Al G. Barnes Circus

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Al G. Barnes Circus
File:Truly Big Show.JPG
Origin
CountryUnited States
Founder(s)Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse
Year founded1895
Information
FatePurchased by the American Circus Corporation in 1929. Stopped touring after 1938.

Al G. Barnes Circus was an American circus run by Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse that operated from 1898 to 1938. During the 1920s the circus’ winter home was a settlement called Barnes City in southern California where they operated a zoo and amusement park.

History[edit]

Stonehouse started his show in 1895 with a pony, a phonograph, and a stereopticon.[1] By 1929, the "Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Show" had grown to five rings and it was purchased by the American Circus Corporation. American Circus already owned the Sells-Floto Circus, John Robinson Shows, Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, and Sparks Circus. That same year John Ringling, the owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, bought out the American Circus Corporation.[2][3]

The five circuses that were part of that acquisition continued to tour under their own names, but were closed one-by-one during the Great Depression. In 1937 the Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Show and Sells Floto were combined into one circus. That circus, Al G. Barnes Sells-Floto toured in 1937 and 1938.[4]

In 1938 the co-owned Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows was experiencing labor problems which ultimately led to the circus being closed after performances in Scranton, Pennsylvania on June 22.[5] After regrouping at the circus winter quarters in Sarasota, Florida the Ringling-Barnum circus trains were dispatched to Redfield, South Dakota where the two circuses met and were combined into a yet larger circus featuring many of the major stars from Ringling-Barnum. The circus toured from July 11 until November 27, 1938, as "Al G. Barnes and Sells-Floto Circus Presenting Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Stupendous New Features.[6] Among the attractions that were featured were big game hunter "Bring 'em Back Alive Frank Buck" and the gorilla Gargantua. When the show finished its season however, rather than returning to its own winter quarters in Baldwin Park, California, the circus trains traveled to the Ringling winter quarters near Sarasota, Florida, never to emerge again.[7][8]

One of their more famous animals was Black Diamond, an Indian elephant whose unpredictable temper resulted in the deaths of several people and was shot between 50 and 100 times in 1929, before his own death.[9]

Human employees[edit]

Although the Al G. Barnes Circus featured many traditional acts associated with circuses, it was known for its wild animal acts. Mabel Stark, the tiger trainer was associated with the circus for many years.[10] Stark joined the circus in 1911, first presenting a horse act. In 1916 she began presenting tigers in the center ring of the wild animal show. Although she left the circus in 1922, she returned in 1930.[11] Bert Nelson was another wild animal trainer who appeared on the circus in the late 1930s.[12] For many seasons, the elephants were trained and presented by Frank "Cheerful" Gardner.[13][14] Eddie Woenecker became the circus' bandmaster in 1913 and stayed with the circus through 1922. He returned to the circus in 1936 and continued to perform in that capacity through the 1938 season.[15]

Winter quarters and Barnes City Zoo[edit]

In 1914 the Al G. Barnes Circus began wintering in Venice, California near the Venice lagoon. It continued to winter at that location until November 1920 when the circus trains returned for the winter to a new location on Washington Boulevard between Venice and Culver City, California. The Al G. Barnes Circus was known as a "Wild Animal Show," and in December 1923 the "Barnes Circus Zoo" opened at the corner of Washington Boulevard and McLaughlin Avenue in Culver City.

The Zoo cost $79,000 to build and at the time was kept open even when the show was touring. Barnes named the area where the winter quarters and zoo were located Barnes City, California.[16]

Barnes voted for incorporation in February 1926 but faced community resistance.[17][18][19] Moreover, residents of Walnut Grove, the so-called “shoestring strip” along Washington Blvd., had voted to be annexed to Culver City in hopes of obtaining bus service to and from their neighborhood;[17] this community’s union with Culver City cut in half the proposed area of Barnes City.[17] In September 1926, the population voted for annexation to the city of Los Angeles.[18] At the time of the Los Angeles annexation vote in September 1926, the “circus city” was said to be 4.5 sq mi (12 km2) in area and have a population of approximately 2500 people.[18]

The Los Angeles Times profiled and photographed the Barnes City menagerie several times in 1926 and 1927, reporting that it was a 120-acre (490,000 m2) site that contained over 4,000 animals, with a staff of more than 1180, 750 of who were performers in some 200 acts.[20] (In a later report from late 1927 Barnes claims 83 acres, “the largest unplatted section” of Los Angeles.[21])

