The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-20
HAGENBECK SHOW A REAL THRILLER
 IN ALL DIVISIONS
Lion Act of Emil Schweyer Most Marvellous Even Seen Here-Equestrian Acts
 Are Also Excellent

The Hagenbeck-W Wallace shows came to town yesterday and gave two perform ances at Smiths park. Two more will be given today. The advance literature extolling the numerous unique attrac- tions and assortment of acts was not ex- aggerated. The show abounds with thrill ing acts of every sort, many of them entirely new.
 The Hagenbeck-Wallace menagerie is among the finest in existence. Animals of all sorts are on exhibit and most of them are trained. The most exciting and novel act of the entire programme was the performing lions under the direction of Emil Schweyer. At one time there were a dozen lions in the arena with Sehweyer. all of them performing tricks. The control of the trainer over his charges was nothing sbort of marvellous. Many times the beasts snarled and struck at him but always the mans agility saved him. Schweyer never took his eyes off the animals while he struck them with the lash to let thom know he was their master. Some of the chances that the trainer took made cold chiils run up and -dewn the spectators back.
 The beasts are handled as though they were pets instead of Barbary African lions. The climax comes when Schweyer places his head in the jaws of the largest and most feroeious beast of the lot Pre- viously the animal and it's trainer had had tilt. the lion roaring and skipping angrily at the trainer. The lion was made to lie down. like a dog, and allow him self to be pulled about the arena by the tail Then, the trainer lay down be- side the animal and forced his jaws open. Without hesitation he placed his head between the jaws of the beast There was a nervous thrill. a few excamations of fear and the stunt was over. At the conclusion of the act Schweyer takes a large piece of beefsteak and places one end of it in his mouth and the other in the mouth of the beast. The lion grad uaily eats the piece - meat until he gets to the place where Schweyer has the other end between his teeth. At a signal from the trainer. the lion stops eating, and waits until the meat is removed from the mouth of his master and the signal siven to eat the remainder. The lions and leopards do their act in an arena i'll the middle of the tent entirely enclosed.
 Von Ritter booked as head balancer. showed that he deserved the title of be- ing the greatest balancer on earth by doing the unusual. Won Ritter balanced on his head on strand of wire, stretched from the ground to a high point in the middle of the tent, and slides down a distance of 5G feet. The wire is difficult to walk up much less to slide down on the top of the head to the ground. The stunt has thrillers of other years backed off the boards and everyone held their breath while the stunt is done.
 The horses are numerous and extreme ly well kept. The equestrian acts are good. The trapese performers, acrobats all of merit. The clowns pull off some making the crowd laugh all the while The clowns band made hit with its weird music and comical leader.
 The show consists of three rings and two stages. They are engaged by the various acts for more than two hours and the only difficulty that the audience experiences is that 1t is impossible to see all the things that are going on at the same time. The Hagenbeck-W Wallace shows have specialized on trained animals. Every sort of an animal in existence is trained and includes everything from ducks and pigs to elephants and lions.
 The grand finale consists of chariot rs.ccs Arab races, Roman races, stand ing double-team races and running races. There will be no parade this morning, although two performances will be given, one this afternoon and one tonight. The tent is large and the seats comfortable. Judging by the advance sale a big crowd will be on hand to see the two per- formances of a really big, up-to-date rsr