This is a blog about music, photography, history, and culture. These are photographs from my collection that tell a story about lost time and forgotten music. Mike Brubaker
Velvet coats with fancy embroidery. Frilly shirts with lace on the collars. And curly mops of hair.
They're not John, Paul, George, and Ringo. But they were the first to use hair for an artistic statement.
Some groups went for an extra long coiffure with tresses heaped onto shoulders.
Others took a more conservative approach with a restrained style suitable for all occasions.
And others wanted to appeal to the youths by choosing matching curls that would do any mother proud.
Today I present four musical groups that copied fashion styles from centuries past in order to set themselves apart.
Bad hair was good.
My first example was evidently the very first ensemble of its kind to affect a return to the olden days. These five men called themselves the Original Elite Orchester „Roccoco”, directed by Herr P. Schmeida. They were from Germany, or maybe Austria. and chose costumes imitating the apparel of gentlemen of the 18th century. Each one is slightly different but they all wear velvet knee breeches, justacorps coats embroidered with silks and gold sequins, contrasting long waistcoats, and white shirts with frilled collars and cuffs. All topped off by a curly white wig that to a modern eye resembles a mop head. Today I found a very similar outfit for sale on Etsy for $1,349.25. But that's without the wig.
The group is pictured without instruments but I suspect they played string instruments and perhaps included a piano. The term Rococo refers to a style of architecture, art, and decoration that dates roughly from the death of the French King Louis XIV in 1715 to the French Revolution of 1789. According to its Wikipedia entry, "It is characterized by extensive ornamentation, fluid curves, asymmetry, and a smaller scale designed to foster intimacy. .... Rococo fashion was based on extravagance, elegance, refinement and decoration. ... These fashions spread beyond the royal court into the salons and cafés of the ascendant bourgeoisie. The exuberant, playful, elegant style of decoration and design that we now call 'Rococo' was then known as le style rocaille, le style moderne, le gout."
The Rococo era was very influential in art and architecture, but other terms, were used for the music of this period. In France it was called Style Galant, described by Voltaire as music which “aims to please." French composers Jean Philippe Rameau, Louis-Claude Daquin and François Couperin were popular in this era. In Germany it was called Empfindsamer Stil (sensitive style) which inspired German composers like Johann Christian Bach and Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, both sons of the great titan of Baroque Music – Johann Sebastian Bach.
This postcard of the Original Elite Orchester „Roccoco” has a stamp and postmark from Denmark on 23 January 1904.
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This next ensemble is considerably larger with twenty musicians posted outdoors in a garden or park setting. According to the postcard's caption they are:
Madame H. E. Angless's Pompadour Ladies' Orchestra permanent address: 78, Norwood Road, London, S. E.
The players in this all-women group are dressed in long, wide gowns, possibly with interior structural support, and heavy white wigs, most appearing to be identical in shape. They have the usual string instruments as well as a flute, two clarinets, trombone, tuba, and drums in the back row and two cornetists sitting on the grass in front. Though not identified as pretending to be from the Rococo era, their attire is pretty close.
The woman standing center, left of the harp, holding a baton is the conductor, Madame Harry Edward Angless, also known as Emily Angless (nee Leer). She had previously organized a Anglo-Swiss Ladies' Orchestra in the 1890s which performed in quasi-Swiss costumes. Though the Pompadour ladies are all beautifully matched in fancy French costume, I can't help but observe that several players have noticeably masculine faces. Maybe it's the light or the half-tone print, but the tuba player on the right, the double bassist on the left, and a few other musicians sure look like they could use a shave.
This postcard was sent from London on 30 March 1905 to Mrs Beales of Horley, familiar to people of 2026 as being next to Gatwick airport.
"Oh, listen to the Band" That is what we were doing last Saturday. Sorry you were not there. Hope you are quite well. AF. HP.
I found only a few British newspaper references to the Pompadour Ladies Orchestra. The group seems to have started around 1904 and ended in 1908, mostly playing variety shows that included other acts like comedians, acrobats, and magicians. One of the places where they performed over a few seasons was at the Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth on the North Sea coast. This next postcard shows a long pier that projects over a very sandy beach and an impressive palace at the end. It certainly looks suitable for a Rococo style ensemble. The garden in the foreground might well have been the location for the postcard photo of the Pompadour Ladies Orchestra.
Britannia Pier, Great Yarmouth, UK, circa 1911 Source: Wikipedia
The Britannia Pier is still in operation today but it has endured a difficult history. It first opened in July 1858 and was originally 700 feet long. However in 1859 the pier was reduced by about 80 feet when during a terrible storm two ships crashed into the structure. In 1868 another storm again reduced the length. The remains of the old pier were demolished in 1899 and replaced by a new 810 foot pier in 1901. The Grand Pavilion, seen above, opened on 21 June 1902.
Britannia Pier Pavilion, Great Yarmouth by destroyed by fire on 17 April 1914 Source: Wikipedia
Sadly this new Grand Pavilion was destroyed in a fire on 22 December 1909. A replacement pavilion was quickly constructed and completed in 1910, but this too was ravaged by an arson fire on 17 April 1914. The arsonists were two militant suffragettes, Hilda Burkitt and Florence Tunks, both of whom received prison sentences for their incendiary protest. Once again a third pavilion was hastily constructed and opened on 27 July 1914, just one day before the start of World War One.
