Route of Cooper, Bailey & Co's Great International, Ten Allied Shows in One, During the Season of 1876. Compiled by W. G. Crowley, San Francisco, Cal., Francis & Valentine, Printers, 1876. Circus World Museum's Parkinson Library provided the photocopy of this route book. All information should be checked with additional sources. There will be spelling and typographical errors.

Introductory

    The centennial season of the tent show would has been a remarkable one. It opened under the most favorable auspices, and was prepared for on a large scale, every one believing that the anniversary year of the country’s birth would stimulate business of all kinds; that the people would patronize amusements as they had never been patronized before. A few short months, however, proved these brilliant hopes to be castles in the air, and shows were found in all directions broken, badly bent or bursted. Few, indeed, of those that started in the spring-time have closed the season successfully. Of that few, Cooper, Bailey & Co.’s Great International stands foremost. While other shows have gone down in a sea of trouble, this has sailed forward triumphantly and anchored in the golden harbor with coffers full. Skillful, energetic and experienced management ahead and behind, together with close financiering in all departments, has enable the management to rest from their labors, rewarded in full measure. The route of the show, together with the incidents thereof, have been eventful, and a short sketch of its career will not be out of place.
    Howe’s Great London and Cooper, Bailey & Co.’s Circuses and Menageries wintered in St. Louis. As organized for the season of ‘76, they were two of the largest, best organized and best equipped shows in America. The management of each desired to commence the season about the same date, to show St. Louis for a week and to pursue nearly the same route through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and other States. The question arose as to whether these two establishments should waste their substance in opposition, or endeavor to make money by combining their respective attractions. The latter course was wisely adopted. The show thus formed was the largest, best and most attractive ever offered to the American people. Its success exceeded anticipation. For six days it exhibited to overflowing houses, turning away people almost every night. Closing on the night of April 22d, each show began its journey, both taking different routes westward through Missouri.
    Intellect and experience guide and control in all cases. Show business is no exception to the rule. The banners of badly generated armies trail in the dust, their soldiers are captives of war and the countries they should defend are conquered. Countries controlled by statesmen of small mental calibre and slight experience are burdened with public debt, composted of a disaffected people, and rank low in the scale of nations. Show guided by unintelligent and inexperienced men, do a bad business, pay no salaries, suffer from attachments and close disastrously. Intellect and experience must guide all movements - social, civil, political and religious - of such movements fail. To the fact that the advance department of the great International has been well organized and ably managed is mainly due its great success. The route was well selected. Towns and surrounding districts were thoroughly investigated; the question of crops, manufactures and money therein carefully studied, and the success of the show proves the wisdom of the course. New country, where shows had rarely if ever been seen, was taken. Newspapers, programmes and posters were used without stint. The people were the key to the money-drawer. The route once taken was not given up. If other shows crossed it they were papered without end. Agent after agent was sent to the front and gang after gang of bill-posters assailed the enemy, until they were beaten and buried beneath the paper of the Great International. There were eight different shows on its route at the same time, through Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, but they were all worsted in the battle for patronage and money. Old John Robinson was badly beaten at Burlington, Ia., and Canton, Ill.; the Lent show had to sell some of its property to get out of Mankato, Minn.; the Zells Brothers jumped like kangaroos out of Ottawa, Ill.; Burr Robbins and Don Castello flew like chaff before the wind in Wisconsin and Minnesota; Howe’s London was worsted in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, and growing tired of the fight, fled into Michigan. The fight for Minnesota and Wisconsin was a grand one, but the advance management of the International placed the show before the people in such a way as to draw crowded houses and secure barrels of money, while the shows ahead and behind were buffeted about on the waves of a stormy sea, and half of them closed their season prematurely, while all of them lost money. The master stroke of the season, however, was the transcontinental trip. It was skillfully planned, carefully carried out, and resulted in full houses and large receipts. Long jumps were made from Wisconsin to the Pacific slope, and before less energetic managers could comprehend the question, the International was over the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains and among the people who had gold and silver. Montgomery Queen gave up Nevada and fled to Oregon in despair, leaving the field unoccupied.
    In the main, the weather has been good. Few rainy days have been encountered, and none of them have seriously affected business. No serious accidents have occurred, excepting that by which Richard Burress, of Junction City, Kan., lost his life. He left the show lot at Stillwater, July 24th, for the train; his team ran away, and he was thrown off and killed. There were blown-downs at Pierce City and Oswego, and there were railroad accidents on the Missouri Pacific, Atchison & Nebraska and Central Pacific roads, besides others too slight to mention. Once, and once only, did the cry of “Hey, Rube!” ring out, and that was at Albia, Ia., where five shots were fired near the door just after the show opened, a drunken man causing the trouble by attempting to enter without a ticket. The doings of “that boy Jasper,” the screams of Mattie Hood, Kittie Fritz and the Arapahoe papoose, besides the other little anecdotes and incidents of the trip, including the history of P. Q. Diefenbaugh, the stinker, are still fresh in the minds of the company, and need no repetition here.
    The show closed at Oakland, Oct. 21st. It was then entirely reorganized for a tour of two years in Australia and the Eastern countries. A sale of stock and other material was had at San Francisco, Oct. 25th. The new company opened in San Francisco, and after playing a short engagement, sailed for Australia, Nov. 8th, where, it is to be presumed, the Great International will be a grand success.

