American Circuses—American Performers in England, and English Performers
in the United States—The Cookes in America—Barnum’s great
Show—Yankee Parades—Van Amburgh’s Circus and Menagerie—Robinson’s
combined Shows—Stone and Murray’s Circus—The Forepaughs—Joel
Warner—Side Shows—Amphitheatres of New York and New Orleans.
The circus in America is a highly popular entertainment, and is
organized upon a very extensive scale, as everything is there, like the
country itself, with its illimitable prairies, rivers thousands of miles
long, and lakes like inland seas. Americans have a boundless admiration
of everything big; they seem to revel even in ‘big’ bankruptcies and
‘big’ fires, such as that which desolated Chicago a few years ago.
Circus proprietors bring their establishments before the public, not by
vaunting the talent of the company, or the beauty and sagacity of the
horses, but by announcing the thousands of square feet which the circus
covers, the thousands of dollars to which their daily or weekly expenses
amount, and the number of miles to which their parades extend. ‘This is
a big concern,’ say those who read the announcement, and their patronage
is proportionate to its extent and cost.
The American circuses are all conducted on the tenting system, and, as
there are few towns in the Union which could support one only of the
many colossal establishments which travel during the summer, most of
them are idle during the winter; many of them are combined with a
menagerie, in which cases one charge admits to both. Except in the
matter of size, they do not differ materially from tenting circuses in
this country; but the tents are larger, the parades longer, and the
rifle-targets, the Aunt Sallies, and the acrobats in dirty tights who
follow Sanger, and the Ginnetts, and Quaglieni, and other tenting
circuses in England, are replaced by small shows, such as attend fairs
in this country, and in which giants, dwarfs, albinoes, and
monstrosities of various kinds are exhibited.
The interchange of circus performers between England and the United
States, which has existed almost as long as circuses, has made us better
acquainted in this country with the kind and quality of the performances
to be witnessed in American circuses than with the manner in which they
are conducted. Stickney and North were known and appreciated at Astley’s
by the last generation, and the present has seen and admired, at the
Holborn Amphitheatre, those inimitable gymnasts, the Brothers Hanlon,
the incomparable vaulter, Kelly, and some others. Wallett, the Cookes,
and many others, besides French, German, and Italian performers who have
appeared in English circuses and music-halls, have found their way to
America, and proved as attractive there as here. Four years ago, the
Cooke family was represented in the United States by Emily Henrietta
Cooke, John Henry Cooke, and George Cooke, prominent members of Stone
and Murray’s company, and James E. Cooke with French’s circus.
The largest circus now travelling is Barnum’s, forming a portion of the
great combination advertised as the ‘Great Travelling World’s Fair.’
Barnum has long been famous in both hemispheres as the greatest showman
in the world. He is certainly a man of remarkable enterprise and energy.
He is quick in arriving at conclusions, and when he has resolved upon
any undertaking, he exercises all his energy, and brings into force all
the results of his long and varied experience, in carrying it into
execution.
Coup, a gentleman well known among public entertainers across the
Atlantic, said to Barnum one day, ‘What do you say to putting a big show
on the road?’
‘How much will it cost?’ inquired Barnum, after a moment’s reflection.
‘Two hundred thousand dollars,’ was the reply.
‘I’ll let you know to-morrow,’ said Barnum.
On the following day, he told Coup that ‘Barnum’s great show’ was a
fact, and that he (Coup) was to be its manager, as he is to this day.
The establishment then formed was, however, far from being the mammoth
concern with which the great showman took the field in 1873.
Notwithstanding the great loss which he sustained by the burning of the
museum which so long attracted attention in the Broadway, New York, at
the close of the preceding year, he came before the public a few months
afterwards with a circus, a menagerie, a museum, a gallery of pictures
and statuary, and a show of mechanical wonders and curiosities, all
combined in one, and to which the public were admitted for a single
payment of half-a-dollar.
The address to the public with which this colossal combination of
entertainments was inaugurated is so unique and characteristic that I
need make no apology for inserting it entire.
