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Clate Alexander, cornet, has been a member of the band connected with the Ringling Shows for the past three seasons and has always proven himself an able and reliable man. His home is at Portland, Ind. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Spencer Alexander, widely and popularly known as “Delevan.” occupies the position of chief of the entire horse department, and the superb stock of the World’s Greatest Show tells the story of his wonderful ability better than words. Mr. Alexander knows a horse when he sees him, and any day he can be seen passing judgment on picked horses that are brought to the equine department for sale. It is not only in the purchase of horses, however, that “Del.” finds use for his versatile talents, for on him also depend their care, matching and veterinary requirements, and above all the daily transit from the cars to the grounds and back again of the entire show. Mr. Alexander has been a boss hostler for many years, and is a veteran as well as a veterinary. His first season with the Ringling Bros, was in 1889, since which time he has constantly been in charge of their many hundreds of superb horses. His experience prior to this time covered a long term of years with the Burr Bobbins, Barnum and other shows. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Charles Andress, claimed to be the first to use the word "carnival" in describing a show - Charles Andress’ Carnival of Curiosities, Trained Animal Exposition and Congress of Living Wonders, 1888. Had Charles Andress’ Big Circus in 1889 and had Willie Sells as a partner in 1890. Had Andress & Showers’ in 1896. He was a legal adjuster for Ringling Bros. for ten years; and was with Barnum & Bailey for five years, traveling with the show to Europe. Married at age 80 to the 27-year-old Virginia Prichard. Their son was born the following year, and the octogenarian Andress was widely publicized in the newspapers when his son was born.
          In the Biographical History of Barton County, Kansas:
          Charles Andress is one of the many many old timers of Barton County who left here and journeyed afar . . . Although Mr. Andress has traveled all over the world, most of the time being engaged in the show business he has always owned land in Barton County and it was while here on one of his frequent trips that we got the information from which to make the article for this book. He was born in Brockville, Canada January 15, 1852 - also his mother's birthday - and when Charles was two years of age his parents moved to Chesaning, Michigan, a lumber and shingle camp in Saginaw County. His father was a turner and cabinet maker by trade and he had a very strenuous time making both ends meet, and to make things worse after the family had been there about two years the elder Andress was injured in the machinery and died after three weeks of suffering. This left Mrs. Andress with five boys, the oldest not quite sixteen at that time and the youngest only two years and Charles about four years of age. . . . Mr. Andress' interview:
          "My mother certainly had a very hard time of it raising her boys and I well remember the many trials she went through to hold the family together. Why, I have known her to sit up all night to finish knitting a pair of socks so she could trade them for groceries the next morning to prepare our breakfast so we could go to school and as she could not buy shoes for us she would wrap our feet in cloth rags and send us to school and when we arrived at the school house we would take off the rags and lay them by the fire to dry out so we could have them ready for wearing home at night after school. The two older brothers of course helped all they could and as we were all more or less musically inclined we soon found considerable income from playing for country dances, but enough of this, for I know you are anxious to know how I started in the show business. I was always gifted with the power or knack of imitating birds and animals and doing different stunts in so-called ventriloquism, and in those days every hotel had a hall over head in which all dances and shows were given and the shows all traveled by stage or private conveyance, and in 1862 a magician came along by the name of Prof. Hertz, a foreigner, and offered my mother $10 a month if she would consent to my traveling with him and would send her the money in advance every month and would clothe me, etc., and as the two oldest brothers were now inlisted in the army she very much disliked to part with me but finally consented to let me go. Well I had been out with this magician nearly two years when he was taken sick and died in Pontiac, Michigan, and his wife soon left for England and left me to shift for myself. My two years schooling with him had advanced me very materially as he was a good violinist and we always played for a dance after the show and I was a good "fiddler" for a boy and he bought me a violin and made me a present of it, and this, with a fairly good suit of clothes, was all I possessed when Mrs Hertz left for England. I soon joined bands with an old minstrel performer by the name of Zeke Filliman who played a banjo and with him I used to play for dances in and around Pontiac until he went into retirement on a farm, which left me to shift as best I could for myself. It was then I organized my first show which consisted of a few tricks in magic, which I had learned from the professor, and my ventriloquist act. A set of cambric curtains and the "fiddle," and 500 little programs which I had printed in Lapeer, which cost me $3.50, and the outfit when packed consisted of a sack containing a small cambric curtain, some small tricks in magic and my talking figure. With this equipment in the sack which I carried over my shoulder, and my fiddle in one hand I would travel on foot from one place to another giving shows and occasionally playing for a dance after the show."
          From this primitive beginning Mr. Andress by dint of hard work and careful management his possessions grew until he finally had gotten together a good opera house show, consisting of trained birds, dogs, monkeys, goats, ponies and other animals. In 1874 he decided to go to California with a little show. It was when he was making this trip that he came to Great Bend and put on a show. There being no opera house he got permission from the sheriff to show in the court house for four nights. He stretched a rope across the street from Allen's corner and gave an exhibition with the birds. One of the feathered creatures walked the rope wheeling in front of it another bird in a wheel barrow. Mr. Andress gave presents away at the inside performance and although times were very hard just at that time the show made a big success. . . . From: Biographical History of Barton County, Kansas, Great Bend, KS: Great Bend Tribune, 1912. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Adelaide Austin, bareback rider, wife of Frank Brown, died at La Plata, South America, June 8, [1889?] after an illness of twenty-three days. The deceased was born at Mexico, Mo., and was one of the D'Atalie Family who made their debut in this country in 1870 as acrobats. In 1872 Miss Austin appeared with Barnum's Circus, this city, which was afterwards burned out. She was with the same show in 1873-4-5. During the season of 1876 she was with Montgomery Queen's Circus, and in the fall of the same year joined Cooper & Bailey's Show at San Francisco, which made a tour of the Sandwich Islands, Fiji Islands, Australia, East Indies, New Zealand and South America, returning to this country in the Winter of 1879. She remained with the same show during the season of 1880, when she had the misfortune to break her leg twice. The season of 1881 she joined W. W. Cole's Circus, which went to Australia and New Zealand. Returning to this country she remained with them the season of 1882. In 1883 she joined Pubillone's Circus at Havana, Cuba, where she met Frank Brown and they were married in the Fall of the same year, when they joined Carlo Bros. circus in South America, remaining in that country ever since, as the last three years Mr. Brown has had a circus of his own. She leaves three children. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Doc. Aymar is another one of the array of arenic talent who prides himself on being a Baltimorean. Mr. Aymar started in the amusement profession some ten or twelve years ago in conjunction with Carl Clair. The two did a bar act and played in the band with a very small show, where versatility was at a premium. His later and very successful career as a performer is well known to the profession, and his accomplishments as a pyramid builder with tables, bottles, chairs, etc., are so well known that allusion to them here would be superfluous. Mr. Aymar resides in Elmira, N. Y. He has spent several years with the Ringling Bros. show. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Lottie Aymar is perhaps the most widely known lady performer in the circus business. Lottie Aymar comes from a family noted for its connection with the circus in America. Her father was the well-known circus rider, Walter Aymar. She commenced her professional career as a rider at the age of seven years, and her superb and graceful acts as an equestrienne have been performed with the leading circuses of this and other countries. In 1891, Miss Aymar rode her act with the Ringling Brothers, but since that time has devoted her time and talents to her highly artistic and finished aerial acts. Miss Aymar is an artist of rare gracefulness and style. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

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George Bailey, better known as “Pittsburgh” is the assistant superintendent of the railroad department and a valuable second to Mr. Taylor. There is hardly a piece of iron or wood about a car with which Mr. Bailey is not familiar, and it is a lesson in system to see him carry out the orders of his chief. These are executed with a quiet and unostentatious dispatch that stamp him as one of the most trustworthy and thorough assistants in his line. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Al G. Barnes. . . . The Billboard of August 1, 1931, right after Mr. Barnes' death occurred: "In the death of Al G. Barnes, who passed away after an illness of seven months, July 25, on the Robeson Ranch, near Indo, California, the outdoor show world suffered the loss of one of the ablest producers and managers known to the circus in America. He had passed his 68th year.
      "Up to the time of the absorption of the big show carrying the Barnes banner, with others of the American Circus Corporation group by John Ringling, he was conspicuously active, personally managing and directing his various interests in the amusement world. Barnes sold his circus two years ago and retired to his home in Los Angeles.
      "Al G. Barnes for many years operated on the Pacific Coast and confined his activities almost exclusively to the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. His career as a showman was spectacular. His success was attributed by those who knew him most intimately to his fine business acumen, his resourcefulness, keen foresight and faculty for overcoming every obstacle he encountered.
      "Ill-health overtaking him, he sought rest and restoration of his physical powers amid the quiet and seclusion of the desert. Pneumonia, with complications, hastened the end of his career.
      "At his bedside when he passed on was his third wife, Margaret Goldsboro Barnes, whom he married only last December in Phoenix, Ariz. His first wife, Mrs. Dollie Barnes, and his second, Mrs. Jane Barnes, also survive. By his second wife, Barnes was the father of three children - two girls and a boy. A sister is the only other immediate relative surviving.
      "Altho the public knew him as the owner of the Al G. Barnes Circus for 35 years, he was christened at his birth in Lobo, Ont., Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse. His early days were spent on a farm. With Dolly Barlow, whom he later married, he started a wagon show at Glenwood Springs in 1859, financing it with $2,700 raised by selling his farm. This show consisted of a squeaky phonograph, a pony and a picture machine, but it formed the nucleus of the big circus which he sold in 1929 for more than $1,000,000. Circus Scrap Book, No. 14 (Apr), 1932, pp. 44-45. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Sheldon Hopkins Barrett was born November 9, 1845, at Albion, N.Y., and removed with his parents to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1855. Here they became neighbors of the Sells family, the head of whom (the father of the Sells brothers) and the elder Barrett became fast friends. Young Barrett and the three younger Sells Brothers (Allen, Lewis and Peter), went to public school together and were playmates.
       When the Woodward avenue street railway was established as the first street car line in Cleveland, Ohio, S. H. Barrett, Lewis and Peter Sells were employed as conductors. After nearly three years of this sort of service, Mr. Barrett was taken into the office of the company and became the cashier, which position he continued to hold until 1880. Several years previously the Sells Brothers had removed to Columbus, Ohio, and in 1872 they began their career as showmen, putting a wagon show under their name.
       In 1878, the bought the majority of the property of the Montgomery Queen Circus which was sold at Louisville, Ky., and converted the Sells Brothers’ Show into a railroad show.
       They sent out also their old wagon show, to which other property was added, under the name and direction of James A. Anderson, of Columbus.
       In 1880, Mr. Anderson retired from the management of the show, and the Sells Brothers then induced Mr. Barrett to resign his position with the railroad company in Cleveland, and assume the management of the Anderson show, which was changed from a wagon show into a railroad show and became known as the S. H. Barrett and Co. Show.
       Charles Castle had been engaged as general agent for this venture, but he was taken ill immediately prior to the starting out of the show in the season of 1880. Mr. Eugene A. Weller, a well-known agent was appointed car manager and did good service with the company. The writer was also associated with Mr. Weller as his general assistant, having held a similar position under Weller with the Montgomery Queen Shows (which was the writer’s first experience, actively, in the circus business, 1878.)
       Mr. Barrett never having had any experience in the show business, assumed charge of the advance, and although the show continued under his direction for a period of six years, he always remained in advance of it.
       His success and natural ability as general agent was made clearly manifest under the circumstances.
       In the spring of 1888, the Sells Brothers and S. H. Barrett Shows were merged into one, and Mr. Barrett became the general agent for them (which in 1896 were further combined with the Adam Forepaugh Show), which position he held until his death.
       Mr. Barrett, at the time of his death, was a member of the York Lodge of Master Masons and the Webb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Cleveland, a charter member of the Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and a charter member of the new Consistory of Knights Templars, Columbus, and was also a member of the Scottish Rite Masonry.
       In 1869, he was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca F. Sells, a sister of the Sells Brothers, who, with two sons, survives him.
       Mr. Barrett died May 16, 1900, at the United States Hotel, Boston, Mass., from typhoid pneumonia. His remains were embalmed and taken to his home in Columbus, Ohio, for interment. This ended the worthy career of one more of nature’s noblemen. From Billboard, October 22, 1910, p. 20. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

