The Bandwagon

Follow the Bandwagon! A phrase that once conjured up excitement, wonder, and anticipation when the circus came to town. And what magnificent wagons they were! These marvels of circus art were covered with ornate carvings, painted and gilded in ways to attract the public's attention. Called a Tableau, each wagon was different and the bandwagon was often the best and the first in any circus parade.

This bandwagon is from the Sells-Floto Circus.  It has a handwritten caption in ink - Leaving lot for parade Long beach Cal. It shows a band of about 12 musicians, mostly brass and drums, perched high atop a wagon decorated with an elephant and its mahout.

This second bandwagon is drawn by a splendid team of 8 matching dappled grey horses, complete with plumes and fancy tack. The band is a bit obscured but you can see the bass drum and a tuba behind another floridly carved wagon tableau. This photo is marked Cole Bros. Circus 1936. Since every circus traveled by rail, the horses had practical use pulling the show people and equipment from the train depot to the tent grounds.

This photo shows two wagons, an elaborate bandwagon at the back, emblazoned with a running lion and pulled by white horses; and in the front a much much smaller wagon pulled by 8 miniature ponies, with plumes too. It is marked Parade Wagons "Great Wallace Circus" 1904.  Perhaps that wagon had a midget clown band.

The Great Wallace circus ran from 1884 until 1907 when it bought a rival company run by Carl Hagenbeck and became  the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. Here is the route that this circus played in 1904, as provided by that wonderful internet compendium of all things circus - The Circus Historical Society .  Imagine how this would look on Google Maps if Streetview only had a time machine feature.

            Great Wallace Shows, 1904

April 30 - Peru, Indiana May 1 - Sunday 2 - Muncie, Indiana 3 - Richmond, Indiana 4 - Marion, Indiana 5 - Anderson, Indiana 6 - Logansport, Indiana 7 - Danville, Illinois 8 - Sunday 9 - Springfield, Illinois 10 - Hannibal, Missouri 11 - Moberly, Missouri 12 - Richmond, Missouri 13 - St. Joseph, Missouri 14 - Leavenworth, Kansas 15 - Sunday 16 - Topeka, Kansas 17 - Emporia, Kansas 18 - Wichita, Kansas 19 - Winfield, Kansas 20 - Independence, Kansas 21 - Chanute, Kansas 22 - Sunday 23 - Pittsburg, Kansas 24 - Aurora, Missouri 25 - Springfield, Missouri 26 - Joplin, Missouri 27 - Webb City, Missouri 28 - Carthage, Missouri 29 - Sunday 30 - Atchinson, Kansas June 1 - Lincoln, Nebraska 2 - Omaha, Nebraska 3 - Council Bluffs, Iowa 4 - Jefferson, Iowa 5 - Sunday 6 - Des Moines, Iowa 7 - Oskaloosa, Iowa 8 - Marshalltown, Iowa 9 - Cedar Rapids, Iowa 10 - Waterloo, Iowa 11 - Dubuque, Iowa 12 - Sunday 13 - LaCrosse, Wisconsin 14 - Winona, Minnesota 15 - Rochester, Minnesota 16 - Red Wing, Minnesota 17 - Menomonie, Wisconsin 18 - Marshfield, Wisconsin 19 - Sunday 20 - Racine, Wisconsin 21 - Waukegan, Illinois 22 - Elgin, Illinois 23 - Spring Valley, Illinois 24 - Geneseo, Illinois 25 - Morris, Illinois 26 - Sunday 27 - Valparaiso, Indiana 28 - Cassopolis, Michigan 29 - Charlotte, Michigan 30 - Hudson, Michigan July 1 - Paulding, Ohio 2 - Van Wert, Ohio 3 - Sunday 4 - Bowling Green, Ohio 5 - Toledo, Ohio 6 - Defiance, Ohio 7 - Butler, Indiana 8 - Angola, Indiana 9 - Albion, Michigan 10 - Sunday 11 - Lapeer, Michigan 12 - Caro, Michigan 13 - Saginaw, Michigan 14 - Flint, Michigan 15 - Clare, Michigan 16 - Cadillac, Michigan 17 - Sunday 18 - Traverse City, Michigan 19 - Kalkaska, Michigan 20 - Big Rapids, Michigan 21 - Grand Rapids, Michigan 22 - Allegan, Michigan 23 - La Grange, Indiana 24 - Sunday 25 - New Castle, Indiana 26 - Connersville, Indiana 27 - Shelbyville, Indiana 28 - Lebanon, Indiana 29 - Fowler, Indiana 30 - Paxton, Illinois 31 - Sunday

