WWPCM11115
"USPCC" (USA)
deck "Carl Hagenbeck Wallace Circus", c.1930
standard USPCC courts
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Mystery: bridge-table used in 1904-1912 (as type of ace number: 1914?), but box stamp in 1929-1940. Reprint?
History
The circus began as the “Carl Hagenbeck Circus” by
Carl Hagenbeck
(1844-1913). Hagenbeck was an animal trainer who pioneered the use of
rewards-based animal training as opposed to fear-based training.
Meanwhile,
Benjamin Wallace, a
livery stable owner from
Peru, Indiana, and his
business partner, James Anderson, bought a circus in 1884 and created "The Great
Wallace Show". Wallace bought out his partner in 1890 and formed the "B. E.
Wallace Circus".
In 1907, Wallace purchased the Carl Hagenbeck Circus and merged it with his
circus. The circus became known as the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus at that time,
even though Carl Hagenbeck protested. He sued to prohibit the use of his name
but lost in court.
In 1913, the circus lost 8
elephants, 21
lions and
tigers and 8 performing
horses in the
Wabash River flood. That
same year, Wallace sold his interest in the circus to
Ed Ballard of
French Lick, Indiana.
Another tragedy struck the circus before 4:00 a.m. on June 22, 1918, in the
Hammond Circus Train Wreck
when a
locomotive engineer fell
asleep and ran his empty troop train into the rear of the Hagenbeck-Wallace
circus train near
Hammond, Indiana. A fire
broke out from the
kerosene lamps, which
were used for lighting in the
sleeping cars of the
circus train. The fire quickly spread through the wood-constructed cars. As a
result of the collision and subsequent fire, 86 persons died and another 127
were injured. Many victims were burned beyond recognition. Most are buried in
Woodlawn Cemetery in
Forest Park, Illinois in
a section set aside as
Showmen's Rest.
In the spirit of "the show must go on", several competing circuses, including
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey,
lent equipment and performers to Hagenbeck-Wallace so that only two performances
were canceled as a result of the tragedy, the one in Hammond and the next stop
in
Monroe, Wisconsin. After
the tragedy, circus entrepreneurs
Jeremiah Mugivan and
Bert Bowers acquired
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, adding it to a long list of circuses they owned,
including
Sells-Floto Circus and
John Robinson Shows.
Mugivan was the chief operations man. A year later, Mugivan and Bowers asked
Ballard to join them and the trio formed the
American Circus Company.
The successor company of the
American Circus Corporation
was sold by
Jeremiah Mugivan,
Bert Bowers and
Ed Ballard to
John Nicholas Ringling of
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey
in 1929 for $1.7 million, along with
Al G. Barnes Circus,
Sells-Floto Circus,
John Robinson Shows, and
Sparks Circus.
The
Great Depression and
Ringling's ill health caused the Ringling empire to falter. In 1935, the
circus split from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey and became the Hagenbeck-Wallace
and Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Circus. It finally ceased operations in 1938.
The building in Peru, Indiana that formerly housed the winter home of Hagenbeck-Wallace
now serves as the home of the Circus Hall of Fame.