W. H. Batcheller, the great leaper, entered the circus business in 1867, being at that time an apprentice of George H. Batcheller. Mike Lippman's was the first show with which he became identified, and it closed in Philadelphia. The same season Mr. Batcheller was engaged at the corner of Tenth and Callowhill streets in that city. In 1866 he went West with Forepaugh’s Show, but left in the middle of the season in Indianapolis, Ind., to join Col. C. F. Ames, with whom he continued the following season, closing in New Orleans. In 1870 he engaged with C. W. Noyes, who went as far as Houston, Texas, where the show collapsed. Batcheller then joined the McKnight or John W. Robinson Show, with which organization he remained only a short time, leaving it to join W. W. Cole, with whom he remained until Jan. 12, 1873. Next he was engaged with L. B. Lent’s New York Circus, terminating the season in Atlanta, Ga. In 1874 W. W. Cole again engaged him for the whole of the subsequent season. The campaign of 1876 he served with Howe’s Great London Show, and in 1877 returned to W. W. Cole. The latter allowed him to terminate his engagement in time to make the Australian tour with Cooper & Bailey, which party he remained with until they arrived at Auckland, New Zealand. Returning to the United States, he rejoined W. W. Cole in 1878, in St. Paul, Minn. After the close of that season he accepted an engagement from the Orrins for a season in Cuba. He joined Cooper & Bailey for 1879 and 1880. In 1881 the Barnum and London Shows were united, and Batcheller was included in the combination. For the coming season he has contracted with the United States Circus Co., Myers and Short proprietors. Clipper, February 11, 1882, p. 1. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Bobby Beech is the senior member of the firm of Beech & Bowers, and his fame as a minstrel performer and manager of minstrel enterprises is identical with that of Mr. Bowers. Mr. Beech originated the idea of organizing a minstrel company to take the place of the old-time circus concert. The character of the performance given by Mr. Beech and Mr. Bowers in this connection under the canvas of the Ringling Brothers, together with the novel ideas introduced by them into its composition, show that his ideas were well founded and equally well sustained in their execution. Bobby Beech has been in the minstrel profession a great many years and is a veteran whose specialties show the artistic finish resulting from years of experience and natural capabilities. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

George Benedict, euphonium and first violin, who is well known in the musical profession as an artist of rare ability on both instruments. He has successfully conducted several well-known orchestras, which attests his ability as a leader, while his pleasing manners have won for him many friends. His home is at Muskegon, Mich. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Oscar Bieloh, clarionet and alto, has just completed a satisfactory engagement with the Ringling Bros. organization. His home is at Bridgeport, Wis. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Louis Bingham has been in the employ of the Ringling Bros. show for several years. He is the superintendent of the side show canvas and has general charge of the various mechanical requirements entering into its composition. The paintings are always up when the parade comes back to the lot and the show is ready to go on. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Blondin, see Jean Francois Gravelle.

Otis Bowers is too well known in the amusement profession to need any personal introduction or capitulation of his success in the calling of minstrelsy here. The popularity of the Beech & Bowers Famous Minstrels and the personal and magnetic drawing powers of its celebrated leaders are proverbial. Mr. Otis Bowers is a comedian of much versatility and laughter-provoking abilities and holds an enviable position among the leading minstrel men of this country. As one of the two leading members of the company bearing his name, jointly with that of Mr. Beech, his remarkable accomplishments and able directorship of the minstrel program have added to the lustre of his name in a field hitherto unexplored by him. Mr. Bowers is the owner of a number of famous running horses, among them being “Lady Nell” and “Bobby Beech,” the latter named after his famous partner. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Fred and Ella Bradna. But for an unfortunate accident under the big top six years ago, those grand troupers, Fred and Ella Bradna might still be on the road with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Hospitalization of Mr. Bradna for several months with a fractured right hip, influenced their decision to retire to the comparative quiet of their attractive Sarasota, Fla., bungalow, where they frequently entertain their friends of the circus world. It was during a matinee performance in Dallas, Texas, on September 12, 1945, that Mr. Bradna was incapacitated. A windstorm hit the show grounds, causing the tall quarter poles in the big top to dance, and this movement of supports for the great expanse of canvas alarmed the some 2,700 spectators witnessing the show. The crowd became panicky and made a rush for the exits, although a heavy rainstorm was in progress outside. Bradna and other officials of the show, assisted by policemen and firemen on duty in the tent, made vain efforts to keep the patrons in their seats. And in the scramble, Mr. Bradna was knocked down, suffering the hip injury. He had not recovered sufficiently to accompany the show when it left Sarasota for the 1946 Madison Square Garden engagement in New York, and since he and Mrs. Brandna were in their middle 70's with half a century of activity in the circus behind them, they reluctantly decided to conclude their professional careers.
          The Bradnas had come to America to perform in the Barnum & Bailey circus in 1903, upon its return from a five-year tour of Europe. In 1902, James A. Bailey, managing director of the show, saw the Bradna act in the London Hippodrome, and he contracted the couple to come to this country with his show the following season. Except for winter engagements in Europe, they were with the Barnum and Bailey Circus and the merged Ringling and Barnum & Bailey shows continuously for 42 years, and Mr. Bradna still holds the title of equestrian director emeritus, in recognition of his able and faithful performance of the duties of ringmaster for a third of a century.
          Mrs. Bradna was a bareback rider when she came to this country, her partner, Fred Derrick, an English equestrian. Some years later, she developed what was known in show parlance as an "act beautiful," more extravagantly described by press agents as "an altogether delightful display of color and charm in which thoroughbred horses and scores of dogs and doves assist Lady Dainty in the arena." This act represented an ingenious combination of features conceived by Mr. and Mrs. Bradna, varying from year to year and introducing new novelties, emphasizing grace and beauty of presentation. A gleaming white vehicle was drawn by teams of white horses while a highly trained winged horse rode on the cart. Clever white dogs walked in and around the rims of the wheels, balancing themselves as the vehicle was driven into the ring. A score or more attractive young women of the circus personnel, in handsome costumes added to the pretty picture, and Mrs. Bradna released a profusion of colored birds from a lofty cage, which circled the arena and alighted on the backs of the horses. This feature was presented in the center ring of the circus for a dozen or more years through the 1933 season. Thereafter, for 11 years, Mrs. Bradna matched her supreme horsemanship with that of famous equestrians gathered together from all over the world.
          Mr. Bradna was made equestrian director of the Barnuin & Bailey Circus in 1912, and he remained in that post when the show was merged with the Ringling circus. His principal duty was to assemble the acts contracted for the season into displays and to dovetail the numbers into a performance that had precision, variety and snap. Since there were often as many as 25 nationalities represented among the performers, many of them newcomers from abroad each season, his ability to speak English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, stood him in good stead in dealing with temperamental artists. With diplomacy and a knowledge of the temperaments of the profession, he kept peace among the great artists of the circus, and at the same time ruled with a firm hand to keep the program moving properly. Furthermore, he made a striking appearance in big top, sometimes immaculate in top hats and tails, sometimes impeccable in a red hunting coat, riding trousers and boots. A tiny whistle which he blew for the changing of acts was the law of the circus performers and hundreds responded promptly to its blasts throughout the show.
          The Bradnas' romance is a dramatic story. His family name was Ferbero, and he was born in Strassburg, Alsace-Lorraine, the son of a wealthy brewer. In his youth, he attended the public schools of his home town and became so proficient in vaulting that he held the record for all Europe three consecutive years from 1888 to 1890, clearing the bar at 11 feet, one-half inch, He also was an expert on the horizontal bars, an achievement which stood him in good stead in later years. Upon the completion of his schooling, he joined the French army and the end of eight years of service he held the commission of first lieutenant in the Eighth Regiment of Chevaux-Legers, or light cavalry.
          Ella Bradna is a Bohemian, was born on her father's circus. She and her brothers and sisters were trained as bareback riders, and while appearing in the Albert Schumann Circus in Vienna she first met Lt. Ferbero. Miss Bradna suffered a fall from her horse during a hurdle leaping number in front of the box in which Lt. Ferbero was sitting. He leaped to the arena and carried her from the path of other hurdle jumping animals. He returned to the circus the following day to pay his respects and learn that Miss Bradna had not been seriously hurt. Upon leaving the army, he joined two Rumanians in a horizontal bar act, performing under the title "The Poppescue Brothers" and it was while appearing at the Noveau Circus in Paris, that he and Miss Bradna met again and were married. That was the year 1900. Since the Bradna name was well known in European circuses, and Fred Ferbero knew he was destined for a circus career, he adopted his bride's family name to become known as Fred Bradna.
          During his career with the circus, Fred Bradna became acquainted with many prominent citizens and public officials. Prior to 1922, the circus staged a daily parade, and Mr. Bradna, as parade marshal, came to know thousands of police chiefs and other officers, with whom he consulted on parade routes through downtown areas. For a number of years, he spent the winter months producing indoor circuses in theatres, auditoriums and coliseums for Shrine temples, Elks lodges and other fraternal bodies, and these contacts added many friendships. And because he followed his hobbies so enthusiastically, he became acquainted with nearly every game warden in the country. He has fished and hunted in every one of the 48 states and in Canada and Mexico. He has thrilled to deep sea fishing near Boston and off the Florida coast, has angled for steelhead trout in Montana streams, big mouthed bass in Minnesota lakes and divers and sundry fish in Vermont creeks and Idaho rivers. He has cast among the stumps of the backwaters of the Calcasieu river near New Orleans, and has hunted deer in Texas and pheasants in the Dakotas.
          The friendships he and Mrs. Bradna have made throughout the country are evidenced by the more than 450 Christmas greeting cards they received the past Yuletide from all over the United States and several foreign [remainder of text missing]. - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, VIII. Fred and Ella Bradna" Hobbies, March 1951, pp. 26-27. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

William H. Brandon, well known for many years throughout the country as the keeper of the unruly elephant "Hannibal," connected with Van Amburgh's Menagerie, died suddenly on Sunday at Athens, N.Y., aged fifty-two years. New York Times, March 14, 1871, p. 4.

