At the Circus. Vintage photographs of Circus Performers and Trainers from the Jim Linderman Collection

Most of these antique circus photographs have appeared on the Dull Tool Dim Bulb blog before, each with a story and some documentation. This post is just to look. Various 19th and 20th century circus photographs Collection Jim Linderman

Black Sideshow Minstrels of Nashville: Jerri Jackson and the Hi Steppers of 1952 R&B Rock and Roll

The High Steppers of 52!  The unknown sideshow photographer kept good notes too.  Seldom does a photograph caption squeeze in so much information.  However, the real story isn't the Cetlin and Wilson Shows mentioned.  It is the remarkable all African-American cast and crew bringing hot music and dancing to the greater community at a time when the races hardly met.

Here, the High Steppers are performing in Heidelberg, Pennsylvania.  Over 60 years later the population of Heidelberg is still 98% white.  The kids watching the show had probably never seen anything like it.

The traveling troupe was organized by Jerrie Jackson, shown here in a photograph from the Country Music Hall of Fame collection.  Country?  Jerrie Jackson was based in Nashville.  Ground zero for white country music.  Still, there was an active R&B scene in Nashville, and the book A Shot in the Dark: Making Records in Nashville briefly mentions Mr. Jackson's work on the very first release from the legendary Excello Record label.  The disc is credited to Willie Lee Patton and "The Charlie Dowell Orchestra" but Martin Hawkins suggests he was really using the Jerrie Jackson Revue as his musicians.  Dowell was a tap dancer in the HI / High Steppers and Wilie Lee Patton was in the chorus.  

The best source for the High Steppers story is an obscure book The Sound of Applause by Audrey Taylor Henry.  Her book claims to be "A History of Medieval and Modern Outdoor Entertainment Forms Introducing Three African-American Showmen" but it is even more.  The author had numerous personal connections to the High Stepper members, and she shares stories about an extended black family who grew up on the circuit.

The book has an odd format.  Chapters are followed by "quiz questions" as in a textbook. She also has an extensive glossary of carnival terms.  A surprising number have African-American roots.  These include dance forms such as Krumping, Mess Around, Poppin',  Snake Hips and the Tack Annie.  Even those in the trade referred to the act as a "jig" show. 

Jerri Jackson was born in Georgia in 1907. He learned piano and performed with his church choir, but he likely didn't perform any gospel with the High Steppers Act. Exotic dancers seldom perform in church.  He paid his performers well.  Members received 50 dollars a week, and in the off seasons were also employed to perform in "ethnic" clubs and the Bijou Theatre in Nashville.  He was referred to as the local impresario in Nashville and was active booking and producing acts in the Theater Owners Booking Association which catered to black audiences.

Mr. Jackson's first colored revue was known as The Hip Cats Minstrel Review active in the 1940s. 

Billboard Magazine reported in 1951 that "Jerri Jackson's Hi Steppers and the Divena, underwater strip tease show were the leading money earners" in Macon, Ga.

The High Steppers touring stage had signs reading "Rock "N" Roll Special Midnight Ramble" and "Rock 'N Roll with Jerry Jackson's High Steppers" back when the phrase had hardly emerged.  In Levon Helm's biography, he credits a similar act known as the Rabbit Foot Minstrels as an influence.   

Black showmen operating in the Jim Crow era have not received the attention they deserve.  The massive Bear Family box set Nashville Jumps, Blues & Rhythm 1945 - 1955 is a good start. Black in Blackface: A sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows by Henry Sampson is too. 
 
Yes, there were black minstrel shows without white performers in black face.  Here is another.

Original Photograph Collection Jim Linderman

Gay Aquatic Review and Mike Duffy Miniature Sideshow Carnival At the Circus in Black and White

I've done thirty or more "at the circus in black and white" posts here over the years, but this one is most curious.  The snapshot appears to show a MINIATURE circus.  Small period signs announce the performers.  A tiny "Cotton Club" stage and show.  The snapshot reverse reads "Mike Duffy and nephew on horse.  Carnival Midway front and background".  No date, but 1930 to 1950 I presume.  I have no idea what the "Gay Aquatic Revue" is.  

Original snapshot photograph of miniature Duffy Circus Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb 

Fun House Mirror and a Camera Selfie Vernacular Photograph

Fun House Mirror and a Camera Selfie original snapshot c. 1955 Collection Jim Linderman

Sideshow Banners Vintage Photographs of a Ten-in-One

A "Ten in One" is a sideshow with ten different shows.  This one had a dozen.  
Sideshow Banners Vintage Photographs of a Ten-in-One Anonymous, no date.
Collection Jim Linderman

Ray Oakes and Sons Crooked Carnival Sideshow Games Add Em Up Dart Board

An add-em-up dart board from Ray Oakes.  Below it, Ray proudly stands before some of his other scams! Mr. Oakes and his sons (one who took over the business when the old man died) sold carnival and sideshow games designed to remove quarters from one person and put them into the heavy pockets of others.  