The pier's Floral Hall Ballroom opened in May 1928 but was destroyed by fire in August 1932. The pier was closed during World War II to prevent enemy troops using the pier as a landing station and did not reopen until 1947. A new Grand Ballroom had opened in 1933, but it too was destroyed by fire in April 1954, along with the third pavilion.
The current Britannia Pier pavilion opened on 27 June 1958 and became home to the Pavilion Theatre, now called the Britannia Pier Theatre. However the ballroom (called the Ocean Ballroom from 1947) was never replaced.
* * *
My third time-traveling musical group are seven men known as the:
Rokoko Salon-Orchester Direktion: Fried. Bauer
The men wear clothing similar to the costumes worn by the Elite Orchester Roccoco but less flashy and with white stockings. Their wigs are also similar but with less curl. They have four string instruments, including a cello and double bass, a flute, and a piano hidden behind the two men on the right. The instrument we know today as a piano was created by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy in 1700. He called it a pianoforte (soft loud) later known as the fortepiano (loud soft). These first pianos were constructed of wood much like a harpsichord. But a pianoforte keyboard triggered small hammers to strike the strings with dynamics unlike the way a harpsichord keyboard flips wooden jacks which pluck the strings for a softer uniform sound. In any case I don't think this group is using a historically correct instrument but instead has a kind of upright piano of a later 19th century design.
The postcard was sent from Hannover, Germany on 8 November 1913 to someone in Bordeaux, France.
* * *
My final costumed group is five men who called themselves the:
Farinelli-Ensemble Sächsische Konzert un Volkssänger. Vielseitigstes Instrumental-, Vokal- und Schauspiel-Ensemble der Welt ~
Farinelli Ensemble
Saxon concert and folk singers.
The world's most versatile instrumental, vocal,
and theatrical ensemble.
The men are wearing matching long gowns, which to my eye look like women's nightgowns, and curly feminine wigs. One man holds a girl's doll which the others seem focused on.
The group's name refers to Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (1705–1782), a celebrated Italian vocalist of the 18th century who performed under the stage name Farinelli. He was a singer and composer whose castrato soprano voice had an incredible range of over three octaves. Farinelli is considered one of the greatest and most influential singers in the history of opera.
Presumably some of the men in the Farinelli Ensemble were countertenors who specialized in a high treble style which with a standard men's voices of tenor, baritone, and bass would give their group the same quality as if they had women or boys singing. I can't explain the feminine nature of their costumes since I have no idea what kind of music or comic skits they performed. But I think it's fair to say that their era was filled with lots of rude humor and racist characterizations that we would find vulgar and hateful today.
Their postcard was sent from Bischofswerda, a small town in eastern Germany at the western edge of Upper Lusatia in Saxony, on 6 April 1903.
These ensembles were more about making music fun. Their costumes served to give them a hook for an audience that they hoped would stay longer for the music.
It still works today and I found a great video to illustrate this story. If you went to Wien/Vienna in 2026 you might hear a concert by the Wiener Mozart Konzert which performs in beautiful period costumes. (Though their instruments are modern and not historically accurate for the music.) Technically Mozart's music is of the Classical era rather than the Rococo but he is reputed to enjoy fine clothing which was inspired by the Rococo fashions. This band sounds good even in wigs.
I should add that many years ago I performed on that same stage in Wien. I was on tour with a small American chamber orchestra, but my costume was the standard musician's uniform of white tie and black tailcoat.
This is Ann. She had this photo taken in Baltimore, Maryland. She paid 25¢ for four. Plus tax.
She represents an example of what I call "people of the shadows"—the subjects who sat still long enough for a camera to capture their likeness during the first decades of photography. The alchemy of early photographs—daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and ferrotypes, that is tintypes like Ann's photo, translated light that went through a camera's lens into subtle tones of waxy whites, chalky grays, and dense blacks. These phototypes lacked the chemistry to record true colors, though occasionally a photographer, as in Ann's tintype, would apply little tints of red to cheeks or lips when processing the image. The general effect of these early photo processes created portraits of people in somber clothing seemingly surrounded by dim backgrounds, hence "people of the shadows." Nonetheless these early photo processes could achieve a remarkable clarity that rivals modern photographs.
But the other reason I call them people of the shadows is that these early phototypes rarely display any information about the subjects. People are usually anonymous, their names, dates, and location unknown. The first generations of fragile daguerreotypes and ambrotypes came in protective wooden cases that often have no imprints for a photographer's name or place of business. Tintypes, being made of thin iron sheet, were more durable photos but often became separated from their paper envelopes and few have marks for names or dates scratched onto the metal backs.
So without good clues to figure out the basics of who, when, and where, these photos can be a very challenging if not impossible puzzles to solve.
Ann's portrait is an exception. It contains a surprising amount of information. Yet, as I will explain, she still remains partly in the shadows.
This is the full image of her photo scanned without any digital correction. Her photo is pasted into a paper mount the same size as a carte de visite, 3 7/8" x 2 3/8" with her face centered in an elegant embossed oval cartouche pattern. The tintype is much smaller and rectangular. It is a called a 1/16th plate size about 1 7/8" high and 1 5/8" wide. In the upper right is a signature which we will examine in a moment,
The back has a full printed advertisement for the photographer.