W. H. Burt. To guard the patrons of the Ringling Bros.’ Show against crooks, pickpockets and fakirs is the difficult and sometimes perilous work of Mr. W. H. Burt, the popular and wide-awake superintendent of our Pinkerton Detective force. Few, even of those experienced with the details of show life, know the many difficulties that Mr. Burt has to contend with in keeping away from the show and towns it visits, the army of dishonest people who, but for his untiring and constant attention, would infest our route with their disagreeable presence. That he is eminently successful in his work is proven by the fact that patrons of the Ringling Bros. are so thoroughly protected from these causes, that no single instance of any dishonest depredation has occurred since his incumbency of the position he occupies. Mr. Burt is a man of wide experience in his profession and possesses the happy faculty of making many friends among the officials of the cities visited by the show. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Albert W. "Silent Al" Butler died November 4, 1973 at the age of 84. He was best known as a contracting agent for the Ringling-Barnum Circus, a position he held for 27 years. Between seasons he handled publicity for Rogers & Hammerstein. In recent years he was associated with the Morris Mechanic Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the Milwaukee parade in 1972. Bandwagon, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Nov-Dec), 1973, p. 43. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

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Bertha Carnihan is a little lady whose gigantic height does not exceed 32 inches. She is 21 years of age and, as can be seen by her picture, a very comely and bright little lady. She does not share any of the childlike habits usually found in little people, but, on the contrary, possesses an independence commensurate with several times her diminutive height. Miss Carnihan is a very well-educated and highly accomplished little lady and has been one of the attractions of the Ringling Brothers’ Museum for the past three years. She lives in Benson, Minn., where she has a host of warm and admiring friends. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

