Reply: 04 January, 2007 - My 'Twentieth Century Circus People, 1901-1950' (Lingdales Press, Formby, 2003) contains the entry; -

HORTOBAGYI Troupe. Gymnasts. Natives of Hungary. In 1947-48, with Billy Smart's circus at Kilburn, consisted of seven men and a girl, musical gymnasts performing on the springboard, etc. At the Belle Vue circus, Manchester, 1948-49 season, six men and a girl, springboard somersaulting to a 3-high pyramid. Noted with Circus Scott, in Sweden, in 1960. With the Royal International circus, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1960-61 (Sources - World's Fair, 3/1/1948, p.13, col.1; ibid, 1/1/1949, p.8, col.3; ibid, 14/5/1960, p.36, col.3; ibid, 10/12/1960, p.17, col.1; ibid, 24/12/1960, p.14, col.1; ibid, 7/1/1961, p.16, col.1..
Springboard acrobats. Managed by Roberto Yacopi. In 1956 featured a full twister back somersault to a three-man high column. Noted with Circus Scott, in Sweden, in 1960. With the Royal International circus, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1960-61. With Ringlings Circus, USA, in 1969 (Sources - Acrobatics, August 1956, p.2; World's Fair, 18/1/1969, p.50, col.2).
I hope this is helpful. If you are interested in British appearances of the troupe, why not go to a British website, e.g. www.circusbiography.co.ok and post your query in the 'Forum' section? Good luck with your researches! John Turner.

Does anyone know who this girl may be? (Circus Strassburger, Carré, Amsterdam, Feb. 1954). Did John Seidal perhaps have a sister? Also I would welcome further information on John Seidal, who must have performed from at least 1950 until 1961. - Frank van der Velden, conservator tentoonstellingen Kunstverzamelingen, curator of art exhibitions, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, www.circusmuseum.nl, www.teylersmuseum.nl. Respond to this message, replies go to this board, not to the message sender.

Reply: 09 June 2007 - Geachte Heer v.d.Velden, Hopelijk heeft u iets aan de volgende informatie: De Deense John Seidal is getrouwd met Sabina Thur en zij wonen in de buurt van Copenhagen. In het programma van Circus Strassburger van Februari 1954, werkte beslist géén contortioniste. Bovendien had John geen zus die contortioniste was. John werkte in 1974 nog eens in Nederland, bij het Franse Cirque Bouglione. Zou ik 'n foto van de betreffende contortioniste kunnen zien, zo kan ik u misschien zeggen om wie het zich handelt. Met vriendelijke groet - Charly Ross.

Reply: 16 June 2007 - Dear Charly Ross, Thanks for this very useful information. I would very much like to come in contact with John Seidal and ask him if he remembers posing for a painting as a contorsionist. Do you know how I can reach him? By the way, I know now who the other girl was. She was recognized by her daughter from a photograph I showed her. Frank van der Velden, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands

Reply: 04 January, 2007 - My 'Twentieth Century Circus People, 1901-1950' (Lingdales Press, Formby, 2003) lists ; -

BOSTOCK, Douglas. Arthur Douglas Fairgreave Bostock, the third son of E.H. Bostock, born 13th August 1887. After leaving school went out to South Africa, for his health, and to assist with his father's Bostock and Wombwell's circus and menagerie. Took charge of the show, visiting Australia, New Zealand and back to Australia where it was sold, by auction, at Melbourne. Returned to England to manage the Ipswich Hippodrome. Married Violet Selina Veevers, on 17th January 1913, in London. Put in charge of the Royal Italian circus purchased by his father on 29th July 1913. At the end of the tenting season for the circus, at Hadleigh, he gave a supper for the entire company, at the Grand Hotel, Ipswich. Went out to South Africa again in 1914, sailing from Liverpool on 13th November in the 'Runic', with Bostock's Royal Italian Circus. After two years there he went to Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, then to Java, and Straits Settlements. For ten years he and his wife had a home in Singapore. Returned to England in 1922, making Ipswich his home. The circus returned the following year, using the former Sylvester's big top tent. Had several picture palaces of his own. He also booked films for a great number of other cinemas in the Eastern Counties. His son W.A. Bostock, in the RAF during the war, married Jean Nicholl, a well-known lawn tennis-player, in 1943, at St. George's, Hanover Square, London. Douglas Bostock became a motor speedway rider in Scotland. In 1948 he attended a meeting of the Cinema Veterans Association, in London. Died 17th July 1963, at Ipswich. Father of Edward William Augustus (born 1920, married Jean Nicholl) and Douglas Gordon (born 1926, married Judy Garnham).
      So it looks as if it was sold up at the end of the antipodean tour! If you post your query at www.circusbiography.co.uk this website has a number of visitors and contributors from South Africa. See if they can find any more details! Best wishes, John Turner.

Reply: 25 Nov 2007 - Hello, My Great Grandad Artur Feely worked for Bostock and Wombwell's Menagerie so if you are interested I've a number of images I can e-mail to you. Also have you accessed papers past, a New Zealand gov website? Regards, Geoffrey Younger, gemyounger7@ntlworld.com

Reply: 04 January, 2007 - There was an iron-jaw performer named Jonas on Ashton’s Circus in Australia. He was there for many years, and is now retired somewhere down under. I believe he was Lithuanian, and recall that he had some kind of accident years ago. I know I have seen his name on this site, and you should be able to find that info here. Ron Perry

Reply: 23 May 2008 - I still remember Jonas from when I travelled with Ashton's Circus for a year, my father (then name Shigi Yajima) was the school teacher and I was 12-13 years old so it must have been 1968-1969. He was single then, already silver-haired so from my child's perspective quite old. If he is still alive I would really appreciate your conveying my regards to him; though he has doubtless forgotten me he made quite an impression on me and I can visualise him clearly now. He drove an antique Rolls Royce with a dial on the steering wheel and he showed me how he ate hazelnuts to keep his teeth strong. Sunny A-Angeles (then name Shigeko Yajima, though people were already calling me Sunny)

Reply: 31 December, 2006 - Dear Jan: Agnes Lake Obit found in Indianapolis News, August 23, 1907.
Noted Old-Time Circus Rider Taken By Death
Mrs. Agnes Lake, famed for skill in the sawdust ring, dies in Jersey City.
      Jersey City, N.J., August 23. Mrs. Agnes Lake, retired circus performer, is dead at the home of her son-in-law, Gilbert Robinson, 791 Montgomery street, this city, at the age of eighty-one. Her maiden name was Mersman, and she was born in Doehm, Alsace, August 23, 1826. With her parents she came to this country, and at the age of sixteen, in Cincinnati, became acquainted with William Lake, circus clown. An elopement and marriage followed. In 1869 a desperado shot Lake through the heart. In 1873 Mrs. Lake married James W. Hickok, known as “Wild Bill,” who at the time was marshal of Cheyenne. Hickok, in 1876, was shot and killed in a row, and the circus performer was again a widow. Once more the woman returned to the sawdust ring. In 1880 she retired taking the name Lake.
I have a second newspaper article I will post later. Richard Georgian

This is the second article I have on file. The Indianapolis News, Saturday, August 24, 1907, page 4 col. 5:
FIRST WOMAN OWNER OF CIRCUS IN AMERICA
Death of Mrs. Lake recalls remarkable life.
Wild Bill Hickock’s Wife
      New York, August 24, the career of Mrs. Agnes Hickock, better known as Mrs. Agnes Lakes, whose death has just been recorded, was one of the most remarkable in the history of the circus in America.
      Mrs. Lake was the first woman owner of a circus in this country and was the first to adapt the drama to the circus ring, producing a version of “Mazeppa,” in which she took the chief part herself. She was accounted the best slack wire performer the sawdust ring ever saw. She was also an unusually skilled rider. Her daughter, Emma Lake, now Mrs. Gilbert Robinson, daughter-in-law of the noted circus man, John Robinson, has always been regarded as the best “high school” woman rider in the country.
      Mrs. Lake was born in Doehme, Alsace, in 1826. Her parents’ name was Mersman. They came to this country when she was about four years old and went to St. Louis, where he died several years ago, a millionaire. A sister married into the Katterhorn family of Cincinnati, a family well known in the grocery trade in that city. When Agnes was about seventeen there came to Cincinnati on one of its periodic visits the famous Spalding & Rogers circus. It had with it an attractive young fellow named Lake, who was a clown. In those days a clown was a man of keen wit, well educated, good looking and a fairly good singer. He was the stamp of man that court jesters used to be made of. Agnes fell in love with him. They ran away and were married. From that time on her life was linked inseparably with the circus. Her husband’s real name was Thatcher, of the well-known family of Bordentown, N.J.