Proprietors

James E. Cooper, Philadelphia.

James A. Bailey, Cincinnati.

Robert S. Hood, Penn’s Square, Pa.

The Advance Department

J. A. Bailey, General Advance Manager.

C. W. Fuller, Gen’l Agent & R. R. Contractor.

J. B. Gaylord, Advertising Agent.

R. G. Ball, Contracting Agent.

Claude Williams, Advance Press Agent

J. W. Heidler, Agent at Large.

Edward Gaylord, Excursion Agent

Bill Posting Brigade

J. J. Showles, Chief in Command.

Wm. Martin, Advance Courier Distributor.

Doc Wilson, Lithograph Agent.

Bill Posters:

Morris Conners	F. G. H. Wilson	George Bowman	David Holbrook
George Baldwin	Almon Blanchard	Wm. McKay	Wm. Chart
Chris. Looney	Little Steve

The Show

James E. Cooper, General Manager

Charles Kidder, Assistant Manager

Robert S. Hood, Treasurer

M. F. Young, Secretary

W. G. Crowley, Press Agent

A. N. Atkinson, Detective

J. E. Cooper, Doorkeeper

Reuben N. Cooper, Doorkeeper

J. E. Cooper, Jr., Assistant Doorkeeper

J. Ebenezer, Assistant Doorkeeper

C. A. Hutchinson, Superintendent of Reserved Seats

Charles Middleton, Reserved Seat Ticket Seller

John Smith, Reserved Seat Ticket Seller

Edward Aymar, Reserved Seat Ticket Seller

The Ring

Peter Conklin, Equestrian Manager

Samuel Rhinehardt, Ringmaster

James Robinson	Wm. Gorman	Francoise Siegrist	Edward Aymar
James Cassim	Edward Fritz	Charles Belmont	John Smith
Master Clarence	Master Eugene	Miss Pauline Lee	Miss Lolino Belmont
Luke Rivers	J. Gallagher

Milton Jaspers: Newton, Thomas, Clinton.

Siegrist Children: Louis, Thomas, Willie.

Peter Conklin, Shakesperian Jester.

Charles Seeley, Grotesque Clown.

Prof. Geo. W. Johnston, Elephant Trainer, Lion and Tiger Performer.

Royal Japanese Troupe: Sakaikiche, Kuritara, Winosuk, Yoshkama, Kameda.

The Usual Programme

Grand Entree, by the Company.

Battoute Leaping, by the Great International Band of Voltigeurs. Led by J. N. Rentfrow.

Mons. Siegrist and his Troupe of Trained Dogs.

Principal Act of Horsemanship, Master Clarence.

Pete Conklin, Shakesperian Jester.

English Acrobatic Exercises, Cassim & Fritz.

Dashing Bareback Equitation, Pauline Lee.

Charles Seeley, Grotesque Clown.

Somersault Brother Act, The Milton Jaspers, Newton, Thomas and Clinton.

Daring Feats of Equestrianism, Wm. Gorman.

Wonderful Acrobatic Performance, by the smallest Gymnasts in the world, the Siegrist Children.

Riding Monkey.

Feats in Mid Air, The Belmonts.

Ground and Lofty Tumbling, by the Company.

Equestrian and Juggling Feats, Pauline Lee.

Flying Men of the Air, the Milton Jaspers, Thomas and Clinton.

Extraordinary Feats of Horsemanship, by the great and only James Robinson, Champion of the World.

The whole to conclude with the amazing spectacle, In Search of the Clown.

