Introduction

At a time when most communities had little in the way of entertainment, the traveling circus, under its canvas pavilions, brought thrill, spectacle, and wonderment to a longing public. At a time when isolated audiences knew little about natural history, the circus introduced them to the zoo and museum - animals and oddities - experiences which they would not have otherwise had. The circus, at best, was a most marvelous entertainment, bringing momentary joy to millions and millions of people.

The growth of circus activity closely followed the growth of other aspects of American culture, beginning in the late 18th century and continuing until competing amusements and advancing technology made its mode of operation obsolete. This is most clearly illustrated in the areas of transportation and commercial growth. Circus history is interwoven with the history of waterways, roadways and railways as these facilities evolved from crude paths to complicated networks of steel. The transition from the use of a single wagon to multi-car rail transportation, from one-ring to three-ring spectacles, and from fifty-foot round-tops to huge tent cities, reflects the burgeoning of American industry and commerce during this same period.

The first equestrian troupes were housed in semipermanent facilities within metropolitan areas. As early as 1795, Ricketts’ Amphitheatre in New York City was thoroughly renovated to include “scenery, machinery, decorations, etc.,” a move that marked the beginning in America of combining the equestrian arena and the dramatic stage into a single spectacle, forcing horsemen to become actors and actors to become horsemen. Early 19th century extravaganzas, such as “Timour the Tartar” and “The Cataract of the Ganges,” were adapted for use in the ring, allowing the circus program to become more varied and more competitive with the regular theatres.

During the first three decades of the 19th century the conditions for land travel were irregular. Only the northern and eastern sections of the country and as far west as Pittsburgh offered favorable routes. When, during the War of 1812, the British cut off the sailing lanes for commerce between the northern and southern states, it forced increased activity in road building and more rapid improvements in land travel. Still, road development dates from the beginning of construction on the Cumberland route in 1808, a project designed to establish a permanent thoroughfare from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. It took nine years for the workmen to reach Ohio but, until mid-century, the Cumberland Road was the chief artery from east to west.

Meanwhile, the urban circuses were hard pressed to operate profitably on a regular basis. Competing summer gardens, seaside resorts, athletic events, and more vigorous dramatic performances were usurping a share of the entertainment dollar. The combining of the ring and stage for horse dramas meant keeping two companies on the payroll - riders and actors - and laying out money for elaborate and expensive scenic effects to create greater spectacle. So, when travel became more feasible, when improved roads allowed them to move heavily loaded wagons with modest regularity, enterprising showmen left the cities and trouped their equestrian companies up and down the eastern seaboard and then inland, following the expanding frontier. Where halls and barns were not available, shows were performed behind canvas fencing, open to the whims of the elements.

It was soon determined that some sort of portable shelter was necessary to forestall costly lay-offs brought on by unpleasant weather. So the ring was placed under a canvas cover. What appears to be one of the earliest uses of a tent pavilion devoted to entertainments in America was constructed in 1823 at Chatham Garden, “a resort of beauty and fashion of New York.” However, there is nothing to suggest that the structure was designed for portability and, since Chatham Garden was a place for summer gatherings, it is logical to assume that the sides of the pavilion were not enclosed.

The early circus tents were round-tops, measuring 50 feet or more in diameter, held up by a single pole in the center and by several smaller ones around the perimeter. Canvas sidewall protected the performances from those who might prefer to see the show without passing the ticket wagon. But by mid-century, competition was pushing circuses to provide greater spectacle, which forced them to enlarge their portable facilities. With the addition of a second ring and hippodrome track, the old round-top became an extended oval. Any number of “middle-pieces” could be added to the “round-ends,” much like the leaves to a dining room table, to make the tent more spacious. Canvas pavilions grew even larger when, in 1871, P. T. Barnum opened his Great Traveling World’s Fair. The show was equipped with “vast tents covering nearly three acres of ground.” By 1881, the impresario boasted he had enlarged his “already immense tents three different times” to accommodate the crowds.

This kind of growth could not have continued without the establishment of a complex railroad system throughout the country. Although full development took the entire 19th century, once the locomotive problem was solved by the creation of Stephenson’s Rocket in 1829, track mileage spread steadily. The 9,000 miles in 1850 increased within a ten year period to a national railway system of around 50,000 and by 1880 there was a total of 93,000.

