The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1908-04-23

clown had the ring all to himself, even
the band ceasing to play until the
clown sang or got off his jokes, after
which the rider resumed the perform
ance.
All riders In those days were "cham-
pions' in the show printing. The press
agent invariably wreathed these cham
pions in laurels wrested from other
champions, and on the dead walls their
breasts were adorned with rich medals
Of superlative merit.
There were such champions as
Charles w. Fish, Martino Lowande,
William Demott, William Showles.
Robert Stickney, William Ducrow, Jim
Robinson, Jim Melville, his son, Frank
Melville, aid many others.
Among the clowns of renown in the
earlier days were Jim Cooke, the
Shakespearean clown; Johnny Patter-
son, the Irish clown; Joe Pentland.
Dan Rice, Billy Burke, etc. Their pay
was nearly as high as that of the rid
ers. Clowns and riders were the only
real expensive attractions Of the circus
| up to the year 1870.
A year or two later P. T. Barnum
and his associates, w. c. Coup and Dan
Costello, introduced hippodrome, and
that feature became a fixture in the
circus performance and necessitated
the big tent. The hlppolrome scpa-
rated the audience SO widely from the
performers that the old singing and
talking clown soon vanished.
His place was taken by the silent
funmakers Of today. From being 4
chief feature the clown became a mere
pantomimist, relegated to the waits.
The hippodrome multiplied riders and
cheapened them, so they, too lost in-
dividuality. The distance and multi
plicity of features enabled the show
men to run in mediocre riding acts in
stead of the first class ones formerly
necessary. The sharp rivalry charac-
teristic Of the one ring days was dead.
The hippodrome. which furnishes
half an hours entertainment, is itself
relatively the cheapest part of the per-
formance today.
When Maude Oswald was Il hippo
drome rider, the races were hotly con-
tested. So great was this rivalry at
times that the management had to in
terfere, not because of tie danger to
, the contestants, but for fear that they
!. might injure the horses or other prop
erty The riders owned their individ-
ual necks and could be replaced ut any
time without expense to the show.
Nowadays the hippodrome personnel
: is made up of the odds and ends and
!. costs little or nothing extra. a clown
;, will become "Roman" rider: his wife
will drive chariot. Half Il dozen wo.
: men. some of them sewing girls in the
! wardrobe department. make mp the Ii.
dies fat races. An equal number OF
stable grooms will do the crack jockey
= races.
4 A few dogs run around the track
y once, and it is called the "whippet dog
!. race;" half dozen terror stricken
: monkeys are strapped to pony saddles
: and their frantic fear sends the au
dience into commissions of laughter.
Hc OH. really IlStitoiiouS i'ttuis
;. Of the hippodrOme is that of the fine
;, jumping horses introduced in modern
r. days. Then come the chariot races. the
! cheapest kind of affairs. but furnish
] ing perhaps the most thrilling excite
. ment to the average country crowd
There used to be elephant and came
i. races, but the brutal manner in which
:, it was necessary to goad and prod
these unfortunatcs in order to get them
to run at all was so repnlsivc TO the
gentle hearted In the audience that
these races had to be eliminated,
The hippodrOme as circus feature
:, is popular with showmen because
+; cheap and a good filler Nobody has
. to be hired for it. The obligation Is
: put into certain contracts.
!. The harmless little press agent sto
/, ries as to the tremendous outlay in sal
;, aries nnd all that which may seem t.
:. conflict with anything here set down
:. !. may be rclegated to the fiction depart
ment The real cost of running a biz
:: = show is considerably less than any 9th
" er business in like capitalizaton.-B Bal
= timOre Sun.