With Old Floating Palace
      Spalding & Rogers’ show was one of the old “floating palaces’ that went down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, tying up at big and little towns and at plantations where thousands of slaves could be assembled. A tug towed the outfit, which consisted of an enormous barge on which the ring was set and also big enough to erect several hundred seats. It was a paying business. The young bride got tired of doing nothing on these journeys, and under the husband’s direction she practiced for a slack wire performance and soon became so expert at it that she was known throughout the circus world as the greatest in her line.
      For nearly fifteen years she worked with her husband, They saved their money and in the late fifties her husband formed a partnership with John Robinson and the Robinson & Lake’s circus followed. This partnership lasted for about three years, when each partner went his way and Lake started a circus of his own.

How J.A. Bailey Got His Start
      It was of the old time variety, with forty or fifty wagons, the performers sleeping on the wagons at night as they went from town to town. With the Robinson & Lake circus there had been a small boy named Gordon, picked up in a hotel at Pontiac, Michigan, to help out Fred Bailey, one of the chief employees. He took Bailey’s name eventually. When the Lake show became one of itself Mrs. Lake insisted, against her husband’s judgment, in make the young fellow, who had now grown up, general agent of the show. That young fellow was the late James A. Bailey, of the Barnum & Bailey show. She not only walked the slack wire, but rode in the rign on a spirited horse and helped out in the management. The Lakes had a beautiful home back in Covington, KY., across the river from Cincinnati and there Mrs. Lake taught her only daughter Emma how to ride.

Played “Mazeppa” a while
      In the early sixties the great actress Adah Isaacs Meaken, had caused a furore in this country and Europe by her performances of “Mazeppa.” Mrs. Lake knew her and one time in Cincinnati the Robinsons had lent Mrs. Menken a horse for her theater act when her own horse had broken down. Mrs. Lake studied the “Mazeppa” play carefully and being able to speak German went to Berlin and played the part in the theaters for the winter with great success. Her husband remained at home to run the circus. When Mrs. Lake came back she adapted the play to the circus ring. She fought with the Prices and at the proper time was tied on the white horse, which was trained to dash madly around the ring several times and finally run into the side tent. It was a great hit and the Lakes made a lot of money.

Killing of Lake
      The Lake circus used to strike out for what was then known as the far West, Kansas and Colorado. The circus stopped at Granby, Missouri, one day, and while there Lake had trouble with a desperado named Jake Killen, who had had one eye shot out in a western encounter. They used to give a “concert” after the show. Killen had not bought a ticket and insisted on staying. Lake had time put out. Lake was at the tent door watching his wife take in the tickets of new customers when Killen sneaked up behind him and shot him through the heart. Killen was tired, but served only about three years for it. When he got out he went after the man who had shot his eye out. The other fellow saw Killen first and he troubled the circus shows and the world in general no longer.
      Mrs. Lake then went on with the show and made money. One day out in Abilene, Kansas, Wild Bill Hickock, the law and order man for frontier towns, good follow generally, with a lot of notches on his gun, caught sight of Mrs. Lake. It was love at first sight. This was in the early seventies. He said he was going to marry her. Wild Bill was always sent for when the Union Pacific railroad was advancing across the plains to deal with the “bad men.” Once he killed nine soldiers himself in a saloon row. He was cut up and shot and then he dragged himself for miles across the country to escape. Sixteen men had gone down before that terrible gun of his. He was quiet, unassuming, but brave as they made ‘em.

Wild Bill’s Courtship
      Hickock kept on Mrs. Lake’s trail. He wrote to her and went to see her was often as possible. Wild Bill had a protégé named Bill Cody and had got him a job with the United States scouts, which was Wild Bill’s occupation in the old days. Cody afterward took Mrs. Lake’s daughter, Mrs. Robinson to Europe with the Wild West show and had her ride before Queen Victoria, and one of Mrs. Robinson’s treasures to-day is some dried flowers of the bouquet which the Queen sent to her. Cody thought so much of Mrs. Robinson that he presented to her a silver-mounted bridle made form the scalps of hair of Indians that he had killed.
      Mrs. Lake gave up the circus business in 1873. She was rich and invested her money in a lithographic concern in Cincinnati. The panic came on and she lost every dollar of her fortune. She got a place with the Great Eastern circus. She and her daughter gave an exhibition of fine riding. They made two rings for them to exhibit and it was the first time that a two-ring circus was ever seen in this country.
      Wild Bill insisted on marrying Mrs. Lake and she went out in 1875 to Cheyenne, where they were wedded. They were happy together and he drifted up to Deadwood, which had just become known as a prospector.

Death of Hickock
      Mrs. Lake came East to Covington the following summer to be present at an interesting event in her daughter’s family, and while there received word that Wild Bill had been killed by Jack McCall, a desperadeo, who said that Hickock had once killed his brother, which was not true. Bill Occupied a tent at Deadwood with Leander Richardson, of this city, and two others. The rest of the outfit were in a gambling saloon when they head a shot. They ran to the tent and found that Bill had a bullet in his head. It was said to have been the first time that Bill had ever sat down with his back to a door. McCall sneaked up and killed him cowardly. He was cought and hanged for it.
      The next spring the widow went out there and erected a monument to his memory. Then she and her daughter came East and settled in Jersey City, largely because Linda Zeal’s practicing building was there, and Mrs. Robinson, her daughter, could practice riding in th winter and keep her horses schooled. They lived on the Heights ever since, making few friends and attracting little attention.
      Mr. Robinson prospered in the lithographing business, in which he is still engaged in this city, and the old lady made her home with him. She talked almost constantly of the circus. It was breath to her nostrils. Up to tow years ago she attended the circus regularly every year, but she used to lament abut the distracting three ring shows. They wer not the old-time circuses of those days, She was very domestic. She took charge of the linen and darning in Mr. Robinson’s home, and only on Sunday last she was darning stockings.