James E. Carter, one of Michigan's oldest showmen passed away at Big Rapids, Michigan, on October 16th, age 75 years. Jim as he was known by everyone who knew him was a real trouper and a true friend regardless of weather or financial conditions. He was always ready to do his best that the show might go on. He was a versatile performer and musician, being able to play any part, either Comedy or Straight and could play any musical instrument including piano and calliope. In the late nineties he organized a Dramatic Show under canvas and travelled by wagon in the early part of 1902. The show had grown and a railroad car was purchased. The performances now presented were "Uncle Toms Cabin" and "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." At the outbreak of the First World War, the show was sold and he joined the Side Show Band of Ringling Bros. This was the first and only time that they had an all white band in the Side Show, which was then under the direction of the late "Lew Graham." At the termination of his contract with the Ringling Show, Jim again engaged in the operation of his own show which this time went out on trucks playing halls in the winter and canvas in the summer, travelling through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. During the late 1920's Jim and his family travelled with various shows and circuses, some of which were Adkins Dog and Pony Show, Tiger Bills Wild West Show (then owned by the late "Col. Emmet Snyder"), Lewis Bros. Circus and Fisher Bros. Circus. From 1948 until a few weeks before his death, Jim was again active in the operation of his own show. During World War II, he purchased a home and established a Winter quarters at Morley, Michigan, where his wife and son now reside. Jim will be missed by all who knew him. Bandwagon, Vol. 1, January, 1954, p. 12. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Castello Family. When the members of the Castello family of bareback riding and aerial fame, got together in Henderson, North Carolina, their home town, to put on their final performance for the American Legion circus in 1935 - 16 years ago - the outdoor show world lost more than a dozen stars and promising young performers. For just as they reached the top of their profession under the big tops, the Castellos have been equally successful in the business and professional world, with Henderson as their base of operations.
          The Castellos today consist of five brothers and sisters and their eight children, of the third and fourth generations of circus riders. The family dynasty began with Dan Castello, the famous clown and rider of Racine, Wisconsin, who had his own circus on the road in the 60's. He teamed up with W. C. Coup, an enterprising young outdoor showman, to operate Coup and Castello's Circus. Ambitious to make their show the largest in the country, they successfully induced P. T. Barnum to join them in a larger operation, which made its debut in 1871 as P. T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome, which eventually became the world's largest, Barnum & Bailey Circus.
          Young Dave Loughlin, who had the urge to be a circus performer, apprenticed himself to Castello, as was the custom of beginners in those days. Castello took a liking to the youth and taught him to be an all-around performer, at the same time legally adopting him as a son. Dave teamed with two brothers to present circus acts for several years. Then he met and was married to Ada Wallett, a native of England and daughter of Madame Jeffreys, famous English tight rope artist. Miss Wallett was a descendant of William Wallett, last of Britain's court jesters, and she came to this country as Zazel, the first woman to be shot out of a cannon, in the late 70's. Unlike the present-day human projectiles who land in a net, Miss Wallett was propelled to a trapeze, where she went through an act after her trip through space. Once she was in the cannon barrel awaiting the signal for her departure, when she readied up to make sure her hair was in place. That movement caused her to suffer serious injury and thereafter she never liked to see a mirror, because, as she said, "it reminded me of the vanity that caused me to get hurt."
          Dave Loughlin taught his wife to ride and they had their carrying act on the Adam Forepaugh-Sells Bros., Norris & Rowe, and other circuses for years. Meanwhile their five children, Dave, Jr., Charlie, Fred, Edward and Edith, learned to ride while the family was living in Cortland, New York. Today, Dave, the elder member of the family, and head of the troupe after his father's death in 1923, owns a hardware store in Henderson, is a director of the First National bank and has served as a member of the city council. Charlie owns a smoke shop and a taxi business and Edward is in the jewelry business under the firm name of Loughlin and Goodwin, with stores in Henderson and Warrenton. Fred was killed in a fall from a fire truck in Henderson in 1917. Sister Edith is now Mrs. Edith O'Lary of Kissimee, Florida, and an adopted sister, Ruth, is now Mrs. Nicholas Jeffreys, a school teacher in Clayton, N. C.
          But for many years, the magic name "The Riding Castellos" was to be found in the programs of leading circuses, and on the bills of principal vaudeville circuits, grandstand shows, and amusement parks throughout the country. The Castellos worked in various combinations through the years as circumstances dictated. In the beginning the youngsters were members of their parents' family troupe. But Dave. Sr. fell under a passenger train he was boarding at Henderson, and lost a leg. Realizing his performing days were over, he purchased a hotel in Henderson. Other members of the family carried on in the best traditions of the circus. Mrs. Castello and son, Dave, had their carrying act on Ringling Brothers circus in 1912, and daughter, Edith, did a principal riding act. That same year, the Alpine family of high wire artists was featured in the performance. On the Ringling lot, Dave Castello met Pearl Alpine, who became his bride, and learned to be a rider under her husband's tutelage. Meanwhile, Edith Castello, her sister-in-law, Bessie Castello, widow of Fred, and Lulu Davenport, of another prominent circus family, formed a riding act known as The Riding Waltons, which was with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus in 1919. The name of the act was from Edith's husband, Edward Walton, who also learned to ride. This act was with circuses for several years, and was revived in the 30's to play at Coney Island, with Edith, sister-in-law, Bessie, and her adopted sister, Ruth, as members.
          When the elder Mrs. Castello gave up riding to keep house for her granddaughter, Bebe Castello, who was attending public school in Henderson, Dave, his wife, Pearl, and brother, Edward, formed a trio using the family name, and they were together for 13 years, playing principally in parks and at fairs and in vaudeville. Eddie was the comedian of the act. Charlie Castello preferred aerial acts to the family's traditional riding, and he produced a single high act, in which he did swinging perch, cloud swing, roman rings and loop walking.
          The third generation of Castellos had only begun to take part in the family acts, when the Castellos retired from show business. The Dave Castellos' only child, Sylvia, learned to ride, and when she was 15, substituted for her mother in the act, while the latter was ill. She is now Mrs. Thurston Hoyle, a housewife in Henderson. Charlie Castello had five children, three of whom were performers. Charlie, Jr. learned his father's aerial act and alternated with him on occasion. Daughters, Zazel and Margie were acrobats. They are now Mrs. Woodrow Johnson of Fuquay Springs, N. C., and Mrs. Margie Cooper of Henderson. Fred and Davada were too young to be performers when their father quit the road. The Edward Castellos have two sons, Edward and Davis, neither of whom was old enough to be a performer, when their father wrote finis to his circus career.
          Only the late Fred Castello's descendants have continued in circus work. His wife Bessie, who started her career with the Gregory family of acrobats, continued in show business after her relatives had retired. Her brother, William Skelton, entered the insurance business and now is the highly respected and capable resident vice president of Loyal Protective Life Insurance company in Toronto. But Bessie, like her brothers and sisters-in-law, quit the circus at the end of the 1935 season. Her daughter, Bebe, married Joe Siegrist, aerialist, and they have their own high act. The Siegrists' daughter, Joan, married Eldon Day, also an aerialist, and they have a flying act.
          Retirement from the circus field has not kept the Castellos, or Loughlins, the family name they use in their home town, from enjoying some of the aspects of trouping which appealed to them most. The Dave Loughlins, who enjoyed their travels with circuses over the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba, now have a house trailer, and they take it with them to Florida during the winter months and make other trips over the country. "Reminds us of the old days," says Mrs. Loughlin. Charlie Loughlin, the former aerialist, still likes aerial thrills, and owns and operates his own airplane. Once while performing in Maine, he fell from his rigging and suffered a broken leg. The next day, with the leg in a cast, he drove his equipment truck back to Henderson. In 1947, his plane crashed and he was laid up in a hospital with broken bones for months. But he was flying again as soon as his doctor dismissed him.
          Charlie's most exciting experience, however, occurred while he was fishing off the Carolina coast. He discovered his boat was in close proximity to a bombing target of the U. S. navy. He sent word to the Coast guard of his predicament, but before word could be relayed to the navy, bombers came over and began peppering the target with explosives. Charlie clung to his boat as it bounced and floundered, but he escaped unhurt.
          While the Loughlins display a lively interest in the careers of their niece and grandniece, Bebe Siegrist and Joan Day, they have no regrets that they quit the circus. For they have since led such busy lives in Henderson, that they have had no time for other than pleasant memories of their show world days. - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, X. The Castello Family" Hobbies, May 1951, pp. 26-27. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Bessie Castello. Fred Castello convinced his father Dave, head of the famous Castello family of bareback riders, that he had located a promising rosinback horse in Detroit. And since the success of bareback riders largely depend on sure-footed, broad-beamed equines, the elder Castello yielded the wherewithal for the round trip from their home town of Henderson, North Carolina, and the purchase price of the animal. But was he surprised when Fred came home on Christmas eve, 1908, minus the horse, but with a pretty bride. He had been married to Bessie Gregory of the Gregory family of acrobats two days before.
          Thus began Bessie Castello's transition from an acrobat to a bareback rider of note and today as she sits in her cozy cottage in Henderson which has been her home since her marriage, she reflects on 40 years of trouping with the big shows and little ones, and the three generations of her descendants who are carrying on in the sawdust arena. And while she has been retired from show business some 15 years, she may turn up most any time in the circus arena. For though Mrs. Castello quit riding in 1935, she appeared 10 years later at the St. Louis Police circus, as a character clown, and was such a hit that Roy Rogers contracted her for a 13-weeks' tour with his troupe. Mrs. Oastello, although a grandmother, impersonated a little girl who had "lost" her father at the circus, and she prowled through the seats, screaming for "Daddy" to the hilarious amusement of the spectators.
          Bessie Gregory was born January 30, 1888 in Ottawa, Canada, the daughter of John and Mary Skelton. Curiously enough, while her parents were both members of theatrical families, neither of them took to acting. Her father was a building contractor in Ottawa. His brother, Charlie, who took the professional name of Gregory, headed the Gregory family of acrobats, while Mrs. Skelton was the former Mary Brown, sister of the Six Brown Brothers troupe, of vaudeville fame, who got their start in Ringling Brothers circus concert.
          Bessie made her debut as a performer when she was eight years old as a member of the Gregory acrobatic troupe. Other members were her uncle, Charlie, and his two daughters, Bessie and Marguerite. And with two Bessies in the act, Charlie's daughter was known as "Big Bess" and her cousin, newly initiated, was "Little Bess." The latter's first appearance was in an Ottawa theatre, since her uncle wanted to make sure of her stage presence before he took her on the road. In the years that followed, Bessie not only took part in the acrobatic act, but she was also a topmounter for her uncle's balancing perch act, and participated in a triple trapeze act with her cousins. They were with various circuses, including Adam Forepaugh-Sells Brothers, and it was in 1903 while with the Morris and Rowe circus, that she met Fred Castello of The Riding Castellos.
          The Castellos came from a pioneer family of American circus artists. Dave Castello, Fred's father, whose family name was Loughlin, was apprenticed to the famous Dan Castello of bareback riding fame, who was a partner in the P. T. Barnum Circus and Menagerie, when it went on the road for the first time in 1871. Dave Castello was married to Zazel, the human cannonball, said to be the first woman to be shot out of a cannon in a circus arena, featured by the Batchellor and Doris circus as early as 1881. Fred was one of five children of this couple who became riders and aerialists. After his marriage to Bessie Gregory, the couple had their own riding act on the Yankee Robinson Circus in 1909 and 1910. Between those seasons, their daughter, Bebe was born at Henderson.
          From the Yankee Robinson circus, the Castellos went to the Sparks Circus operated by the late Charlie Sparks and it was in the fall of 1917 that Fred Castello was accidentally killed. Between circus seasons, when the family spent their winters in Henderson, Mr. Castello was a deputy sheriff and volunteer fireman. He was mounting a fire truck to answer an alarm, when his pistol in a holster on his hip, was accidentally discharged, causing a wound that soon thereafter took his life.
          Mrs. Castello joined her sister-in-law, Edith Castello, and Lulu Davenport, of another famous family of bareback riders on the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1918. The trio of feminine artists were known as The Riding Waltons. When Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circuses were combined for the season of 1919, Mrs. Castello joined the Orrin Davenport family of riders, who were with the Ringling show for three years and then moved to Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, where they were a center ring feature for the next five years.
          In the latter years, Mrs. Castello was joined during the summer months by daughter, Bebe, who was attending school in Henderson, and she rode with her mother in the Davenport family act, and later with the Poodles Hanneford and May Wirth riding acts. Mrs. Castello left the Davenport troupe to join the Hannefords in 1927, and during the next eight years, she was with Poodles Hanneford's riding act several years on the Sells-Floto circus, and with the George Hanneford act on the Downie Brothers circus.