FROM The Original 25 cent Gem Picture Gallery No. 9 N. Gay Street G. W, Hewitt & Co. 4 of this style Pictures. _ 25 Cents. Large size Photographs, _ _ $1.50 Duplicates, _ _ _ _ __ 1.00 Cartes de Viste, Per Doz. _ _ 2.00
GEO. W. HEWITT Manufacturer of Square and Oval Gilt Frames. Looking Glass Mirrors, Bracket Tables, &c. also on hand a fine assortment of Albums, Stereoscopes and Views, Engravings. Figures, &c., 50 per cent [c]heaper than any other estab- lishment [in] the city. Pictures of all kinds copied at the shortest notice. No. 9 Gay Street, Photograph & Frame Gallery
Mr. Hewitt's advertisement is printed on a separate paper that was applied over the photo. It shows through as an eight-sided outline of the metal plate. "Gem" tintypes, ½" x 1", are very small, hardly bigger than a postage stamp, but I think this photo was offered as a gem and was produced in the same manner using a camera with four lens. Here is an illustration of a similar camera featured in an 1872 handbook on ferrotype photography. The tintype metal plate was inserted wet with emulsion into the camera back and when exposed the four lens created four images at one time. After developing and fixing the plate was cut into four individual photos.
Here is a second camera with nine lens for making smaller photos. The process could produce nine duplicates of a single sitting, or nine separate images opening each lens one at a time.
The Success Camera O, fitted with nine 1/9th and four 1/4th lenses Source: The Ferrotype and how to Make it by Edward M. Estabrooke
What makes this photo special is a blue 2¢ U. S. Internal Revenue stamp in the upper corner on the back of the tintype's paper mount. It was affixed before Mr. Hewitt pasted on his gallery's advertisement on top of it. Then he marked it with a rubberstamp date: Feb 17, 1866.
It was a Saturday. On this day former Confederate general Robert E. Lee was in Washington, D. C. to testify before a Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction. The committee members had tough questions for him regarding Southern attitudes to war debts, the status of freedmen, and the conditions of reconstruction.
This date was just 8 months and 22 days after the end of America's terrible Civil War. Though the world was now moving on, most Americans were still divided by the horrendous assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 and the complex political mess it provoked in the postwar period. This blue tax stamp was a small remanent of four years of the war's hardships as it was first introduced in the Revenue Act of 1862 to help the Federal government fund the war through an excise tax on a wide variety of goods, services and legal dealings.
Photographs were still a modern novelty when the war started. As tintypes and carte de visites became more popular due to their cheaper price the Internal Revenue department passed a 'photograph tax' in August 1864 that required photographers to pay a tax on the sale of their products. This proprietary tax was applied to several other widely used products, such as cotton, tobacco and alcohol. Even though the war was officially ended on 26 May 1865 the tax had persisted, since, of course, the Federal government still needed to pay its debts. Obviously this still upset many people so Congress repealed the tax on 1 August 1866, two years exactly after it was imposed.
Mr. Hewitt was one of Baltimore's businessmen to take exception to this lingering tax. So he ran advertisements in local newspapers explaining why he need to raise prices.
Baltimore Sun 29 January 1866
Card to the Public
Having been the first to introduce to the public
of Baltimore Four Gem Pictures for 25 cents,
making our calculations for 6 per cent. ad valo-
rem tax, we are now authorized by the commis-
sioners of internal revenue to affix to each and
every card issued from our establishment a two
cent stamp, which will be a stamp tax of 32 per
cent. Not wishing to vary from our regular
prices, we will still continue to take
Four Gun Pictures for 25 Cents.
But we will be compelled to charge our cus-
tomers 10 cents extra for stamping.
We have made no alteration in the price of our
large pictures, as 5 per cent. is all the govern-
ment requires on them, but 32 per cent. being
more than our net profits on our small pictures
our customers will have to pay it.
We cordially thank the citizens of Baltimore
for the kind patronage they have so liberally ex-
tended to us. We will hereafter show our grati-
tude by furnishing them with pictures that can-
not be surpassed by any other Establishment of
the kind in the city.
Geo. W. Hewitt & Co..
No. 9 North Gay street.
So when Ann bought a set of four portrait Gems, she paid a total of 35¢ which was a not insubstantial amount consider that many workers in Maryland earned 10¢<15¢ an hour in 1866.
The photographer George Washington Hewitt was born on the 4th of July 1838 in Baltimore, the son of John Hill Hewitt (1801—1890) a noted poet and prolific composer and author. Though he was from New York City, Hewitt the elder made his career in the southern states and became a rival of both the poet Edgar Allen Poe and the song writer Stephen Foster.
His son George W. Hewitt seems to have started his business as a carver and gilder in the late 1850s with an address at No. 23 West Fayette street in Baltimore. In May of 1861, just a month after the Civil War began, he ran a newspaper ad that showed he was a bit of an entrepreneur.
WAR !–WAR !–WAR !– INTENSE EXCITEMENT.—Great Sacrifice in beautiful GILT OVAL FRAMES, for Photographs. Your choice for One Dollar, at the Original One Dollar Frame Store.