The Add Em Up dart game is an example of a razzle-dazzle.  The vocal delivery of the carny is as important as where the darts actually land.  During the 1950s, any game involving math was a pretty safe bet in rural America.  Often the boards had numbers printed so small, they could not be read from the dart throwing spot.  "NO LEANING".  Some had numbers which would be subtracted from the total, so a player really never knew where he stood.  Along with some confusing patter designed to bring the "total points" to a meaningless (and prize-less) number, the frustrated mark would leave and try the next game.  Move along, or look even more stupid when you try to logic it out.

Oakes worked from Tampa Florida and Illinois during the mid 20th century.  They sold carnival punks (the rack of cats shown here) and other sketchy sideshow games to operators all over the country.  

ADDEMUP

Add-em-Up game cardboard sign or dartboard circa 1950  Thanks to our friends at BOX LOTS on Facebook.

Antique Bowling Game Sideshow Carnival Made by Hand Folk Art

Someone threw the ball too hard, but this is the only example I have seen.  A make-shift carnival bowling game.  Plywood with complicated workings...I am going to guess this comes from the transitional days of the sideshow, when handmade gaming objects and targets were changing from somewhat primitive contraptions to more modern.  The mechanism might have been sold from a catalog, then assembled by the recipient...who knows.  Sold with a template to cut and install the works?  Ten pins and six llights.  Seriously, who knows?  The object, good from both sides, is 21" tall and 21" across.  I'm guessing 1940ish?  

Early Carnival Bowling Game collection Jim Linderman
NOTE:  Friend and follower Harold Gaines found the answer!
Since pinball machines and the like were made in very small quantities, the old ones look pretty sketchy once you pop them open and look beyond the fancy glass and cool art to see how they were put together.  They were basically hand-made, one at a time.  However, being professionals at the coin-op compaines, they did things like countersink lightbulb recesses that even a good amateur wouldn't.  Further, although your piece is in pretty bad shape, the quality is too high for a 1940's amateur job.  They just didn't have the specialized stuff like routers to make the professional looking cutout sections, soldered ring connectors with multiple colors of wire, etc.  It looks like the wiring is a combination of cloth and plastic insulated.  Plastic insulated wire wasn't introduced until the 1950's.  Finally, the rusty marks on the back side look way too symmetrical for an amatuer (especially a carny).  It looks like it was mated almost perfectly to something metallic, which was also very precisely made.  It just looks too well made to me even in it's (very) rough condition.  The guys at link could probably take one look at your pics and tell you, though. 

Risque Hurly Burly Hootchie Cootchie Dancers of Professor G. W. Van Sideshow Burlesque

CLICK TO ENLARGE COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

CLICK TO ENLARGE  COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

 

COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

Professor G. W. Van presents his talent in this, frankly, remarkable group of photographs I was able to purchase recently.  They are unusual not only for the content, which shows a pleasant afternoon full of hurly-burly, hootchie-cootchie and risqué behavior for the time, but also splendid examples of period dress, gentlemen when hats were virtually required (even for dusty fairgrounds) and a wonderful group of original painted sideshow banners.

The same banners are shown elsewhere in a photograph dated 1915.

Prof. G.W.Van was from Lockhaven, PA according to one of my heroes A. Stencell, who promised me an interview once but I am too intimidated.  His book Seeing is Believing is essential for anyone interested in sideshow history (or simply a good book)

I don't watermark items from my collection posted, but credit appropriately if you repost. 

The New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown owns a photo of the same touring troupe HERE


Group of Original Photographs Anonymous circa 1915 G.W. Van sideshow 
Collection Jim Linderman

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Circus Acrobat Nellie Bellmore in Frank Wendt Cabinet Card Photographs 1895

A pair of Frank Wendt Cabinet Card photographs circa 1895 depicting a lovely young acrobat named Nellie Bellmore or Nelli Regina.  One would likely be a stage name (?) but which?  I frequently hear from relatives on this and the other sites, so I always try to include names.  If anyone has information on the performer, please write in.

Frank Wendt was a sideshow and circus freak photographer from the Bowery and later Boonton, New Jersey. 

Walter Main Circus Photograph in 1922 Collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE Collection Jim Linderman No Use without Permission.

Original Photograph 8 x 11 1922 by Andrew Downes "Walter L. Main 1922" on reverse collection Jim Linderman

Art and Photography Ebooks by Jim Linderman ($5.99 Each) are available  HERE

Carnival Shooting Gallery Target in the Shape of a Cannon

Carnival Sideshow Shooting Gallery Target in the Shape of a Cannon No Date (circa 1930?)  12" across  Collection Jim Linderman

Spectacular Circus Banners Hanging in 1963 At the Circus in Black and White (and Color) #34 collection Jim Linderman

A group of exceptional circus banners in a pair of 1963 snapshots of the Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus.  Folks often think the glory days of the circus banner was long gone by then, but these look pretty good.  A real phantasmagoria!  Note matronly visitors standing near the entrance.  