          In 1934, she joined her sisters-in-law, Edith and Ruth Castello, in a revival of the Riding Waltons troupe, and they were featured at Steeplechase park, Coney Island, New York, throughout the season. The next year, the act played amusement parks and fairs throughout the country, and at the end of the season, Mrs. Castello retired from the circus arena. It was the same season that her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, gave up trouping to become substantial business people of their home town of Henderson.
          It was too much for Bessie Castello, however, to disassociate herself entirely with show business, and she went to the John Benson Wild Animal Farm at Nashua, New Hampshire, in the spring of 1936, as an instructor for juvenile aspirants to learn bareback riding. For the next four years, Mrs. Castello spent the outdoor seasons demonstrating the art of bareback riding to youthful novices.
          Meanwhile, daughter Bebe had been married to Joe aerialists, and they were the parents of a lovely blonde daughter, Joanne. In 1940, when Joanne was ready to enter junior high school, her grandmother gave up tutoring at the Benson farm to keep house in Henderson so her granddaughter could attend school there while her parents were on the road with shows. Joanne was graduated from high school in 1944 and joined her parents with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as an aerialist.
          Mrs. Castello's yearning for show business was revived and she conceived the kid character and sold the idea to the producer of the St. Louis Police Circus. Since her engagement in 1946 with the Roy Rogers troupe, she has remained at her home in Henderson except for occasional visits with her children and grandchildren. Granddaughter Joanne, was married to Elden Day, an aerialist and now they are the parents of blonde, bright-eyed Dolores, Mrs. Castello's great-granddaughter. The four generations of Mrs. Castello's family were united during the summer season of 1950 and tiny three-year-old Dolores already has received a booking agent's contract as a performer, when she is ready for her circus debut.
          Mrs. Castello, who was once described by a magazine writer as "a cyclonic French doll in ruffles, ribbons, vermillion lips and a mop of curls" certainly belies the fact that she is a great-grandmother. She is still youthful in appearance with blonde hair, flashing brown eyes and dimples, and dynamic in her actions. It would not surprise her family if she takes another fling at show business. Daughter Bebe, on the other hand, looks forward to her retirement. She and her husband have a high aerial act, performing on trapeze bars 100 feet above the ground. Mrs. Siegrist is planning for the time when they will have a home of their own, so they may send Dolores, their granddaughter, to school, just as Mrs. Castello kept house for Joanne, Dolores' mother. - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, VII. Bessie Castello" Hobbies, February 1951, pp. 28-29. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Don Cavilla. Mr. Cavilla was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on January 6, 1849, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Cavilla He followed in the footsteps of his father before him, graduating from the University of South Carolina Medical School set up practice in Gastonia, Dr. Cavilla saw some acrobats perform one afternoon, and made the boast he could do everything they could and more. That night Dr. Cavilla opened in a blackface acrobatic act and thereafter traded the 'Doctor' for 'Mister.' This was much against his father's and mother's will. His mother, Irene, was the youngest sister of the great South Carolina statesman, John C. Calhoun.
       The same year Mr. Cavilla joined the orginal P. T. Barnum Circus as one of the orginal twenty-five clowns used by the great showman. That was the beginning of his 81 year career as a clown and aerial acrobat. He was an active performer until the age of 103. The Big Top has been Mr. Cavilla's life - his heartaches - his happiest moments.
       In 1888, Mr. Cavilla witnessed a great tragedy when his bride-to-be, Miss Adeli Gaffney, went into the cage of six of her pet tigers and they became vicious and attacked her. Mr. Cavilla went into the cage fearless and brought her out, and she died in his arms. This was one of the saddest experiences in the life of Mr. Cavilla. Later Mr. Cavilla married Miss Clara Bottcher of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and had four children. His two daughters followed the medical profession at their father's wish.
       Mr. Cavilla's first sight of blood was not in medical college but in the Civil War, when he entered on the side of his native south as a dispatch runner under General Beauregard. He was 13 years old. Later he was transferred to General Pickett's army and remained with that outfit until the close of the war. In addition to his own part in the Civil War he has felt the effects of four more wars; the Spanish-American, the trouble on the Mexican border, the World Wars One and Two.
       Mr. Cavilla's fabulous career under the big top stretches over eight decades and took him around the world several times. He said he learned the advice for long life from a 136 year old Chinese philosopher on a visit to Canton, China, in 1900. He recalled he told the venerable Chinese sage that he had "a mania for living" and desired to attain a greater age than his father, who later died at 104. The philosopher offered his Counsel, but at the cost of the Chinese equivalent of $400. Mr. Cavilla said he forked over the sum, and was surprised to hear the simple reply: "Mind your own business." "But, it's been good advice," he declared.
       Mr. Cavilla has suffered two serious accidents. The first came in Richmond, Virginia, in 1930. He was 81 then and still in show business. The other one was also in Virginia at the age of 103. He was brought to Albany shortly afterwards by an old friend who found him a place to live. Since then, be has delighted school children all over southwest Georgia with his clown antics and facial contortions.
       Mr. Cavilla came to us on December 14, 1955. After convalescence in his room for a few days from his trip from Albany, Georgia, he has been active in coming out for his meals regularly. - From the January 15, 1955 issue of "The Good Samaritan," a publication put out by the Bethany Homes, the Bethany Home for men in Millen, Georgia. It was sent in the fall of 1956, by Don Cavilla himself. Bandwagon, Vol. 1, May-June, 1957, p. 4. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.
       Don Cavilla, reputed to have been the World's Oldest Clown, died at Millen, Georgia, in December of 1957. He was said to have been born in Charleston, South Carolina, January 6, 1849, although the authenticity of this is in question. We saw him perform about 25 years ago, and at that time he was supposed to have been 100 years old. Bandwagon, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan-Feb), 1958, p. 8. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Ma Belle Chipman. Few youngsters realize their childhood ambitions to be circus stars, but Ma Belle Chipman is one of them. And few retired artists of the circus remain so enthusiastic about the big tops as Ma Belle Chipman. After spending 48 years in the profession as one of the most versatile circus performers of all time, Ma Belle is as enthusiastic as in the days when she practiced trapeze stunts in an apple tree at the home of her parents in Monmouth, Illinois, 65 and more years ago. Circus folks and fans are her hobby, and she is a member of half a dozen troupers' and circus fans' organizations, while she spends a good part of her spare time with her son, Harry Burton Chipman, constructing in miniature, a scale model of the old John Robinsons 10 Big Shows Combined. It was while a performer with this show in 1904 that Mrs. Chipman's son was born, and both have a fond feeling toward the Robinson circus. Mrs. Chipman was born Mabel Garrard, daughter of Jacob and Mary E. Garrard in Monmouth on September 20, 1878. Her father was a structural engineer, who built spans across the Mississippi and Ohio rivers a good part of his life.
          Mabel was so enthusiastic about show business from the time she started to school that she spent most of her time practicing acts when she was not in classes. When she was nine, she became acquainted with the neighboring Davis family, which operated a medicine show, and in their home she cultivated an alto or "peck" horn. So proficient did she become that the Davises sought to take Mabel on the road with them as a member of their family band, but the Garrards declined.
          Fate decreed, however, that Mabel would spend nearly half a century in the circus field. When she was 11, her father fell from a bridge he was building at Quincy, Illinois, and was drowned in the Mississippi river. Mabel then convinced her mother that she could help with the family finances and received permission to join the Davis family, which had by that time joined forces with Murray Childs in operating Davis and Childs Medicine show. From this enterprise she went to the Joe Bennett tent show and at the age of 19, she realized her ambition to become a high trapeze performer, having become quite a versatile performer in the eight years she had been a trouper.
          Her first circus engagement was with the Frank C. Bostock show, later known as the Bostock-Ferrari shows. It was in 1898 with the latter organization, that she met Bert J. Chipman, and following their marriage, in 1899, the Chipmans had their own show on the road and played a number of fairs and street celebrations, which had become popular at the turn of the century. They received an offer to go with Lemen Brothers World's Best shows, a 20-car railroad show at that time, with Mr. Chipman selling tickets and announcing the acts in the circus performance. Mabel, who had acquired the professional name of the Original Ma Belle, had become particularly skilled on a balancing trapeze, which was her feature act. She performed her trapeze act and rode a high school horse in the performance. While with the Lemen Brothers circus, Mrs. Chipman became acquainted with Rose Marietta and Edwin (Pop) Baldwin, who were veteran performers and saw fit to give Ma Belle their professional tutoring skill and attention. Mr. Baldwin had riding and acrobatic troupes in the show and Miss Marietta gave much of her time to tutoring youngsters who later became famous performers. The Chipmans remained with the Lemen Brothers show through its change of title to the Great Pan American Circus, and with Martin Downs, who purchased the equipment and changed the name to Sells & Downs Circus.
          Rose Marietta had become so fond of Ma Belle, that they teamed up under the name of "Marietta Sisters" with much success on winter circuits of music halls and vaudeville theatres. They presented a double trapeze act and did posing after the fashion of the "human statuary" which later became widely used in circuses. Through this association, Ma Belle became known to booking agents and she created her own act, using the title "Ma Belle", appearing in vaudeville for a number of years. Her act became known as one of the best dressed in the business, since she created her own costumes and built her own elaborate rigging. Her appearances as a featured performer attracted the attention of the larger circuses and in 1904, the Chipmans were with the John Robinson Circus. Mr. Chipman was ticket seller for the sideshow and did the announcing for the circus proper. Mrs. Chipman had branched out, and was now doing five acts. In addition to her balancing trapeze feature, she was performing on the Spanish web, in the aerial butterfly act, during which she hung by her teeth, rode high school horses, and drove one of the four-horse Roman chariots in parade and in the hippodrome races, which concluded each performance.
          In 1904, the Chipmans' son was born, and when they named him Harry Burton Chipman, Uncle John Robinson, colorful owner of the circus, ruefully commented that he would have given Harry a Shetland pony if the parents had named him John Robinson Chipman. In the years that followed, Mrs. Chipman became one of the outstanding balancing trapeze performers in circusdom, and she was featured in the performances of Ringling- Brothers, Sells-Floto, Yankee Robinson, Campbell Brothers, Gollmar Brothers, Patterson and Gollmar circuses. During the winter months, she played vaudeville dates and indoor circus engagements. These engagements including routings over the Keith-Albee, Orpheum, Pantages, Sullivan & Considine and Ackerman and Harris vaudeville circuits, thus playing the principal vaudeville theatres in all the major cities of the United States. Eventually, she turned her talents to appearances at fairs and celebrations, working for Barnes & Carruthers and Ethel Robinson booking agencies.
          After 48 years in show business, Mrs. Chipman retired from the road in 1936, and for the past 15 years has devoted herself to her real estate investments and her hobby, shows and show people. In Los Angeles, where she has maintained her home, she operates two apartment houses and a theatrical rooming house, which were acquired from her savings during the many years she was on the road with circuses and other shows. And as might be expected, her apartments and rooms are a haven for troopers. She is an active member of the Pacific Coast Showman's Association and the Regular Associated Troupers club of Los Angeles, in which she is serving now as an officer. There she likes to reminisce with the oldtimers who drop in at club meetings. She is also a member of the Troupers Club of Hollywood and an ardent member of the Circus Fans Association of America and the Circus Historical society, two of the largest organizations of circus enthusiasts. Mrs. Chipman enjoys getting out her voluminous scrapbooks and reliving her many years of trouping when former associates in show business come around. Some years ago, son Harry, presented her with several elephant figures, and now she has one of the largest collections in the country, numbering into the thousands.
          As might be expected, the Chipmans' son, Harry, who grew up with the John Robinson circus, entered show business, and was a press agent with various shows until he entered the U. S. army in 1942 during world war II. Upon his return to civilian life, he began the operation in 1944, of "The Circus Inn" in Yakima, Washington, with his wife, Marge, who passed away last October. Now he and his mother are engaged in building a scale model of the first circus he remembers.
          Harry collaborated with his father in the writing of a circus book in 1983, known as "Hey Rube," taking its title from the rallying cry of circus troupers back in the days when they often had to fight the "towners." Now the Chipmans, father and son, are preparing a sequel to their previous literary venture, which consisted of memoirs of the elder Chipman, dealing with circuses and circus personalities with whom he was acquainted during his long years in the business. Thus it may be seen, that the Chipman family is deeply steeped in circus lore and love for the big tops and their people, after a lengthy stint in the profession. - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, IX. Ma Belle Chipman" Hobbies, April 1951, pp. 26-27. This information should be confirmed with additional sources.