Still, circuses were slow in making full use of rail transportation. There was a variance in gauge from one rail line to another that made train travel cumbersome. Circuses moving on cars designed to operate on one gauge had to unload and transfer equipment to cars compatible with the gauge of another line. And routing a show was restricted by limitations in track mileage, regardless of gauge. But by mid-century rail transportation began to take hold. In 1853, Charles H. Castle and H. M. Whitbeck originated a show out of Cincinnati “designed to travel by steamboat, canal and railroad.” In 1856, Spalding & Rogers’ New Railroad Circus went on the road with “the ring, marquee, seats, performers, horses, stables, and all the appurtenances being carried in railway cars built for the purpose and so constructed they can be used on any road.” O. W. Hyatt’s Great Railroad Circus was performing around Ohio in 1859. James M. Nixon’s Railroad Circus was out in 1863. In 1864, Robinson & Howes announced they were traveling by rail in the mid-western part of the country. Haight & Chambers disposed of their baggage stock in Atlanta in 1866 and began to utilize rail travel. And, finally, with the completion of the trans-continental railroad, Dan Castello and his company made an historic tour to the Pacific coast, facilitated by the show’s capability of traveling on country roads when the management wanted to play towns off the established lines.

The early uses of rail travel were exceptions rather than the rule. It wasn’t until 1872, the second season of P. T. Barnum’s Great Traveling Exposition and World’s Fair, that a serious commitment to railroading occurred. The show toured sixteen states in an area as far west as Kansas. One of the proprietors, William C. Coup, can be given credit for innovations in the design of flat cars and for developing special techniques in the loading and unloading of them and for the intricate planning of railroad scheduling so that shows were able to make longer jumps between towns and carry more equipment and personnel.

With the transition to permanent rail travel, the American circus entered its golden age, featuring mammoth street parades, three rings of continuous performance, huge spreads of canvas, and a company comprised of literally hundreds of performers and working men. This was also an age of brutal competition, paralleling that of American industry and banking. Huge sums were spent on advertising, with billing crews covering the surrounding towns and countryside for a fifty mile radius. Press agent Welles Hawks paid this tribute to these indomitable workmen:

. . . But it is the billposter with the sack of small bills swung across his shoulder and with bucket and brush who does the work often most conspicuous. No smooth surface that will hold a bill ever misses his eye. The sign “Post No Bills” does not always terrorize him, for he has been known to post his bills over the warning.

The use of large lithographs for advertising purposes began in the mid-19th century, a technique pioneered by the American circus. These lithos, which depicted with splashes of color the exciting events within the circus program - horsemanship, trapeze flying, animals, etc. - were daubed on the sides of structures or on fences or wherever there was a flat surface within public viewing. Each “stand” included as much litho paper as the space allowed. A single sheet, 28 x 42 inches [which was as large as could be printed on the old presses], was called a one-sheet. It was not uncommon to see as much as a 100-sheet spread on the side of a large building.

By the latter part of the 19th century, there was a sizable billposting industry, enough to encourage the creation of a trade paper, Billboard, which was founded in 1893. Because many of the readers were people connected with outdoor amusements, by 1900 the paper was running news items relating to circuses, as will as carnivals, fairs, etc. Within ten years from its origin, the Billboard had changed its emphasis to become a show business weekly.

Once the railroads extended westward, cities and towns seemed to appear overnight, opening avenues for adventurous amusement enterprises. Touring companies of every variety proliferated this growing country, competing side by side, vying for the entertainment dollar. With newspapers operating on a continuing basis in almost every community in the country by mid-19th century, the industrious age of advertising began and the circus was in the forefront, puffing attractions through concoctions of word and picture.

The circus parade, symbolic of the events within the large, white tents, also served as a dynamic advertisement. In earliest times, the “mud shows” made a “grand entry” into town, after having halted on the outskirts to wash the wagons, don parade costumes, and bedeck the horses and equipment with fancy trappings. But, when shows expanded their capacity to transport an unlimited amount of paraphernalia by flat and stock car, the parade evolved into an immense processional of elaborately carved pageant and band wagons [featuring mythological and Biblical scenes], elephants, camels, elegantly caparisoned horses with plumed and bejeweled harnesses, and performers on foot in glittering costumes, all designed to enhance a moral and educational image of the circus. The parade, a moving pageant along the main streets of America, became an immense show in itself, always proportionately indicative of the attractions inside the tents. When the modern circus eliminated it from the daily schedule, there was buried once and for all an important part of circus tradition.

