Sells-Floto Circus circa 1919. The photo is from the Melvin collection
From CircusNoSpin Sarasota, Fla. 1950
Sells-Floto Elephant Tableau
By Joseph T. Bradbury. Bandwagon, Vol. 1, No. 5 (Nov), 1957, p. 9.
(With corrections by Fred Dahlinger in 2009)
Elephant Bandwagon, Sells-Floto Circus and Buffalo Bill Wild West 1915
Sells-Floto Elephant Bandwagon shown as it appeared in 1915 on
the Sells-Floto Champion Shows of the World and Buffalo Bill Wild West. With
this article I began a trilogy on Elephant tableau wagons. This one is much more
familiar that the other two, but all three are quite similar and used to give us
wagon historians some trying moments a few years ago when we were attempting to
figure out just what wagon belonged to what show and when. The wagon shown in
the illustration is commonly called by historians the Sells-Floto Elephant
tableau although it did see service on another show as we shall find out.
(Dahlinger) The Sells-Floto bandwagon was commissioned in
late 1905 and first used in 1906. The order is referenced in "Billboard,"
December 23, 1905, page 16. The earliest dated image of the vehicle is in
"Billboard," September 8, 1906. The wagon was constructed by the Bode Wagon
Company of Cincinnati, Ohio and not at the show's Denver, CO winter quarters.
This data was contained in "Bandwagon" articles in July-August 1974 and
November-December 1982. Bradbury confirmed the wagon's presence on the 1937
Hagenbeck-Wallace circus in articles about the season's tour in "White Tops,"
Nov-Dec 1968 and Jan-Feb 1969.
The wagon was built for the Great Floto Shows, owned by Fred
Bonfils and Harry Tammen, with Otto Floto also in on the deal. Bonfils and Tamen
were the owners of the Denver Post newspaper and Otto Floto the sports editor.
The show became known as the Sells-Floto Circus for the 1906 and following
seasons. There is a chance that the actual carvings on the wagon were furnished
by the Bode Wagon Works. My first photo of the wagon shows it as the No. 1
bandwagon on Sells-Floto taken in Mexico City on Dec. 2, 1906. It was pulled by
a fourteen horse hitch.
The wagon served as the No. 1 bandwagon through the years on
Sells-Floto. In 1914 and 1915 the show was called Sells-Floto Circus and Buffalo
Bill Wild West, and Buffalo Bill himself was with the show.
The wagon was on the show on through the 1924 season and then no
doubt was there also in 1925. All of the three American Circus Corporation
units, Sells-Floto, Hagenbeck-Wallace, and John Robinson went out in 1925
intending not to parade, but in late May of that year the parade was revived.
The Billboard claims that the shows went out prepared to parade if it was felt
it was necessary for business reasons. With that we can assume the wagon was
also there in 1925.
In 1926 the parade on Sells-Floto was abandoned, but whether this
wagon was parked at Peru quarters or was still taken on the road I am unable to
state. It does not appear in any photos I have seen of Sells-Floto from 1926
through 1932 the last year Sells-Floto was on the road, but during that time
other tableaus were carried on the road some seasons, for example in 1929 both
the Buffalo tableau and the old India or Jardiner tab were on the show.
In 1933 the Elephant tableau appeared on the Hagenbeck-Wallace
Circus now enlarged to 40 cars since Sells-Floto was not sent on the road. In
1933 manager Jess Adkins tried a few old time street parades to stimulate
business and the Elephant tableau was used in those parades. The 1933 spot
parades were so successful that in 1934 Hagenbeck-Wallace featured a daily
street parade, one of the largest and best in history. The show was enlarged to
50 cars a move made necessary primarily to carry the added parade equipment. The
Elephant tableau was used in the 1934 parade, although not as one of the
principal bandwagons.
In 1935 the show was cut down considerably and only a few parades
were given and those in opposition stands only. The 1935 show was known as
Hagenbeck-Wallace and Forepaugh-Sells Combined Circus, the latter title being
tacked on to preserve the title from falling into public domain and also for tax
purposes, so I've been told. There is a good chance the Elephant wagon was on
the show in 1935 but I've yet to find it in any photos I've seen of that show.
In 1936 the Hagenbeck-Wallace show did not go on the road but
remained in Peru quarters.
For 1937 season Ed Arlington and Frank Hatch leased the title and
property and made a small fortune during the early weeks of the season before
selling their interest to Howard Bary who continued to take the show on the road
and do a good business all during that season. The Elephant tableau is supposed
to have been taken on the road in 1937. The show did make a few parades in the
early part of the season but canceled them later.
In 1938 Hagenbeck-Wallace again went out under Bary's management,
but the Elephant wagon was left in Peru quarters. It remained there until 1944
when the Ringling interests sold the quarters. The wagon along with a few others
who got reprieved from the large wagon burnings that took place there and was
shipped to winter quarters in Sarasota.
The wagon remained in Sarasota rotting away in the sun and rain
until late 1949. When I visited there in February 1949 the wagon was sitting out
in the wagon graveyard down to the hubs in sand. A couple of guys were living in
it, had knocked out one side and were hanging their wash out on a line. It was
fast going to complete ruin, but fortunately John Sullivan of the Museum of the
American saw that the wagon was rescued and put in the museum to join several
other old wagons that had been placed there a year earlier. It is preserved at
the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL.
(Dahlinger) Joe's description of one side being knocked out
of the vehicle is inaccurate. Two screened windows were cut into the right side
upper corners and an "appendage" applied at the back. This work was undone and
reconstruction took place. A recent inspection reveals that the vehicle is among
the most intact in existence today. Fred Dahlinger
Courtesy of John Goodall
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