Photo No. 1 - Dragon Float originally with Howes Great London in 1871. Chester Photo Service.

It was my intention, long before now, to follow my 1956 pamphlet, THE TELESCOPING TABLEAUS, with another on this subject, In it, I had hoped to fix the origin and trace the transfers from show to show of most of the score, or so, of these floats that are known to us largely through photographs. The attempt to follow through on the original objective has revealed that there were many more of these vehicles than I had suspected, a fact which is further complicated by duplication, in name but not necessarily in design, of those with the more popular titles, such as Cinderella, Santa Claus, and Red Riding Hood.

With half of the evidence at hand, some highly plausible but erroneous conclusions would have been drawn. Fortunately, this has been avoided but, unfortunately, very little more can be accomplished at this time other than to catalog the available information. I find that it is not even possible to identify which, if any, of our better-known wagon shops built any of them.

So as not to include all the four-wheel conveyances that were ever hitched to a string of diminutive quadrupeds, I intend to limit the subject to small platform vehicles that had carved figures as their prime features and to avoid the coach types generic from the Cinderella Pumpkin Coach Fantasy. However, in dealing with the pre-photographic post, there can be no assurance that some of those that will be mentioned will not be of the wrong classification,

Some of the major shows, including Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Bros., Sells Bros., and John Robinson, had sets of from three to seven, each set obviously built about the same time with, except for the featured carving, a marked degree of similarity about them. The Forepaugh Show seems to have accumulated a hodge-podge collection of about five from various sources, some of which were possibly imported from England. Other smaller shows had one or two, Altogether, allowing for the fairly clear cases of transfer and resale, about 45 different ones can presently be accounted for.

The first of these, Queen Mab's Fairy Chariot, appeared on the Howes United States Circus in 1848 very shortly after the first ornamental bandwagons made their debut in the middle 1840's.

These bandwagons, followed by all of the animal cages that the show could muster and intersperse, on occasions, with mounted riders fixes the date of the first American circus parades worthy of the name. Therefore, the pony float, as the first augmentation to the basic procession, appeared many years before 1857 when the first calliope tailed the Nixon & Kemp parade, and by a still longer period before Seth B. Howes brought back from England in 1864 either some second-hand Sanger vehicles or substantially exact copies thereof to introduce tableau wagons to the American parade scene.

The second float on record was on that Howes 1864 show then titled Howes European. It stayed with that show (later retitled Great European after Howes sold out to the Flatfoots) through 1873 when, after being listed in a sole advertisement that appeared in the New York Clipper in January of that year, further references to it vanish. They called this one the Chariot of Titania, Queen of the Fairies, whom the mythologists identify as the spouse of Oberon.

THE JOHN ROBINSON SET

Not to be outdone, the John Robinson Show had a pair of floats in 1872, representing both Titania and her spouse - one being pulled by a 16-pony hitch, and the other, by a string of eight. Because of the overlapping of dates, neither of these could have been bought off the Great European. Either of them could have been the one that possibly was made from the top of the Golden Horse Bandwagon (ref: THE TELESCOPING TABLEAUS, pages 2 and 3). At least, no references have yet been found that would prove that the wagon remained intact after 1869, which would discredit the story about its being disassembled. The Robinson Show evidently had groups of these floats at two different times. The first group may have originated as early as 1865 if any credulousness can be allowed the show's advertisement in a St. Louis newspaper. The evidence does not begin to become conclusive until 1872 with the information related above from a Cincinnati paper. This is further substantiated by on 1875 account from Columbus Ohio, where the number in the group was placed at four.

