New York exhibit captures historical life of circus
BRUCE WHITE/SOMERS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A late-19th-century painted wood and metal circus wagon wheel
from: bostonglobe.com
By Sebastian Smee, Globe Staff
November 10, 2012
NEW YORK — Jumbo the elephant died, holding his keeper’s hand in his trunk, on Sept. 15, 1885. The giant pachyderm, not yet 30 years old but more famous than any elephant before or since, had been hit by a freight train after an evening performance in St. Thomas, Ontario.
The train was derailed. Jumbo was dead within minutes.
The circus impresario P.T. Barnum had purchased Jumbo from the Royal Zoological Society in London three years earlier, for $10,000. The six-ton elephant arrived in New York in April 1882. Watched by huge crowds, he was carted up Broadway, pulled by a team of horses and two smaller elephants.
For Barnum, the elephant proved a great investment. Propelled by an unprecedented advertising blitz, “Jumbomania” swept through New York and thence the whole country, helping Barnum and his partners reap a record profit of $600,000 in Jumbo’s first season alone. The elephant obsession was stoked by a flood of merchandise, everything from toys and trading cards to glassware, which helped transform Barnum’s circus business into an entertainment empire.
Felix Adler's Hat (circa 1940's-50's)
And now Jumbo was gone. What was Barnum to do?
read more--
http://bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2012/11/10/new-york-exhibit-captures-historical-life-circus-city-circus-thrived-with-new-leisure-and-advertising/oVQpZkyXdngNO1TvHYjtKK/story.html
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