Richard Georgian, Lehigh Acres, FL, Email: rgeorgian@earthlink.net

I found a third article about Agnes Lake which I think you might find interesting. Please note, if you have access to Newspaperarchives.com you can conduct a search for Agnes Lake and find additional materials. The Web site is a subscription site.
The Galveston News, Tuesday, January 22, 1907
ONLY WOMAN CIRCUS OWNER
She Hailed From Cincinnati, Married “Wild Bill” Hickok, and Had a Remarkable Career.
      The Only woman in the world who has even owned and managed a circus, traveling with it from town to town and superintending every detail, from the driving of the first stake to the erection of the center pole, is Mme. Agnes Lake, widow of “Wild Bill” Hickok. She is now living at 101 Garrison Avenue, Jersey City.
      She was in the old circus days “Queen of the High Wire” and one of the foremost equestriennes in the business. Her life has been an eventful one, and nearly all of its 80 years have been lived in the glare of the big lights. Her first husband, Bill Lake, was one of the oldest showmen in the country when he was killed in 1869 by a desperado at Granby, Mo., and left her to carry on his business.
      Hers was the first circus with which the premier showman, James A. Bailey, ever traveled. His foster father, Frederick Bailey, was at one time advance agent for the Lake shows, and after becoming acquainted with the boy, whose real name was Gordon, prevailed upon him to leave his employment in the country hotel and travel with the circus.
      Mme. Lake is an Alsatian. Her name was Agnes Mersman, and she came to this country with her parents in 1829, when she was 3 years old. They settled in Cincinnati. The family was very religious, and she was sent to a parochial school at an early age. Up to her 15th year nothing of greater importance than a broken doll or a torn frock had come into her life. It was during her 16th year Robinson & Eldred’s circus visited Cincinnati. The tents were pitched on a field which is the site of the present Burnet House, and within a few blocks of the Mersman home. Bill Lake was the star clown with the show. He saw Agnes swinging in the yard one day as he passed the house. She had not been permitted to go to the circus, and there developed a pronounced case of love at first sight.
      Lake asked her to marry him and she consented, but her youth was so very evident that it was impossible to get any one to perform the ceremony in Cincinnati, and it was determined that she should go to St. Louis and be married there. She agreed to this, but would not go on the same boat with Lake. Arrangements were made for her to leave on the White Cloud, a boat which sailed down the Ohio a week after the show had left town. When she arrived in St. Louis it was found that the legal bar to their marriage was impossible in Missouri also, and the wedding had to be postponed pending their arrival in New Orleans. The future Mrs. Lake meanwhile placed herself under the protection of the wife of Nick Saunders, another of the clowns, who was traveling with the show, and shared her stateroom during the trip down the river. But even at New Orleans the goal of their happiness was not reached, and these two fond hearts who had been traveling thousands of miles seeking an opportunity to be made happy had to cover another ten miles and go to the town of Lafayette to be married by tender-hearted Judge Raynell.
      Mrs. Lake was a born circus woman. The saddle had been her cradle, almost, and even before her marriage she was accounted an expert rider. It did not take much training to fit her for the ring, and ten days after joining the show with her husband she was taking an active part of every performance.
      Her ambitions, however, ran to higher things than the back of a horse, and she began almost immediately to practice at wire walking. It was while on the wire that she gained her reputation as a performer. Some of her acts have never been duplicated. With a spirit absolutely alien to fear she soon outdid her teachers and put on a slack wire act that was hair-raising. Her wire was stretched between two twenty-foot posts and allowed to belly almost to the ground, and all of her business on the wire was done while it was gyrating to and fro in a fifteen-foot swing.
      At New Orleans, Bill Lake and Nick Saunders joined Rich’s circus for a tour of Mexico, and left the women in that city to await their return. They didn’t return soon. Just about that time Mexico was losing her grasp on the State of Texas, and as the United States was held responsible by most Mexicans, Americans were abused at the slightest excuse. Rich’s circus was confiscated and Lake and his partner barely escaped with their lives to be hidden in a cellar by a friendly priest.
      Meanwhile, Mrs. Lake, hearing nothing of her husband, was in such reduced circumstances that it became a question where the next meal was to come from. At this juncture she met Mrs. Kent, who was playing with Wallack in “Hamlet.” Mrs. Kent secured a position in the chorus for her protégé, and Mrs. Lake declares that the $20 a week which she drew during the six weeks of her stay with the Wallack company made her feel richer than she had ever felt before or has ever felt since.
      Just after she had closed her engagement with Wallack her husband returned from Mexico and failing to secure work for either of them, they determined to go back to Cincinnati. Her family was very bitter, and he laughs heartily when she tells of the deal which she and her husband fixed up when they went home. He did not go in with her, but arranged for her to signal him the condition of things. If everything was all right she was to hand a white rag out of her window, and if they refused to see him the rage was to be black. She went in and made her plea, but her parents were obdurate, so she went up and hung the white rag out so that her husband would come in and help her argue. Is it anything to be wondered at that a woman who was so cute at 16 should make a successful circus manager twenty years later?
      Between them they convinced the parents that everything would come out all right, and were permitted to stay. Lake soon won the confidence of his folk-in-law, and left his wife at home while he went out with the Sam Stickney circus as a clown.
      Mrs. Lake had had experience of the road, however, and was not content; so she joined a cheap theatrical troupe which was organizing at Cincinnati and played parts on a tour of Indiana and Illinois until her husband made a quick trip and kidnapped her. That was the beginning of her permanent circus career. She and her husband joined Rich’s circus, which had been reorganized, and she took up the slack wire while he worked as a clown with performing dogs. This engagement lasted two seasons and was followed by one of eleven years which was put in with the Spalding & Rodgers circus.
      It was with Spaulding & Rodgers that Mrs. Lake gained her great reputation as a wire performer. Her principal act (unreadable) a wire stretched tight from the ground to the top of an eight foot center pole and a wheelbarrow. Twice a day she wheeled a barrow up the wire and backed again with it. She is the only one who ever accomplished this feat.
      The high wire and equestrienne acts did not exhaust Mrs. Lake’s repertoire of startling feats. She was the first woman in the world who ever went into a cage with wild animals. Absolutely without fear, she would undertake anything that was suggested to her. As a result she soon became the highest salaried feature act in the circus business. For years she was the idol of the youth of the Western part of the United States, who placed her on a pedestal.
      It meant something to be a circus performer in those days. There was no artist at that time who was considered good enough to be put on for a single turn only. It was not unusual for one person to make three or four attempts to amuse during one session of the show. Mrs. Lake, however, broke all records, in the latter part of her engagement with Spaulding Rodgers, this was her part of the program: The great “Free open-air performance consisted of her perilous climb up a wire with a wheelbarrow; this completed, she would run to her dressing room, don a habit and lead the grand entry into the ring; then came an equestrienne act, which was followed after a quick change of costume by a performance on the slack wire. The circus included a concert in which she did a single turn with her husband. Six times she appeared in the ring at every performance.
      The interviewer from the Moring Telegraph, who had sought her out, asked her if this strenuous labor was not too much for a woman. She laughed; “Before I was 50,” she said, “never knew what it was to be tired.”
      And it must be remembered that this was long before the days of the palace car. A night between the sheets was an unusual luxury even for a woman during those times. Weeks often passed when all of her rest was secured on the soft side of one of the seats in the band wagon. And “She was never tired.” And vaudevillians nowadays are kicking against two a day.
      In 1860 the Lakes left Spaulding & Rodgers, and in 1861 Bill Lake formed a partnership with John Robinson, the veteran showman of them all, and this show known as Robinson & Lake circus was on the read for two seasons. In 1863 Lake started a show of his own, and from that time until his death was one of the best known circus proprietors in the country.
      It was during the time of the Lake Robinson partnership that James A. Bailey made his debut in the circus world. It was the general agent of this show, Frederick Bailey, who “discovered” the boy who was to become the head of the “greatest show on earth.”
      Jim Bailey, who real name was Gordon, was working as a general utility boy in a little hotel in Pontiac, Mich. Bailey stopped at the hotel, and was so favorably impressed that he offered to take him on the road. Jim was willing, and accepted his first position in the show business at a salary of $8 per month.
      After the close of the season of the Robinson & Lake circus, Madam Lake made a tour of Europe, appearing during the winter of 1863 in her great character part of Mazeppa before the German Kaiser. She returned home in time to open with the William Lake circus the next spring.
      She herself adapted Lord Byron’s poem the year before, and it was without doubt the first dramatic production ever seen in the circus ring. She had the name part and was ably assisted by a famous dapple, gray, trained to act as the Wild Horse of Tartary.
      During the action of the play she was seized, and, after struggling valiantly for freedom, was strapped on the back of the gray, which gave a very realistic rendition of its part. Tied hand and foot, she was carried around the ring in a spirit moving dash that made the spectators rise to their feet whenever the act was put on. It was considered the most finished and difficult circus act of its day.
      The Lake show continued on the road under the direction of Bill Lake until 1869. During the tour that year one of the towns played was Granby, MO. The Lakes were perfectly happy now. With their 15 year old daughter, who also took part in the performance, they arrived at Granby, prosperous and free from care. There was nothing to indicate that the little town of Granby was to be the scene of the family’s greatest bereavement.
      At the afternoon performance one of the spectators was Jake Killian, a local desperado, who was continually on a still hunt for trouble and generally found it. He concluded to stay for the concert without paying the extra admission. Lake objected. The bully left and the incident was thought closed, when Lake went out to the front entrance, where he was accustomed to stand during the progress of the performance. The bad man came back with a gun, and walking up to the group at the door reached over the shoulder of one of Lake’s companions and shot him through the heart.
      The desperado escaped, leaving the victim to the gentle but useless ministrations of his wife and child. Lake was beyond reach of aid. The flapping and fluttering of the gaudy side-show banners became a mockery, and the morning’s happy song of the wind as it struck the circus cordage was changed to the doleful monotone of a dirge. He was buried by the local lodge of Odd Fellows.
      Killian, the murderer of Lake, surrendered to the authorities after the circus had left that section. He had been a Union soldier, of ill repute, it must be said, and in those days a very bad element controlled matters in Newton County, where the tragedy occurred. The Sheriff, an ex-Union soldier himself, was a good man, but the better people being (unreadable), he was forced to draw his jury from among those who, under the Drake Constitution, could take the “iron clad oath.”
      Witnesses for the prosecution were scattered far and wide, but witnesses for the defense were not lacking. They came forward and swore that Lake had threatened Killian, and some of them even went so far as to say that the murderer’s reputation as a law-abiding citizen was good. And this in spite of the fact that another “Bill,” Bill Norton, a sutler’s clerk during the war, had on a certain occasion caught Killian in the act of robbery and shot his right eye out.
      The worst Killian got was three years and ten months in the State prison.
      After the war Norton studied law, and in 1876, the yar of the remarriage of Madame Lake he was practicing his profession in Galena, Kansas. Killian having served his term, went back to Granby, and later settled in Galena, which is a lead mining town just across the Missouri line. A coward at heart, he steers clear of Norton, but when in his cups, which was frequently, he boasted he would yet get “an eye for an eye.” The stories reached Norton, who stood high in the community, and one afternoon he loaded a double-barreled shotgun and went after Killian. The one eyed desperado was buried two days later. The grand jury of Cherokee County, Kansas did not even indict Norton.
      Madame Lake after Lake’s murder was left in sole charge of what in those days was a large property. She never faltered. On the morning after the funeral she called together all of the employees of the show, and mounting the high seat of the band wagon, addressed them:
      “Mr. Lake is dead,” she said, “and in the future I intend to run the Lake circus. If any of you think me incapable, all I ask is that you give me tow weeks notice and I shall try to fill your places. It’s hard to get white men to work for you in this section of the country, but I am determined to keep this show on the road, and I shall succeed.”
      She did succeed. Not a man in her employ gave her “two weeks” notice. Not until she saw the loyal attitude of the men did she break down. It was their cheers, as they promised to “stand by” her after her speech from the band wagon that brought a flood of tears and reaction that was a blessing in disguise.
      But this natural weakness did not last long. Mme. Lake determined she would forget, as far as possible, her great sorrow by turning her attention to the business her husband founded. Her ability and capacity as a circus proprietor was wonderful. The show became a veritable gold mine under her direction, and she planned a tour of the Far West.
      At Cheyenne, Wyo., she met William Hickok, “Wild Bill.” He was a Deputy Marshall of the city and naturally drifted to the “door” of the Lake tent. It is one of the prequisties of a “Marshall” to enter shows without paying admission. He and Mme. Lake formed a friendship which was continued through correspondence for several months. As a result of their mutual esteem, they were married at Cheyenne in 1876. This was after Mme. Lake had sold the circus and had traveled with her daughter, Emma Lake, with old John Robinson. Emma Lake was married to “Gil” Robinson, a son of “Old John,” in 1875, a year before her mother’s second matrimonial adventure.
      After her marriage Madam Lake returned to Cincinnati to her daughter’s home, and “Wild Bill” went to Deadwood, SD., in pursuance of his official duties. He was destined to meet the same fate which had overtaken Bill Lake, in the same cowardly manner. While seated in a saloon at Deadwood playing poker he was approached from behind by Jack McCall, a “bad Man,” and assassinated. McCall used a .45 revolver, and shot Hickok through the head. The latter died instantly. The “bad man” made no effort to get away and stood trial for the shooting. He was first acquitted by a jury of miners under the primitive laws of the mining camp. Later a United States grand jury indicted him, Sought Dakota then being a territory. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree and hanged.
      After this tragic ending of her second matrimonial venture Madam Lake remained in Cincinnati with the avowed intention of retiring from public life and public gaze. She bought a farm in Newport, KY., just across from the Ohio, and stocked it was horses, and she devoted her time to the training of these animals until the infirmities of age crept upon her and she was no longer able to ride.
      In 1883 she moved to Jersey City, and has lived in that town ever since.
      Living with Madam Lake are her ascendants to the fourth generation. Her only child, Emma, is the wife of “Gil” Robinson, one of the best known men in the circus world; her only grandchild is also the wife of a circus man, William Lteed, and her only great-grandchild is now a fairy of 5, who is the light of the household.
      Madam Lake is 80 years old, hale and hearty and good for many another year of life and its enjoyment. The remarkable faculties which made her a successful circus proprietor are unimpaired. After talking with her one may well believe her when she says, “I could mange a circus better today than lots of men who are in the business.”
      No. 101 Garrison avenue, Jersey City, is a house of joy and good cheer, and no one does more to make it an than “Granny, as Madam Lake is affectionately called by her children. New York Telegraph.