August 1 - Linton, Indiana 2 - Newton, Illinois 3 - Mattoon, Illinois 4 - Lincoln, Illinois 5 - Jacksonville, Illinois 6 - Carthage, Illinois 7 - Sunday 8 - Keokuk, Iowa 9 - Kahoka, Missouri 10 - Memphis, Missouri 11 - Centerville, Iowa 12 - Croydon, Iowa 13 - Leon, Iowa 14 - Sunday 15 - Creston, Iowa 16 - Nebraska City, Nebraska 17 - Auburn, Nebraska 18 - Holton, Kansas 19 - Washington, Kansas 20 - Beloit, Kansas 21 - Sunday 22 - Osborne, Kansas 23 - Concordia, Kansas 24 - Abilene, Kansas 25 - Salina, Kansas 26 - Osage City, Kansas 27 - Garnett, Kansas 28 - Sunday 29 - Newton, Kansas 30 - Great Bend, Kansas 31 - Kinsley, Kansas September 1 - Larned, Kansas 2 - Conway Springs, Kansas 3 - Eldorado, Kansas 4 - Sunday 5 - Eureka, Kansas 6 - Yates Center, Kansas 7 - Coffeyville, Kansas 8 - Muskogee, Oklahoma 9 - Fort Smith, Arkansas 10 - Clarkesville, Arkansas 11 - Sunday 12 - Memphis, Tennessee 13 - Covington, Tennessee 14 - Dyersburg, Tennessee 15 - Martin, Tennessee 16 - Paducah, Kentucky 17 - Princeton, Kentucky 18 - Sunday 19 - Central City, Kentucky 20 - Springfield, Tennessee 21 - Franklin, Tennessee 22 - Lawrenceburg, Tennessee 23 - Florence, Alabama 24 - Columbia, Tennessee 25 - Sunday 26 - Pulaski, Tennessee 27 - Athens, Alabama 28 - Decatur, Alabama 29 - Cullman, Alabama 30 - Calera, Alabama October 1 - Montgomery, Alabama 2 - Sunday 3 - Greenville, Alabama 4 - Andalusia, Alabama 5 - Evergreen, Alabama 6 - Mobile, Alabama 7 - Gulfport, Mississippi 8 - Hattiesburg, Mississippi 9 - Sunday 10 - Laurel, Mississippi 11 - Jackson, Mississippi 12 - McComb, Mississippi 13 - Amite, Louisiana 14 - Brookhaven, Mississippi 15 - Hazelhurst, Mississippi 16 - Sunday 17 - Kosciusko, Mississippi 18 - Water Valley, Mississippi 19 - Vaiden, Mississippi 20 - Lexington, Mississippi 21 - Yazoo City, Mississippi 22 - Utica, Mississippi 23 - Sunday 24 - Winnsboro, Louisiana 25 - St. Joseph, Louisiana 26 - Lake Providence, Louisiana 27 - Hamburg, Arkansas 28 - Warren, Arkansas 29 - Arkansas City, Arkansas 30 - Sunday 31 - Hot Springs, Arkansas November 1 - Arkadelphia, Arkansas 2 - Nashville, Tennessee End of season

If my counting is correct that's 160 dates with no shows on Sundays. Still want to follow the bandwagon?

This last wagon is not, strictly speaking, a bandwagon, but it is musical. It is the Carillon for the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus.  A carillon is usually a consort of different sized bronze or brass  bells suspended in a church tower and played by a group of bell ringers pulling on ropes. Sometimes these bells can have their own separate tower, and a remote device connects them to just one person who plays the bells by hammering their fists on a set of levers arranged into a keyboard. This carillon wagon must have been made extra heavy-duty for the great weight of the bells. It may have had a steam powered mechanism similar to a music box to play tunes as it moved in the parade. The digital image collection of the University of Maryland has a neat photo of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Carillon as it get ready to join the parade. Look to the left of the photo.

Unlike the other photos this one is posed and would seem to show the carillon player with wife and daughter. Or he might be the circus manager. The Hagenbeck-Wallace company was bought by the Ringling Circus in 1929 and continued to operate until 1938.

All of these photos are proper photographs and not postcards. They are marked on the back with a stamp by a very specialized photographer.

Circus Snaps
Robert D. Good
Allentown, PA.

Robert Good was a pharmacist and avid circus fan. For many years in the 40s and 50s  he advertised in various magazines, principally Billboard, offering reprints of his circus photo collection to the many circus enthusiasts in America. It was a popular hobby and must have kept Mr. Good busy.

I'm unsure just how many photos were taken with his camera, but he was not the only dealer selling circus photos. This last page was taken from the circus fan club journal, The Bandwagon, March 1946., again from the Circushistory.org website. Who would think that contortionists could be a hobby? Is that like yoga?

I know I would follow the bandwagon. Wouldn't you?
But if you would like to see more elephants, large and small,
follow the link to Sepia Saturday.