‘LADIES, GENTLEMEN, FAMILIES, CHILDREN, FRIENDS:
‘My career for forty years as a public Manager of amusements, blended
with instruction, is well known. You have all heard of my three New York
Museums; my great triumphal tour with Jenny Lind, the Swedish
Nightingale, and my immense travelling exhibitions. Everybody concedes
that I give ten times the money’s worth, and always delight my patrons.
I now come before you with the LAST GRAND CROWNING TRIUMPH OF MY
MANAGERIAL LIFE.
‘Notwithstanding the burning of my last Museum, in December (which,
however, did not destroy any of my great travelling chariots, vans,
cages, or horses, nor duplicates of most of my living wild animals,
which were then on exhibition in New Orleans), I have been enabled,
through the aid of cable dispatches, electricity and steam, and the
expenditure of nearly a million of dollars, to place upon the road by
far the largest and most interesting combination of MUSEUM, MENAGERIE,
and HIPPODROME ever known before—a veritable WORLD’S FAIR.
‘No description will convey an adequate idea of its vastness, its
beauty, and its marvellous collection of wonders. It travels by rail,
and requires more than one hundred cars, besides FIFTY OF MY OWN, made
expressly for this purpose, and five or six locomotives to transport it.
My daily expenses exceed $5,000. We can only stop in large towns, and
leave it to those residing elsewhere to reach us by cheap excursion
trains, which they can easily get up.
‘Among some of my novelties is a FREE FULL MENAGERIE OF WILD ANIMALS,
including all, and more than are usually seen in a travelling menagerie,
which I now open to be seen by everybody, WITHOUT ANY CHARGE WHATEVER.
Although I have consolidated more than twenty shows in one, containing
nearly one hundred gorgeously magnificent gold and enamelled cages, dens
and vans, requiring the services of nearly 1,000 men and over 500
horses, the price of admission to the entire combination of exhibition
is only the same as is charged to a common show, viz. 50 cents; children
half price. My great Hippodrome Tent comfortably seats 14,000 persons at
one time, while my numerous other tents cover several acres of ground.
‘The Museum Department contains 100,000 curiosities, including Professor
Faber’s wonderful TALKING MACHINE, costing me $20,000 for its use six
months. Also, a National Portrait Gallery of 100 life-size Oil
Paintings, including all the Presidents of the United States, our
Statesmen and Military Heroes, as well as foreign Potentates and
Celebrities, and the entire Collection of the celebrated John Rogers’
groups of Historical and Classic Statuary. Also, an almost endless
variety of Curiosities, including numberless Automaton Musicians and
Mechanicians, and Moving Scenes, Transformation Landscapes, Sailing
Ships, Running Water-mills, Railroad Trains, etc., made in Paris and
Geneva, more beautiful and marvellous than can be imagined, and all kept
in motion by a Steam Engine. Here, also, are Giants, Dwarfs, Fiji
Cannibals, Modoc and Digger Indians, Circassian Girls, the No-armed Boy,
etc.
‘Among the rare wild animals are MONSTER SEA LIONS, transported in great
water-tanks; the largest RHINOCEROS ever captured alive, and 1,500 Wild
Beasts and Rare Birds, Lions, Elephants, Elands, Gnus, Tigers, Polar
Bears, Ostriches, and every description of wild animal hitherto
exhibited, besides many never before seen on this Continent.
‘In the Hippodrome Department are THREE DISTINCT RINGS, wherein three
sets of rival performances are taking place at the same time, in full
view of all the audience. Here will be seen Performing Elephants,
Horse-riding Goats, Educated Horses, Elk and Deer in Harness, Ponies,
Trick Mules, and Bears, and three distinct Equestrian Companies (with
six clowns), including by far the best Male and Female Bare-back Riders
in the World, with numerous Athletes and Gymnasts who have no equal.
Everything is perfectly chaste and unobjectionable. Its like will never
be known.
‘THE GREAT STREET-PROCESSION, three miles long, takes place every
morning at half-past eight o’clock. It is worth going 100 miles to see.
It consists of trains of Elephants, Camels, Dromedaries, Zebras, and
Elks in harness; nearly 100 Gold Enamelled and Cerulean Chariots, Vans,
Dens, and Cages; Arabian Horses, Trick Ponies, three Bands of Music, and
a most marvellous display of Gymnastic, Automatic, and Musical
performances in the public streets.
