Prominent Circus Managers

Prominent Circus Managers Who Were Expert Advance Men - Something of Their Personalities and Methods. Billboard, September 7, 1907.

Quite a number of circus managers of the past directed their individual efforts in advance of the show, believing the routing and advertising to be the great essential. Several of these were equally at home with the show as in advance of it, and in this category may be included George Fox Bailey of Danbury, Conn.; [who], after marrying a daughter of one of the Turners, a son of the original Aron (with the single “A”), abandoned merchandising at his father-in-law’s solicitation and connected himself with Turner’s circus. In the course of time, Bailey attracted the attention of the “Flatfoot“ party and became affiliated for the balance of his life with their interests. These veterans of the tent shows believed that their best interests were the better “subserved” with George in advance, spying out territory and directing details at the front. Mr. Bailey did enjoy considerable prestige ahead from the fact that he was the advertised head of the firm of George F. Bailey & Co. There is no doubt that George’s presence in the van redounded to the benefit of all interested parties and, to employ a Hatterstown expression, this partner in advance was “as smart as a whip.”

At a later day, when Mr. Bailey left the front and returned to the main body to take up the managerial reins at the desire of his associates, Lewis June, a “Flatfoot“ by inheritance, looked after the advance business of this ancient and honorable combine of sterling managers. “Lew” June was a quiet, unassuming man, after the manner of his senior, George Fox Bailey, who did his business without fuss or feathers and passed on, avoiding publicity and exhibiting no desire for professional distinction. That was a characteristic “Flatfoot“ way of doing business. A “Flatfoot” advance man never beat a drum, sounded a trumpet, or cried aloud to make his presence known.

Lewis B. Lent, the grand old man, looked to his own interests in the advance of his circus, that kid clove affair from the Iron Building in New York. Mr. Lent was a well informed man and he knew his United States as well as if he had himself surveyed the map. He was arbitrary in his orders and they were to be obeyed to the letter without excuse. His commands were issued in black and white and there was no dodging the instructions. He was ready with the pen, a most entertaining correspondent and, as Uncle Charley Castle, the veteran circus agent, once remarked:

“Lew Lent would write you a letter if you both were in New York.” And so he would.

The manager was of bulky build and did not get around much on his feet. Arriving at a principal point ahead of the show, Mr. Lent would establish his headquarters and keep in touch with his advance men, who were required to report their movements by wire daily. Methodical in everything, he kept within reach a time table showing the location of the general agent, the press agent, the paste brigade, and the program distributor on the day and date.

Although Mr. Lent was arbitrary in his commands and brooked neither discussion nor divergence, he was, aside from business, more a comrade than a domineering employer who must be obeyed. He was thoughtful of his agents’ comforts; and one ordered to report to headquarters from the field would find that the manager had selected a room for him and on the way the representative was liable to receive a telegram on the train, reading: “Don’t eat until you arrive.”

Lewis B. Lent was an epicure; and if you dined with him, you certainly had your fill of the best that the market afforded. Gruff and blunt to an extreme, the manager, with a voice of rolling thunder, had a keen sense of the humorous and was a delightful conversationalist. But, in anger at the failure to perform a duty, he was a holy terror. It was not conducive to an employee’s happiness to excite his ire. The old man was liable to smash the table with his fist and lift the roof off with his voice.

One season, when running the paste brigade, Mr. Lent put Charles F. Haskins in charge of one and John W. Abbott the other. Haskins was the local billposter in Providence and Abbott held forth in the same line at Binghamton. Both were capable men but Haskins had the superior address and, in consequence, was always assigned to the cities. This led Abbott to ask the manager:

“Mr. Lent, why is it that you always send Haskins to the cities and me to the jay towns?”

The manager looked over his glasses and answered seriously, “John, it takes a man with a head to make the jay towns.”

In selecting territory for exhibition, Mr. Lent had a peculiar Sherlock Holmes method of deduction. He had his doubts about the advisability of playing St. Paul and went there to take in the situation. As he got off the train, a hackman called:

“Take you up town for a quarter.”