      Bert J. Chipman, who has been advertising manager for the Acme Amusement Co. the past winter, has resigned his position and will leave the first of the month to accept a similar position with the Sells-Floto shows, and will meet them at Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Chipman thoroughly understands the advertising game and has proven himself a valuable man in his line of work. We regret to see him Leave Lincoln, but as it gives him a better position in his chosen line of work we take pleasure in recommending Mr. Chipman to his new employers and congradulate them upon securing his services, as he will sure make good. [Hand dated 1917.] From a clipping without source or date, pasted into the Pan-American Route Book 1903.

Elizabeth Hanneford Clarke. Mrs. Elizabeth Clarke of North Hollywood, Calif., sticks to her knitting a good part of the time. And quite an avid knitter she is by her own admission. But let a circus raise its big top on any vacant lot within a couple of hundred miles of the Clarke domocile and the household goes into action. Mrs. Clarke likes to putter about the house when she isn't knitting, but when there is a circus around, she and daughter, Ernestine, and son-in-law, Parley Baer, take off to revel in the realm of sawdust and spangles. "Our automobile," says Mrs. Clarke, "can find a circus lot all by itself if there's a show within a hundred miles." And when the Clarkes arrive on a circus lot, it's like a homecoming celebration. For there are few circus performers in America whom Mrs. Clarke does not know, and in most cases she has been acquainted with their families for generations.
          Mrs. Clarke was born on a circus lot, began performing in public when she was 10, managed her father's No. 2 show in Ireland when she was 15, and has spent 37 of her 57 years in the ring as a bareback rider, retiring in 1941. But she is the only member of her family who has given up the circus profession. Her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Hanneford, now past 30, carries on as ringmistress for the bareback riding act of her son, Poodles Hanneford and family, and another son, George Hanneford, also has a family riding act of renown.
          Mrs. Clarke's father was Edwin Hanneford, known to intimates as Ned. He was married to Elizabeth Scott in Leeds, England, in 1889. Both were members of well known circus families of that period. Mrs. Hanneford was a tight rope walker and did a variety of riding acts, including jockey, principal and a carrying act with her husband. In addition to being a rider, Mr. Hanneford did a knife throwing act. But Mrs. Hanneford gave up tight rope walking, her daughter recalls, "because father refused to be a rigging man." Bareback riding was more difficult in those days for women than in 1950, Mrs. Clarke points out, because "women rode fully clothed - no skimpy costume in England and Ireland before the turn of the century."
          Mrs. Clarke, second child of the Hanneford family, was born in a living van when the E. H. Bostock Circus was exhibiting in Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire. And she has never been back there. It was when she was 10 years old in 1903, that her parents, after years of scrimping and saving, took out their first show. It was formed in Ireland and never left the Eire boundaries during the first nine years of its existence. The same year, Elizabeth made her debut in public as a performer as Mrs. John Bull in the pantomime, "Cinderella" for Algy's Circus. Algy was a top flight clown of the era. Later she did "Cinderella" in Poole and Bosco's circus in Belfast. In 1908, when Elizabeth was 15, her father put out a No. 2 circus which she managed. "I can still vividly remember," Mrs. Clarke recalls, "coming to a cross roads and going on by myself with my little show while Mother and Father and the rest of the family kept on with the No. 1 show. The pride of having my own living wagon and an illustrious title was nearly lost in my tears and the lump in my throat." She kept the show on the road all season and the next year, the two were amalgamated to form a circus that had 350 horses, about 40 ponies, an elephant, camels, lions, zebra and a cage full of monkeys.
          Elizabeth was quite a performer in her father's show. She did a Roman ladder act, worked an elephant and her horse act, appeared in the family riding act, walked a tight wire, did some juggling, presented a high school horse, and performed on a rolling globe. In addition, she helped her mother make wardrobe and received two shillings, six pence a week for maintaining the costumes. In 1912, Hanneford's Circus and Monagerie left Ireland and toured England and Scotland. As in the past, the circus was stored during the winter and the Hannefords played the indoor circuits.
          Mr. Hanneford died in June, 1913, and son Poodles took over as head of the family. It was that winter the group played their first vaudeville date with misgivings that turned into triumph. Performing in Hengler's circus at the Olympia in Liverpool, the Hannefords accepted an engagement in vaudeville at the Hippodrome theatre. Mr. Hengler was so upset he predicted the Hannefords "would fall on our collective faces right in the orchestra pit," and Mrs. Clarke says "we almost believed him." Theatre stages in those days slanted as much as a foot from proscenium arch to backwall. "What our horses would do, going alternately up hill and down hill, we didn't know," Mrs. Clarke says. But the engagement was successful and the family played many vaudeville dates in England and America thereafter.
          While appearing in the Christmas circus at the Agriculture Hall in London, during the winter of 1913-14, the Hannefords were approached by John Ringling for an engagement with the Barnum & Bailey Circus in America in 1914. But the Hannefords were committed to take their show out that season, in spite of the flattering offer. And Mrs. Hanneford managed the show that season, while Poodles, Elizabeth and George performed in the Blackpool Towers Circus in Blackpool, England. It was a difficult season for the family show, however, with Great Britain in the throes of World War I. Many of the circus horses were commandeered by the government, and Mrs. Clarke says "Soon our show that we loved and took such pride in was just a shell of its former self." So the Hanneford circus was disbanded for the last time and in March, 1915, the family sailed for the United States. They remained in New York until they opened with the Barnum Circus in old Madison Square Garden on April 1. For four years, the Hanneford family riding act was a feature of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, while the family played winter seasons of 1916 and 1917 with Santos and Artigas Circus in Havana, Cuba.
          In the winter of 1918, the Hannefords appeared at the Hippodrome theatre under the direction of Charles Dillingham and in the Spring of 1919, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circuses were merged. That was the year that Elizabeth Hanneford met her future husband, Ernest Clarke, aerialist and bareback rider, who had been a performer in the Ringling show continuously since 1906. Ernest Clarke was the eldest son of Charles Clarke, owner of Clarke's Continental Circus in England, and was of the fifth generation of the Clarke family of circus owners and artists in that country. He and his brother, Charles F. Clarke perfected a two-people flying return act and with their younger brother, Percy, presented a bareback riding act. The appeared with the Lord Sanger Circus in England for a number of years and joined Barnum & Bailey Circus, then in the last year of a five-year European tour, during the winter of 1901-02 in Paris.
          When the Barnum & Bailey Circus returned to the United States for its 1903 tour, the Clarkonian aerial act and the Clarke Family of riders came with it. For versatility, Ernest Clarke is acknowledged to be one of the greatest flyers who ever mounted a pedestal and he was the first to complete a triple somersault and a number of other difficult feats. After the 1903 season, the Clarkes went to Cuba with Pubillones Circus and to Mexico with Orrin Brothers Circus, re-turning in 1905 to New York to open at the Hippodrome theatre. From 1906 to 1918, the Clarkes were featured in the Ringling Brothers circus. The Ringlings, who had owned the Barnum & Bailey Circus since 1906. Alternating the two great circuses over routes on American tours year after year, decided to combine the two shows into one - the largest ever to take the road, in the spring of 1919. The Clarke family of the Ringling show and the Hanneford family of the Barnum & Bailey show figured in the merger in more ways than one.
          For on November 21, 1920, Ernest Clarke and Elizabeth Hanneford were united in the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City. The courtship of Elizabeth Hanneford and Ernest Clarke, members of two royal families of the circus, took place during the two seasons they were together on the merged Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus, Miss Hanneford appearing in her family riding act and Mr. Clarke as the flier in the remarkable Clarkonians' flying return act. But after their marriage in the fall of 1920, bookings of the family acts separated the newly-weds during the 1921 season. That year, the Hannefords were featured by Sells-Floto circus owned by the American Circus corporation, while the Clarkes remained with the Ringlings, their flying act having been a fixture in the show since 1906. Since Mrs. Clarke was a bareback rider and not an aerialist, she went with the Hanneford family act that year. However, after the birth of their daughter, Ernestine, Mrs. Clarke joined her husband on the Ringling show, where they remained through the 1926 season, playing indoor dates during the winter months.
          The Hannefords were engaged to present their bareback riding act on the stage in "The Circus Princess," a musical comedy at the Winter Garden in New York in 1927, and Mrs. Clarke joined the troupe for that engagement. Her brother, Poodles, had a small speaking part in the production and he and Mrs. Clarke did a dance specialty together. When Charlie Chaplin produced his feature picture, "The Circus", the management of Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood arranged for a circus prologue on the stage. The Hanneford family riding act took part, as did Emil Pallenberg's bears, Ed and Jennie Rooney, aerialists, and several others who had been headliners with the Ringling circus and were friends of the Hannefords and Mrs. Clarke. The engagement stretched into an eight months' stint, and thereafter, the Hannefords and Clarkes joined forces to form a unit. Under this merger, the bareback personnel included Poodles Hanneford and his wife, Elizabeth; Ernest's brother, Percy Clarke, and the elder Mrs. Hanneford, ringmistress. Ernest and Charles Clarke continued their flying return act together, and the Charles Clarke family had a juggling number. The unit quit the American circus field for two seasons to appear at the Olympic theatre in London and the Empire theatre in Paris.
          About this time, the American Circus corporation, owner of the Sells-Floto show and four other large railroad circuses, arranged for Tom Mix, then at the height of his popularity as a western motion picture star, to make personal appearances in the arena, and anticipating a heavy drawing power, proceeded to contract outstanding acts to support the movie personality. So the Clarke and Hanneford families with their feature acts were with Sells-Floto show for the second time, that year. At the conclusion of the 1929 season, John Ringling purchased the five circuses owned by the American Circus corporation, and began their operation in 1930. That season, the Hanneford-Clarke unit forsook the circus field to appear in grandstand shows at fairs and exhibitions in amusement parks, but they returned to the Sells-Floto fold in 1931, the final year of the Tom Mix three-year engagement.
          In 1932, the families shifted to another Ringling-owned circus, Hagenbeck-Wallace, where they remained two years, and thence to another Ringling property, the Al. G. Barnes circus in 1914. During these years, two new members had joined the Hanneford riding act, Gracie Hanneford, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Poodles Hanneford, and Ernestine Clarke, daughter of Ernest and Elizabeth Clarke, both in their early teens. The season 1935 saw the Clarkes and Hannefords grouping with an eastern motorized show, Gorman Brothers circus. It was the first time since they had disposed of their wagon show in England a score of years previously, that the Hannefords and Mrs. Clarke had traveled with an overland circus. The Clarkes and Hannefords went their separate ways in 1936 and were not reunited except for a brief period in the winter of 1942.
          The Clarkes were with Cole Brothers-Clyde Beatty circus with Mrs. Clarke and daughter, Ernestine, appearing in principal riding acts, while Ernest and Percy Clarke collaborated in another bareback number. The family, made what Mrs. Clarke describes as "the one really great mistake we made in show business" in 1937. That season, they went out with a small motorized circus originating on the West Coast, which had a brief and unsuccessful tour. Meanwhile, Tom Mix had organized his own circus which had been growing rapidly since its formation in 1934, and he engaged the Clarkes for the 1938 season. That year, Mrs. Clarke, daughter Ernestine, and Percy Clarke did principal riding acts, the Clarkes produced a big 12-people bareback number, and the Flying Clarkonians closed the performance with Ernestine making her debut as a flier. That was the last year for the members of the Clarke family together on a circus.
          In 1939, they played grandstand shows at fairs and in amusement parks as they had done in 1930. and in the fall, went to the Hawaiian islands to appear in a show produced by E. K. Fernandez, who annually imports American talent. The following year, the Clarkonians’ flying act was the free attraction of the Ira C. Huggins carnival attractions in the Pacific Northwest, and also the act appeared on Treasure Island at the World's Fair in San Francisco. It was at the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Washington, that Ernest Clarke became ill and he passed away on January 10, 1941. Like, the good troupers they are, Mrs. Clarke and daughter carried on that year, joining Russell Brothers motorized circus. Ernestine was a baton spinner in the opening tournament, did a principal riding act, participated in the big riding act in the flying return number with her uncle, Charles. Mrs. Clarke was ringmistress for the riding acts, and she did a finish trick that always surprised the audience and elicited extensive applause. Dressed in a formal evening gown, Mrs. Clarke concluded the act by discarding her whip, gathering up her skirt, and making a fork jump to the horse. She also took part in the Charles Clarke family juggling act. It was her last season as an active performer, although she remained with daughter, Ernestine, with circuses until 1946.
          In 1942, Mrs. Clarke and "Ernie" were under the Cole Brothers banner, where the latter demonstrated her versatility. She appeared in the opening spec, did a principal riding act, performed on the Spanish web, rode a high school horse, and was in the Reiffenach family bareback number. Mrs. Clarke was ringmistress for the principal act, her only appearance in the performance. During the winter of 1942-43, the Clarkes joined her brother Poodles and his riding act for vaudeville dates and Polack Brothers Indoor circus. The Clarkes went back to the Ringling show for the first time in 17 years in 1943, when Ernestine appeared in production numbers and one of Art Concellos flying return acts. During the following winter, Mrs. Clarke and Ernestine trained two bareback riding horses and in 1944, Ernestine was a featured bareback rider, as well as having her own flying act on the Ringling show.
          A beautiful girl, Ernestine was picked for the cover of the Ringling program in 1944, and her picture on one of her fine bareback horses, with Clown Lou Jacobs, was featured. Her flying act brought back the "Clarkonians" title to the Ringling circus for the first time since 1926. It was in 1948, while Ernestine was still a featured Ringling performer that she was married to Parley Baer, California radio artist, and she gave up her circus career at his request. Thus she and her mother retired to the comparative quiet of housekeeping and homelife in North Hollywood.
          They were the first of the Hanneford troupe to ewe up trouping as the Poodles Hanneford and George Hanneford riding acts are still going strong, with another generation of their families joining their parents in the arena. Even so, the Clarkes have not forgotten the art of the circus. When Ernestine's cousin, Kay Frances Hanneford, daughter of George Hanneford, was injured during a circus engagement in Chicago recently, Ernestine flew to the Windy City from California, and went into the act without a rehearsal. Last season, when Mrs. Clarke was vacationing with brother George and family, who were appearing in their riding act in a Montreal, Canada, amusement park, her niece and nephews, Kay Frances, George and Tommy, dared her to mount one of their rosinback horses. Mrs. Clarke took the dare, removed her shoes, vaulted on the horse, and stood up without a mechanic for a few laps of the ring to the plaudits of her admiring young relatives. "And why not?" asks Mrs. Clarke. "Hadn't I been a bareback rider 37 years - from 1904 to 1941?" - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, VI. Elizabeth Hanneford Clarke" Hobbies, December 1950, pp. 26-27; "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, VI. Elizabeth Hanneford Clarke" Hobbies, January 1951, pp. 28-29. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Alfreda Codona, born in 1893 in Hermosillo, Senora, Mexico, has been credited with being one of the greatest flyers the world has ever known. His specialty was a triple somersault high in the air which he performed day after day with finesse and rhythm that was a sight to behold. It was said that when Alfredo performed all other performers who could, stopped what they were doing just to watch his act. He worked with several circuses, first with Wirth Brothers in 1913 and finally with Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus where he was headliner for several years. As a headliner it was natural that he should be attracted to another headliner in the aerial field. Miss Lillian Leitzel and Codona fell in love and were married in 1928 between performances in Chicago amid much fanfare and publicity. Codona loved Lillian with a consuming devotion but all did not go smoothly due to the temperamental status of both stars. Tragedy struck in 1931. Lillian Leitzel, performing in Copenhagen, fell, receiving fatal injuries. Codona was inconsolable and in his sorrow become melancholy and morose. This physiological condition caused him to lose ground professionally and as his timing become less exact he one day fell in Madison Square Garden and tore a ligament in his shoulder which grounded him permanently. Later he became equestrian director on the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and later worked with the Tom Mix Show. He never overcome the emotional condition brought on by the death of Lillian Leitzel, although he later married Vera Bruce, an old time member of his flying troupe. Tragedy struck again in 1937. Codona died by his own hand July 1, 1937 and was buried, at his own request, beside the ashes of Lillian, his great love. "Elected to Circus Hall of Fame," Bandwagon, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Mar-Apr), 1961, pp. 22-23. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Con Colleano died November 13, 1973 at the age of 73. The famous tight wire artist was born in Australia of a circus family. He came to America for John Ringling in 1924 to join the big show, where he stayed for seventeen years. He later appeared with Cole Bros, and other shows and in 1959 appeared with Cristiani Bros. Bandwagon, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Nov-Dec), 1973, p. 43. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Fred Cone is one of the recent additions to the roster of the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest hippodrome talent. He is a great rider all around the track, but on the home stretch he never fails to cover himself with glory, and if occasionally he dues not win it is not because he don’t want to. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Chas. F. Cooper of Cooper, Jackson & Co. died in Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 18 (as we are written) of consumption, which he contracted years ago in malarial districts of the South. Deceased was born at Greenfield, Mich., in 1849, and has been twice married. His second wife, we believe is living, but there are no children. Before he became interested in circuses he was by trade a butcher. He was with Yankee Robinson (interested in the sideshow) when Robinson made his Kansas tour, years ago. Before and after that he worked privileges with several well-known shows. From 1870 to 1875 he was with various shows. In 1876 he took a river-show down the Mississippi; from 1878 to 1880 he managed Van Amburgh's sideshow; in 1880 (Winter) he, together with Tom Haley, started a show down the river from St. Louis. They were quite successful, and, coming North in the Spring, he, with Linas A. Jackson, organized what was called the Cooper & Jackson show. He managed that for two years. In the Spring of 1882 they took J. Ferguson in partnership, under the title of Cooper, Jackson & Co., and they ran the show until it was levied on by sheriff Dec. 1. Clipper, October 10, 1885, p. 677. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