Baltimore Sun 23 May 1861
Note the other promotions for a book entitled "The Soldier's Guide" which was marketed as a useful military handbook to young men who were volunteering for the Federal army.
In 1863 Hewitt was listed at 9 N. Gay street in the Baltimore city directory under "Looking Glass and Picture Frame Makers." In his advertisements this address was his store while his factory was on West Fayette street. In May 1863 he included a photographer Mr. W. E. Cook who "occupies a portion of the same store for the sale of Cabinet Photographs, a new style of picture, taken from original Oil Paintings in France and England." By the following year the partnership with Mr. Cook seems finished but Hewitt then begins offering his patrons Gem ferrotypes and larger photos as his gallery of frames and mirrors.
Baltimore Sun 14 May 1863
By 1867 George W. Hewitt is no longer residing in Baltimore, but has moved south to Staunton, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. He sets up a decorator's shop dealing in wall paper and upholstery. Occasionally he also tuned and repaired pianos, but as far as I can determine he never took up photography again. He died in Staunton in 1906 at age 68. He was remembered with an obituary in both Staunton and Baltimore newspapers.
Now it's time to look at a signature What name can you read?
I think it spells Ann L Polona or Poloma. The short first name is written with a downward flourish that I think is just decorative but it could be Anny L. The surname is very unusual and I have tried countless different interpretations of the letters. The shape of the letters conform to cursive handwriting standards of 19th century English and the capitals A, L, P are quite consistent. According to Google's AI, Polona has "Slavic and Eastern European roots related to Poland", while Poloma is a Spanish name derived from the Spanish word paloma, meaning "dove"
But I can't find her. No one named Ann L Polona/Poloma is listed in any official records or city directories from anywhere in the United States, much less Baltimore in 1866. Her name is not found in any newspaper archives either. All I could find were a few people with variant spelled surnames but those people lived in latter decades. It is a curious place to put a penciled signature curved around to fit the corner. Perhaps it's not the name of the woman photographed in 1866 but the name of a recipient she gave it to. Or maybe it's the name of a collector who bought the photo in 1946 or 2006. Who knows? I really can't tell.
It's frustrating to have a perfect trifecta of antique photo information on name, place, and date and not be able to confirm a the most important identification—the subject's name. Of course women's names are always a challenge to research since they usually, but not always, adopt a new surname on marriage. Is there a Mr. Polona/Poloma? I've looked, and looked again, and still fail to find anyone who would fit the other facts from this tintype from Baltimore.
But I can do one thing more. I can flip the photo from its positive mirror image created by the tintype process into her real face which we would have seen when Ann visited Mr. Hewitt's gallery in February 1866. Somehow that lightens her features to bring her a little bit out of the shadows that conceal her identity.
She appears to be an attractive mature young woman, late 20s or mid 30s, with beautiful dark eyes and high cheekbones. Her hair is dark, too, and pulled tight back in the feminine style of this era, but I detect a hint of wave or curl. Below her ears are what looks like oval earrings but I think they are some kind of fastener that holds her hair. A locket tied tight around her neck is large and could have a carved design. It might hold a small photo, perhaps a picture of a husband or sweetheart. In 1866 that could be a treasured memento of a beloved lost in the war. Which may explain her serious expression. Yet she doesn't look so much sad as thoughtful. What is she thinking about?
Mr. Hewitt's gallery at No. 9 N. Gay street in Baltimore was in the city's central business district. It was less than a half mile to his frame factory at No. 23 West Fayette. Baltimore's city hall was just a block away, and the city's ship docks were only 4 blocks south. Also very close were a couple of major theatres that offered all kinds of entertainment, even during the war, including minstrel shows, melodramas, and opera. These traveling troupes would play in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Baltimore, too. Many included on their playbills performers from Europe—England, France, Germany, Italy, even Spain or South America.
It seems quite possible that Ann L Polona/Poloma might be connected to one of these touring theatrical or opera companies. Her name, like many entertainers of the day, could be a stage name, invented to sound more artistic. Since entertainers lived in hotels without any settled residence, they were rarely recorded in census reports or city directories. Their names might be attached to a newspaper review if they were a star, but not if they were a supporting actor or the spouse of an entertainer. It's only a guess but imagination is all I have left to answer the question of her identity.
Sometimes people of the shadows leave only the essence of their humanity. The details of their lives and loves are unknown. Their past and future forever concealed. Their relations with other people a mystery. Yet their sepia tone photograph presents us with a face that makes us wonder. Who was this person? What were they like? Why did they pose for this picture?
It's a confusing, almost chaotic, scene. The camera points upwards at men seated outdoors on a kind of elaborate stage decorated with ornate carvings. Some men are in fancy military-like uniforms while others are in top hats and long coats. What are they doing? A trombone and tuba give good clues as to who they are.
They are members of a circus band riding on a bandwagon called The Five Graces. Here is a more recent color photo of this grand tableau carriage. It's looking pretty good for a wooden vehicle almost 150 years old with thousands of road miles on it. Though now parked in a Florida circus museum, once upon a time this celebrated bandwagon led parades for the Greatest Show on Earth.