‘THREE FULL EXHIBITIONS will be given each day at ten, one, and seven
o’clock. No one should miss the early Procession.
‘The Public’s Obedient Servant,
‘P. T. BARNUM.’
The circus department of this unrivalled combination show is managed by
Dan Castello, who is described in the bills as ‘a gentleman of rare
accomplishments as a jester and conversationalist, whose varied and ripe
experience in Continental Europe, and North and South America, render
his services of great value.’ The company comprised Celeste Pauliere,
the dashing bare-back rider of the Cirque Français; D’Atalie, ‘the man
with the iron jaw,’ who appeared a year or two ago at some of the London
music-halls; the Sisters Marion, who then appeared in America for the
first time; Frank Barry, Vinnie Cook, Montenard and Aymar, Madame Aymar,
Marie Girardeau, and Carlotta Davioli: and among performers less known
on this side of the Atlantic, Lucille Watson, Angela (‘the female
Samson’), Sebastian and Romeo, the Mathews family, Lazelle and Millison,
the Bliss family, Bushnell, Nathan, Nichols, Lee, and Hopper.
The grand parade is a thing to be seen once in a life, and talked of
ever afterwards. Here I must let the Prince of Showmen, as Barnum has
been called, speak for himself; no other’s pen could do justice to the
theme. ‘The grand street pageant,’ says one of his bills, ‘which heralds
the advent into each town of the longest and grandest spectacular
demonstration ever witnessed, is nearly three miles in length. Prominent
among the grand and attractive features of the innumerable caravan, are
the twelve golden chariots, eight statuary and four tableau, including
the gorgeous moving Temple of Juno, 30 feet high, built in London at a
cost of $20,000, the musical Chariot of Mnemosyne, the revolving Temple
of the Muses, the great steam Calliope, three bands of music, and one
hundred resplendent cages and vans.
‘These magnificently gilded Palaces and Dens, plated and elaborated by
the most cunning artisans, after vivid designs and gorgeous
impersonations from the Dreams of Hesiod, are drawn in the Great
Procession by trained Elephants, Camels, Dromedaries, Arabian
Thoroughbreds, Liliputian Ponies, herds of Elk and Reindeer in harness,
and a gorgeously caparisoned retinue of dapple Steeds and Shetland
Palfreys. They are of such rich and varied attractions as to excite the
envy of a CRŒSUS or BELLEROPHONTES.
‘The Great Procession will be interspersed with grotesque figures, such
as automaton gymnasts,rich mechanical trapezists, globe and ball
jugglers, comic clowns, and athletic sports, performing on the tops of
the cages and chariots, in open streets, all the difficult feats of the
celebrated living gymnasts. The different brass bands, musical chariots,
Polyhymnian organs, steam pianos, and Calliopes, &c., are equivalent to
one hundred skilful musicians. Persons anxious to see the procession
should come early, as three performances a day are given to accommodate
the multitudes, viz., at 10 a.m., also at one and seven o’clock in the
afternoon and evening. Prof. Fritz Hartman’s silver cornet band, Herr
Hessler’s celebrated brass and string bands, Mons. Joseph Mesmer’s
French cornet band, and the great orchestra Polyhymnia, will enliven the
community with their choicest rhapsodies, in alternate succession, while
passing through the streets.’
The bill concludes with the following announcement, eminently
characteristic of the people, and of Barnum in particular:—‘Tickets will
be carefully but rapidly dispensed, not only by BEN LUSBIE, Esq., the
“Lightning Ticket Seller,” whose achievement of disposing of tickets at
the rate of 6,000 per hour is one of the sensational features of the
great free show, but from several ticket waggons, and also from the
elegant carriage of Mr Barnum’s Book Agent, who furnishes Tickets FREE
to all buyers of the Life of P. T. Barnum, written by himself, reduced
from $3.50 to $1.50.’
Circuses on such a scale as this, and many similar concerns now
travelling in the United States, can only be conducted successfully by
those who combine a large amount of reserve capital with the requisite
judgment, experience, and energy for undertakings so great and onerous.
There are in that country, though its population is much less and
scattered over an area far more extensive than that of Great Britain,
many more circuses than exist in this country, and most of them
organized on a scale which can be matched in England only by Sanger’s.