Richard Georgian

Reply: 03 January, 2007 - Thanks so much Richard for the good information. Does anyone know where is the best place to obtain photographs or lithographs of Agnes Lake and her family? Jan, jcerney@gwtc.net

Reply: 04 January, 2007 - Dear Jan Cerney - I am coauthor of the Agnes Lake biography, being prepared for publication by the Univ of Oklahoma Press due in 2007. While the obits posted here are generally true, there are several inaccuracies, especially her origins and Agnes's meeting Wild Bill. Inaccuracies are one of the daily problems of researching historical figures who left little written records - especially circus folk who changed their names, ages, and birthplaces, as often as they changed touring companies. I am interested in your work and if you have any questions please email me at zatarains80 (at) hotmail.com. Good luck with your work and please email me since I am interested in your article! Best, Carolyn Bowers, Annandale, VA.

Reply: 29 July 2007 - Hello, Does anyone know which cemetery in Cincinnati that Agnes Hickok is buried? Thank you, Chuck Barrett

Reply: 22 Aug 2007 - Agnes Lake Thatcher is buried in the Spring Grove cemetery, as are many of the Robinson's. Mark Koch, btaylor1885@earthlink.net

Reply: 26 June 2007 - I am familiar with the football story. Jim DeHaven

Reply: 30 December, 2006 - My 'Twentieth Century Circus People, 1901-1950' (Lingdales Press, Formby, 2003) contains the following entry; - SANDWINA, Katie. Strongwoman. Born in 1883, in Germany, Kathe the daughter of Phillip and Johanna Nock, aerial performers, a member of the Brumbach family of strong men and athletes. Her uncle was Xavier Brumbach, the 'Bavarian Hercules'. First appeared in her father's 'Circus Sandwina', at the age of 2 years, as a child acrobat. At age twelve introduced her feats of strength and accepted a challenge issued by Samson Breitbart, successfully duplicating many of his feats. As an adult, was a magnificent flaxen-haired giantess. Juggled and caught cannon balls on her neck. Lying on a bed of nails, with an anvil on her torso, three men would hammer on this with great violence, or smash a piece of granite with sledgehammers. With a bridge laid across her chest, people, horses, and even a motor car passed over the bridge. In 1903 made her first circus appearance in America. A year later came to London, appearing at the Hippodrome. After years on the Continent and in America, returned to England, noted at Bertram Mills' circus, Olympia, for the 1926-27 season, billed as the "Wonder Woman". Left for a short variety tour, ending up at the London Music Hall, Shoreditch for the week commencing 8th May 1927. At this time her son Ted Sandwina had found fame as a European heavyweight boxer. Billed as 'Catherine the Great', her German title, at Carmo's Circus, Dublin, in 1928, when she entered the ring in a Roman chariot. Stood six feet tall and weighed fifteen stone. Fell in love with a male member of the audience, Max Heyman, who responded to her request for someone to test her weights. Their marriage turned out very well and he became a top mounter, carried round the ring in his wife's hands. From 1932 resided in Queens, Long Island, New York. Retired in 1941 and opened a restaurant and wine bar, in New York, but sold this in 1949 because of Katie's failing health. Died on 21st January 1952, following a long illness, at a hospital in New York, USA, at age 68 years. I trust that if you find this information useful, you will acknowledge my research in any subsequent publication. Best wishes for your own research, John Turner (www.circusbiography.co.uk).