This postcard of the Five Graces Bandwagon raised several questions that found enough answers to inspire a much longer story than I expected about the four year European tour of Barnum & Bailey's Circus.
The full postcard image shows a bandwagon pulled by dark horses on a city street. A policeman directs a crowd of spectators around it. The wagon driver leans into his task, holding onto two fistfuls of reins.
This half-tone photo was published by the Walter Bernhardt company of Berlin, Germany and the caption is in German.
Circus Barnum & Bailey Prunkwagen von 40 Pferden gezogen. ~ Ceremonial chariot drawn by 40 horses
On the front of the card is a simple greeting from Fritz to the recipient Fräulein Martha Ebert of Marburg, a town about 54 miles north of Frankfurt. The postmark is dated 8 October 1900 from Wiesbaden, a city in the western German state of Hesse, about 22 miles west of Frankfurt and 65 miles southwest of Marburg. Fritz had such beautiful penmanship that I hope he made a good impression on Martha.
The first question posed by this simple souvenir postcard is, How did an American circus wagon get to be photographed on a street in Berlin, Germany in 1900? The short answer? By an immense collective effort made by countless people over three years. When Fritz sent his postcard in October 1900 the Barnum & Bailey Circus was in its third season in Europe and already more than three quarters of the way through a tour of Germany. The circus had just played Wiesbaden on October 6-7, 1900 which is where Fritz surely bought this postcard. Perhaps he saw the Five Graces Bandwagon and heard the circus band in their parade to the town's fairground. This next page confirms it.
I discovered the answer to my question in a fascinating account entitled: "Four Years in Europe, the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in the Old World Seasons 1897-1901" written by Harvey L. Watkins. Watkins was personal secretary and later press agent to James A. Bailey (1847–1906) one of America's greatest circus entrepreneurs who built a show business empire.
Born James Anthony McGinnis in Detroit, Michigan, he was orphaned at an early age and left home to seek his fortune. In his teens he met Col. Frederick Bailey, a nephew of Hachaliah Bailey (1775–1845) who is regarded as a pioneer of the first American circus. Frederick was then an advance man for a traveling circus and took James on as his assistance. They formed such a close bond that James changed his surname to Bailey.
After an interruption caused by the Civil War, in 1866 James Bailey rejoined the circus world as a general agent and then in 1872 as partner in the Cooper & Bailey Circus. This company became known as the Great International Circus, once making a profitable two-year tour of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Java, and several countries of South America. It proved so successful that it became chief competitor to the circus owned by P. T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum (1810–1891), arguably the most famous showman of the 19th century. Barnum had established his fame through his popular museum of oddities in New York City. Among the many strange and unusual people Barnum exhibited were the very tall couple Martin and Anne Bates, both over 7½ feet in height, whose story Here Be Giants I wrote back in August 2018.
Barnum recognized James Bailey's hardworking business talent and in 1881 the two men agreed to combine their shows into what became "Barnum and Bailey's Circus". It was on Bailey advice that Barnum acquired their first major star—Jumbo (1860–1885) an African elephant promoted as the world's largest.
In April 1891 P. T. Barnum suffered a stroke at his home and died at age 80. Bailey continued to run their circus, perpetuating Barnum's celebrity. Bailey increased the size of his circus which traveled on its own special train complete with rail cars designed for the large numbers of exotic animals in the circus's menagerie. The late 19th century expansion of America's railroads produced a boom in the entertainment industry which spawned dozens of traveling minstrel shows, theater troupes, wild west shows, and circus. Big money could be made in show biz but it was also a very risky business with many companies going under or selling their shows.
In 1890 Bailey acquired the Adam Forepaugh & Sells Bros. Circus. This purchase included the Five Graces bandwagon which was made for Forepaugh in 1877 by the Fielding Bros. Wagon Company of New York.
In 1894 Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was heavily in debt, partly caused by poor attendance at its long run at Ambrose Park in New York City. Its owner and headliner William Frederick Cody, "Buffalo Bill", (1846–1917) was forced to seek financial help from James Bailey who agreed to cover transportation and touring expenses of the show in return for a share in its profits. Bailey was now manager of two mammoth entertainment enterprises. In 1895 he transformed Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show by having it travel by rail to more small towns rather than remain stationary in one city for a season. That summer B.B.W.W.S. covered 9,000 miles, playing 131 performance in 190 days. The company used 52 rail cars which was double the number used by the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
This introduction is to explain how Bailey became a master of show business logistics. His next big production deserved a book.
Mr. Watkins' self-published book is archived at the Illinois State University Milner Library which has a large collection of circus route books. These detailed business histories were produced for investors and bragging rights in the entertainment trade world but they soon became souvenirs for avid circus fans who wanted to follow their circus heroes. A typical circus route book listed every show's date with the city or town played, the distance traveled as well as the number of shows lost to bad weather or accidents. It often included a diary account of significant events which occurred during the tour, like illnesses and deaths in the company, poor crowds, or mishaps. All cast and crew for the season were listed which included not just performers but also the name of every staff member and laborer—cooks, musicians, ticket takers, ushers, animal handlers, canvas riggers, and hundreds of others.
The Barnum & Bailey organization was a complex organization with hundreds of non-performers employed to manage the complex logistics and promotion of a traveling entertainment troupe. Older traditional circuses that performed in a single ring tent were small affairs compared to the gigantic enterprise of the B & B show.