The manager passed into the depot where he was solicited by a bootblack:

“Shine ‘em up for five cents.”

The famous showman gave a great grunt of disgust and, talking to himself, said:

“Hack a quarter! Shine five cents! Ugh! The New York Circus will not show in St. Paul this summer.”

The Lent & French show was organized in Detroit in 1876. Several of the advance staff were attending upon the chief in his room when John W. Abbott came in and squatted on the Governor’s sole leather trunk, remarking as he did so:

“Great town this, Mr. Lent, roast turkey ten cents.”

The manager immediately returned, “Turkey ten cents? No money in the town.” And then, discovering the seat that the boss of the paste brigade was occupying, he thundered, “Turkey ten cents. John Abbott, get off my trunk!”

Abbott jumped as if propelled by a catapult and the manager roared with laughter.

Mr. Lent was averse to unsought advice. He believed that he knew his own business best and always insisted on having his own way in conducting it. His programs were printed by Alexander Calhoun at Hartford. The printer dabbled largely in theatricals and minstrelsy. Lent and Calhoun were cronies but the printer so far forgot himself one day as to give the circus manager some pointers in regard to routing the circus. The advised expressed himself loudly:

“Alec Calhoun, you run your printing office and I will run the New York Circus.”

With all his great capacity for handling a show at the front, it would have been better for the final finances of Lewis B. Lent if he had remained at the door of the New York Circus as the man behind the gun. The manager realized this when too late. The stable was not fastened until after the theft of the horse.

Andrew Haight preferred to be in advance of the show and there he was at his best, producing business and letting others look after the results of his resourceful energy. He could drive a close bargain and was never known to get the worst of a deal. John H. Murray once said:

“If there is any fault in Andy Haight, he is too close a contractor.”

Peter Sells was the brightest of the Sells Brothers and Ephrian, Allen and Lewis were justly proud of him. Peter was a well-equipped advance man with a good business head and he could write as well as a professional press agent. He once remarked:

“My place is ahead of the show. I could not travel with it and put up with the turmoil and hurly burly of a fourth of July every week day all the season.”

James A. Bailey, during his career with Cooper & Bailey, the Great London, and his early connection with the P. T. Barnum show, was very much in evidence in the advance and, having been an advance agent before he was a manager, he was experienced in the handling of a show. Mr. Bailey, with all his great ability as an advertiser, lacked one desirable qualification. He could not write, although he was a most excellent judge of circus literature.

For several seasons the great showman’s favorite press agent was John W. Hamilton, a brother of “Tody;” and when there was trouble ahead, Jack accompanied the manager when he assumed command in the face of the enemy.

And there was and is Michael Coyle, who left the treasury and became an advance agent when John H. Murray and he were the sole owners of the Murray & Stone Circus. If Mike had a fault it was the reluctance to go to bed of a night. John H. Murray used to call on his partner of a morning at the Rule Head Hotel, New York, to find him in his room half dressed. One morning John H. asked an explanation:

“Mike, when I come here of a morning, are you retiring or getting up?”

Mike replied indefinitely, “It is either one or the other.”

When the P. T. Barnum show, under different regimes was pressed by opposition, his partners would ring in a still alarm and the great showman would come to the front and add the weight and influence of his presence. His name alone was a tower of strength; and when he came to town himself, the editors opened their arms and columns in welcome. The showman’s arrival was chronicled; he was interviewed and frequently editorialized during his stay. And what is the wonder? P. T. Barnum had preached and practiced advertising successfully all his life. The press of the country was under a lasting obligation to him and is unto this day. An enthusiastic admirer of the great showman exclaimed:

“P. T. Barnum is the father of advertising.”
A bystander improved on the assertion by declaring:
“P. T. Barnum was the grandfather of advertising.”


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William L. Slout and Circus Historical Society, Inc.