Conducted as such enterprises are in America, under conditions unknown
in this country, a bad season is ruin to circus proprietors whose
reserve capital is insufficient to enable them to hold their own against
a year’s losses, maintain their stud during the winter in idleness, and
take the field with undiminished strength and untarnished splendour in
the following spring.
American circus proprietors, managers, performers, and all connected
with them, will not soon forget the season of 1869, which ruined several
concerns, sapped the strength of more, and disappointed all. ‘During the
winter of 1868–9,’ writes an American gentleman, fully acquainted with
the subject, ‘the most extensive preparations were made by them. New
canvases were bought, new wagons built, the entire paraphernalia
refitted, and considerable expense gone to for what they all anticipated
would be a prosperous season. The rainy term struck a good many of the
shows in the western country as soon as they got fairly on the road, and
some of them did not see the sun any day for three weeks. This proved
disastrous, as it put them back several weeks. The rainy weather made
the roads in a horrible condition and almost impassable, while in some
parts of the far west one concern came to a dead stand for a week, not
being able to get along with the heavy wagons through a country that had
to be forded. In this manner several concerns lost many of their stands.
Then, when they did strike a clear country, business did not come up to
expectations. It is very doubtful if, out of the twenty-eight circuses
and menageries that started out in April and May, more than six concerns
came home with the right side of a balance-sheet. Of this number were
the European, Bailey’s, Stone and Murray’s, and two or three of the
menageries. Some of the other shows managed by close figuring to worry
through the season and come home with their horses pretty well jaded
out, their wagons worn, and their canvas in a dilapidated condition.
There were other shows that collapsed before the season was half over.
‘Profiting by experience, and having not much better hopes for next
season, scarcely a manager went heavily into preparations during the
winter for the summer’s campaign. The general impression with all the
old and experienced managers was that it was going to be another hard
one for them to pull through, and could they have made any satisfactory
disposal of their live stock, they would willingly have done so sooner
than go through such another summer as the last one. Some of the old
managers believe in “Never say die,” and launched out a little more
boldly than the rest, believing that “Nothing venture, nothing win.” The
big concerns that have wealthy managers, who can stand a few weeks of
bad luck, hold out; but there are several new managers getting into the
business—as well as several old ones—who have just money enough to get
their shows on the road. These are the concerns that go by the board
first, should times be bad, for, having no money to fall back on, the
“jig’s up.” There are many shows that go on the road without a dollar in
the treasury, comparatively speaking. They manage to crawl along by
paying no salaries, their daily receipts just about meeting their hotel
bill for keep of men and horses. Finally, they reach a town, the weather
is very stormy, and the receipts do not come up to the daily expense.
The consequence is the landlord of the hotel has to accompany the show
to the next stand to get his money, and in some instances keep along for
two or three days.
‘I know of a circus that once travelled through Vermont and did a good
business, but on their return home through New York State met with five
weeks of horrible business, the weather being rainy nearly every day.
There were from two to three landlords accompanying the show all the
time to collect back bills, and as fast as one was dropped another would
be taken on. In one town one landlord, who had been along for nearly a
week, grew out of patience, and, becoming desperate, had the canvas
attached, and as soon as the company got ready to start for the next
town it was hauled down to a stable under charge of the sheriff. Of
course there was no use of the show going to the next town without a
canvas, so at last the sheriff kindly consented to take two of the
baggage horses for the debt, and they were left behind. This caused a
delay, and the canvas did not arrive in the next town until it was too
late to give the afternoon show. This is only one of the hundreds of
little events that transpire during the tenting season.
‘But the greatest trouble experienced by circus managers is the attempt
on the part of crowds of roughs to gain free admittance to the circus.
In a body they go to the door and attempt to pass; upon being stopped,
they show fight. If they are worsted, they soon re-appear on the scene,
considerably strengthened in numbers, and they either cut the guy ropes
and let down the canvas, or they get into a fight with the circus boys.
