Though it would be comparatively easy to start a circus and menagerie
equipped almost entirely with second-hand paraphernalia, the reader
will see from the following figures that the cost of starting a new
first-class circus and menagerie is another proposition. Here are a few
official figures on the cost of a first-class circus and menagerie
which have never before been made public. They are taken from my
private record, or invoice book:
20 Cages at $350, $7,000.00
2 Band wagons at $1,500 each, 3,000.00
3 Chariots at $3,000 each, 9,000.00
1 Wardrobe wagon, 800.00
1 Ticket wagon, 400.00
The above for the parade.
Animals to fill these cages will average about:
2 Lions, $2,000.00
2 Royal Tigers, 2,000.00
2 Leopards, 400.00
1 Yak, 150.00
1 Horned Horse, 500.00
2 Camels, 300.00
2 Elephants, 3,000.00
(As small elephants have been delivered here for $1,000 each, this is
probably a fair average.)
1 Hippopotamus, $5,000.00
1 Rhinoceros, 5,000.00
2 Cages of monkeys, 1,000.00
1 Kangaroo, 200.00
1 Cassowary, 200.00
1 Ostrich, 500.00
1 Giraffe, 1,500.00
Other small animals including
hyenas, bears, ichneumon, birds,
etc., $2,000.00
12 Baggage wagons at $200, $ 2,400.00
4 Roman chariots, 1,000.00
125 Horses at $125 each, 15,625.00
This price is above the average.
125 Harnesses at $15, $ 1,875.00
2 Advertising cars, 5,000.00
Wardrobe, 3,000.00
2 Sleepers, 5,000.00
10 Flat cars at $400, 4,000.00
6 Horse cars at $400, 2,400.00
Elephant car, 500.00
Tents, 4,000.00
---------
$88,750.00
This could be reduced by eliminating the rhinoceros, hippopotamus,
giraffe and other very expensive animals, but to this must be added
considerable money for stakes, shovels, picks, stake pullers, extra
ropes, tickets, blank contracts and all necessary printing, which would
bring the cost of the usual "million dollar" circus and menagerie up to
about $86,000.
On all this property there is not one dollar of insurance. Once, when
on the road, a live stock insurance company came to me to insure our
horses, but at the rate at which they wanted to insure them I soon
convinced them that we could not make any money.
I might add that a circus and menagerie at the figures I have given
would be far better and larger than the average "million dollar show"
now on the road, there being certainly not more than three aggregations
that cost more than the amount I have given. No man should attempt the
show business who has not a fortune, and also plenty of that other kind
of capital quite as essential to his success--long experience on the
road.