On 27 July 1897 the circus was in Iowa where Bailey traveled to inform the whole company of his decision to take the circus on a tour of Europe, beginning in Britain. For several months he and his directors had been contemplating this idea, scouting out locations, working out schedules and itineraries, and finally negotiating contracts. This grand excursion would truly establish the Barnum and Bailey Circus as the Greatest Show on Earth. But now the hard work would really begin.
The plan was to have a winter season in London with the regular tour beginning in April 1897. All the performers, livestock, animal handlers, props and equipment would be shipped across the Atlantic by steamship from New York. They expected to open their first winter show at West Kensington's Olympia Exhibition Centre on Boxing Day, December 26. Transporting acrobats and clowns was easy but moving zebras, camels, giraffes, and elephants, not to mention hundreds of trained horses required special Transatlantic handling and accommodations. The main cargo ship left New York on November 12 and arrived at London's Albert Docks twelve days later on November 24. The only casualties were one giraffe that broke its neck, two baggage horses, and one show horse stallion.
After a successful winter series in London, in April 1898 the Barnum & Bailey Circus began its first season touring Britain. It started in Manchester and traveled by rail to 7o more cities in England, Scotland, and Wales covering 2,976 miles over 186 days. The circus finished on 12 November in Stoke-on-Trent where it made its winter quarters.
The following year the B & B circus made its second tour of Britain, this time visiting 112 towns for 349 performances, losing only 23 to bad weather. Total miles traveled during the 1899 season was 4073 with the longest run from one city to another 113 miles and the shortest 6 miles.
Settling in at Stoke-on-Trent for another winter's rest the Barnum & Bailey company prepared for next season's tour of Germany.
The sailing distance from London to Hamburg over the North Sea was a fraction of the Atlantic's expanse from Britain to America but it still posed logistic challenges for transporting a circus 500+ nautical miles. The biggest issue was moving the show's British rail cars, purposely built in England for European rail gauge. Each 60 ft long car was loaded onto a cargo ship without being disassembled. However it still required two trips to move them all.
Then there was taking delivery from America of all new tent canvas which had been made fireproof to satisfy German requirements. Another company was suppling two steam-powered electric generators to run a new lighting system for the show. Smaller tasks included hiring production staff who spoke German and printing all new posters and adverts in German. Since Barnum & Bailey promotions had already stretched the English lexicon of descriptive adjectives, adverbs and superlatives, converting the vocabulary into German equivalents was no easy endeavor.
Finally all groundwork being completed, Barnum & Bailey's full complement assembled in Hamburg for its first parade on Saturday 14 April 1900. Led by the Five Graces bandwagon drawn by a team of 40 horses. "Die größte Schaustellung der Welt" had arrived in Europe—in the rain.
The circus would stay in Hamburg for a month and then go to Germany's capital Berlin for another month. Despite inclement weather the German audiences were very good, so when the company headed off on tour in June, everyone was confident of a positive reception.
Mr. Watkin's book on the first European tour of the Barnum and Bailey Circus contains several pages of photos devoted to the star performers. I do not own a copy of this book but have digitally clipped these excerpts from the online edition stored at the Milner Library archives of the Illinois State University and display them here out of their original order. Unfortunately Watkins did not offer any descriptions or details about the acts, so we are left to use our imagination. However I found online a number of colorful posters produced for the 1898-1901 tours in England and Germany which give us a better, if not thrilling idea, of what these circus performers were capable of.
Harvey L. Watkins included dozens of photographs of the Barnum & Bailey company officers and staff but men with bushy mustaches are really not as interesting as the photos of its performers. Here dressed in white spangly unitards are the "Original Seigrist-Silbon Troupe" a family of five trapeze artists. They were promoted as "the world-famous Silbons the masterful monarchs of the air in a series of most difficult, ingenious and startling aerial feats."
The circus featured a great many equestrian performers like Neta Johnson and presumably her daughter Miss Minnie. Netta used the term "menage rider" which is a type of horse riding in a closed ring. There were also several clowns like Spader Johnson, presumably Neta's husband, whose comedy had made their names well known to the public.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
One of the big draws for all circuses was introducing novel acts from foreign lands. In the 1890s Japan was no longer a developing country but its culture was still little known outside of Asia. The Nanakusa Japanese Troupe presented a high wire act called the "Japanese slide for life. Executed with amazing celerity & startling accuracy of judgment." I expect they also performed many other balancing and acrobatic feats.
Barnum & Bailey Circus Advert circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
Miss Nellie Reid, High School rider and driver, is pictured with a horse and cart that surely showed her mastery of horsemanship on several levels. Walter Lowe was a Parfore Cyclist who did amazing jump tricks on a bicycle which at the time was still a novelty. Not all acts were of a daredevil nature. Charles Diamond was a "Milanese Minstrel" who played a small folk harp while dressed in tight trousers and a velvet jacket festooned with medals. He accompanied M'lle Beatrice, a soprano saxophone soloist who stands next to him with her instrument, the one often mistaken for a clarinet.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
Clever and amusing tricks played on bicycles and roller skates were likely as popular in Europe as in America. This poster promoting the Barnum & Bailey Circus was printed in Cincinnati for the German part of the tour. The previous poster of the ladies of the Equitation de Haute-Ecole ~ High School Horsemanship is in French for the later B & B performances in Belgium and France in 1901-02.
