The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-09-16
BIRMIN CHAM HAD A CIRCUS
1t Was Not Big One, But Was Wei
Attended

Birmingham had a circus last night.
Everybody went. The circus Was not of
the three-ring variety, with menagerie at
tached, but there was lots of room and
all the seats were taken.
Everything in circus line was produced,
even to the man who with stentorian
voice comes to the middle of the ring and
announces that frst-class minstrel turn
will follow the main performance, land the
show Is not yet half over
Taken as a whole the show was excel
lent. There was well-trained pony, a
funny mule, several aerobatic turns and
clown. Though his jokes smacked of an
tiquity, the crowd was goodyna tured and
nh said Clown appeared very funny. He did
not sing a song.
The best feature eff the performance was
the acrobatic turn of two Japs. These ORR
entails were really artistic in their line, and
when one lay on his back and threw the
other a triple somersault from his feet, the
act was greeted with tremendous applause.
The contortionist was also good. He
attired in a costume of mixed green and
white, and when mis- body became twisted
into all sorts of shapes the mass of legs
and arms resembled a frog more than
human being.
At this juncture the man who talked for
the minstrel appeared in the center eff the
ring and made very pretty little talk.
Then followed a woman with strong teeth.
She attached her molars to rope and was
pulled to the top of the tent, twisting all
the way down, to the delight of the crowd.
The next act got the crowd into uproar-
Gus laughter and closed the main perform
ence. A mule was brought out, and the
clown offered So to any man who would
ride around the ring three times. At least
a half dozen negroes attempted the feat.
but fell to the ground with success. FL
nally big, stout African descendant hit
upon the idea of riding backwards, that is,
locking his legs around the mules neck
and turning his head towards the east end
OF the mule in his journey west. This
worked successfully for one round, but the
mule became tired of the performance and
ran. under a rope. There was not enough
space for the end of the negro next TO the
mules head and he fell ON his face in the
ring. Then followed the concert.
AS a minstrel performance, this was an
abortion, but for cents it was good. One
of the Ethiopian artists made gaunt fail
ure at walking the cake walk and another
came out and sang sweet little song. He
also cracked an Old joke, for which any
body on the outside would have been ar
rested This was not to be always, for 4
Jap came to the front and did very cred
itable 1egerdemain performance. female
of the burnt cork variety also got off some
very good ragtime talk followed by buck
dancing. The man with the stentorian
voice had previously announced that the
performance would be given on an ele-
waited stage. And it was. The elevation
did not exceed one inch and consisted of
two plank doors, but it saved the man
from a false representation of facts, and
the crowd was pleased. The Jap and the
female buck dancer got all of the applause
In the minstrel after the show.
Cooper and Company Will give TWO more
performances today, one in the afternoon
and one at night. The Show is We'll worth
the price of admission, and if the size of
last nights crowd is a criterion, the tent
will be packed with those who love the
circus