"I remember in the circus learning that the clown was the prince, the high prince. I always thought that the high prince was the lion or the magician, but the clown is the most important."
___ Roberto Benigni
Dog and ponies to Greatest Show On Earth
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
When I was a youngster, it was still pretty popular to go to the circus. In fact Barnum & Baily Ringling Bros. went to great efforts to convince us that we were on our way to the "Greatest Show on Earth" right there at La Plata County Fairgrounds. Elephants, Clowns, Cotton Candy, Lions, Tigers, and dancing Bears. Not to mention ... The Globe of Death, which was a circus and carnival stunt where stunt riders ride motorcycles inside a mesh sphere ball. But I might have missed the earlier heydays of the Wild West Shows and Sells Floto Circus several decades earlier.
"The birth of the Wild West as a successful genre was largely a product of personality, dramatic acumen, and good timing. The golden age of outdoor shows began in the 1880s, and with his theatre experience Buffalo Bill already was skilled in the use of press agentry and poster advertising. His fame and credibility as a westerner lent star appeal and an aura of authenticity. Most important, Cody gave the show a dramatic narrative structure," says the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
In the 1890s, Wild Wests began to add sideshows and other circus elements. If the West seemed too familiar, “Far East” acts such as Arabian acrobats or dancing elephants and thrill acts such as bicyclists and high divers might inject sufficient novelty to draw new spectators.
"For several reasons, the decade just before America’s entry into World War I saw audiences decline. Motion pictures captivated public attention—the West could seem more real on the screen than in the arena. Shooting declined as a spectator sport while the popularity of baseball and football soared. Riding and roping could be better showcased in rodeos, which were considerably less expensive to produce than Wild West shows. The old western stars were fading as well—even Buffalo Bill seemed a relic—and Indian people appeared to be quietly confined to reservations. The “old West” was no longer so exotic nor, at the same time, so relevant to a world of heavy industry and mechanized warfare," says Buffalo Bill Center.
The Sells-Floto Circus was formed in the early 1900s from a
combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers
Circus. It toured the United States as an independent circus until 1921,
when it was incorporated into the American Circus Corporation. In
September 1929 this corporation's circuses were acquired by John
Ringling, and by 1933 Sells-Floto ceased to exist.
"Cody’s show went bankrupt in July 1913. In a sign of the times, he immediately obtained backing to make a five-reel film, The Indian Wars. The Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Real Wild West had the bad luck to be in Great Britain in August 1914, losing the show’s horses to the war effort. The 101 continued intermittently to tour the States through the 1920s. Western film stars such as Tom Mix started short-lived Wild Wests, and in 1938 Colonel Tim McCoy produced probably the last great traditional Wild West show. It folded after less than a month on the road."
This colorful lithograph advertises the upcoming street parade of the
Sells-Floto Circus, promoting ticket sales to the local residents for
the twice-a-day shows. The artwork captures the grandeur of the American
circus parade in the 1920s. The parade is led by a rider wearing an
18th-century costume and carrying a circus banner. Behind the rider is a
group of mounted horsemen, elephants in costumes worn in big production
number during the show ("spec costuming"), a band, and a number of
circus wagons. Several of the elephants and wagons promote the
Sells-Floto name. The circus parade was presented daily on the streets
of the local hosting community before the first performance of the day
and consisted of as much entertainment and grandeur as a circus could
muster.