Many entertainers were family groups with parents and children or husband and wife. On this page we have Rose Wentworth, equestrienne, standing on a white horse and Harry Wentworth, manufacturer of fun, astride a very large white pig. Below are photos of James and Millie Savoy, boxing speciality. I'm not certain what pugilistic skills the Savoys may have demonstrated fighting between themselves, but I suspect their act used the teardrop-shaped speed bag.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
Some acts were less skill and more spectacle. Frank Howard, the American tatooed (sic) artist, and his wife Annie Howard, Barnum & Bailey's original tatooed (sic) lady, were part of the circus sideshow where people with unusual talents or appearace were put on display. Their daughter, Miss Ivy Howard, a cornet soloist, is pictured on the same page with her instrument. But as she wears a tight fitted white dress with long sleeves and high collar, I'd bet her audience came not so much for her music as for her reveal of some skin.
On this page of Mr. Watkins' book he published photos of seven of the more unique members of the circus sideshow. Beginning top left going clockwise we have: Miss Zolino, magnetic wonder; Miss Clifford, sword swallower; James Morris, elastic skin man; Mable Milton, long haired lady; Annie Jones, bearded lady; Charles B. Tripp, armless phenomenon; and center: Sig. Tomasso, human pin cushion.
On another page is a similar medley of unusual people, again beginning top left going clockwise we have: Jo-Jo, the Russian dog-faced man; Alfonso, the human ostrich; Rob Roy, albino dislocationist; Billy Wells, iron skull man; and in center: John W. Coffey, 59 lbs. with John McDonald, 458 lbs.
Mr. Watkins related how the 1898-1901 European tour of the Barnum & Bailey Circus produced a remarkable change in how curiosities like these people were presented to the public. In January 1899 during the quiet winter season there was a protest, an "Uprising of the Freaks" to use Mr. Watkins words, of the performers in the circus sideshow. They had organized to complain to James Bailey about how their section of the circus was often described to the public
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They considered that "the word 'Freak' was opprobrious and without any special meaning. particularly as a large number of those who constituted this department were free from any peculiarities to designate them as different from the ordinary being, and it was therefore determined that the word 'Freak' should be from this time on abolished, and a committee...appointed to select another word in place of the objectionable one."
After meeting with Bailey there was further discussion in a committee of several learned people, including Canon Wilberforce of Westminster Abbey, who suggested the word "Prodigies" as a suitable replacement. When it was presented to Mr. Bailey he immediately agreed and ordered that all promotions of the sideshow department change "Freaks" to "Prodigies." You can see the change in this next poster as well as the different characters in the sideshow. The caption reads:
"The Peerless Prodigies of Physical Phenomena & Marvelous Living Human Curiosities."
(Click to enlarge the image.)
Click to enlarge the image
On another page we have the Ceballos Family—Teodulo, Zarah, Hilarion and Rosalie, aerialists and gymnasts. Below them is a portrait of the Sutcliffe Family dressed in Scottish tartan garb. They were acrobats, pipers, and dancers who had a long career performing around the world in vaudeville, circuses, and music halls.
In 2013 I wrote a story about them featuring several of their postcards as a pipe band, The Sutcliffe Family Pipe Band. But as you can see in the next Barnum & Bailey poster they were much more than just bagpipers. This unique troupe started in around 1897 and continued performing until 1923, exchanging several members for new people who all assumed the Sutcliffe name.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
Clowns are perhaps the one universal act found in every circus around the world. On this page of Mr. Watkins book we have Toto, a comique who featured trained dogs; Piccolo "The Auguste"; Little Sandy, a classic tramp clown; and Bell and Albion, comedy acrobats. I think Bell played the straight man.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
Another page shows Brother Leonard, horizontal bar artists and grotesques; the Two Friskeys, pantomimic comedians; Jules Carr, bear trainer, with his bear dressed in coat and "holding" an American flag; and Charles Siegrist, aerialist, the young star of the Silbon Troupe.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
This last page from Mr. Watkins' book has a photo of Carl Clair's Famous Military Band who were the concert band for this European tour of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. It's a thirty piece group of brass, woodwinds, percussion and a string bass. Not all of them would fit on the Five Graces bandwagon which was reserved for only the loudest and flashiest instruments. Carl Clair (1868-1911) was born in Lisbon, Iowa and became a cornet soloist and circus bandleader at age 16. In an 1892 interview Carl Clair said, "I am constantly watching the different riding acts while playing. The various tricks need an immediate change of music. Animals are so sensitive to the sound of music that they are often taught in that way alone, and so accustomed have they become to the correct pauses and drum signals, that should any delay occur in giving them, it would seriously interfere with the performance." While on this tour in October 1899 Carl Clair married Christina Matilda Weedon at St. Anne's Church in London. The couple were given an engraved silver tea service from his band.
Below the band are portraits of four serious men: Will Propyn, Dave Carter, Frank Ross, and James Carr who are presumably the funny members of the New York Comedy Quartette pictured as the costumed characters in the center.