Generally speaking, serious results follow, and if one of the citizens
of the town is hurt the concern is followed to the next town and hunted
like dogs, and probably the same scenes occur there. There are several
towns where trouble is generally looked for. West Troy, N. Y., is one of
these, and we could mention half a dozen others. In scarcely one of
these towns are the police strong enough to break up these regular
circus riots. A circus manager is compelled to pay to the corporation a
heavy license fee for the privilege of showing in the town, a goodly tax
for ground rent for pitching his canvas, he is charged exorbitantly for
everything he wants during his stay there, and he has a United States
licence also to pay, and it is but justice that the corporation should
be prepared beforehand, and see that said manager’s property is
protected.’
Next to Barnum’s, the best organized and appointed circuses now
travelling are Van Amburgh’s, Robinson’s, and Stone and Murray’s. Van
Amburgh and Co. own two menageries, one of which accompanies the circus.
It will surprise persons acquainted only with English circuses to learn
that the staff of the combined shows comprises a manager and an
assistant manager, advertiser, treasurer, equestrian director,
riding-master, band leader, lion performer, elephant man, doorkeeper,
and head ostler, besides grooms, tent-men, &c., to the number, all told,
of nearly a hundred. The number of horses, including those used for
draught, is about a hundred and forty.
In 1870, the management adopted the plan of camping the horses and
providing lodgings and board for the entire company, so as to be
independent of hotel and stable keepers, whose demands upon circus
companies are said to have often been extortionate. To this end, they
had constructed a canvas stable, and two large carriages, eighteen feet
long, to be set eighteen feet apart, with swinging sides, was to form a
house eighteen feet by thirty. This is their hotel, and the cooking is
done in a portable kitchen, drawn by four horses. Fifty men are lodged
and boarded in this construction, which is called, after the manager,
Hyatt Frost, the Hotel Frost. Among the cooking utensils provided for
the travelling kitchen is a frying-pan thirty inches in diameter, which
will cook a gross of eggs at once.
Robinson, the manager of the concern known as the Yankee Robinson
Consolidated Shows, combines a menagerie and a ballet _troupe_ with a
circus, the former containing a group of performing bears. The parades
of this circus are organized on a great scale, and usually present some
feature of novelty, or more than ordinary splendour. A new Polyhymnia,
used as an advertising car, and which produces a volume of sound equal
to that of a brass band, was added to its attractions in 1870. The
Hayneses or Senyahs, who performed at several of the London music-halls
a few years ago, and whose performance has been described in a previous
chapter, were at that time in the company, and had been during the
previous winter at the Olympic Theatre, Brooklyn. There also another
female gymnast known to the frequenters of metropolitan music-halls,
namely, Madlle Geraldine, appeared that season. Robinson is said to be
the only man that so far has been successful as a circus manager,
performer, and Yankee comedian, having appeared with considerable
success as a representative of Yankee characters at Wood’s Museum and
the Olympic Theatre, New York, as well as in other cities.
Stone and Murray’s circus enjoyed, until Barnum took the field, a
reputation second to none in the Union. ‘Wherever they have been,’ says
the writer already quoted, ‘they have left a good name behind them, and
they give a really good circus entertainment. Everything about the show
presents a neat appearance, and the company are noted for behaving
themselves wherever they appear.’ This is the circus in which two or
three of the numerous and talented Cooke family performed during the
season of 1870, together with Jeannette Elsler, who in 1852 performed at
Batty’s Hippodrome, being then a member of Franconi’s company. Charles
Bliss, now in Barnum’s company, and William Ducrow, were also members of
Stone and Murray’s company four years ago. For the parade, this circus
has a band chariot, drawn by forty horses; and in 1870, as an additional
outside attraction, Madlle Elsler made an ascent on a wire from the
ground to the top of the pavilion, a feat which she had performed
eighteen years previously at Batty’s Hippodrome.
Forepaugh’s ‘zoological and equestrian aggregation,’ as the show is
called, combines a circus with a menagerie, and possesses no fewer than
three elephants and as many camels. Adam Forepaugh is the proprietor of
this show, which must not be confounded with Gardner and Forepaugh’s
circus and menagerie, which was organized in 1870 by the amalgamation of
Gardner and Kenyon’s menagerie with James Robinson’s circus. Kenyon
retired from the former in 1869, and John Forepaugh, brother of Adam,
took his place. The two elephants and other animals forming the
zoological collection belong, however, to Adam Forepaugh, from whom they
are hired on a per centage arrangement. Madlle Virginie, who appeared at
the Holborn Amphitheatre a few years ago, has since been travelling with
Adam Forepaugh; while Gardner and Forepaugh’s circus has included in its
company J. M. Kelly, brother of George Kelly, the champion vaulter,
whose double somersaults over a dozen horses will long linger in the
memory of those who witnessed the feat in the same arena.