This photograph of 1924 shows a group of female circus performers climbing onto tableau wagon number 83 of the Sells-Floto Circus, possibly in preparation for a parade. A large draft horse is hitched to the wagon. A baggage wagon with the Sells-Floto name can be seen in the background. The Sells-Floto Circus was formed in the early 1900s from a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus. It toured the United States as an independent circus until 1921, when it was incorporated into the American Circus Corporation. In September 1929, this corporation's circuses were acquired by John Ringling, and by 1933 Sells-Floto ceased to exist. It enjoyed a brief revival in 1937-38 as part of the Al G. Barnes and Sells-Floto Combined Circus. The photograph is by Harry A. Atwell (1879--1957), an official photographer of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Elephants were not only an important part of the performance of a circus but were also very useful for providing heavy labor on the back lot. This image of 1922 shows an elephant of the Sells-Floto Circus pulling the canvas-covered cage wagon number 24 into position. Octagon cage wagon number 34 can be seen at right. The Sells-Floto Circus was formed in the early 1900s from a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus. It toured the United States as an independent circus until 1921, when it was incorporated into the American Circus Corporation. In September 1929 this corporation's circuses were acquired by John Ringling, and by 1933 Sells-Floto ceased to exist. It enjoyed a brief revival in 1937-38 as part of the Al G. Barnes and Sells-Floto Combined Circus. The photograph is by Harry A. Atwell (1879--1957), an official photographer of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
On April 17, 1908, the Sells-Floto circus appeared in Riverside CA.
When the animals were ushered off the train, a vapor flashback
explosion occurred at the adjacent oil storage tank. This frightened the
animals, and led to an elephant stampede into downtown Riverside,
leaving one person dead and six others injured.
The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus that toured with sideshow acts in the United States and Canada during the early 1900s.
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Harry Heye Tammen owned the first outfit as well as the Denver Post, and the "Floto" name came from the Post's one-time sportswriter, Otto Floto. Floto's name also comes up as one of the prime suspects involved in possibly starting the 1896 Cripple Creek fire. In late April 1896, Cripple Creek, Colorado, endured two catastrophic fires over a period of 96 hours. The first, on April 25, 1896, began around 1 p.m. when a gasoline stove overturned on the second floor of the Central Dance Hall on Myers Avenue. A brisk wind spread the fire to adjoining buildings. The fire left nearly 6,000 homeless in Cripple Creek.
The Sells Floto circus absorbed Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows, and the Sells Brothers Circus, it was also a "combined" show. It later became the concessions department of Ringling Brothers Circus, along with Haggenback Wallace, who made the floats and other equipment.
Zora & Trilby #4
The circus had four elephant births, three born to "Alice" and
one to "Mama Mary." The sire of all four was "Snyder." None survived
longer than five months.
By 1929, the Sells Floto Circus was part of the American Circus Corporation which consisted of Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus. John Nicholas Ringling then bought American Circus Corporation for $1.7-million creating a monopoly of traveling circus in America.
Feld Entertainment later used the Sells-Floto name for their supply division, located in Laurel, MD, that provided logistical support for all of the Feld shows for supplies and merchandise, including not only the three units of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, but the numerous On Ice shows (Disney on Ice, Ice Follies, etc.). This unit has since been renamed Feld Consumer Products.
