Buckles Blog: The Greatest Show On Earth #3

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Richard Reynolds said...: This is a classic 1933 Kelty photo of the interior of the huge 6-pole menagerie. The enlarged 8x10 (copy of which I have in my collection) shows much more detail.

In the background we see the four giraffe wagons. Some of the giraffes can be seen in their portable pens.

Just in front of the giraffes is a stage with decorative trim. On it the Padaung Burmese giraffe-necked women were shown as the audience filled the menagerie before the show started in the big top. They were the big new exotic feature in 1933.

There were no less than 23 zebras in their picket line behind the keepers. Gordon Potter’s notes give us that number. He went to the show every year around this time and counted everything. In addition to the 4 giraffe vans, there were 24 cage wagons in the menagerie including two for black rhinos (one in each). There were also 19 camels and 5 llamas.

The number of elephants varies according to who made the count. Woodcock’s elephant records list 42in the 1933 herd.; 17 June, 2012 16:22

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