James F. Cooper, the sole owner of the Adam Forepaugh Shows, started in business for himself at the age of fifteen, at his native city, Philadelphia, Pa. He was at that age proprietor, and ran the line, of omnibuses from Philadelphia on the old Second Street Pike to Fox Chase. After three years he sold this line and purchased the Germantown Road Omnibus Line, and shortly afterward sold the same to Joseph Singerly for three times what he paid for it. He then went to Washington, D. C., started an independent omnibus line, and inside of three months controlled every line in that city. He remained at Washington until 1863, when he returned to Philadelphia and entered the circus business at National Hall, corner of Twelfth and Market Streets, in partnership with Dan Gardner, Dick Hemmings and John O'Brien. After five weeks on the road, Mr. Cooper bought Mr. O'Brien's interest, the firm then being Gardner, Hemmings & Cooper. That season they visited Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, and had a most successful trip. In 1864 the show continued under the same management, touring about the same territory. It was in that season that Mr. Cooper originated the cook tent, blacksmith shop and horse tents on the lot. He was also the first manager to ever give a concert under a circus canvas. In 1865 the show started out in the Spring, greatly enlarged. That same season they hired the Van Amburgh animals, and made considerable money. The Fall of 1865 W. H. Gardner purchased an interest in the show, and that Winter Dan Rice was engaged to travel with it for the season of 1866, at a salary of $1,000 per week and all his expenses, this being the largest salary ever paid to any single performer. Dan Rice furnished his two great performing horses, X L Sor and Stephen A. Douglas, and the famous trick mules, Pete And Barney, these being the first mules that had ever been broken. At Milwaukee Mr. Cooper bought Dan Gardner's interest in the show, and in the Fall of 1866 W. H. Gardner sold his interest to Harry Whitby. It was in that season that Mr. Cooper first met James A. Bailey, who was then the general agent for the Lake Show. Mr. Bailey, that season, did what Mr. Cooper considered the cleverest bit of advertising that had ever been done. During the seasons of 1867, 1868 1869 and 1870, the firm was Hemmings, Whitby & Cooper, James A. Bailey being the general agent in 1869 and 1870, at a salary of $100 per week. At that time this was the biggest salary that any agent had ever received. In1870 Harry Whitby was shot and killed by a desperado, at Raymond, Miss. Mr. Cooper, at the time, was at his home, Philadelphia, very sick, and barely able to dictate a telegram to have the entire show shipped to Philadelphia, where it wintered and went out the next Spring (1871), under the name of Hemmings & Cooper. In 1872 James A. Bailey purchased Mr. Hemming's Interest, and the show was then known as Cooper & Bailey's International Ten Allied Shows. This firm continued until the Fall of 1880. The Winter of 1875-6, the show put up at St. Louis and in the Spring of 1876 It opened in that city, combining with Howe's London Circus for one week only, and turning people away at every performance. Later the show started across the continent, with J. B. Gaylord as general agent. The business of the entire season was marvelous. At San Jose the door receipts amounted to $6,600, the largest amount the show had ever taken up to that time. After a two weeks' stay at San Francisco, they sailed on the Pacific Mail Co.'s steamship City of Sydney, Nov. 9, 1876, en route for Australia. They stopped at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, one day (the King's birthday), exhibited the animals on board the steamer, were visited by King Kalakaua and the Royal Family, And thouands of visitors. They also touched at the Fiji Islands, and arrived at Sydney, Aus., twenty-eight days out. They toured Australia and New Zealand twice; visited Souraba, Samarang and other prominent cities in the East India Islands; sailed from Auckland New Zealand on the ship Golden Star, for Callao, Peru; arrived there in May, 1878, after a voyage of fifty-two days; visited the principal cities in Peru, Chili, Argentine Republic and Brazil, and arrived at New York City Dec. 10, 1878, after a very stormy passage from South America. During the Winter of 1878-9 the show was enlarged by the addition of Howe's Great London Circus and Sanger's Royal British Menagerie, one of the largest (if not the largest) American circus at that time. The show wintered at Twenty-third Street And Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia, and opened the season early in April, 1879, at Philadelphia; 1879 and 1880 were two of their most prosperous seasons, 1879 being the "Baby Elephant" and "Electric Light" season. Mr. Cooper disposed of his interest to James L. Hutchinson, and retired from the firm in the fall of 1880. But he re-entered the circus business in 1886, his partners being P. T. Barnum, W. W. Cole and James L. Hutchinson. For two years the show was known as "P. T. Barnum & Co.’s Greatest Show on Earth." The Fall of 1887 Mr. Cooper disposed of his interest to James A. Baily, retiring to his home at Philadelphia, and, as every one supposed, to bed farewell to the circus business; but in this all were mistaken, for on the death of Adam Forepaugh, Mr. Cooper purchased that show, and is now in the business on a larger scale than ever. He has expended over $100,000 this past Winter in refitting his show. His private car is truly the most magnificent that has ever been built. It is 70 ft. long, and is fitted up regardless of cost. The parlors, bedrooms, dining room, smoking room and kitchen are complete in every appointment. A grand piano occupies a position in the parlor of the car. This is for the especial benefit of Mr. Cooper’s charming and beautiful daughter, Linda. Mr. Cooper lives in a palatial residence on North Broad Street, Philadelphia. He is a kind and generous man. He owns four farms in Philadelphia County and two hundred houses, and is reported to be worth about $1,800,000. Since Mr. Barnum’s death he is the oldest active showman now living in this country. Clipper, April 25, 1891. The information should be confirmed with additional sources. [Note: James E. Cooper died at Philadelphia, January 1, 1892.]

W. D. Coxey, whose scholarly countenance appears here, is the press representative of the World’s Greatest Show. To him is left the very important task of arranging for and writing the various newspaper advertisements and notices which fill columns of the local papers for weeks prior to the appearance of the show. Mr. Coxey is a thorough newspaper man in the strictest sense of the word. He began life as a printer and at the age of twenty was a reporter on the Philadelphia Times. He subsequently held positions of trust on the Philadelphia News, the Philadelphia Press, Chattanooga Commercial and various Chicago papers. His advent into the amusement profession was as a playwright, his first theatrical production being an original play entitled “Her Sacrifice,” which was successfully produced. He has written a number of other plays and filled various important positions in the theatrical profession. In 1889 be was press agent with the Forepaugh Show, and since 1800 has held his present position as press representative with the Ringling Bros. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Stewart Craven, an old showman and famous elephant trainer, brief mention of whose death at Dalas, Tex., was made in this column two weeks ago, was a native of Wooster, O., and has reached his fifty-sixth year at the time of his demise. His first appearance in the circus ring was with the Van Amburgh Menagerie in 1857, and while with that show he broke the celebrated elephant, Tip Osage [sic Tippo Saib]. Mr. Craven trained him to hold a perch, while the former climbed to the top and performed a number of wonderful gymnastic tricks. He also stood on the elephant’s great tusks and did a juggling act, the elephant meanwhile traveling around the ring at full speed. Later Mr. Craven broke the two elephants, Anthony and Cleopatra, who created much excitement at the old Broadway Theatre this city. In 1859 he joined the Nasby [Mabie?] Circus and Menagerie, and it was with that show that he proved his great ability as an elephant trainer by conquering Canada, afterwards known as Romeo, said to be one of the meanest and most brutal elephants that ever lived. Mr. Craven also broke and trained the famous elephant Empress, owned by the late John O’Brien, and later he trained a half a dozen elephants for Kelly’s London Circus. Afterwards he was engaged by the late Adam Forepaugh to break in a large herd of pachyderms, and in the work he succeeded admirably. Mr. Craven was of a somewhat retiring disposition, and was possessed of much patience and kindness. For several years prior to his death he had been a resigned victim of consumption. Clipper, February 8, 1890. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Lilly Martin Craven. Eighty-one years ago Lilly Martin Craven was a performer in Adam Forepaugh's Noachian Menagerie, Gigantic Museum and Classic Circus. And today, the same Lilly Craven, now Mrs. Lilly M. Larwill of Kansas City, Missouri, retains her penchant for travel she acquired as a trouper, though 65 years have passed since she left the big tops for good. Despite the fact that she will observe her 98th birthday September 15, Mrs. Larwill this summer enjoyed an extensive vacation tour, just as she has every summer for many years. She spent part of the season in Tucson, Arizona, after visiting in Dallas, El Paso and Albuquerque, attended a family reunion in Long Beach, California, and thence to Los Angeles for the Shrine convention. A short stay in Colorado concluded her travels for 1950 and she is back home again.
          As the wife of the late Stewart Craven, one of the most successful and famous elephant trainers of all time, she was hostess in their Philadelphia home to a parade of the circus greats of the golden age of circuses in the 70's and 80's - Dan Rice, P. T. Barnum, Col. William F. Cody. James E. Cooper, James A. Bailey, Tom Thumb, and many others.
          Mrs. Larwill did not come from a circus family. She was born Lilly Mondena Martin in Philadelphia on September 18, 1852, the daughter of John and Jane Elizabeth Martin. It was the close proximity of her home to the winter quarters of the Adam Forepaugh and John E. (Pogie) O'Brien circuses, that brought about the meeting with the handsome six-foot-two Stewart Craven, who was a native of Chester, Wayne County, Ohio, and who was training elephants for the Philadelphia circus owners. She was 12 years old and Craven was 31 when they met in the neighborhood of the circus quarters. At that time Craven already had 15 years of circus experience with Van Amburgh's Menagerie, the Mabie Brothers Circus, and the Dan Rice Circus, owned by O'Brien. Craven courted his future wife in the shadow of the barns where circus wagons, tents, seats and other equipment were stored during the winter months. And when Craven came to Philadelphia at the end of the 1868 season in October, to begin the customary training of elephants for Forepaugh, the couple were married in Calvary Episcopal church. They established a home in Gwynedd, Pa., where their only son, Charles Stewart Craven, was born December 27, 1869, and today he is his mother's former business partner in a jewelry firm in Kansas City, and her frequent companion on their numerous trips about the country.
          Craven, Jr., at 81, is probably the only eye witness living today of one of the most remarkable events in American circusdom, in which his father was a principal participant, and which was largely responsible for the uniting of P. T. Barnum and James A. Bailey in a circus partnership which brought about the Barnum & Bailey Circus, "the greatest show on earth." This unique circumstance was the birth of a baby elephant in the Cooper and Bailey Circus quarters at Columbia Avenue and 23rd Street in Philadelphia, on March 10, 1880, to Hebe, a member of the elephant herd. Two years previously Craven had joined the Cooper and Bailey circus in Philadelphia quarters, after its return from a tour of Australia and South America, and had bred Hebe to a male elephant. When the baby elephant was born at 2:30 a. m. there was consternation in the animal barn. The mother went on a rampage, tossing a red hot stove some 20 feet, and pushing her infant around with her trunk. Stewart Craven, Jr., then 11 years old, followed his father to the animal barn when helpers came to tell him the news, and hid behind a cage wagon to take in the proceedings, unknown to any of the men, who were struggling with the elephant herd, aroused by the mother beast's tantrum. The baby elephant was named Columbia, and it was the principal attraction of the Cooper & Bailey Circus during the 1880 season. On several other occasions elephants had been bred at the P. T. Barnum winter quarters in Bridgeport, Conn., and the Sells-Floto quarters in Denver, Colorado, and while several babies were born, none lived more than a few weeks. Columbia, named for the street on which the quarters were located, was quite healthy and lived to the age of 25.
          That same winter season Craven, working in secret behind barred doors of the elephant barn, trained two groups of five elephants each to perform in a ring together. While there had been other cases in which elephants were brought into rings together, they did their acts separately, whereas Craven had his charges cooperating in pyramids and group stunts, revealing a training triumph previously unknown in the American circus world. P. T. Barnum was so impressed with the baby elephant as an attraction, and the trained elephant acts, that he offered to purchase the Cooper and Bailey Circus from its owners, J. E. Cooper and James A. Bailey, and to make Bailey his partner in the show business. The deal was consummated in 1881 and Bailey took over to make the Barnum show the leader in the field.
          When Mrs. Craven was married to the elephant trainer, 19 years her senior, in 1868, few women participated in circus performances. At that early day in the evolution of one-ring shows into multi-ringed arenas of later years, the ratio of women in a circus troupe was about one to every 50 men. Because her husband was a famous animal trainer, Mrs. Craven was content to play a small but useful part in the show. Her young son, Stewart, Jr., lived with his grandparents in Philadelphia during the first five years of his life, while his parents trouped. Mrs. Craven was the Egyptian princess in the circus spectacle as her first assignment, and she recalls riding in a gilded chariot drawn by a dozen Shetland ponies, with no less than Johnny and Willie O'Brien, sons of owner Pogie O'Brien, as her slaves, waving large bamboo fans during the procession. She also became fascinated by the art of the glass blowers in the circus sideshow, and learned this art, which she practiced with troupes of glass blowers traveling with the various circuses her husband was associated with from time to time.
          During the 70's, the Cravens were with the P. T. Barnum circus, under the O'Brien regime, Howe's Great London and the Adam Forepaugh shows, before he went with Cooper and Bailey in 1878. The year before his marriage, Craven had gone to Europe when a physician recommended a sea voyage for an ailment from which he sufferred, and while there he arranged to bring a collection of wild animals back to the states. He placed his collection on exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City, while disposing of them. And when he left the circus business, he operated similar museums in New York, Chicago, Cleveland and at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Mrs. Craven plied her glassblowers’ trade and sold tickets for these exhibitions.
          His health impaired by injuries sustained when he was mauled and bitten by a lioness, causing blood poisoning, Craven and his family went to Texas, settling near Dallas, then a small village on the Trinity river, and engaged in the cattle and horse shipping business. He died January 16, 1890, and Mrs. Craven was married seven years later to George M. Larwill, whom she survives. Mrs. Larwill has since engaged in several business activities, including the management of a cooperative home for business girls in Dallas. But for the past 35 years she has been vice-president of the jewelry firm operated by her son in Kansas City, although she retired from active participation in the store's affairs in 1937 at the age of 85. Despite her advanced age, Mrs. Larwill never voices fatigue and during the Shrine convention it was not unusual for her to retire at 1:30 a. m. after a full day of activity. There is probably no one else alive today who participated in such circuses as the P. T. Barnum, Adam Forepaugh and Cooper and Bailey shows, when these great shows were in their infancy, and remembers so vividly the incidents which marked Mrs. Larwill's career in circus-dom. - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, III. Lilly Martin Craven" Hobbies, September 1950, pp. 34-35. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Ernesto "Papa" Cristiani died on October 21, 1973 at the age of 91. The patriarch of the famous riding Cristiani Family came to America in 1934 for the Ringling interests and first appeared with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus that year. With Papa Ernesto and Mama Emma Victoria came six sons and four daughters. They continued with the Hagenbeck-Forepaugh-Sells show in 1935 and then moved to the Al G. Barnes show for two seasons. In 1938 they were featured with Ringling-Barnum and remained on that show for a number of years before going to the Cole show. Later in association, first with Floyd King, with the King-Cristiani Circus and then with Big Bob Stevens and the Bailey-Cristiani Circus, they entered the ranks of circus owners. In 1956 they first toured the Cristiani Bros. Circus, which grew to be one of the largest on the road in 1959. Ernesto retired from riding after the Ringling show, but continued in full command of the family. Survived by 10 children, 25 grandchildren and many great grandchildren. Bandwagon, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Nov-Dec), 1973, p. 43. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