Company titles reflected the circuses’ aggressive promotional methods, as they emphasized in glowing promises the coming of the show. For examples, there were Montgomery Queen’s Great European Menagerie, Transatlantic Circus, Roman Hippodrome, and Troupe of Bedouin Arabs; VanAmburgh & Co.’s Great Golden Menagerie, Combination Circus, Roman and Egyptian Museum, Captain John Grimley’s Great Australian Bird Show, etc; and L. B. Lent’s Leviathan Universal Living Exposition, Metropolitan Museum, Mastodon Menagerie, Hemispheric Hippozoonomadon, Cosmographic Caravan, Equescurriculum, Great New York Circus, and Monster Musical Brigade. These titles appear to be parodies but, seemingly, they were meant to be taken seriously, even though they were in all probability inspirations from the productive mind of a press agent or bill writer.

Perhaps the most colorful breed of men in circusdom was the press corps. H. E. “Punch” Wheeler, prominent as one of the profession, defined the circus press agent as “an umpire between the show and the newspapers, to see that neither one of them gets the worst of it too much.” It was the agent’s duties to “propound the myth of prosperity,” to bolster the sagging coffers of their employers in the face of untold public apathy, to build an eminence through printed matter, sprightly and star-spangled, indelibly and eternally marking their circuses’ greatness. The successful agent was endowed with a lively imagination. A constant flow of ideas was essential in keeping his client before the public. His mind was a dictionary of superlatives to fit any and all situations. His conscience was without moral impediments, which allowed him to freely advance unlimited, unsubstantiated claims. And, yes, he was a writer of some ability. [However, there is some disagreement on this point. Many successful agents were notoriously bad journalists.] Finally, his performce with a certain savoir-faire under fire, enabled him to boldly carry out a gigantic farce in the face of a dubious working press.

Exuberance of language - with dash, zest, and flair - was the press agent’s tool. With it, he created a unique style of writing. Such phrases as “a congestion of amusement” and “a resonant tantara of merriment” were not uncommon. Words were pumped into copy as air into a balloon, tinseled, splashed, tandemmed, and alliterated, creating “ballyhoo” through a most colorful rhetoric. The climate of competition between the big shows led to a war of words, as claims were made and countered about the stupendous wonders under the “big top.” Press agents had free rein and their language was the language of joy.

With the merging of the two behemoths of the industry into the combined shows of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, the need for big catch words disappeared. The “big show” really was big. It really was a “scintillating, kaleidoscopic, unparalleled, heterogeneous, aggregation of multiplied wonders.” The sizzling pace of the 20th century, uncovering before our very eyes true marvels of the advancement of man, has created a condition that dwarfs all language. The press agent’s big tool, his hyperbole, has been rendered impotent by our realization of real wonders, actual wonders that are more colossal than mere words.

Times have changed. Today there are far fewer circuses touring the country. The famed Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus - ’The Greatest Show on Earth” - performs in indoor arenas with their two units. The new ownership reflects the state of the modern circus, run by a corps of business executives in “gray suits” who read complicated surveys and rely on the impersonal messages from computers. Gone are the old managers who figured by rule of thumb, who were there to batter the elements and lead the charge from town to town. Gone are the deep traditions of the circus wanderer. There is an appearance of youth about the Ringling show today, a new generation of performers, perhaps establishing new traditions. The circus acts are the same, only more elaborate - more like the Ziegfeld Follies than the old wagon show. The three rings are alive with action. The death defying acts still pack a thrill. The spectacle is as breathtaking as ever. And one can still smell the elephants from the fifteenth row. The circus hasn’t disappeared. No! It is “bigger than ever.” And it will remain that way until next year, when it “will be even bigger.”

Charles H. Day, author of this anthology, was representative of the old school of “puffers.” One of the leading press agents and bill writers of his time, he was most active in the circus business from 1872 to 1887, often working under the title of “Director of Publications,” which usually appeared along with his name on the various booklets and bills he created. His first season of show life was with Sol Smith Russell and a small concert company. Early in his career, he was manager and agent for negro minstrel troupes, such as those of William Arlington, W. W. Newcomb, Sam Sharpley, and W. S. Cleveland.