The last performance of Barnum & Bailey Circus in the 1900 season was on 10 November at Passau, a German city on the Austrian border. The circus had visited 55 cities in Germany, given 380 performance, missing only 33, and traveled 4799 kilometers nearly 3,000 miles. Passau is known as the Three Rivers City because it is on the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers.
From there the company would travel to Wien, i.e. Vienna, for a winter season at the Rotunde, a hall built for the 1873 Austrian Exposition at the Prater Park along the Danube. Performances were planned to begin in December when the hall was usually empty. James Bailey arranged to have the Rotunde modified for more seating and better electric lighting but local people thought it foolish to expect much of an audience to turn out during Vienna's typically very cold winters. But Bailey anticipated that by hiring a company to install 6 boilers and a radiator pipe system in the hall to provide steam heat. It proved reliable and kept the patron comfortable except for a few days in January when one boiler sprung a leak.
During the first weeks of performances that winter many of Wien's high society came to watch the show from 84 theater boxes placed around the hall just like at Wien's opera house. Many government officials and ministers, foreign ambassadors, and members of Austria's and Hungary's aristocracy honored the circus by attending and sometimes meeting the performers. Kaiser Franz Joseph came once and gave James Bailey a gold cigar case embellished with the royal cypher. Mr. Watkins also noted that Archduke Leopold Salvator and his family attended one show. I featured the Salvators in a September 2013 story, A Royal Family, which was about a set of photo postcards of this musical family.
Barnum & Bailey Circus poster circa 1900 Source: Wikimedia
In the spring of 1901 the Barnum & Bailey Circus set off on its fourth season touring Europe. From Wien, Austria they would travel to Budapest, Hungary and continue into other towns in Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Galicia, all regions within the vast Austrian-Hungarian Empire. By July they would be back in eastern Germany heading to Holland in September and Belgium by November. The winter season would be in Paris.
1901 was a difficult year of transition for the world. Queen Victoria died on January 22 succeeded by her son King Edward VII. On September 6 President William McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo, New York while attending the Pan-American Exposition. Days later Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th president of the United States.
During this year the company. Mr. Watkins wrote, "that during our thirty-one weeks on the road, we exhibited in Five great empires, visited 125 cities, gave 449 performances, and traveled a total distance of 11,110 kilometers or 6905 miles. The longest run from one city to another was 241 kilometers, while the smallest was a distance of 21 kilometers." Consider that everyone in the circus traveled by train and helped in some way to setup and take down the whole production every day. I'm exhausted just writing about this.
The last pages of Harvey L. Watkins' account of Barnum & Bailey's European tour are devoted to a roster of all the people employed by the company. It is a fascinating directory with many names reflecting the international nature of the circus world. Besides Carl Clair's military band, there was also a small Concert Company with M'lle Beatrice on soprano saxophone, Charles Diamond, the Milanese minstrel, and Ivy Howard, cornet soloist. A third musical group was a Concert Orchestra of nine players led by Robert P. Scoville. The next page listed a fourth ensemble, the Side Show Band of nine musicians led by Mr. F. Farally.
There were nine sleeping car porters listed. The Baggage Department counted 57 men including drivers approved for eight horse, six horse, and four horse teams. However no one was listed as a 40 horse driver for the bandwagon.
The canvas department was the largest section with almost 100 men responsible for rigging the big top and assorted other tents. There were numerous men in the animal department which included eight men to look after the elephants. Even the cooks, ushers, waiters and dishwashers were listed. The Barnum & Bailey company was better organized than many civic governments and probably run more efficient than an admiral's battleship.
That's the story hidden in my 1900 postcard of the Five Graces bandwagon in Berlin.
I'll finish with another color photo of The Five Graces bandwagon. This shows it in the Ringling Museum of the Circus in Sarasota, Florida. The caption on the back notes that is was built in 1878 and is "the most widely traveled circus parade vehicle in existence. The bandwagon, drawn by 40 horses, led the Barnum & Bailey European parades, 1898-1902."
The postcard was sent from Sarasota on 17 June 1970 to Miss Helen Speakman of Philadelphia. I like how the sender's handwriting is beautifully clear in both cursive and block letters. She must have had a great 4th grade teacher.
Dear Aunt Helen, Today we went through the Ringling Circus Museum and the Ringling residence in Sarasota. It was interest- ing looking at the old parade wagons, costumes, and circus posters dating back to 1860. Tomorrow we're going through tthe Ringling Art Museum and the Asolo Theater. It's really been hot down here! Dad bought us a raft. Take care! Love, Shelley
I could not find a good video of a circus bandwagon pulled by 40 horses. But I found this one of an impressive 10 horse team, so just use your imagination and multiple by four.
It was taken at the 2013 Tilligte Oldtimer Show in the Netherlands.
It could use some band music. Maybe a gallop rather than a polka.
This is a web gallery of antique photographs of musicians. Most are of people whose names are now lost in time but they represent the many kinds of players, instruments, and ensembles that once defined musical culture. But these photographs also capture a moment in the history of people and places, so I write about that too.
All the photos shown here are in my personal collection.
For Best Effect Click on the Images for a Larger View
For information on my music for horn - go to the bottom of this column.
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