Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-01

Things Which Show Management
Promises to Exhibit Here.

Promises to Exhibit Here.
If 1t IL odd, unusual and amazing things
that one wants to see, the place In which
to see them, according to the show man
who is in the city, is the Barnum &
Bailey circus. which is to be here Mon
day and Tuesday. Before the foreign
agents left for Europe last October they
were impressed with the fact that moth
ing hackneyed or old-fashioned In the
way of acts was wanted. Novelties
was the cry, and nothing was said about
expense. AS result. when the S75 per-
formers who take part in the 10 acts on
the circus program assembled in New
York 1t was found that over two hundred
Of them were Europeans. every one of
whom had a reputation in dlis own coun-
try.
It was soon found that twenty-seven
languages were spoken. and the necessity
OF Interpreters was Immediately made OBJ
vfous. At the most Opportune time a
German clown stepped into the breach
with the remark that he was a univer-
sity man and could speak twelve lam
guages fiuently. In the course of his con-
versations with the people in the circus
this clown found Hindoo In the freak
department who was q linguist. but his
great find was in the cook tent, where
he discovered waiter who was Rus
sian and who could speak almost as
many languages DIS ne COuiQ himself.
young fellow is no longer a waiter and
now has a position Of importance with
the show.
All of the foreign acts on the circus
bill this year. 1t is claimed. have an air
of novelty about them. There is a family
Of italian equestrians who do all of the
acrobatic feats that are usually per-
formed on the ground on the back OF
a swiftly moving horse. Their great feat
is the building Of what is known AS a
thrQo-hiRh ltQnA the nd 90
q man who balances himself on his head
on the bar OF a swinging trapeze and
who does a lot Of odd things while in
this upside-down position. There are
strong men and strong women and the
syiph-like creature who can tie herself
into knot as easily as she can tie
neck ribbon. There are other performers
who laugh at the laws OF grayitation, and
there are tight-rope walkers who do
more wonderful things on the invisible
wire than most people could do on the
ground.
1t used to be considered quite q feat for
a performer to balance himself on a large
sphere and work the ball around a stage
1t was considered more remarkable when
a performer worked the sphere UP and
down an incline. Now along come three
little German girls who balance one an
other while working on the globes and do
acrobatic stunts while preserving their
balance on the globes. A woman bal
ances herself upside down on the head Of
a man who calmly walks up and down a
flight Of stairs with his burden. Another
woman stands on one foot ON the head Of
q man who carries her around in this
position as If it were the easiest thing in
all of the world.
The prettiest girl in the circus turns a
triple somersault, q feat that many male
circus performers hate nearly killed
themselves in trying to accomplish In -..e
past. In its entirety the circus is GER
tainly q wonderful AFFAIR this season and
one with any number of features which
will be remembered for long time by
those who see them