The Band

Prof. J. H. Kinslow, Leader

Arthur Clisby	Frank Morris	Joseph Silvia	Joseph Oliver
Ferdinand Stemfel	Peter Swartz	Joseph Quigley	John Richardson
George Davenport	W. S. McEwen	John Skelton

Steam Pianist, Arthur G. Palmer

Property Men

Frank Pryne, Master. George Reynolds, John Brouhard.

Wardrobe

Joseph McCaddon, James Wilson.

The Menagerie

George W. Johnston, Superintendent

Charles Warner	Charles Williams	Thodore Ferris	John Curtis
Samuel Dance	Frank Clark	Benjamin Matison	John Dexter
William Kennedy	Frank Culbertson

Dr. J. O. E. Allen, Solicitor for Sketches of Animated Nature.

The Canvas

Size thereof: Circus, 125 foot round top, 50 foot middle piece; dressing room, 50 foot round top. Menagerie, 70 foot round, three 80 foot middle pieces.

Harry Gise, Master of Canvas. Assistants: Robert Purves, Jules Meredith.

H. J. Cunningham, Ringmaker.

Harry Pepperill	Wm. Laramer	Joseph McCaffery	James Johnson
Charles Ward	Joseph McCall	George Short	Sam Walters
Edward Brown	George Sheridan	John Richards	William Anderson
George Foster	James Flake	Steve Odd	Timothy Cole
George Weber	Michial McElhinny

Chandeliers, John F. Allen, Alias “Boston”

Blacksmith, J. H. Mitchman.

Great International Hotel

Reuben W. Cooper, Superintendent

Paul Johnson, First Cook

Henry Bagley, Second Cook

Waiters:

W. T. Robinson

William Robinson

Coffee Sam

John Lyons

125 steady boarders.

Railroad Department

C. A. Hutchinson, Master of Transportation

Rober Loyd, Car Repairer

D. H. Buckley, Watchman

Wm. Smith, Porter

Railroad Hands:

Joseph Lamfear	Michael Gillespie	Thomas McGee	William Conner
A. R. Williams	Rupert Preistly

The Stables

James Fuqua, Veterinary Surgeon and General Superintendent of Horse Department.

Tableaux Car Drivers: George Thompson, Henry McCabe.

James W. Roberts, Band Chariot.

John Cox, Caliope Driver.

Doc. Forsythe	Louis Burton	O. S. Smith	William Thomas
Joseph Potter	R. F. Bartlett	W. B. Speer	J. D. Levy

John Allen, stableman.

Ring Stock

Joseph M. Jesse, Padder.

In charge of Stud: James Donaldson, Oliver Dodge, John G. Smith.

The Privileges

George W. Middleton, Cincinnati, Proprietor.

William H. Gardner, Philadelphia, Proprietor.

Major H. W. Paul, Advance Agent.

M. Schuler, Superintendent of Privilege Car.

Confectionary Department

George W. Benson, Superintendent.

Owen McGladdery	Thomas Gallegher	George McGlasson	R. C. Beaty
R. M. Toole	D. Fitzgerald	W. Breen	Leo LeVere

Concert

Ticket Sellers, John McBride, John Murrey.

Ticket Collectors, George Palmer, William Gorman, Charles Seeley.

Prof. Wm. Mitchell	John Foster	George Davenport	Philip Gibbons
Charles Foley	Wm. S. McEwen	Mrs. J. W. Rentfrow	Miss Kitty Sharpe
Daisy Belmont

Usual Concert Programme

Grand Overture, Orchestra.

Part First:

Introductory Exercises, by the company.

Part Second:

Dutch Comicalities, Geo. Davenport.

Serio-comic Song, Daisy Belmont.

Ballad, Miss Kitty Sharpe.

Ethiopian Eccentricities, John Foster.

Medley, Mrs. J. W. Rentfrow.

Jig Dance, Daisy Belmont.

Banjo Solo, W. S. McEwen.

Irish Character Delineations, Charles Foley.

Double Song and Dance, Gibbons and Davenport.

The Fire Demon, Prof. Wm. Mitchell.

Side Show

Edward J. Sackett, Orator of the Day.

Miss Annie Leak, Armless Lady.

Miss Charlotte Moxley, English Giantess.

Pearl Foster, Henry Foster, White Haired People of the Isle.

Prof. H. Everett, Punch and Judy, and Feats of Ledgerdemain.

Performing Monkies, Cosmoramic Views, Serpents.

Side Show Canvas

Wm. Ray, Master. Charles Beard, David Stoner, W. J. Cook.

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