Bob: Wonderful photos. Who was the photographer/collector? The late RBBB trainmaster Charlie Smith, who performed on Ben Davenport's Society Circus in the early 1930s, took credit for introducing Davenport to Harry Hammill, who took Austin Bros. on the rails. (Smith worked in Hammill's WWII parachute-packing business at Coleman, Texas,) Hammill bought out Eva Davenport's share in Dailey Bros. in late 1948 after Ben and Eva separated. The partnership broke up in September 1950 when the grift-ridden Dailey Bros. Circus went belly up at Hope, Arkansas.
I performed from 1973 to 1995 with a couple years off in between. I did an aerial cradle act for three years, low wire as a clown, trained llamas, ponies, then lions and tigers for 15 years. I am now a firefighter, a member of the Circus Historical Society and an author of several circus and carnival related subjects.
5 comments:
Here's a challenge. Identify the wagons that were the sources for the skyboard carvings on Jacobs' big cages.
Good thing I'm off today. My initial observations are that they did not exist in 1945 but they are there in 1947. The search continues.
Bob
Bob: Wonderful photos. Who was the photographer/collector? The late RBBB trainmaster Charlie Smith, who performed on Ben Davenport's Society Circus in the early 1930s, took credit for introducing Davenport to Harry Hammill, who took Austin Bros. on the rails. (Smith worked in Hammill's WWII parachute-packing business at Coleman, Texas,) Hammill bought out Eva Davenport's share in Dailey Bros. in late 1948 after Ben and Eva separated. The partnership broke up in September 1950 when the grift-ridden Dailey Bros. Circus went belly up at Hope, Arkansas.
Lane,
I have no idea who photographed these. They aren't marked.
Bob
Bob & Lane;
Some of these photos are in that Bandwagon article and they are credited to Bob Parkinson.
Jerry Cash
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