From Los Angeles Herald, Volume 35, Number 198, 17 April 1908CRAZED ELEPHANTS SPREAD PANIC IN RIVERSIDE
ONE DEAD; 6 INJURED
DEACONESS GORED AND TRAMPLED TO DEATH ACTOR WILTON LACKAYE AMONG THOSE HURT „. Leviathan Becomes Unmanageable During Fire— Leader Kills Woman in Yard of Famous Hotel Glenwood
Special to The Herald. RIVERSIDE, April 16.—Miss Ella Gibbs, a deaconess, is dead here tonight from injuries inflicted by a maddened elephant, one of a herd from the Sells-Floto circus, which, driven frantic by the explosion of oil tanks nearby, stampeded through the city, streets, carrying death and destruction in their path. Miss Gibbs was gored and trampled and left mutilated and unconscious on the ground. She died at 9:45 tonight. Other persons Injured by the crazed leviathan are: Wilton Lackaye, actor, cut by flying glass; Frank A. Bird, broken leg; James Cuthbertson, badly bruised;-D. P. Chapman, bruised, and two animal trainers whose names were not learned. One of these was gored on the left leg and the other was painfully bruised. L. J. Worsey, a driver for the Standard Oil company, was fatally burned in the conflagration and Is not expected to survive the night. Elephants Break Loose The circus grounds are situated Just across the street from the plant of the Standard Oil company, where a fire broke out shortly before the time set for the afternoon performance. One after another, with great cannon-like booms, the oil tanks blew up. The reports threw the whole menagerie Into a panic, but all the animals were kept under control except five elephants, which broke from their keepers and dashed from the big tent Into the open. Bellowing thunderously and swinging their trunks, the huge beasts started on a run toward the Box Springs grade. They were headed back into town by a crowd of keepers and, while the population scuttled to cover, four of the animals were captured and led bellowing back to the tent. The fifth elephant, one of the largest, dashed past its keepers and made for the business section. Rounding the corner at Fourth and Mulberry Streets, it came upon Miss Gibbs. In vain the unfortunate woman tried to reach the shelter of a house. Rushing upon her, the animal struck her down, trampled her and gored her murderously with his tusks. Career of Crazed Brute His rage unsatiated, the elephant left the deaconess and smashed his great body through the door of a barn belonging to Rev. Robert Fisher. Gaining the Inside, he attacked a horse, nearly killing it. From the barn the fire-crazed demon took himself to the public library grounds, smashing buildings, fences and trees and tearing to pieces every object in his path. Through the Glenwood barber shop he splintered his way, and it was there that Wilton Lackayd was injured. Into Main street and through plate glass windows Into the store of the Riverside Music company the beast went. A police officer took several shots at htm with his pistol, but to these the elephant paid as little attention as he would to the bites of a fly. One of the animal trainers, whose name Is not known, was the means of saving at least two lives before the big brute was gotten under control. Heroic Acts of Trainer At Orange and Seventh streets the elephant threw Frank A. Bird, and was about to crush him with his full weight, when the keeper came up close behind and fired three shots from a revolver into the elephant's neck. This caused the elephant to swerve around, his attention being detracted from his intended victim. In the meantime, however. Bird had sustained a broken leg and other Injuries. In the courtyard of the Glenwood hotel D. P. Chapman was thrown by the elephant and might have sustained fatal injuries had not the same keeper arrlved on the scene in the nick of time. He fired the remaining four shots from his revolver into the elephant, and the brute at once turned his attention from the man on the ground to his assailant. The left trouser leg of the keeper was ripped, wide open by the infuriated beast, and the limb was painfully lacerated. The flesh from the keeper's right hand also was skinned away. At the Glenwood hotel, Eva Howe, a guest, was sitting in a swing when the infuriated beast made full at her. She was about to flee, when the elephant's keeper, who was close behind the animal, advised her to sit still. As a result the elephant rushed by without molesting her.
Caught in Club Stables
The
runaway finally dashed into the Club stables on Market street, and when
the pursuing keepers shut the big doors, he failed to break his way
out. When two of the circus men went Inside with their hooks and
attempted to calm the animal, however, he turned upon and nearly killed
them. The elephant was subdued only when a herd of his fellows were
driven into his company, at which time the keepers succeeded in chaining
him securely between two of the members of the herd. Miss Ella Gibbs
was a deaconess in the First Congregational church of this city. Before
coming here about three years ago, she had been a prominent worker in
the slums In Chicago. Since her arrival in Riverside, she has been doing
mission work among the Chinese and Japanese population, and has also
made a life work of assisting consumptives who. arrived here penniless.
L. J. Worsley, the oil wagon driver, is still unconscious and is not
expected to live. The Are started with the'explosion* of the tank on the
Worsley wagon, but what caused this explosion is not known.
Sells Floto Circus Band in 1915.
.jpg)
Advertising publication for the circus performance in Denver. At head of caption title: "Denver. Tents at 'Union Park' on Broadway Loop. 2 days, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 16 and 17."
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