Reply: 30 December, 2006 - Between 1907 and 1916 no route books were issued by the John Robinson Circus so that possible lead is eliminated. The only way would be to read the Billboard in the spring issues for listings of tent show people. If you had provided the names of the band members it may be possible to check a portion of the 'Directory of Show People' that was issued by the New York Clipper for 1911 to see if they were listed. John Polacsek

Reply: 08 February, 2007 - The Cincinnati Historical Society Library, located at the Cincinnati Museum Center, has a number of John Robinson circus materials, including many adminstrative files. I was there a few months ago but I did not look at all of their holdings. Besides the Clipper and Billboard magazines, you should be able to find something in Cincinnati. Good Luck! Carolyn Bowers

Reply: 02 January, 2007 - Dear Cynthia, Wild animal trainer Dave Hoover passed away on Feb. 3, 2006 in DeLand, FL. Jim Cole

Reply: 09 Jul 2007 - See message No. 1970 - J. Griffin

Reply: 24 Feb 2008 - Howdy: I research all lines of EASLICKS/EASTLICKS. In the Lyons Twp, Wayne Co., NY line, I have recorded the being of Thomas E. Easlick who was an acrobat from about age 9. His sister Adriana married into the BALL line of Orleans Co., NY.
      Adriana had son Clark E. Ball who married Theoline JULIAN, sister to Rose and Martin, in Bensonhurst, Kings Co., NY, on 30 June 1901. The brides' name, however, was recorded as Florence SAUMELLS(sp). Thus it would appear that Theo Julian was a daughter of Leon Samwells. Clark is buried in the Easlick Mausoleum in the Boxwood Cemetery, Ridgeway, Orleans Co., NY. He died in Hartford, CT, on 17 April 1923. Buried in that mausoleum are: Thomas E. Easlick (stage name MIACO), b. 1841, and his wife Jenny Miaco-Easlick(Johnson); Clark and his parents Gainham and Adriana BALL; and William D. Holdredge, husband of Thomas & Jenny's daughter Edna Chimebells Easlick.
      Clark Ball had fronted as advance man for boxer Bob Fitzsimmons for a while following the death of his uncle Thomas Easlick in Manhattan on 31 May 1900. I have pictures of Thomas with some family members' notation that Thomas was "murdered for his money". Newspaper reports had it that Thomas had fallen down the stairs at the Morton House Hotel in Manhattan. I suspect that as an athlete - even at age 59 - it would be unlikely that he would have fallen down the stairwell. The autopsy made no mention of alcohol. Too, Thomas was known as the "Diamond King" because of his fondness for that gem. I have a late picture of Thomas with him sporting a rather large diamond stick-pin.
      Thomas, as road-show/theatre club owner, had been charged with dallying with actress and employee Fanny Everett and both whom were arrested some few years before Easlick's death in 1900. Fanny also challenged Thomas' will wherein he left his daughter $55,000, and Fanny--$2,000. Fanny eventually settled for the $2,000 for her ten-year (d)alliance/employment with Thomas.
      The Easlick Mausoleum has also been vandalized. Fanny's husband?
      Tom's daughter, Edna C., then married to Thomas McGowen in Anaheim, CA, in 1946, attempted to sell her father's mausoleum as she and her children "had no interest in returning to NY." The authorities declined consideration of the offer because of the legal issues and problems with the re-interring of the six occupants.
      I am inclined to believe that Thomas was indeed murdered. He died of a skull fracture as did his son-in-law William D. Holdredge, 18, who died on 22 August 1902, from falling off his father's building while flying a kite. He too died from a skull fracture. Coincidence?
      Theoline (Florence) BALL (Samwells) died in Kings Co., NY on 27 June 1917. I've not located her burial spot.
      According to the 1920 Census for Hartford, CT, Clark was married to a Margaret ? and who attended Clark's funeral in Medina, Orleans Co., NY, in April of 1923. Margaret was still in Hartford for the 1930 Census. Don't know where they planted her. More on Thomas should you want it. Ed

Reply: 26 December, 2006 - Geachte mevrouw Pelgrom, Interessante vraag over de Kions. Ik heb zelf eigenlijk niets over ze paraat, maar ik zal het aan wat ouwetjes uit de circuswereld vragen. Weet u nog meer wat eventueel een leidraad zou kunnen zijn? (En gewoon uit nieuwsgierigheid, kwam u daar veel, en hebben ze invloed gehad op uw latere interessen en keuzes eventueel, ihkv uw theaterwerk? Ik beantwoord een heleboel circusvragen op de CHMB, maar wil er wel altijd het waarom-verhaal voor terug :)) Groeten, Natasha

Reply: 31 December, 2006 - My 'Dictionary of British Circus Biography' database contains mention of the Kions who performed in Britain. These included; -
      KIOB, Bob. Equilibrist, riding a motor bike on the high wire. From Holland. First noted at Wilkie's Mammoth circus, New Brighton, in the summer of 1952, billed as the 'Bob Kion Troupe', two men and two women. In January 1960 he was reported to be en route, with his troupe, to New Zealand, with high wire and swaypole acts. Returned to Great Britain, in mid-May, for a programme of gala bookings. Back in Holland, in January 1961, he suffered an accident and fell 40' from the wire, landed on his head, and broke his neck. He survived but was permanently 'grounded' and in 'enforced retirement'. Husband of Omregard, father of Karim. In 1967 was running a popular restaurant at Harlemermeer, near Haarlem and Amsterdam (Sources - World's Fair, 26/7/1952, p.20, cols.1 & 3; ibid, 30/1/1960, p.22, col.2; ibid, 28/1/1961, p.10, col.3; ibid, 15/7/1967, p.54, col.4).
      This information will be published in vol.2 of my 'Twentieth Century Circus People, 1951-1970' (Lingdales Press, Formby, 2007) and I would be grateful for your acknowledgement of this source in any publication you produce. Meanwhile, good luck with your researches in 2007! John Turner.

Reply: 02 January, 2007 - Twee foto's van de Kion's op www.circusmuseum.nl Zoek op Kion. Wagenweg 44 in Haarlem was blijkbaar het adres van Bob Kion. Herman Voogd, hvoogd@teylersmuseum.nl

Reply: 30 December, 2006 - My database does not contain any Harmston record which mentions an Eldred but the following Eldred records (Published in my 'Victorian Arena; the Performers', vols.1 & 2 (1995, 2000);
      ELDRED Family. Riders. Walter and Mr T. Eldred performed leaping and pirouettes on two bare backed horses, at Hengler's circus, Liverpool, in 1881. Miss Blonde Eldred appeared in ""A series of fancy flights on horseback"" on the same programme. The Eldred Family of riders was noted at Harmston's circus, South Shields, in 1884. Gill Eldred, father of the family, died in 1885. Walter Eldred was also a jockey, and bar act rider, noted at Stephenson's circus, Blackburn, in 1899.
      ELDRED, Gill. Equestrian and elephant trainer. Born 1813. At one time a partner with Robinson, Madigan, and P.T. Barnum's American Circus. Father of the Eldred Family. Before his death, had been associated with Harmston's circus. Died at Sunderland, 7th September 1885, leaving a widow and three children. Buried at Sunderland.
      ELDRED, Walter. Equestrian. Son of Gill Eldred. Jockey and bar act rider. Noted at Ohmy's circus, 1882-83, and Tom Culeen's circus, Bolton. With Keeley and Patterson's circus, in 1888, then Quinette's circus, Southport, Stephenson's circus, Blackburn, in 1889, and at Cooke's circus, in the late 1880s, as the Newmarket jockey. Said to be the equal of William Tudor and George Gilbert. After an accident, sustained when he fell on his head from a horse, he never worked again. Married, with one daughter. In the 1920s his wife and daughter were in review.
      I would be grateful for your acknowledgement of the sources of this information in any publication which makes use of it. Best wishes for your research, John Turner.

