The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-04-01
SPARKS CIRCUS HAS -.
MANY UNIQUE FEATURES

/. A Good, Clean Show Presented I'M
Greenwood April sth,-Wesley's s
4 Seals Fine Performers.
:. Marquette (Mich.) Daily Mining
}, >...- Journal.)
r Large crowds attended both per-
, formances of Sparks circus yester-
! day. The show arrived early. in the
, morning and pitched it's tents in the
, old fair grounds at the foot of Third
street. At noon a procession formed
/ and paraded the principal streets.
In many respects Sparks sohws are
; unique. The program of the "big
: show" contains fourteen features.
} The performance is under the direc.-
ti6n of Bert Mayo, ringmaster. AMI
!, fexcellent concert band added it's quo
ia of music. I
The crowds gathered early at the
fgrounds. The various concessions re-
ceived heavy patronage and the "side-
: shows" attracted large crowds. Thei
: shows were preceded by a reputationl
for being eclean" organization, havl
| ing no gambling or ''skin game" con-
cessions connected with them.,i That
the management lives up to its repu-
itation was proved yesterday. There
was nothing at the circus lot which
|: could in any way ogend the most
fastidious. This is due in a large
measure to the fact that Samuel VIZ
:. Sparks, proprietor and manager pfl
the show, travels with the. organiza-|
ton and personally directs the busi-
ness. Owing, however, to the fact
that Mr.. Sparks is in Chicago pub
chasing new Pullman car to. replace
one that burined recently near Bark,
River Delto fcounty, while the circus
train was under way, he was not
with the show in this city yesterday.
|. Probably the best number on the
varied and interesting program was
the. performance of Captain Wesley's
trained seals. There were FIVE of
;hese and the tricks they did were
remarkable. Batons, balls, canes,
sticks, chairs, anything the! trainer
would give them, they would, juggle
on the tips of the pointed hoses, con-
torting their sleek, wet bodies with a,
facility that caused one to marvel
that they were creatures of bone and
muscle. Invariably at the end of each
itstunt" the trainer would toss each
scala raw fish. No matter how care
lessly these would be thrown, the seal
woul dinvariably catch them and
| every time without ,"mufing."
The bicycle act of the Reynolds,
which is the first number after the
parade around the course, is re-
markable series of feats. This is, fol-
lowed by the Guice Bros, in triple
bar act, dancing horsefact, fe- tur-
ing Mrs. Bert Mayo, and conclavs
of three exhibitions. Thetlatter are
Miss Bartelle in lofty trapeze act,
the Valentines, who appear later in
trapeze act, and the Armenian con-
tortionists. The latter were specially
good. - !.
Another feature of the circus is the
trained elephants, under the direction
( of Professor Lewis Reed. This act
! was in many respects unique. The
trainer in case lies on his back be-
meath the huge body of his Il largest
animal while it squats over him on all
fours, leaving just enough room so
that the body of the trainer. is not
squeezed. The other elephants form
pyramid on the back of the squat
ting animal. A baseball game in
which the animals go through the mo-
tions of play is side splitting in its
egect upon the spectators.
Miss Myrtle Mayo and her troupe
of trained Arabian horses, Hezekiah,
trained balky mule, introducing a
novelty clown act, Walter Guice,
equestrian, and an aerial perform
ance by the Fisher sisters, who hang
suspended from the tent4top by their
teeth and the revolving table act, in
whcih a diminutive pony 'tpr9s a:cir