According to a news item in on 1889 Clipper, a new set was being built for the show by a Cincinnati wagon builder. The show's 1891 courier identified these by name as Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Old Woman in the Shoe, Aladdin, and Sinbad the Sailor. By way of confirmation, the Louisville paper commented that the parade was tailed by ". . . diminutive chariots almost without end." Among the items offered by Robinson in a large surplus property sale advertised in the Clipper for December 3, 1892, were a calliope, a giraffe, and five pony floats, namely, Cinderella, Jack the Giant Killer, Robinson Crusoe, Liberty, and St. George and the Dragon. Since only one of those on the sale list (Cinderella) agreed with the 1891 courier list, we might be correct in assuming that the show had a total of nine. At least, this conjecture would fit into my next hypothesis which, while being the most explainable of any of the possible transfers, is admittedly without sufficient proof.

THE RINGLING BROS. SET

According to information published by the Ringlings in their composite route book (1882-1914), they purchased the giraffe and the calliope from the Robinson ad. Since the Ringling Show had a Robinson Crusoe, a Red Riding Hood and a Jack the Giant Killer, as evidenced by the photographs (nos. 2, 3, and 4) supposedly taken in 1900, it is possible that these may also have been acquired at the Robinson sale. However, all of the photographic coverage that we have of the Ringling floats only span the years 1900 to 1901, a situation that would tend to discount the probability of this particular transaction. It would be less of a conjecture to assume that the Red Riding Hood and Jack the Giant Killer offered for sale by Seibel Brothers of Watertown, Wisconsin, in a March, 1904, Billboard ad were ex-Ringling equipment.

HOWES GREAT LONDON

The year 1871 marks the introduction of the first float of which we definitely have pictures, but only because the earliest surviving photo was made fully fifteen years later. Howes Great London Circus, the second Howes show framed with European Parade equipment, opened that year. Included in the imported parade wagons were the big Elephant and Globe Tableaus (ref: THE TELESCOPING TABLEAUS, pages 4, 5, and 6) and the pony tableau which I have labeled the Howes Dragon (photo no. 1). The very excellent lithographs and other advertising matter used by that show definitely fix this association. This float was sold with the Howes Show to James A. Bailey, et al, late in 1878 and remained with the Bailey-controlled shows until they were sold to the Ringlings. In this interval, it was integral with the large group on Barnum & London, later Barnum & Bailey. The Ringlings retained this particular vehicle after they sold off most of their parade equipment and used it in some of the Ringling-Barnum specs through 1937. There was also a Cinderella wagon on Howes Great London, but it is quite definite that this was a small coach.

THE BARNUM & BAILEY SET

By for the easiest to trace is the story of the seven that were built for Barnum & London in the middle 1880's. These seven, together with the older Howes Dragon, made a total of eight for that show. The first two of the seven, Santa Claus and The Old Woman in the Shoe, were made in 1883 as evidenced by the special lithographs that were made up for each of them. Between 1886 and 1888, the set was completed with the addition of Mother Goose, Bluebeard, Sinbad the Sailor, Cinderella, and Red Riding Hood. The special two-sheet lithograph, circa 1889 (photo no. 5) indicated that there were two others - Sleeping Beauty and Robinson Crusoe. However, none of the considerable news coverage about this set that would be contemporary with the lithograph, including a special route book issued for the 1889 winter season in London, ever mentions other than the eight. This, together with the entire absence of photographs of the Beauty and Crusoe, has led me to conclude that these two were never build.

The eight stayed with the show until the second European trip of 1898-1902 when three were left behind. This fact con be ascertained from the inventory of equipment compiled on the occasion of the sale of the show by Mr. Bailey to Barnum & Bailey, Ltd. (ref: my 1957 pamphlet, THE AFFAIRS OF JAMES A. BAILEY, pages 5 and 16). This inventory listed five pony floats as a group, and it was necessary to examine the European parade pictures to determine that these were Cinderella, Mother Goose, Bluebeard, Red Riding Hood, and the Howes Dragon.

   
Photo No. 6 (left) Sinbad the Sailor, made for Barnum & London 1886-88. Princeton University Library.
Photo No. 7 (right), Bluebeard, made for Barnum & London 1886-88. Princeton University Library.