Reply: 31 December, 2006 - To John Turner. Many thanks for your information re the Eldreds, very much appreciated. I have a copy of Gilbert Eldred (Senior) marriage certificate to Jane Allwood 1869, and copy of Gilbert Eldred death certificate Sunderland 1885 if you are interested for your database, let me know. Any information will only be added to my own family history research. Regards Debbie Aldridge

Reply: 23 December, 2006 - A great resource on tattoos and tattooists is C. W. Eldridge, who operates the Tattoo Archives in Berkeley, CA. Chuck may be able to assist you in your search. He has a website, www.tattooarchive.com, which will enable you to lodge a query. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 26 December, 2006 - It would probably be a good subject for Marisa Di Mattia's wellread-by-tattoo-buffs log www.needled.com where she writes a daily column too. Natasha Gerson, nani@xs4all.nl

Reply: 21 December, 2006 - The first use of a mirror ball that I ever saw in a circus was in 1966, on the "Celeste" revolving airplane act, I'm sure that it had been on the rigging prior to that. Bill Strong reports that the "Kimris" revolving rigging that he and his wife Trudy worked also had a mirrored ball, and that it may have been on the rigging well before they purchced it, possibly going back to the 40's or earlier. In 1968, Charly Bauman presented a revolving mirrored ball with a sit-up tiger in his act on Ringling. This may have been done before, but it was the first one I ever saw. If you need photos, e-mail me at circus4youth@earthlink.net, Jim Cole

Reply: 23 December, 2006 - The proper use of the mirror ball or globe requires the application of the correct form of focused light beam. You might check into that aspect of the operation and thereby unearth more intelligence about the development and use of the globes. There is also a need for a suspension and perhaps an unveiling system. These arrangements are generally better suited to an indoor venue with interior-controlled lighting than an outdoor tent and matinee time.
      I suspect that advertisements in the European show trade journals would include photos of acts that introduced and featured the globe as a novelty. Books about club, cabaret and night club history would seem to be a natural starting place. You might find the same sort of ads in the special issues of "Billboard," wherein acts placed cards seeking employment. Some of the same ads might be found in booking agency books, such as those issued by Hamid, Wirth, Barnes-Carruthers, etc. Illustrated programs for sponsored circuses, such as those known as Shrine circuses, might be another possible resource.
      I would doubt a connection, but yard globes are equally reflective, but only with a single reflected image, and date back, reportedly, to the 13th century. They may have been to fragile to utilize, but the same effect could be achieved with many mirrors, as found in the ball.
      History of mirrors might be another place to check for parallels and prior developments. MIRROR MIRROR: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection by Mark Pendergrast (2003) sounds like a good text to check. The effect is somewhat related to a diamond cut with many facets, and perhaps that provided some initial inspiration?
      A planetarium projector somewhat accomplishes the same idea, but with an internal light source. Perhaps someone started with a perforated sphere creating "a thousand pints of light," and when the effect was not adequately magical they went further?
      The Charly Baumann act noted by Jim was truly impressive and memorable, especially when presented in a dome-type structure, such as that in Pittsburgh. The globe was not elevated in the air but incorporated into the pedestal upon which a tiger sat and then rose upright upon command. It was covered and concealed so that the presentation wasn't expected. The ball was mounted on a low, wheeled dolly and pulled by means of a cable by an associate outside of the cage into the correct position towards the center of the arena. The light was applied to the ball simultaneously with the start of the music, creating a very imposing presentation. It was a magical moment. Later, Baumann incorporated two such pedestals and two tigers into the act, all revolving to the music "Shangri-La," (probably the 1946 version, revived in 1957 and 1969) if memory serves me correctly. You'll find photographs of the act in the RBBB programs of the time. You might also check his book "Tiger, Tiger" for details, if he mentioned it. Fred Dahlinger.

Reply: 27 December, 2006 - Orchestrions and fair organs, mechanically-operated musical instruments that were utilized to provide a musical atmosphere for just about every type of public gathering and entertainment venue were often equipped with revolving columns having multi-faceted mirrors applied to them, as well as "wonder lights", revolving globes with jewels mounted on the surface, etc. All of these various illumination devices were used to enhance the visual aspects of the somewhat static facades of the instruments. The only other visual activity were the automated figures, bandleaders, bell-ringers, and such, that moved in time with the musical program. The time frame would be circa 1895-1914. Thereafter they fell from favor, except as older, traditional installations. A place to find many images, and some pertinent text, would be Q. David Bowers' "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments." Start with the orchestrion section, especially the larger German instruments. There are other specific books about German orchestrions and fair organs [see those by Herbert Juettemann], some coverage of French and Belgian instruments. The latter developed into dance organs by the 1920s, but there were also cafe orchestrions by Mortier, Decap and others that may have had such devices applied. There are also catalogs that document suppliers to the music trade that might reveal the names of the applied-lighting manufacturers in Europe. As an adjunct to lighting, I'd look in stage and allied lighting catalogs for the mirror balls, or theater-decorating and outfitting firm offerings. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 26 December, 2006 - Cool idea for the documentary. I have read a description of (the repairs of) a mirror ball from the pre-electric era, and have been looking for pictures of it, but only have one, bad one, where it's only just visible, and that is the Kristallpalaszt in Leipzig in the 1910's, where they had a gaslit, steampowered revolving mirror ball providing stage acts with 'Kristallen'. The ball was a kind of primus cum samovar really, where the gas/ water canister hung under the ball looking a little like a hotairballoon and basket, with the ball itself in an axled frame, like a globe. The gas provided a sharp beam light as well as cooking up the steam in the water part of the canister (around the base of the light, burner underneath) which was stewed up through the axles revolving the ball. The water condensed again and dripped back in the water canister. It was a fragile thing that broke down frequently and provided headaches to the stage management, but it's effect was well-loved by both audience and performance and a bit of a novelty as such for the visiting provinces, so it was kept till at least the twenties when presumably electricity started doing its thing. It had to be warmed beforehand too so that it wouldn't steam up. It must have existed for about ten years, all the time between that the Kristallpalast was built and while it was all gaslit, and maybe it was a one off invention, I'm not sure. It must be Kristallpalast pictures but unfortunately I only have the one postcard where it is just visible. Natasha Gerson, nani@xs4all.nl

Reply: 12 January, 2007 - If you have any informations about his family - parents names, grandparents - maybe I can help you because Gaudsmith and Goldkette are connected. I have a site on Ancestry com and I will invite you - before 24 hours you will get a invitation from Ancestry Com with instructions to go - If Ancestry ask you about some privatly - just write something else, it is only your e mail adress which had to be correct. Looking to hear from you. jetgold@webspeed.dk

Reply: 21 December, 2006 - Good morning. Polack Circus posters are very hard to find. During the 40's the Polack show used "stock posters" from various show printers. During the 60's several times they had special designed window cards, but again they are very hard to find. Regretably, since the Polack show was an indoor operation, many circus fans didn't consider it a "real circus" and did not feel that it worth their time to save posters, programs, etc. However if you will go to e-Bay and enter Shrine Circus you might find items of interest. Who is your step father and what did he do on the show? Robert L. Mitchell

1. 1940’s AND 1950’s (previous stuff too early) 5 – 10 second clips Blk & Wht or Color. Any Circus (but could be Ringling):
A Big Top comes down.
Animals performing
Circus acts performing (Jugglers, trapeze, lion taming, clowns, etc etc),

2. Ringling: color or blk & white
Ringling: Train pulls in or out of station
Or train unloads or loads in station (some moving activity with a train car saying “Ringling”
Ringling: Performers performing (1950’s) (2 or 3 different clips of different acts and/or animals)
A Big Top comes down. (see above, “cb Any Circus)

3. News articles and photos of the 1956 strike for example:
Two Unions Threaten to Picket Circus in Effort to Stop Opening Here April 4
Circus Labor Talks at City Hall Today
Circus Union Set to Sign With Ringling
Respond to this message, replies go to this board, not to the message sender.

Reply: 16 December, 2006 - There are 8 photographs of Ilonka Karoly on www.circusmuseum.nl. Try "Ilonka". Many hits (130) on "bever." Herman Voogd, hvoogd@teylersmuseum.nl

Reply: 29 December, 2006 - Heb je ook gezien een jongeman Johann Prescher uit Steenwijk zegt dat hij van de zigeuners afstamt; circus van Bever. Truus van den Broek-Harmsma. truus@vandenbroek.net

Reply: 20 December, 2006 - I have never come across mention of a middle name for Philip Astley. He was born n 8th January 1742, at Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, the son of Edward Astley, a cabinet maker. If you go to a genealogical website you might be able to find a record of his baptism, in which case his name in the register was his 'true' name. Civil registration of births did not take place in England and Wales until 1847. Incidentally, do you know the evidence for the 'Wikipedia' statement that his first public performance in a ring was on 9th January 1768? It used to be written that his first performance was in the early Spring of 1768 but I would judge 9th January as mid-Winter! John Turner.