Interest in writing was probably cultivated when as a youth he worked in his father’s book exchange. As a free lance scribe, he published more than 100 pieces, contributing articles to the New York Clipper, Billboard, New York Dramatic Mirror, and the Sporting and Theatrical Journal over a thirty-five year period.

Day was noted for his originality of thought and expression, for his ability to put on paper that “which oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed.” His couriers [advertising booklets] were always original, “surpassing in range of thought and vividness any published by circuses at that time.” In writing opposition bills, he straightforwardly described the short-comings of rival shows in a frank and convincing manner. It might be added that Day’s belief in the power of press agentry extended to his personal pursuits. He was unique in his particular profession by consistently publicizing himself through display advertising in the New York Clipper.

Considered by his colleagues to be “a man of energy and resource” [One called him “a spectacular figure in the amusement world.”], he was a gentleman of the old school, a congenial, convivial companion. Grant Parish, in a portrait of Day for the Cincinnati Sporting and Dramatic Journal of March 21, 1885, wrote, “When he was born, he was a man - he never was a boy. When he first saw daylight, his head revolved with schemes and, ever since, his mind has been rattling away on new ideas to startle mankind.” But Day’s appearance belied his competitive nature. As one writer put it:

Physically Charlie has not much to boast of, and as an athlete, lion tamer or acrobat would be of no consequence whatever to the great aggregation with which he is connected, but mentally he is a giant, and measures fourteen inches to a foot and weighs seventeen ounces to a pound every time. He has by times crushed opposition with a few strokes of his fluent pen and paralysed every travelling show that dared to compete with the great aggregation that has its winter quarters in the home where its renown proprietor was born and expects to die, too, when he is called upon to succumb to the inevitable. In fact, Charlie is the Warwick of the profession of showmen, and has both built up and pulled down those who have made a mistake in his calibre mentally because of his delicate construction physically.

In 1902, after his retirement, he married a young lady of only twenty-three years of age. [I have found no evidence of a previous marriage.] He died five years later, on October 3, 1907, in New Haven, CT, of erysipelas at the age of sixtyfive.

In putting together this volume, I have purposely excluded Day’s professional “puffery” and fiction writing in order to serve a greater interest in Day as a circus historian. Part One of the volume is comprised of selected articles taken from a variety of journals which follow this purpose. The pieces, having been written well over a period of thirty years, sometimes have moments of repetition. Occasionally, when these occur, I have made short deletions, always indicated with the standard elliptical marks.

Part Two features excerpts from Day’s contributions as a weekly columnist for the Chicago and New York based Sporting and Theatrical Journal from 1884 to 1887. The paper was issued by the Adams & Corbett Publishing Co. At the outset, Charles C. Corbett was the editor. It was the claim of the publishers that the Journal contained more circus news than any other periodical in America. Day began writing under the column title of “Sawdust,” with the first installment appearing in the November 22, 1884, issue. A title change to “Day-Light” occurred with the December 25, 1886 issue, because Day was not limiting his reportage to circus news alone but was looking into broader areas of the entertainment field. Or in his words, “The old, familiar ‘Sawdust’ confined my pen to the circus arena; but, hereafter, with the kind permission of Messrs. Adams and Miles, I shall have my say about matters and things in general.” And, one may add, Day’s voice was strongly opinionated.

The material in Part Two was compiled at the Hertzberg Circus Collection and Museum in San Antonio, Texas, selected for its usefulness from a scrapbook with the cover description of “Circus Collection of Townsend Walsh. 791.084 circa 1885. SC-MISC #22.” Here again, a large amount of anecdotal material has been culled to allow a greater focus on the items of factual value that lend insight to circus operation, circus personalities, and to Day’s views regarding the showmanship of his time.

I have included a section of short biographical sketches of circus people mentioned in Day’s text for the use of readers unfamiliar with the names of performers, cadre, and showmen of the period. The sketches are arranged alphabetically in a section under the heading, “Circus Personnel Reference Roster.”

William L. Slout


Top

Copyright © 2005
William L. Slout and Circus Historical Society, Inc.