   
Photo No. 8 (left) Santa Claus, new on Barnum & London 1883. Princeton University Library.
Photo No. 9 (right), Cinderella, made for Barnum & London 1886-88. Princeton University Library.

Photographs 6, 7, 8, and 9 are believed to be a part of the large set of correlative pictures taken in Bridgeport about 1903, soon after the show returned from its five-year European tour. One of these is the only one that we have of Sinbad the Sailor and two of them are the latest that we have of Bluebeard and Red Riding Hood. From then on, all traces of these three disappear. The Old Woman in the Shoe turns up next in a picture of the Ringling re-issued Forepaugh-Sells Show of 1910-11, and it is possible that some of the others were also there. In 1912, photographs of the Ringling Parade show the Shoe and Cinderella; and it is probable that these two and perhaps Mother Goose and Santa Claus were with this show off and on through 1918. In any event, these four had to end up with the show property stored in Bridgeport rather than with that left in Baraboo after Ringling-Barnum discontinued the parade.

There they remained until 1927 when they were purchased by Fred Buchanan, together with several other wagons, including the Twin Hemisphere Bandwagon, the Barnum & Bailey calliope with the big horn and clown carvings, the Barnum & Bailey hippo den, for his Robbins Brothers Circus, The winterquarters for this show was in Granger, Iowa. After the purchase, the Robbins Show was on 30 cars through midseason 1930. About this time, the depression was beginning to make itself felt, and ten cars were cut off and returned to Granger; and it is probable that the four floats were included. The show, being mortgaged to William P. Hall, was brought onto the Hall Farm of Lancaster, Missouri, at the end of the season. In 1931, it limped the season on 15 cars and returned to Lancaster. This left the four floats in Granger until a Christmas parade unit was formed sometime between 1930 and 1932, the tour of this unit terminating in Lancaster. However, Santa Claus was not with this promotion and was left in Granger where it rotted away. The Shoe, Cinderella, and Goose remained at the Hall Farm until the fall of 1935 when Jess Adkins, one of the owners of the Cole Brothers Circus that had just completed its first season, bought them with several carloads of former Robbins property. They were on the Cole Show in 1936 and for most of the subsequent years through 1950. I am deeply indebted to William Woodcock for most of the information in this paragraph.

I have chosen my illustrations from a variety of sources in order to show three of the four sets of wheels that were, in turn, on some of these floats. I could have used the complete set of pictures made at the Barnum & Bailey quarters which also showed the Goose, Red Riding Hood, and the Shoe on plain 16-spoke wheels. Instead, I have shown the Goose and Red Riding Hood with their original 12-spoke sunbursts and the Shoe on wheels such as were on it, the Goose, and Cinderella when they were on Cole Brothers Circus between 1936 and 1940. When the Cole Show played Los Angeles in 1940, they purchased a lot of used solid-tire truck wheels which they hauled back to Louisville quarters and refitted the entire show for 1941. While this refitting detracted from the appearance of the floats, this measure was forced on the show since steel rim wheels were rapidly becoming taboo, everywhere, because they were too rough on modern street surfaces. I understand that the Circus World Museum, who now have the Shoe and the Goose, are seeking to obtain some more suitable wheels. Even though the Barnum & Bailey quarters pictures were made in 1902, the 12-spoke sunburst wheels were done away with before the European tour. Also, we can only assume that all of the floats had sunburst wheels, since we only have pictures of the Shoe, Goose, and Red Riding Hood so equipped.

When Cole Brothers Circus was in financial trouble following the disasterous 1938 season, the late Terrell Jacobs acquired the Cinderella Float. He refitted it with 1930 vintage spoked automobile wheels that carried small high pressure tires. With the spokes decked out with sunbursts, the float's appearance was not as drastically affected as the two that remained with the Cole Show. Jacobs retained Cinderella through several of his financial crises, but in recent years it has become "lost," perhaps being hidden by someone who is fearful that others may have a prior legal claim on it. Let's hope that it re-appears within a decent interval after the statute of limitations expires.