Joel Warner, who was formerly Adam Forepaugh’s advertiser, started a
circus and menagerie on his own account in 1871. ‘He said,’ writes the
gentleman who relates the story of the origin of Barnum’s show, ‘that he
was “bound to have some money, or die;” and he added that he would
“fifty per cent. rather have the money than die.” Well, he started out,
and met with but poor encouragement; still his indomitable energy kept
him above-water until he got into Indiana, when he found, to his utter
consternation, that he was to meet with strong opposition. “Well,” he
said, “there’s just one way to get out of this,” and Warner quietly
disappeared. Two or three days after a travel-worn stranger stepped into
the counting-room of Russell, Morgan, & Co.’s great printing house, in
Cincinnati, and, sitting himself down in a chair, exclaimed:—“Well, here
I am, and here I’ll stay.” It was Warner, and the way that man disturbed
the placid bosom of quart-bottles of ink was a warning to writists. For
two weeks he sat at a desk running off “proof” from his pen, while the
printers ran it off from the press, and when he got through, J. E.
Warner & Co.’s Menagerie and Circus was among the best advertised shows
in America. He courted the muses too, and fair poetry shed her light
upon Warner’s wearied brain, while she tipped his fingers with:—
“One summer’s eve, amid the bowers
Of Grand river’s peaceful stream,
Sleeping ’mong the breathing flowers,
Joel Warner had a dream:
Argosies came richly freighted,
Birds and beasts, from every land,
At his calling came and waited,
Till he raised his magic hand.”
The “magic hand,” was raised, and Hoosiers and Michiganders filled it
with “rocks.” I met him in the summer at Fort Wayne. “Well, Warner, what
success?” I asked. “Red hot!” was the answer, and off he started to hire
every bill-board and bill-poster and newspaper in the town. As an
advertiser he stands “ever so high,” and as a gentleman he is, as
Captain Cuttle remarked of his watch, “equalled by few and excelled by
none.”
‘One day Charley Castle—of course, everybody knows Charley Castle, and
has heard him mention Syracuse—one day Charley Castle lost a beautiful
topaz from a ring, and after a thorough search he gave it up as gone;
“still,” said he, “I’ll give two dollars to the finder if he returns
it.” Warner quietly walked across the street to the dollar-store and
bought a glass stone which bore a remarkable resemblance to the one
lost. Laying it in a corner, he sat down, and in a few moments delighted
Castle by pointing out his lost gem. It fitted the setting exactly, and
Charley was happy. “Well,” said Warner, “I won’t ask you for the two
dollars, Charley, but you must set ’em up.” “All right.” They were set
up accordingly, and it cost three dollars exactly. A short time after,
Castle made a startling discovery—his beautiful topaz was beautiful
glass. There was war in that camp, and in order to move Charley Castle
it is only necessary to go and whisper “topaz” in his ear.
‘But Castle is full of tricks too. Out in Ohio, when he was agent of
O’Brien’s big show—“Great Monster Menagerie, National Natural Kingdom
and Aviary of Exotic Birds”—that’s what he calls it—a landlord gave him
a cross word. “Hitch up them horses,” he shouted to his groom, and
leaving the landlord a left-handed blessing, he drove three miles away,
and showed in an open farm, to a crowded house. Landlords and showmen
often have little passages, and generally the showmen come out winners.
I remember a landlord in a southern town, who once contracted to keep
fifty men, and when the show arrived he had just ten beds in the house.
This was rough on the showmen, but the way the landlord suffered was
enough to “point a moral and adorn a tale.”’
Bailey’s circus also combines a menagerie with the attractions of the
arena, and the former, which includes two large elephants and no fewer
than ten camels, is exhibited during the winter at Wood’s Museum, New
York. Though called Bailey’s, George Bailey is only the junior partner
and general director, the senior partners being Avery Smith and John
Nathans, who are also the proprietors, in partnership with George
Burnell, of the European Circus. Sebastian and Romeo, now travelling
with Barnum’s show, were performing in this circus a few years ago,
together with George Derious, a gymnast who, in 1869, performed some
sensational feats at the Bowery theatre, New York.
