These old wagons were sure beautiful, if not to practical. Why did you not see cages like this in the European circus's of old?
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Vintage cage wagon
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
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5 comments:
Hi Wade: I believe you didn't see wagons such as this in Europe, because shows didn't parade in Europe as free advertising, like here in the U.S. Therefore cages were built for practicality rather than for showmanship. If you look at posters for Krone and other Continental shows back at the turn of the 19th-20th century and into the 1920's-30's shows back then never showed full parades, but usually only single wagons that were used for bally's in the streets- not full parades. It wasn't until Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill's Show hit Britain and the Continent that the Brits and Europeans ever witnessed the grand American-style parade and then they were only used a few times, as these shows played very long stands in each city. Hope this helps!
Neil cockerline
Minneapolis
Neil,
That makes absolute sense. I never looked at it that way. There is such an incredible difference between Europe and America in regards to the same industry. Yet so many similarities, all of it based on environment I think, instead of preference as we have been lead to believe. Much like animal acts. Fascinating.
Wade
This is Barnum & Bailey Tableau Cage Wagon # 85 which is in the Circus World collection in Baraboo, WI. It was built around 1910. The right side is a solid panel and the lewft side has removable panels.
The wagon last appearance in a circus was in 1938 on Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus.
It ended up at Universal Studios as a movie prop. The studio presented it to Circus World in 1963.
John,
Thank you. These wagons are sure stunning. Anybody who has not seen the or the wagon building at Baraboo, need to make a point of going there.
I sure wish they had something else to use for the parade besides the originals. It has always seemed to me akin to loading a Van Gogh, a Chagall or a Rubens into the trunk of a car, and taking them around to school's and/or the shopping mall. Better to use a reproduction, and leave the originals in safe keeping.
Wade
In the UK the shows definitely had beautiful parade wagons and paraded in the towns exactly as they did in the USA. However, the parades stopped in the mid-30s and never continued after the war except for the elephants and lead stock, which paraded from the station. The parade wagons which came from Sanger's and Fossett's were transported in the '70s to the Circus World museum, where they were restored. I think they have about 15 of them from the UK. Fossett's still have about five left in their winter quarters.
Jim Clubb
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