The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-08-15
SOME CIRCUS 1NFoRMAT1oN,

L.. BeS anu FehburoB-
IAN elevated stage, Mr.. Bailey, did you
say?"
Eyes, sir, an elevated stage for the
purpose OF exhibiting number of diff
ferent feats that could not be performed
in the ring on the ground"
And do you carry it from place to
placew
Certainly. And we erect it between
twO'Of the circus rings. We could not
give the performance of the Elliott chill
dren otherwise. They consist of very
difficult feats upon the bicycle and uni
cycle, the latter never seen in this cOun-
try BEFORE"
i. us not the carrying of a stage a new
thing in circus businessp"
1T is, sir, and before long you will
i see L shall Introduce class of enter
tainment into the circus business that
| Will cause the utmost surprise. Every.
thing has to have a beginning, and /
am only now commencing to lay the
foundation of what in the near future
will totally reOrganize this style of en-
tertainment. Even now / may say,
without fear of contradiction from any
source, that through the efforts of my
self and partners, Messrs. Barnum and
Hutchinson, we have elevated the bust
| ness and make 1t assume a higher tone
throughout. We will not engage people
that are addicted to any of the sO-calied
common vices, and one may be sure, in
taking his family to our shows, they
will not be offended at anything said or
done therein. The whole affair Is sim
ply popular form of amusement and
recreation eminently fitted to the proper
understanding of all classes"
| This was said by Mr.. JAS. A. Bailey,
one OF the pTOprietOrs of Barnum. Bail
| ey u HutchinsOn's Barnum and Great
| London Shows, to q reporter. Mr.. Bail
| ey is quite young man, being only 36,
but Is acknowledged, despite his years,
| to be the Napoleon of the circus business
and one of the most successful of men,
/ standing as monument among the self
made men of our times.
"FOr years, Continued Mr.. Bailey, the
people of this country have had placed
before them the same old features, the
same style of equestrianism, and In
many cases the same old shows. But
year after year | am making improve
ments in all our departments, enlarging
some, bettering others, suggesting here
| and remedying there, until this year it
has eliminated in tremendously large
show, embOdying eight show depart
ments."
May ask what they are, as we'll as
| other facts connected with your enter
prisep"
"a triple circus in three rings and
upon stage, two menageries, a muse
um Of living curiOsities, an elephant pa
ViliOn and a revival of the old Roman
hipDOdrOme, with it's glorious races. In
stead of the old, stereOtyped ring per-
fOrmances we have thrilling Roman ra-
ces with chariOts, elephants, camels,
horses, men and women, &C., and the
most expert male and female Jockey ri
ders. Besides these there are the mon
ster Jumbo, the nursing baby elephant
and mother, 27 other elephants, 80 cam
els, Ostriches, giraffes. &c. There are
the native Nubians, Cannibals, ZuIus,
Aztecs, Sioux Indians, Sc. There are
6l4 men with the show, five advertising
cars and 160 men and seventeen agents
ahead or in advance. tent whose ca
paeity Is 10000, covering eight acres of
ground. A hippOdrOme forty feet wide
and the entire length of the big tent.
There are enough railroad cars to cover
mile of track, all our own, and an end
less number of animal cages, musical
chariOts, 400 horses, ponies, &C."
docs MIR. Barnum travel with your"
"Oh, yes, sir; but not all the time.
For man of his years he is one of the
most active alive. He is seVenty-fOur."
How high is Jumbo, Mr.. Baileyp"
"Ohl now you ask me too much. Do
you know, sir, that he has never been
accurately measured to my knOWledgep
| know he stands exceedingly high in
the estimation of all who have seen him.
With the smiling little children on his
back, l should say he felt very big and
proud animal"
What are the expenses of your show
dayP"
well, sir, we advertise that they are
81 800 day, rain or shine; but they will
exceed this amount, for much money Is
expended after our printing is done; for
instance, we deposited with bankers in
New York City $4,000, to be drawn
upon by our agents in Europe. They
make journeys to Nubia, Australia, Sand
wich Islands, etc., and the money they
expended to secure attractions, and
their own expenses, were not counted in
the figures gave you. When we pur-
chased Jumbo, the first cost was more
than doubled in the great preparations
necessary for transportation to this
country, the duty, ETC., etc. Our ex-
penses now are about two or three hun
dred dollars day more than $4,8OO."
What are your ring or rings attrac
tiOns?"
"Of every conceivable kind and char
acter that the gathering of several hun
dred experts can do, and some that
would really astOniSh and bewilder,
while exciting wonder and awe. There
are also comic, grOtesque and laughable
features. The race in the hippOdrOme
is one Of the most puzzling, intricate
and amusing affairs ever seen, and is
another innovation in the business.
The dude clown you must see for your
self. Why, sir, when these things were
exhibited in New York it fairly crazed
the people. No theateT in the town could
draw handful of people, and we re-
mained there four weeks, crOwding ev
cry performance"
ANY other clOwns2"
about a dozen, and the best of it is
nearly all are of the pantOmimic kind,
another innovation on the old style.
When you see the show, sir, you will be
even more enthusiastic than / am about
it. being one of the prOprietOrs am
not so apt to extOl all the good features
as probably some other person. You
will see it all next Friday and the