Reply: 21 December, 2006 - Sorry, Civil registration of births did not take place in England and Wales until 1837! John.

Reply: 22 December, 2006 - In the french Architectures du cirque by Christian Dupavillon we can read “John Philip Astley est ne le 8 janvier 1742 a Newcastle-under-Lyme, dans le comte de Sttafford (6)... In this reference we read: C. Dickens, “Les Celebrites equestres, Philip Astley, All Year Round, 30 avril 1859” Revue britannique, septembre 1872. Cesar Ortega, fliaortega@netverk.com.ar

Reply: 01 February, 2007 - The Public Record Office in England has a poster, reproduced in Fun Without Vulgarity, plate 66, of The Beautiful Florences of October 1894 featuring one aerialist hanging wrapped in a silk fabric ropes with a mouth piece from which another aerialist is suspended by her mouth! Some consider it was (re)disovered more recently by Gerard Fasoli, a teacher at the school in Chalons http://eduscol.education.fr/D0126/cirque_langage_acte.htm. Charlie Holland, www.palaceofvariety.co.uk

Reply: 14 December, 2006 - Please be advised that the 1910 SF season can be found in the Bandwagon, July 1975; 1911 July 1975; 1912 July 1975; 1913 July 1975; 1914 Nov 1975; 1915 Nov 1975; 1916 May 1976; 1917 May 1976; 1918 May 1976 also Bandwagon April 1944; 1919 March 1978; 1920 July 1978. This will give you a start. Route books were generally issued. Best Robert F Sabia

Reply: 19 December, 2006 - Thanks for the Bandwagon info! - Sarah David

Reply: 03 January, 2007 - Carrie, I can't help you with your request, but I would be interested in the digital copy that you have. I believe the woman must be Agnes Lake. Jan Cerney, jcerney@gwtc.net

Reply: 11 December, 2006 - The circus headache doesn't come from 'decaying matters.' What it is is the combination of ammonia fumes from big cat defecations, however cleanly kept, with carburants/diesel, that give splitting headaches. Natasha Gerson, nani@xs4all.nl

Reply: 11 December, 2006 - Thanks, Natasha. - Judy

Reply: 12 December, 2006 - The book has not yet been published. The steam calliope starts in 1855-1856, is featured as a technological novelty by a few circuses 1857-1859. It morphs into the final unit of the circus parade in 1872, continuing in that role to 1939. The last was with a truck show in the early 1960s. It was used in parade, for concerts on the lot, sometimes on exhibition inside a tent but did not play with the performance. They varied in size, 20 [very non-chromatic], 24, 32 [most popular size, C below middle C to G, chromatic] 36 and 37 whistle, all with mechanical linkage. Solenoid valves are a much later improvement, none with a circus had them. There's an older article that I wrote about the transfer of steamboat calliopes to circus wagons in "Bandwagon," published in the 1970s or 1980s.
      The compressed air calliope was originated in the early 1900s, was basically a steam calliope on an air compressor. A few were with smaller circuses.
      The low pressure air calliope was developed in the first two decades of the 20th century, involving a number of people. Joe Ori was the principal, Norman Baker added the "A" roll player mechanism. The first air calliopes with a circus appear in 1913 with Barnum & Bailey and Ringling Bros. They had 43 keys, chromatic F to B, and a siren whistle. In the 1920s the 53-whistle size was fabricated. The actions were also mechanical, the key directly opening the valve controlling the wind, which came from a centrifugal blower into a distribution reservoir [sometimes with a second reservoir in-between to minimize pressure drops]. They were used in parade and also augmented the circus band. A few were used for lot concerts and some were used on side show fronts. If you search the article index on this website you'll find an early 1980s article I wrote about their development. Dozens were utilized from 1913 through the 1980s. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 04 December, 2006 - The Greater Sheesley Shows was a railroad carnival. You'll find some information about it and the owner, Capt. John Merton Sheesley, in Joe McKennon's book "A Pictorial History of the American Carnival." Bob Goldsack also wrote a history of the show in the inaugural issue, Vol. I, no. 1 (1996) of his magazine "Midway Journal Illustrated." I'm sorry that I can't help with the gentleman; 1912 is just a bit too early for motorcycle riding, which flourished just a few years later with the introduction of silos and dromes. There may have been a small one-ring circus staged as a back end show. The occupation of the lady may have been soubrette, defined as a frivolous young maid engaged in flirtation and intrigue in light opera. The term also appears to have been used for some stage singers of a light-hearted nature. If you search some past queries you'll find Bob's contact information. Perhaps he has some specifics on the 1912 personnel that he didn't include in his article. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 04 December, 2006 - Bob Goldsack's contact information is on the Publications page on this website, listed under 'other.' - J. Griffin

Reply: 02 December, 2006 - Stake-driving, which was individual activity in sequence, is unlike that of line tightening, which was individuals working in unison. Therefore there was no need for a unifying chantey. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 05 December, 2006 - Thanks for the reply Fred, Nedcircus@aol.com

Reply: 07 December, 2006 - Tom Parkinson wrote a paper about circus chanteys for Billboard magazine in the 1950s and I believe that a copy of it can be found in his papers. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 12 December, 2006 - I spoke to retired circus clown Kenny Dodd at the Sarasota Circus Flea Market, and he told me that Mike Bourbon passed away several years ago. James S Cole

Reply: 04 December, 2006 - The posters you will find on www.circusmuseum/eng (search for "Strobridge" 12x, "Barnum", "Ringling" etc.) are vintage posters. You can zoom in real close so maybe you will find something. Herman Voogd, hvoogd@teylersmuseum.nl

Reply: 18 December, 2006 - This is not an easy question although you hear a lot of supposedly simple answers given. Once I was showing several old Strobridge lithos to a local antique dealer. He said, "Of course these are reproductions, are they not?" and I responded, "There is not even one reproduction among them; they are all genuine and original." He then asked, "How do you know that?" and I replied, "For one thing I know the history or provenance of every one of these and for another I have been collecting lithographs for over fifty years and I can tell."
      So what I am saying is that nothing beats years of collecting lithographs; in fact I grew up around old and original lithographs. And secondly you should always know something about the origin of any item which is represented as old or valuable.
      Remember also that not all genuine circus posters are stone lithographs. In fact there has been a lot of recent interest in letterpress posters printed from hand-cut wood or linoleum plates and many circuses have used posters printed by letterpress from zinc plates. Once about thirty-five years ago I had occasion to be around a man who was destined to become a very big name in collecting and I noticed that he habitually referred to letterpress posters as "silk screen." I held my tongue even though these are entirely different processes. There are even real circus posters printed by offset presses. A poster collector must learn as much as he can about many forms of printing as well as the papers that posters were printed on.
      And finally: many and probably most of the circus posters being offered on eBay as genuine are reproductions, so be very careful what you buy and familiarize yourself with the reproductions commonly offered as well as the real things. Ree-gards and good luck, Ole Whitey

