Update--Hippo/Polar Bear Piece of Shi ....Sorry, Semi Cage

Wade - - -

As earlier posting showed a hippo-polar bear semi without identifying the circus. Let it now be written that it was definitely King -Cristiani as these photos show.( Thank you for the validation, Moses. LOL)

Both were identified to me as 1952. If so, they must have been taken late in the season because there was no polar bear when Joe Bradbury reported on the '52 show at its start. And Joe was nothing if not exact. He said there were two deer in the semi with the hippo.

Note that there is yet a third animal compartment at the rear. Reports said it was a "deer" but it might have been an antelope as both circus owners and observers were often careless or unskilled in animal identificatoin. All we can tell from this is that it is a hoofed animal of some sort.

That rear door does not look wide enough to allow passage of a hippo. There must have been a wider door in the front. The hippo George was let out into a pen with tank when back in the animal building at Macon, GA winter quarters. I saw him there.

For some reason your earlier photo does not show the title along the roof line. Perhaps it was because of the way the light played on the camera.

Richard

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Unknown