The European circus of Smith, Nathans, and Burnell travels with a
company of a hundred and twenty-five persons, and a stud of a hundred
and thirty-four horses. The famous Frank Pastor was lately the principal
equestrian, and the Conrads were among the gymnastic artistes.
French’s circus was the first in America in which the system of lodging
and boarding the company and stabling the horses, independently of
hotels, was introduced. The cooking and dining carriage is eighteen feet
long, eight feet wide, and ten feet high; and there are several large
carriages for sleeping purposes. French employs a hundred and twenty
persons, all told, and his stud numbers as many horses, besides two
elephants, fifteen camels, and two cages of performing lions.
Campbell’s show, which comprises a circus and a menagerie, is a good one
of the second, or rather third, class. The circus company lately
included Madame Brown (better known as Marie Tournaire), Madlle
Josephine, and Sam Stickney—a name still famous in the arena. The
zoological collection includes an elephant and a group of performing
lions, tigers, and leopards, who are exercised by Signor Balize.
There remains to be noticed several tenting circuses of minor extent and
repute, but which make a figure that would be more highly esteemed in
this country. Wheeler and Cushing have a band of silver cornet players,
and their company lately included Madame Tournaire, Annie Warner, and
Pardon Dean, the oldest English equestrian in America. Wilson’s circus
included the world-famed Brothers Risareli in the company just before
their appearance at the Holborn Amphitheatre. Johnson’s circus was
strengthened a few years ago by amalgamation with Levi North’s show,
which included a group of performing animals, and is now able to give a
parade extending to the length of a mile. Older’s circus and menagerie
is a fourth-rate concern, but yet possesses two camels.
Thayer’s circus was broken up by the bad business of 1869, and the stud
and effects sold by auction. A new concern was organized in the same
name in the following year by James Anderson, with fifty people and as
many horses, Thayer being manager, Samuel Stickney equestrian director,
and Charlie Abbott—the vanishing clown of a few years ago at the Holborn
Amphitheatre—as clown. Ward’s circus started in 1869, and broke up the
same year, when Bunnell and Jones bought the stud and effects at auction
for little more than one-seventh of the money they had cost, and started
it again in Ward’s name, in 1870. Lake’s circus was sold by auction
about the same time, when the ring horses were bought by Van Amburgh,
and the draught stock by Noyes. There are three other circuses—Watson’s,
De Haven’s, and Alexander Robinson’s—which though they bear the
high-sounding names of the Metropolitan, the Sensation, and the
International Hippo-comique and World Circus, are of comparative small
importance.
Besides these, there are some circuses which travel the Southern States,
where the climate enables them to tent all the year round. Foremost
among these is Noyes’ circus, a great feature in the parade of which is
the globe band chariot, drawn by eight cream-coloured horses. Hemmings,
Cooper, and Whitby’s show combines with the circus a small menagerie,
and includes an elephant and a cage of performing lions. Grady’s circus
lately numbered in its company Madame Macarte, who formerly travelled
with Batty, and whose real name is, I believe, Macarthy. John Robinson’s
circus and menagerie also possesses an elephant, and the zoological
collection has been greatly enlarged of late years. Stowe’s circus
appears to be a very small concern.
Most of the American circuses, including all the most considerable, are
accompanied, as before stated, by what are termed ‘side shows,’ of which
the following account is given by the gentleman to whom I am indebted
for the statement of the troubles of American circuses in the beginning
of this chapter. ‘The side show,’ he says, ‘is an institution of
itself—one in which considerable money is invested with some concerns,
while with others not so much capital is required. What is known as a
side show is an entertainment given in a small canvas in close proximity
to the big show. To secure the sole privilege of conducting this
entertainment on the same ground as used by the big concern, and for
being permitted to accompany it on its summer tour, a considerable bonus
has to be paid. There is a great rivalry among side showmen to secure
the privilege with the larger concerns, as a great deal of money is made
during a tenting season. Some of these entertainments consist of a
regular minstrel performance or the exhibition of some monstrosity, such
as a five-legged cow, a double-headed calf, collection of anacondas,
sword-swallowers, stone-eaters, dwarf, giant, fat woman, and anything
else, no matter what, so long as it is a curiosity.