   
Photo No. 10 (left) Mother Goose, made for Barnum & London 1886-88. Chester Photo Service.
Photo No. 11 (right), Red Riding Hood, made for Barnum & London 1886-88. Chester Photo Service.

Considering the rather liberal amount of photographic coverage that is available on both the Sells Brothers and the Forepaugh-Sells circuses, it is surprising that a few pictures of the Sells floats have not survived. All that we have to base the existence of this set on are the circa 1891 lithograph (photo no. 13), a route book reference, and a few newspaper comments. The Sells 1891 route book lists drivers for Mother Goose, Santa Claus, Red Riding Hood, Robinson Crusoe, Bluebeard and Cinderella, but not for the Old Woman in the Shoe that is also in the group pictorially represented in the lithograph. One wonders what subsequently became of them, because they are not mentioned in either of the comparably concise route books for 1892 or 1893. Nor have I ever found a single other reference in my newspaper file searches on the Sells Show.

While I realized too late that I was not giving proper attention to the local paper comments of the Forepaugh-Sells Circus when I was making my rounds in these files, I have recently found an 1898 reference in Columbus, Ohio, that mentions Red Riding Hood and Cinderella in a clearly described parade account. Later, in 1904, a Philadelphia newspaper counts four pony floats in the parade but makes no attempt to identify them. However, the only one listed in the catalog compiled for the sale of this show, that was held in January, 1905 (ref: THE AFFAIRS OF JAMES A. BAILEY, page 16), was Cinderella. If there were four in Philadelphia, the other three might have been those which Mr. Bailey did not sell to Barnum & Bailey, Ltd., i. e., Santa Claus, Sinbad the Sailor, and Bluebeard which, conjecturing further, could have been loaned by Bailey to the Forepaugh-Sells and withdrawn before the sale. Since the Bailey-controlled interests would at that time hold two Cinderellas, the one sold at the Forepaugh-Sells sale probably was the residue of the original Sells set.

In a Billboard advertisement of March, 1906, this same Cinderella is offered for sale by one Hugh Harrison of Columbus, Ohio, The fact that it was the same identical float is determinable by noting that all of the other show property offered in the same ad agrees with many of the items in the Forepaugh-Sells 1905 catalog. Actually, this catalog is proving to be more valuable to us researchers than it was to the prospective bidders; because after Mr. Bailey bid in the whole show at the auction, no one else there had any reason to have one. It is not known whether this Harrison was a dealer or an agent engaged by the show owners to dispose of the surplus property. If I may be allowed to momentarily swing off on one tangent, I can also record that the old Forepaugh Cleopatra Barge (ref: my 1959 pamphlet, THE GREAT FOREPAUGH SHOW) was also offered at the some time. From this ad, we find that it was 20 feet long and that it could have been bought then for $100.00.

While on the Sells subject, mention should be made that in 1875 the show advertised that they carried a Queen Mab's Fairy Chariot; but no confirmation has been found on this. However, the Sells Show was very small in those days and gathered only meager publicity in the newspapers.

THE FOREPAUGH ACCUMULATION

Except for the mention in the 1878 route book of a pony cart, a vehicle of doubtful eligibility for our classification, Forepaugh's first known pony float appeared in 1881 when an Oberon Fairy Chariot, allegedly built by Sanger Brothers of England, was listed in a full-page ad that appeared in the Washington (D.C.) Evening Star. Because this ad has proven to be generally reliable in the listing of other pieces of parade equipment, we can concede that this chariot probably existed also. It is doubtful if this is the lead pony vehicle in the lineup of three in the 1888 Worcester, Massachusetts, photograph (no. 14), although the bed of that float resembles British-type construction. Daniel and the Lion, a name garnered from an 1887 parade list issued by the show, would be the most appropriate choice of all of those available if one must be picked now to identify this lead vehicle. The second one in line is the Forepaugh Dragon, better illustrated in photograph no. 15. The last in line is the American Eagle, later described in an 1891, Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch as "a large eagle perched on and guarding the Emblem of the Union." Also listed in the 1887 parade list were the Parisian Eagle and Santa Claus.