At that time, the Barnes circus and zoo had a lion, a leopard, jaguars, pumas, wolves, coyotes, 20 Bengal tigers (including eight “new” ones said to be “cubs” unused to human interaction—their trainer described them as “cute little rascals”), a hippopotamus, Tusko the elephant who and was claimed to be “ten tons” or 20,000 lb (9,100 kg), another elephant named Ruth,[22] a herd of Bactrian camels, a herd of at least eight zebras,[23] llamas, alpacas, peccaries, elks, polar bears, seals, a boxing kangaroo named Fitz,[23] a chimpanzee named Joe Martin—likely actually Joe Martin (orangutan)—who was witnessed “trying to tear down his cage,” a “monkey” named Jiggs who appears in an accompanying photo to be a juvenile orangutan and is elsewhere called a “jungle man”,[23] and “horses of every breed” including 12 Arabians and one called Billy.[23][20] The live bird collection included American eagles, “black swans from Africa,” ostriches, storks, white peacocks, sauris cranes, pheasants, guinea hens, cockatoos and pigeons.[20]

The “chimpanzee” Joe Martin was likely an orangutan and silent movie star of some acclaim, who was sold to the Barnes Circus in 1924 after he “went bad”.[24][25]

The reporter described “all-steel box cars, pullmans, and flat cars ready for the day the circus goes out,” suggesting that the circus may have used the neighboring Redondo Beach via Playa Del Rey tracks to move the circus in and out of the area.[20]

Circa 1927, Barnes City was still considered a tourist landmark along Washington Boulevard, considered equivalent in interest to Culver City, Cecil B. DeMille Studios, and Hal Roach Studios.[26] But on or around August 8, 1927, a Superior Court judge undid all the attempts at incorporation and returned any unannexed land to the pool of unincorporated Los Angeles County land; no objection was filed on behalf of the erstwhile City, and that was the end of that.[27] In October a second judge undid the assignment to the county. Regardless, Barnes City had ceased to exist as an attempted municipality.[28]

Following the annexation of the winter quarters property, Barnes relocated his winter quarters into an unincorporated area in the San Gabriel Valley in 1927. The 300 acres were on Valley Boulevard midway between Baldwin Park and El Monte. From 1927 until 1938 the circus returned to the Baldwin Park quarters, however at two separate locations.[29] At the conclusion of the 1932 season the show unloaded about a half mile east of the original location and that is where it remained until 1938 when most of the equipment was transferred to the Ringling winter quarters in Sarasota, Florida at the end of the season.

King of the Jungle[edit]

King of the Jungle is a 1933 Paramount Pictures film that includes animals, performers and scenes from the Al G. Barnes Circus and winter quarters in 1932. Although the movie is set on the lot of "Corey's Circus," it was actually filmed on location at the first Baldwin Park winter quarters. Several acts from the circus that season are featured, including Mabel Stark's tiger act. The tigers are mid-performance at the time that the big top catches fire during the film's climactic moments.[30]

Notable events[edit]

On May 15, 1922, a large circus elephant known as Tusko escaped from the Al G. Barnes Circus while it was in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. The elephant demolished fences, knocked over laundry lines and trees, telephone poles, and overturned a Model T.[31]

On July 20, 1930, the circus suffered a train wreck in the small community of Canaan Station, New Brunswick, Canada. Three passengers were killed and 17 others were taken to hospital, where one later died of his injuries.[32]

Names[edit]

  • Al G. Barnes Circus
  • Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Circus
  • Al G. Barnes and Sells-Floto Circus (1937–38)
  • Al G. Barnes and Sells-Floto Circus Presenting Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Features (1938)