‘The _modus operandi_ of running a side show is as follows:—The manager
has a two-horse waggon, into which he packs his canvas and traps. He
starts off early in the morning, so as to reach the town in which the
circus is to exhibit about an hour before the procession is made. He
drives to the lot, and in less than an hour every preparation has been
completed and the side show commences, with the “blower” taking his
position at the door of the entrance, and in a stentorian voice
expatiating at large upon what is to be seen within for the small sum of
ten cents; sometimes the admission is twenty-five cents. The term
“blower” is given to this individual because he talks so much and tells
a great deal more than what proves to be true. A crowd always gathers
about a circus lot early in the morning, and many a nimble tenpence is
picked up before the procession is made in town. When that is over and
has reached the lot, an immense crowd gathers around to see the pitching
of the big canvas, and from them many drop in to see the side show. As
soon as the big show opens for the afternoon performance the “kid” show,
as the side show is called, shuts up and does not open again until about
five minutes before the big show is out. Then the “blower” mounts a box
or anything that is handy, and goes at it with a will, “blowing” and
taking in the stamps at the same time. This is kept up for about half an
hour, by which time all have gone in that can, while the rest have
departed. The side show entertainment lasts about half an hour, when the
doors are closed and remain so until the evening performance of the big
show is over. And then, with a huge torch-ball blazing each side of him,
the “blower” commences. This torch ball consists of balls of cotton
wicking, such as was used in olden times for oil lamps; having been
soaked well in alcohol and lighted, it is fixed upon an iron rod, about
six feet long, which is placed upright in the ground and the ball will
burn for half an hour or more; two balls will make the whole
neighbourhood nearly as light as day.
‘The receipts from some side shows reach over $150 a day, and with the
larger concerns a still greater amount than this is taken. I know of a
side show that travelled with a circus company through Vermont and the
Canadas, about ten years ago, that actually came home in the fall with
more money than the circus had; not that it took more money, but it did
a big business, and had little or no expense. The side show belonged to
the manager of the big show, and consisted of a couple of snakes, a cage
of monkeys, and a deformed negro wench, who was represented as a wild
woman, caught by a party of slaves in the swamps of Florida. While the
big show did a poor business the “kid” show made money. Some of the
circus managers do not dispose of the side show privilege, but run it
themselves. Then, again, the manager of the big show rents out what is
called the “concert privilege;” that is, the right of giving a minstrel
entertainment within the canvas of the big show as soon as the regular
afternoon and evening performances are over. This consists of a regular
first part and variety minstrel entertainment, given by the circus
performers, who can either play some musical instrument or dance;
occasionally some of the ladies of the company dance. The show lasts
about three quarters of an hour, and the charge is twenty-five cents.
The clown announces to the audience, just before the big show is over,
that the entertainment will be given immediately after, and those who
wish to witness it can keep their seats. Several parties then skirmish
among the assembled multitude and cry “tickets for the concert,
twenty-five cents,” and just before the entertainment commences the
tickets are collected.’
New York and New Orleans are provided with permanent buildings in which
circus performances are given during the winter by companies which
travel in the tenting season. At the New York Amphitheatre the company
comprises some of the best equestrians and gymnasts, American and
European, whose services can be secured, such as Robert Stickney,
William Conrad (who, with his brother, will be remembered by many as
gymnasts at the Alhambra), and Joe Pentland, one of the oldest and best
clowns in the Union. The stud comprises between forty and fifty horses,
all used in turn in the ring, as the summer campaign is made by rail,
and only the principal towns are visited. Mr Lent is lessee and manager
in New York.
The New Orleans Amphitheatre combines a menagerie with its circus
attractions, and is owned by C. T. Ames. There are twelve camels
attached to it, and a ‘mio,’ whatever that may be, the animal being as
unknown to naturalists, by that name at least, as the ‘vedo’ of Sanger’s
circus. Lucille Watson, now with Barnum’s company, was previously a
member of the New Orleans troupe.