Reply: 01 December, 2006 - You want to order a copy of the excellent article that Bob MacDougall wrote about the 1919-1946 RBBB coaches in Bandwagon, Jan-Feb 2002. It covers the topic very comprehensively, explaining the sources of the cars, how they were used, numbers and so on, including the business cars and other special vehicles. There's information on this website about ordering back issues.
      The second thing is to contact the Circus Fans Association about obtaining back issues. The Nov-Dec 1980 and May-June 1981 issues contain Joe Bradbury's articles about the 1943 and 1944 shows. The latter includes a wagon list. Joe also covers things like color schemes.
      In the vertical file at the CWM library, under the RBBB heading, are various train loading orders, wagon inventories and such. I suspect that there might be coverage there for the 1943 and 1944 seasons, copies obtained directly from RBBB business files. If they do not exist, you'll need to start with 1941/1942 or 1945 and work towards your year of interest.
      If these materials are already in your hands, then it's a matter of gathering more photographic images and sorting through them for the details that you desire. It's a bit challenging today because there are few dealers selling prints. You might check the offerings by a dealer named "circusman1940" on ebay, but there are surely others.
      The RBBB of 1943-1944 was a show that had evolved over many years. There was the internal development of the circus own equipment, drawing from both the Ringling and the B&B shows. There were infusions of cars and wagons from the 1938 Barnes-Floto show. The advertising car also came over from the 1931 Sparks show and became the #97 Pittsburgh sleeper. Studying the Bradbury coverage on all of these outfits would help clarify some matters for you.
      The RBBB train included primarily the Warren-built stock and flat cars from the late 1920s, but, as you point out, there were also some Mt. Vernons from Barnes in the consist and even a single Keith flat from the Sells-Floto show. There were also several [four, I believe] flats that were fabricated by cutting down several Barnes Mt. Vernon stock cars and reinforcing them. Barnes also had a single Warren stock. The Warren flats are relatively the same, but the Mt. Vernons do vary and RBBB crews added angle to the top of the side sills. The Keiths have a greater distance from the top of the side sill to the deck than Mt. Vernons, but otherwise they are similar. You can find good photos of these various car styles in the books "Trains of the Circus 1872-1956" and "Show Trains of the 20th Century." They can be bought from the publisher, Iconografix, a variety of book agents or second hand book dealers.
      There may be some color film and slide coverage for RBBB in the 1940s. Bob Sabia sold some of that material in the recent past and perhaps others have materials that they're willing to share.
      I would also recommend contact with the Circus Model Builders. They have files of plans that can be utilized for wagons and railroad cars.
      My recommendation is to back up a few years from your focus year(s), start to study the show, the layout and the operations, and then move forward. The Bradbury coverage starts in 1933 and is continuous to 1956. In time and with study you'll find answers to the many details involved in modeling such a huge circus. No one will be able to answer the thousands of detail questions that arise during such a project and the more that you understand the show itself, the management and layout developments, etc., the more ready you'll be to answer them from your own work. It will provide much more satisfaction as you complete the work, as the journey is the real fun. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 02 December, 2006 - Dear Fred, I know Robert Sabia and he has helped me already in finding some information. I cannot thank you enough for pointing me in the right direction for sources, and the comprehensive amount of information you provided. I really appreciate it very much. I think you must have been related somehow to my father, perhaps you were a "cousin" to Cussins. Thanks again. V/r, Bill, MAJ William T. Cussins

Reply: 30 November, 2006 - Hello Vanessa, Professor Peart toured New Zealand with Fitzgerald Brothers circus from December 1895 through to March 1896. He did two acts The Monte Christo and the High Dive. The Monte Christo part of his performance was described as more "surprising" than his diving feat. It consisted of him being drawn up to a considerable height immediately over the tank of water in a sack tied across and above his head, whilst dressed in some sort of naval uniform. He drops feet first into the tank, containing about three feet of water, from which he emerges divested of the sack and in his ordinary diving clothes. The audience were left amazed at how he freed himself from the sack apparently tied very tightly, and his clothing during the short time he was underwater.
      The height of the high dive is variously described as 60 to 115 feet. He dived head first into the tank which now contained less water after the Monte Christo act. On some nights he would attempt diving from he high perch twice within two minutes.
      In Wellington, the newspaper described the tank as being a pit dug in the earth 10 foot long and five feet wide, lined with a tarpaulin, and containing about 4ft. of water.(In newspaper advertisements they say it contained 6 feet of water and gave the jump height as 115 feet)
      In Auckland, as an promotional stunt he dived from the the fore-top gallant mast yard of the SS Alameda as she was at the wharf, into Auckland Harbour. Hope this little bit helps. JOHN SULLIVAN - New Zealand

Reply: 02 January, 2007 - Yes. I have a booklet published by Gus in 1907. It has his picture on the front cover (along with other pictures inside) and is titled "Tricks with Cards, Coins, etc. It may be of some help in identifying who he performed with. If you're interested send me your email address and I'll copy the page containing his past and current schedules. dprice@ix.netcom.com, Duane Price

Reply: 14 Nov 2007 - Hey Dana! I just got your message from a year ago. Hope all is well and I’ll be in San Diego after thanksgiving. Give a shout, James.

Reply: 29 November, 2006 - The plate would have been affixed to a railroad car or wagon. They identified the owner of major pieces of capital equipment. The HW plates might have originated with the 1937-1938 or later leases of equipment owned by the Peru circus operation. Other pieces had gone out on shows using HW stuff in the 1920s. Be aware that reproductions of the plates have been seen. Others exist that identify bank ownership of various vehicles. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 28 November, 2006 - If there's an answer to your question regarding lodging, it's likely to be found in Thayer's book "Traveling Showmen," or in the memoirs left for posterity by people like John Glenroy, Tony Parker, George Conklin, A. Pember and others who were with overland shows. There's a good variety of these posted on this website. Your question is also fairly broad, meaning that there are different answers to various circumstances.
      Be aware that despite there being "hard" dates for various changes in the business, such as camp outfits [article by Thayer] and rail travel, many practices were phased in over a period of time and were not made immediately by everyone in the business. There were also various innovations that were attempted but never panned out. For example, you can read about "Hotel Frost," consisting of two, connected, fold-out dormitory and kitchen wagons in Thomas Frost's chapter on the American circus [reportedly 1870, on Van Amburgh, "Circus Life and Circus Celebrities," page 239]. I don't believe that anyone has yet found independent confirmation of this innovation.
      Until the advent of the railroad circus [in 1872, formally, with show-owned cars], show folks were lodged in local hotels with workingmen sometimes on the grounds, maybe even in stable lofts. Single men were bunked dormitory style, in as few rooms as were agreeable to the innkeeper. Children were usually at home with a parent and did not travel; if there was a child apprentice, they lodged with the master or adults of the same sex. Young boys who were runaways, candy butchers and the like would have been quartered with adults of the same sex. Married couples likely had their own rooms and were a minority of the company. Single women were often not hired unless they had a male relative on the show. Thayer cited the contract of one early female performer and that might be of value to you as it includes various conditions. Presumably a family act [husband, wife, children] would have been delegated a room, but I'd look for a memoir or a contract covering such circumstances to confirm the arrangement. Propriety and decorum were maintained in line with local standards of the time.
      Early rail shows [1870s] generally started with just two sleepers. One was a high density bunk car holding nearly 100 workingmen, the other was a berth or partial compartment car housing about 40 including the owner, top staff and performers. Privilege people [providing activities ranging from side show to grift, whether controlled by the show or sold to others] had their own separate car and animal men [elephants, horses] had bunks or slings in the animal cars. The advance men bunked in the advance car. In time, the accommodations grew to be more defined, especially in regards to staff, star performers and the ballet corps.
      The hallowed tradition of the "family circus" brings forth another observation. One can find references and illustrations of "living wagons" in American documentation, but they are generally a parallel phenomenon between the advent of the railroad circus and the motorized circus in the 1920s. Laymen generally visualize the stylish and famous caravans employed by British and continental showmen, or bonafide "gypsy vans," but they did not exist to any great extent as such in the US. One sees images of large boxes on wheels, somewhat of a derivative of the Hotel Frost, but stand alone and not connected. [See Fox and Kelley, "Great Circus Street Parade," page 23, left edge of Bentley photo]. Out of them evolved the early sleeping trailers, as found on Coop & Lent, and the dormitory trailers, buses and house trailers that came to be identified with the motorized circus. One suspects that the early sleeping wagons provided the same divided sleeping spaces as did hotels. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 29 November, 2006 - Be sure to check David Lano's memoir, "A Wandering Showman, I," as well as Lucia Zora's "Sawdust and Solitude" and Josephine DeMott Robinson's "The Circus Lady." Tiny Kline's memoir is in the final stages of production and will also be worthwhile to check after it is released. These may be the closest, time-wise, to your era of interest. Fred Dahlinger

Reply: 22 November, 2006 - Thayer contributed this material to the CHS website (look under History). It is a compilation of articles selected by him from his Bandwagon contributions. I don't believe it was ever published. Contact information for Thayer is on the publications page on this website. J. Griffin