Monday, October 31, 2016

#7 Circus Art


Posted by Buckles at 10/31/2016 05:14:00 AM

2 comments:

Roger Smith said...

Big-time paper like this advertised Side Show stars like the Ubangi girls and the Giraffe-Necked Women, but they also appeared in Spec in the Big Top. How many acts strictly working the Side Show got paper like this?

01 November, 2016 19:03
4pawfan said...

Hello Roger,
I think that "The Gibsons" performed in the concert as you will see on the bottom of the litho "after the main performance". ( I wouldn't think this was a great idea as the tearing down of 3/4 of the seats during the evening concert under canvas would have made a great deal of noise and would have been hard to concentrate on not killing your partner ).
This German husband and wife team performed as " The Gibsons " and first did this in MSQ in 1938 on RBBB in the United States. Ringling had lost their big drawing card of Col. Tim McCoy ( 1935-1937) for the after show concert and may have needed something to take his place? They may have been the first couple to use the " Wheel of Death " and only 1 of 4 couples to use the " Veiled Wheel of Death " I believe. With Ringling closing early in 1938, and then going to the Midwest after their closing to join the Barnes show, there are not a lot of photos of the 1938 show performance. I do not have a photo of them performing in my collection and there is not very much information about them. They may have returned to Germany after the season and not been able to return to the states as the war was building up in Europe in 1939? There was also the issue of many performers not getting paid at all in 1938 and many ended up with other things (Frank Buck received three elephants which he took to the 39' Worlds Fair in New York, etc.)

As to sideshow lithos, the "Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Side Show" litho with the yellow background comes to mind with the clown pushing the baby carriage full of sideshow performers.
This litho was updated in 1935 and said "Hagenbeck-Wallace / 4 Paws-Sells Circus Side Show" also.
p.j.

02 November, 2016 14:07

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