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Died". Time. August 3, 1931. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved 2008-07-22. Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse (Al G. Barnes), 68, circusman, founder and longtime owner of Barnes's Circus; after a lingering illness; in Indio, California. He started his show in 1895 with a pony, a phonograph, a stereopticon. A colorful participant at every performance, he would lead the opening parade seated on the head of a mammoth elephant. Two years ago he sold his interests to Circusman John Ringling for $1,000,000.
  2. ^ "Bailey and the Ringlings". Feld Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2013-11-29. In 1929, reacting to the fact that his competitor, the American Circus Corporation, had signed a contract to perform in New York's Madison Square Garden, Ringling purchased American Circus for $1.7-million. In one fell swoop, Ringling had absorbed five major shows: Sells-Floto, Al G. Barnes, Sparks, Hagenbeck-Wallace, and John Robinson.
  3. ^ "Man Who Started as a Clown Now Controls the Entire Big Top Industry". The New York Times. September 10, 1929. Retrieved 2009-02-12. John Ringling, head of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum Bailey Combined Circus, has purchased the five circuses, with Winter quarters, of the American Circus Corporation, it was learned yesterday.
  4. ^ "Al G. Barnes & Sells-Floto Circus routes 1937, 1938". Archived from the original on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  5. ^ "Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers".
  6. ^ "Al G. Barnes & Sells-Floto Circus routes 1937, 1938". Archived from the original on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  7. ^ Duble, Charles E. (July 1957). "Passing of Circuses from the American Scene". Bandwagon. 1 (2): 4. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  8. ^ Bradbury, Joseph T. (July–August 1963). "The Al G. Barnes Winter Quarters at Baldwin Park, Calif". Bandwagon. 7 (4): 3–6. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Black Diamond". Time magazine. October 28, 1929. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-12. Curley Pickett has been a farm hand for the last two years in Corsicana, Tex. Before that he was an elephant trainer for the Al. G. Barnes circus where his special charge was Black Diamond, a land elephant. Last week Farm Hand Pickett, learning that the old circus was coming to town, invited his employer, Mrs. Eva Donohue, to see Black Diamond. ... Black Diamond spied them, gave Pickett a malevolent look, wrapped him in his trunk and tossed him over a box car. The nine-ton beast then smashed Mrs. Donohue to the ground, trampled the life out of her. When Pickett had been sent to the hospital, keepers held a council, wired to Circus Owner John Ringling for advice. Mr. Ringling condemned Black Diamond to death. ...
  10. ^ "Mabel Stark: The Lady with the Tigers". 2013-02-07.
  11. ^ "Mabel Stark Female Circus Lion and Tiger Trainer".
  12. ^ "Popular Science". Bonnier Corporation. July 1937.
  13. ^ "Al G. Barnes' 1922". Archived from the original on 2016-05-14. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  14. ^ "Cheerful Gardner #3".
  15. ^ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1956-02-04.
  16. ^ Jame Ricci (February 6, 2000). "Beneath the Excavator, a Bit of History Is Prepared for the Grave". Los Angeles Times.
  17. ^ a b c "TOWN FEARS SIMIAN COGNOMEN: IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION FIGHTS INCORPORATION OF CIRCUS HOME AS BARNES CITY, DREADING NICKNAME SUCH AS MONKEYVILLE TOWN FIGHTS INCORPORATION." Los Angeles Times, Oct 04, 1925, pp. 2.
  18. ^ a b c "BARNES CITY DECIDES FOR ANNEXATION: COUNT SHOWS ALMOST TWO TO ONE IN FAVOR OF UNITING WITH LOS ANGELES." Los Angeles Times, Sep 15, 1926.
  19. ^ "BARNES CIRCUS RETURNS HOME: AGGREGATION BACK TO ENJOY SOUTHLAND WINTER GOES TO NEW QUARTERS AT BALDWIN PARK FREE PERFORMANCE TODAY TO COMPLIMENT TOWN." Los Angeles Times, Nov 22, 1927.
  20. ^ a b c d Read, Kendall. "Winter Home of Circus Holds Thrills Galore: Quarters of Al G. Barnes show Teem with Activity as Crews Prepare for New Season on Road; Animals Furnish Center of Interest; Secrets of Sawdust Ring." Los Angeles Times, Jan 31, 1926.
  21. ^ "MUSEUM TO STAND ALONE: PROPOSED AL G. BARNES REPOSITORY IN PORTLAND INDEPENDENT OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION." Los Angeles Times, Jun 05, 1927.
  22. ^ SPRING is HERE if you don't believe it look at the pictures. (1926, Mar 28). Los Angeles Times.
  23. ^ a b c d "HOME with the CIRCUS FOLK at Barnes City." Los Angeles Times, Mar 27, 1927.
  24. ^ Bizarre.Los.Angeles (2016-12-23). "Joe Martin - Star Orangatan of the 1920s". Bizarre Los Angeles. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  25. ^ Holtz, Allan (2009-06-29). "Stripper's Guide: Strange Life and Death of a Multimedia Superstar". Stripper's Guide. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  26. ^ Cavalier, Nita. "On Second "Times" Short Trip about Los Angeles: TRIP LEADS MOTORISTS TO BEACHES Fifty-One-Mile Drive Reveals Scenic Spots to Autoist." Los Angeles Times, Aug 14, 1927, pp. 1.
  27. ^ “BABY TOWN CHOKED TO DEATH: USURPATION OF MUNICIPAL PREROGATIVES CAUSES SAD END OF BARNES CITY, ONE-TIME HAPPY ENTITY, BUT NOW JUST CORPSE IN COUNTY GRAVE." Los Angeles Times, Aug 08, 1927, pp. 1.
  28. ^ "BARNES CITY IN LEGAL FOGBANK: DECISION FAILS TO SETTLE ITS MUNICIPAL STATUS JUDGE SETS ASIDE DECREE THAT ABOLISHED CORPORATION COURT HAS NO JURISDICTION TO RULE ON VITAL ISSUE." Los Angeles Times, Oct 24, 1927.
  29. ^ "Bandwagon, July 1963". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  30. ^ "Bandwagon, July 1963". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  31. ^ "Death Takes Tusko, Big Elephant That Lived Stormy Life". Chicago Tribune. June 11, 1933. Retrieved 2010-10-16. Tusko one of the largest and most publicized elephants In captivity survived hundreds of death threats and other perils brought on by his temperament only ...
  32. ^ "Riding the Rails: 30 - Circus Wreck". New Brunswick Railway Museum.
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