Pair of original snapshot photographs dated 1963  Collection Jim Linderman


AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE is a occasional feature on Dull Tool Dim Bulb. This is number 34 in the series.

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Skat the Cat and her Bean Bag Toss Friends Sideshow

Scat the Cat and her bean bag buddies.  Toss through mouth!

Circa 1940  Collection Jim Linderman

Goofus Glass Carnival Glass FREE Origin of the Collectable RPPC collection Jim Linderman

Carnival Glass was largely given away or sold cheap, as you can see here, at carnivals.  The booth reads FREE but I am sure they had some angle.  It is also called "Goofus Glass" as the decoration was cheap and wore off, hence people felt it was goofy or that the seller had tried to "goof us" according to Wiki.  It is highly collectable today, but according to me this real photo post card is far more scarce than goofus glass. Not only does it show the questionable source of the glass, it has a few sleazy carnies hovering around for the photo.


"FREE" Carnival booth with glass and notions Real Photo Post Card dated on reverse 1908 Collection Jim Linderman


Order Books and affordable Ebooks for iPAD ($5.99 each) by Jim Linderman HERE at Blurb.

Fat Man Tintype Circus Sideshow or Just a Large Man? Collection Jim Linderman

Certainly the largest man I've ever seen fit onto a tintype.  Sideshow performer or just portly?

Tintype circa 1870 collection Jim Linderman

(See also THE PAINTED BACKDROP: BEHIND THE SITTER by Jim Linderman NOW AVAILABLE AS A $5.99 DOWNLOAD FOR IPAD HERE

Rack of Carnival Knock-Down Punks and the Great Bicycle Ramp Jump Collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE (collection Jim Linderman)

CLICK TO ENLARGE collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE collection Jim Linderman

A big chunk of early carnival history on one photograph.  A rack of knock-down targets sit underneath the giant wooden ramp of death for a bicycle daredevil above.  I suppose one could take the time to squint at the signs and identify the location of this carnival which took over main street for a while, but what I here is already enough for me.  Oh...and a nice ball toss target with a big mouth.

Carnival Real Photo Postcard (AZO Kodak) circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

Baby Betty on Highway 61

Baby Betty RPCC Collection Jim Linderman

In a convoluted story which reads like a mid-1960s Bob Dylan song off Highway 61, Fat lady Baby Betty sued sword swallower Patricia Smith for $3000 after being hit on the head with a soda bottle.  See the original story reported HERE by the AP, or use your imagination.

There was little midgets
and a long-haired gal
Great Shackles Charles
at the nasty trial

Dainty Dotty turned
to show some leg
her stockings fell
the judge turned red

Them Hula dancers
witnessed the row
Just keep quiet honey
and you'll get yours

Baby Betty Real Photo Postcard circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

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Giant Man on Stilts Boy with Hoop Photograph Collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE THE MAN ON STILTS

Urchins crowd around the Man on Stilts in this lovely early photograph.  Circa 1900 - 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

See also ARCANE AMERICANA by Jim Linderman Selected "BOOK OF THE WEEK" at blurb.com.  Available in Paperback or ebook for ipad.

King of the Squirrels Sideshow Shooting Gallery Target Squirrel

My "King of the Squirrels" shooting gallery target comes courtesy Candler Arts, a fine web source for unusual American folk art, primitives and curiosities.  Run by Kevin Duffy, the site is always a visual treat.  The Candler Arts blog shows a wide variety of objects, consistently worth seeing, and the corresponding gallery offers select items for sale.  A good reason to look is posted now, as the wonderful sideshow "game of numbers" shown below is there now.

I bought King Squirrel as I have been overrun.  The house is surrounded by giant maple trees, and this seems to have been a particularly heavy season for helicopter seeds.  You know the kind.  Evolution designed them to twirl down to the ground slowly, whirling as they go, to provide the seed a soft landing.  They make a feast for squirrels.  They have become every bit as annoying as pigeons were to me in the city, but without wings.  Unlike pigeons, you see the young, and even they fly from tree to tree like tiny Tarzans with tails.  They can expect to live about six years...unless I get good here with King.

Early cast iron shooting gallery targets came in racks and this one has the original mount and cotter which held it on.  I suspect the KING tag is probably as that was the manufacturer or name of the touring carnival. 

Candler Arts blog is HERE and the.gallery is HERE

Game of Numbers Courtesy Candler Arts

Early 20th Century Cast Iron Shooting Gallery Target collection Jim Linderman

Dull Tool Dim Bulb books and Ebook downloads are HERE

Champion Sword Swallower of the World Collection Jim Linderman Cabinet Card

Melle Clifford Champion Sword Swallower of the World Cabinet Card by Frank Wendt Circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

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