Tuesday, February 03, 2015

From Chris Berry



Although this date sheet seems no different than hundreds of others that have survived from the 1950s, this poster is actually quite historic. When the Clyde Beatty Circus left the lot on the night of Nov 20, 1956 an era ended, as that was the last performance of a "traditional" railroad circus. Ringling Barnum had closed in July, abandoning its tents and train for arenas and trucks. And while Ringling Barnum did return to the rails for the 1960 season, the train was quite different - made of tunnel cars and wagons that could easily enter arenas. This date sheet is essentially for the last performance of the last "traditional" railroad circus.

1 comments:

Harry Kingston said...

Hi Chris,
Yes this was the end of an era for the tented railroad circus but the beginning of another.
The McClosky, Kernan era as I think when they made there money back by this date and from then on was another successful era for them.
Sure would like to have been there to hear the discussion on to stay on rails or go to trucks.
We know what they did and made money.
The few pictures I have seen on the 1957 Clyde Beatty Circus looks like it was put together real quick as years later it looked a lot better.
Gone are the days.
Harry in Texas