The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-06
HE WAS IN MONTGOMERY WITH ROBINSON IN 1868.
Although n Years old and weil-tO- Do He Continues to Travel With. the Tents and the
 aBarkers.o

There was a man in Montgomery all of last week. who knows more, per- haps, about the evolution of the great American amusement, the circus, than any human being now alive.
 That man was Samuel Joseph, who is an advance representative of the Dan Robinson Amusement Company, which furnished the attractions for the EaRies,, Street ,Fairatr
 Mir, Joseph was intimately associat- ed With old John Robinson practical iy the father of the American circus. The great P. T. Barnum was his close personal friend. In days gone by he worked for Adam Forepaugh. the Sella Brothers and has toured every State in the Union with these tented shows.
 This aged snowman has made mill lions for many. He himself has made and lost several small fortunes, but at the age of Fl he still sticks to the show business and declares that he will die in the harness. Mfr. Joseph would be very desolate, indeed, if ev- cry day he did not see canvass play houses and hear the discordant cry Of the barker" He has a son in Phila- delphia, who is wealthy and AouId have his father with him but aShxed home would mar the happiness of this veteran snowman. He must have a change of scene at least once a week. He has been in the business too long An old dog cannot learn new tricks
 Like all old showmen, Mir. Joseph re- 1igiously conforms to the old ideas of dress of the men who worked around canvas tents. His figure Qn the street is noticeable. The tall silk hat, the long Prince Albert coat. the sweeping mustache, the horseshoe scarf pin. the big black cigar are ever with him. In connection with this conformity to the old styae of dress. Doc Waddell, anotn- CT old circus man, who was in Mont- gomery last week. ahead of the Faust Minstrels tells a story.
 T was in a down East town durin q. a carnival week. said WaddeIl "and ran Into A number of showmen I cas- ually mentioned old man Joseph and was told he was in town. Where we were standing the crowd was particu- iarly dense. but moving about in. it. I saw a plug hat. There's old Joeenh for dollar said I. and old Joseph it was,''
 Mir. Joseph talks interestingly about the evolution of the circus
 When, as a boy. I entered the cir- GUS business" he said, we travelled si- together by wagons. Circuses were not the mammoth things then thai they are now. A 100-foot canvas vUa. considered enormous and only one can. vas was carried. Sometimes we had one small sideshow. but generally the sideshow was placed under the ona tent and the performances were given after the circus performance, just as the circus concerts are in these days. This. show was always of the negro minstrel order and was composed Of banjo players and plantation singers
 "A menagerie, such as all shows carry now, was unheard of. When A show carried an elephant in those days that show was d wonder.
 T first toured Alabama with John Robinson In 1868 and I remember plsv- ing in Montgomery. The Advertiser building in those days was situated on Court Square and I met Major w. w Screws now editor of The Advertiser. on my first trip. Since that time I