The situation that existed in the last years that the Forepaugh Show was owned by Adam Forepaugh might be clarified to a considerable extent if copies of the route books for 1887, 1888, and 1889 could be located. None of these are available in the better-known public or private collections. We do have three successive route books for 1891, 1892, and 1893, while the show was under the Bailey-Cooper-McCaddon management. The Dragon, one of the Eagles, and Santa Claus seemed to hove survived this epoch, except that possibly the Santa Claus may have lost its sleigh, if indeed it ever had one, and become the Deer in 1893. When the Forepaugh Show went out on 21 cars in 1894, no pony floats were carried.

FLOATS ON OTHER SHOWS

A Reindeer Float appears in a parade mount picture of the Frank A. Robbins New All Feature Shows in the Billboard for September 1, 1906. This one is essentially identical to Barnum & Bailey's Santa Claus, except that the sleigh is missing; and, therefore, this could possibly be the 1893 Forepaugh "Deer." It, together with that of an Eagle, turns up in a picture of the Robbins Show in a flood that probably occurred in 1905, as the photograph appeared in the Clipper for February 24, 1906. While this picture is too small and indistinct to show much detail on these floats, it is apparent that this Eagle Float is not the Forepaugh Eagle shown in the Worcester parade, even though it is known that the reorganized Frank A. Robbins Show of 1905 obtained Some used parade wagons from Bridgeport that were off various Bailey-controlled shows. Nor is it the Eagle shown in photograph no. 16 credited, we hope correctly, to Welsh Brothers, of which nothing else is known.

A set may have existed on the Walter L. Main Circus. In the spring of 1893, the year of the Tyronne railroad wreck in which considerable property was lost, as well as in the year before, articles appearing in the Clipper indicate that the show had three. Another pre-season article in 1894 told that five were expected to replace those lost in the wreck, However, the 1894 route book is silent about this, and the composite, four-page, foldout pictorial in the 1895 route book that illustrated oil of the parade equipment does not show a single pony float. On this evidence, I would not concede that there were any, especially in the years following the wreck.

A single paragraph will suffice to group together all the others currently known to the author. In October, 1906, a Cinderella was auctioned off on one of the occasions that J. Augustus Jones was selling show property. It is conceivable that this could have been the Forepaugh-Sells float that Hugh Harrison offered for sale the previous spring. In 1888, a Santa CIaus (reindeer) float was sold in Saint Louis, Missouri at the sheriff's sale of Doris & Colvin to Messrs Jukes and McGinley who had intentions Of framing a new show; and it is possible that this one and the Robbins Reindeer are the some. The two obscure vehicles remaining to be cataloged are the small Dragon Float mentioned in Yankee Robinson's full-page Clipper advertisement of August 28, 1869, and L. B. Lent's Cynocephalus briefly commented on in 1871 by the Indianapolis News.

Photo No. 10 (left) Dragon Float from Forepaugh Circus, circa 1888-1893. Princeton University Library.

CREDITS

I wish to thank all of the institutions and individuals whose names appear under the photographs. I again want to thank Bill Woodcock for considerably more than the paragraph that he practically wrote. In addition, the McCaddon Collection at Princeton, the Hertzberg Collection at San Antonio, Fred Pfening, Tom Parkinson, Otto Schieman, Chappie Fox, the late George Chindahl, Roy Arnold, and George Piercy (my apologies if I have missed anyone) have supplied reference material in the form of documents, photographs, are bits of information that were vital to this effort. Ken Whipple should also get his share of the credit for urging me to get on with the story over my reluctance to do a Confucius-type article, because 10,000 honest words could not be written about the subject. It does appear though that this is near the end of the line until some fortunate researcher gets buried under an avalanche of information.

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