S. L. Cronin, long time manager of the Al G. Barnes circus spent nearly half a century with the White Tops. He passed away at his home in Arcadia, California, November 16, 1958. From his large collection of circusiana he left, it is learned he was with the Walter L. Main circus before he had the advertising banners on the Howes Great London Show in 1912. He was with all the shows controlled by Mugivan & Bowers. He sold banners for both the John Robinson and the Hagenbeck & Wallace shows. However, Mr. Cronin was best known to circus fans for his long connection with the Al G. Barnes Circus as manager. Bandwagon, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Mar-Apr), 1960, p. 24. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

W. H. "Cap" Curtis, circus general superintendent and boss canvassman died in Cuevas, Miss., on April 2. He was 82 years old and had been in show business since 1890. Services were conducted at Gulfport on Monday, the 5th. Only known survivors are a niece and a nephew. "Cap" Curtis gained fame in the circus business for being the first person to move circus wagons with a motor vehicle and in 1910 he first built the Curtis patent seat wagon. These were in general use for about 15 years. During the time that he was with the Hagenbeck Wallace show he perfected and put into use the Curtis spool wagons for rolling the big top. The last circus he was with was Cole Bros. in 1950 but he trouped as a lot superintendent with Royal American Shows in 1952. His last work with the Big Top was as boss canvassman when a Pennsylvania city borrowed a Ringling tent to house a Birthday Party for President Eisenhower in September, 1953. Bandwagon, April, 1955, p. 3. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.
      William Hanford "Cap" Curtis, born December 10, 1873 on a farm near Hazelhurst, Mississippi began his circus career with the Andress (or Andrews) Circus about 1889. Beginning with titles such as superintendent of canvas, lot superintendent and general superintendent he soon became well known for his extraordinary qualities as a man of indomitable spirit, great courage and resourcefulness. An outstanding example of a typical American circus executive, "Cap" set foot on circus lots all over the United States. A man with an inventive turn of mind, "Cap" contributed much to the safety, stability and security of circuses during their development in the early twentieth century. While with the John Robinson Circus from 1902 to 1907 he designed a cable truss system to hold seat stringers firmly in place which soon come into general use by other canvasmen when they realized its advantages. As superintendent of canvas for the Sells-Floto Circus in 1915 he was granted United States patent number 1184672 for his canvas spool-wagon, a new system of handling the tent which saved time getting off the lot and made it easier to spread the canvas the following day when the tent was put up. Still with Sells-Floto, "Cap" become the first man to use a tractor on the lot. From 1917 to 1926, as boss canvasman and general superintendent on the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, he designed and developed a group of folding seat wagons which were patented in 1919 and used for many years. William Hanford "Cap" Curtis died April 9, 1955 near Cuevas, Mississippi. His ideas and inventions will always live with the big top. "Elected to Circus Hall of Fame," Bandwagon, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Mar-Apr), 1961, p. 22. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Jack Cousins hails from the Antipodes. Though an Australian, he has been riding in this country for several years. Mr. Cousins is a great traveler, and has seen almost every country on the face of the globe. This has been his first season with the Ringling Brothers’ Show. He is a very finished and clever jockey and hurdle rider. His home is at Sydney, Australia. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

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James R. Davis, better known as "Jumbo" Davis was in the show business most of his life, the greater part of his time as an agent for Barnum, and was known to circus and show people the world over. He got his nickname of "Jumbo" from the fact that he purchased the big elephant for Barnum and had it brought ot this country. In his boyhood he was for a time a page in the Capitol Building, but very soon afterwards drifted into the show business, which he stuck to for the rest of his life. He was for many years one of Barnum's most trusted agents, and traveled all over the world seeking and purchasing curiosities. In his capacity as Barnum's agent he crossed the Atlantic nine times. He also acted for a time as Manager of the Curiosity Syndicate, by which Circus Proprietors hired out their freaks for a tour of the Dime Museums connected with the syndicate, which extended throughout all of the principal cities of America. He was for a while connected with the Doris Circus as railroad contractor. Shortly after C. E. Kohl and George Middleton left the employ of Barnum to start in the Dime museum business, Davis joined them and became manager of the West Side Museum in New York city. He later went to Cincinnati to manage the Vine Street museum, which belonged to the same firm, and was at this work when he died, still a very young man. He had been in rather poor health for several months, being affected with bronchial and lung trouble which left him badly emaciated. The cause of his death, however, is said to have been heart disease. He was at work right along until the museum closed, feeling as well as usual. He left a wife, but no children. Mr. Davis was well educated and was an exceedingly able man in his line of business. He was very popular with the profession and had many friends in Chicago, and in Washington, D.C., his native city. Circus Scrap Book, January 1929, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 14-15. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

John DeAlma [D'Alma], veteran circus trouper, died in Chicago Tuesday, May 16, of heart disease. Mr. DeAlma had trouped with practically every large circus, including the Scribner & Smith and Walter L. Mains shows, during his career. He was 70 years old at the time of his death. Besides his career with the large shows, Mr. DeAlma had a dog and pony circus of his own that was successful for ten or more years. In his early days Mr. DeAlma was an acrobat, coming from a well-known family of acrobats. For a number of years Mr. DeAlma was employed at the Columbia Amusement Company and was also superintendent of the Haymarket Theatre Building in Chicago. His widow is also generally known to veteran outdoor troupers.
       John DeAlma, or "Mooneye" Wilson, as he was known in Clearfield before he became a showman, was an employee of the Clearfield Fire Brick Works. "Jacketschy" or Mooneye" first tried tight rope walking, practicing in private evenings and Sundays in Murray's Woods. His tight rope walking ended following an attempt in the early '80s to walk a rope stretched across Market street. He made great preparations for the event, employing an orchestra - a fiddle and an organ. At the proper moment "Mooneye" stepped out dressed in tights, with a balancing pole in had. When he reached the center of the tight rope, he nerve failed, he let go of the balancing pole, dropped to the rope and hung on for dear life. A spring wagon was brought out and placed under the rope walker, who was dangling ar arm's length from the rope. With the aid of a box and a couple of strong armed citizens, he was rescued from his perilous position.
       Mr. D'Alma married Lottie Barger, a local girl. They had two children, Harry and Maude. D'Alma continued his efforts to get into show business and became quite an acrobat. He trained his family and they all became creditable performers, traveling all over the United States and Europe with their own and other circuses. Harry died in Australia while on tour. Their daughter, who was a bareback rider, married and now lives in Chicago. From Clearfield (PA) Progress, June 13, 1922. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

L. Debonnaire is so well known, both in and out of the profession, that more than casual notice of him would appear as a waste of words. “Deb,” as he is generally called among the people of the show, is an all-round performer and clown. In the latter capacity he has furnished auditors of the Ringling Brothers’ Show laughter to their hearts’ content for the past two seasons. He resides at Cincinnati. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. The information should be confirmed with additional sources.

Edwin Derious, an old equestrian manager, died in Philadelphia, July 19, aged eighty years. Mr. Derious was born in Philadelphia, and while very young was apprenticed to a showman named Hunt. Under his Instruction, young Edwin soon became a fine athlete and equestrian, and later on was connected with Joseph Palmer's Circus, traveling with it for about ten years. In 1842 be went to England with Van Amburgh's Circus, which was first American show of its kind to visit that country. After six years' stay, Mr. Derious returned to his native country, and engaged as equestrian manager with Rnfus Welsh, who had the Amphitheatre at Ninth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, on the site of the Continental Hotel. About 1851, in partnership with Charles and Richard Rivers, two well known theatrical men, Mr. Derious organized a circus of considerable merit, among whose members were the late Daniel Gardiner and Edward Woods, with their wives. After extensive tours through the South and West, the company disbanded in New Orleans, at the breaking out of the war. At the opening of the Paris Exposition of 1867 Mr. Derious was retained as equestrian manager by a Paris circus, and it was while performing there that he was gored in one of his arms by a Buffalo. Not many years after this accident Mr. Derious. was stricken with paralysis, and for the last ten years had been an invalid. He was a very good rider, vaulter and tight rope performer, and was at one time very popular, although not remembered by the present generation of circus