Circus is ‘Short on Menagerie,’ says 1891 review
from: mysanantonio.com
By Julie Domel
August 1, 2013
The entertainment options in San Antonio in 1891 were limited, as was exposure to the exotic, so the arrival of a circus in town was exciting.
San Pedro Park had a small zoo in the late 1800s, but the San Antonio Zoo didn’t open until 1914, and the offerings were limited.
Costing “one dollar at the entrance and fifty cents more for something more comfortable than hard and narrow plank seats,” Forepaugh’s show made a stop in San Antonio on October 19, 1891, on its journey through the U.S.
The reviewer recounting his experience in the Express on Oct. 20, 1891, seemed disappointed, but resigned: “the paraphenalia of the show is as good a condition as can be expected at this late season.” Also: “the menagerie is scarcely as extensive as befits a first class show, but the specimens shown were good ones.”
Siiiigh…
Forepaugh’s circus gets its name from its founder, Adam Forepaugh, a competitor of Barnum. He died in 1890, and the circus was purchased by James A. Bailey (of Barnum & Bailey fame) upon his death. Perhaps that is why the reviewer thought the show was “not considered up to the Forepaugh show that struck this city over ten years ago.”
According to the Circus Fans Association of America website, Forepaugh was the first to incorporate the wild west show into the circus. The San Antonio visit included “wild and woolly cowboy scenes,” plus, contortionists, “truly astonishing” trapeze artists, “good Japanese jugglers,” equestrians and more.
The menagerie was “well supplied with elephants” and had a hippopotamus, zebra, polar bear and “a number of fine and well trained lions.”
Despite his disappointment, the reviewer still thought “[a]ltogether the show was one of the very best ones that has visited Texas in years.”
from: mysanantonio.com
By Julie Domel
August 1, 2013
The entertainment options in San Antonio in 1891 were limited, as was exposure to the exotic, so the arrival of a circus in town was exciting.
San Pedro Park had a small zoo in the late 1800s, but the San Antonio Zoo didn’t open until 1914, and the offerings were limited.
Costing “one dollar at the entrance and fifty cents more for something more comfortable than hard and narrow plank seats,” Forepaugh’s show made a stop in San Antonio on October 19, 1891, on its journey through the U.S.
The reviewer recounting his experience in the Express on Oct. 20, 1891, seemed disappointed, but resigned: “the paraphenalia of the show is as good a condition as can be expected at this late season.” Also: “the menagerie is scarcely as extensive as befits a first class show, but the specimens shown were good ones.”
Siiiigh…
Forepaugh’s circus gets its name from its founder, Adam Forepaugh, a competitor of Barnum. He died in 1890, and the circus was purchased by James A. Bailey (of Barnum & Bailey fame) upon his death. Perhaps that is why the reviewer thought the show was “not considered up to the Forepaugh show that struck this city over ten years ago.”
According to the Circus Fans Association of America website, Forepaugh was the first to incorporate the wild west show into the circus. The San Antonio visit included “wild and woolly cowboy scenes,” plus, contortionists, “truly astonishing” trapeze artists, “good Japanese jugglers,” equestrians and more.
The menagerie was “well supplied with elephants” and had a hippopotamus, zebra, polar bear and “a number of fine and well trained lions.”
Despite his disappointment, the reviewer still thought “[a]ltogether the show was one of the very best ones that has visited Texas in years.”
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