.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
I'M SURE THERE WERE ORIGINAL FIGURES ON DISPLAY IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK'S MUSEUM IN ALBANY WHEN MODEL BUILDER EXTRAORDINAIRE AND HISTORIAN GORDY TURNER HAD A MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY (HELD OVER BY GENUINE POPULAR DEMAND) A FEW YEARS BACK.
PAUL GUTHEIL
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