| Show England Fascinated F by the tile American Circus Englishmen Marvel at Its Bigness How Canon Wilberforce Chose a Name For New Freaks eaks All AU things American are popular po Ular in England just ju t at present Perhaps ta th the moot moat popular ot of them all is the Amer American Amerlean lean ican circus B this designation do othe tile the Britons everywhere every here refer to t our dear dr dearold dearold old greatest show on earth with its Ita forty borses horses band mn l wagons and pet per performances in three rings proceeding at atone atone t tone one and the same me me time and aDd all ail the rest of ot its familiar phrases The American show they say Yo y confident that even this country of big things cannot have produced another enter entertainment entertainment caravan of such proportions proportion It is upwards of two years since the Barnum Bar aura Bailey aggregation left the United States At the time of it its de departure departure departure the move was considered co id red a doubtful venture For some time even after Its arrival in London the circus did not attract extraordinary attention It was not nut long however before bt fore the began to realize that wa was waa not as other circuses If as some of the skeptical ones ont s alleged on viewing the lithographed s of or o the arena arera it was WU a case of American bluff at atlea least lea it was w rth while to see eee what an i American bluff was like It was waa not I long before the cirrus Became becane l a center of attraction and were ere crowded i audiences audi at every performance Fol Following Following lowing rowing the London season the circus set outi on a tour of the th provincial towns town I and titles This tour has haa lasted now I for eighteen months and haa has taken in I all an the principal towns of ot Great Brit din In In the word of Colonel lonel C Tody Hamilton whose fame has now spread to ta two continents continent it has hs h been a 8 grand triumphal procession received with uni universal universal versal versa acclaim Truth to tell the Englishman takes kindly to the cirrus circus He is i fond food of exhibitions ns of wild animate and dis dJs plaYs of horsemanship h while for the If It anybody thinks that a British crowd d Know how bOw to laugh he boule hear the guffaws ff of the shilling ticket hoMers holders over the an antics ties tics 9 of the circus clowns The circus is an an ai old old story in Eng England England England land but the ordinary British circus would not make even a respectable side show bow to the greatest on earth Perhaps it is the superlative degree in which everything pertaining to an or ordinary ordinary Ordinary canvas covered entertainment is isto isto isto to be found in this particular American circus that proves its chic chir chi charm in inthe inthe Inthe the eyes of the th As an Aberdeen A Aver Aber r deen workman expressed it Wy mon nion for tor a matter of a ye can see to boast of and tell ten lees about all the rest of days Circus Plays the Newspaper per Game GameC C If It Great Britain has taken kindly to the American SOW show ow it is no less lese true that the circus Itself is delighted with its ts new field Its Ita promoters are de do delighted de delighted lighted with the readiness a of the Brit British BritIsh ish lab public and the British press to ac accept accept accept it on the baste bazie of its ia own claims The readiness with which th month ments customarily extended to the newspapers are accepted a 8 as especially pleasing to the press agents la in their minds mind it contrasts delightfully with the stony hearted indifference of ot the ordinary American reporter to newly discovered d wonders As one of the as assistants as assistants in iu iI i this department expressed it 11 The newspaper game is the easiest graft over on this side Why they print the stuff tutt as aa fast tast as a we can turn j it out and we w have had to take on two new men mea ea and ami half a dozen dosen typewriter a ato to keep up the supply The amount amo ot of apace space devoted devota to Ute tite circus really i 1 when w n one considers how little attention they or ordinarily 0 o give ive to local loal news A rail rait I N y 1 accident in which a score or ot per peI pers S are killed will be oe dismissed with quarter of a column or o 0 less leat le In some conspicuous section of the paper p per Other local news is 18 slighted in proper proportion proportion tion There are only two occasions when the British h newspapers break over this ne One of these is a visit from royalty and the other is the com corn coming comIng corning ing of the American circus Pages are willingly devoted to these subjects and it must be presumed from the fact that the same thing is done in every e ery town ton of or the United Unite Kingdom that these thee are the two events which arouse ariee the great greatest greatest est eat interest among their population Their readiness to print anything that can cs be said about the circus has haa almost overtaxed over the energies of those genial young men who wh are ue known as astl the tl press representatives of the show England has not been acquainted with the press agent at least lea not in the highly developed form in which he flourishes on oft the Yankee side of the pond It must be Le said however that they have accepted him himas himas himas as a recognised institution promptly and enthusiastically On Un the other hand han the press agents themselves finding here nele a verdant field have not zt hesitated g to make the most of it All AU the tales accumulated a umu since the original ori inal Barnum first began his llis career have been revamped and aRd served up to our British cousins Moreover they have bave been beer received with relish too The old story of ot the living skeletons hopeless hopee love for the fat wo woman woman man mn would woold hardly stand service in the United States State in an the year 1899 but it f oes oes with the British provincial press pre Then there is the familiar plan of If f having the Oriental giant or the Klase eater or some other othe of o the attractions attractions attractions dine with the dignitaries of the town This never fails falls to make good goodA goodA A ANew New Name For But the coup de main n of the press pre gent the achievement in which he heeve eve Pen permits himself to take pride and the thing that has ha done more than any anything anything thing thins tIse lse to spread the fame of the th greatest show on earth through Great Britan took place in London Londo In fact it for a time the chief topic of o public interest to judge jud e from the amount of discussion devoted to it or orally orally orally ally and in This Thi cleve clev enterprise was the con convention of the various venous human wonders of the th circus in which they solemnly protested against being known by the name nam of If f freaks This Thle resolution set forth the tn fact that the name was a harsh one that it hurt ft and caused cau d them to o be looked down upon un ny fly O ordinary persons while en engaged engaged aged in the occupation that afforded them the only means of earning a liv living livin livin ing in Thereupon ta the proprietors of the circus announced that they did not insist upon U OD the name of ot freak They The v ere willing to TI substitute another providing somebody would suggest sU est a suitable title is nothing elre el that so 80 delights te soul of an Englishman as an op ity to ro write writ to the papers This vas vaa a golden opportunity which he e MIld could not let paM pass Therefore suggestions J JHons lions Hons by Ly the score ecore poured into all the newspaper per offices and were published from Jay lay to day ds until the affair as u assumed assumed in the public mind the proportions proportions lions of a question of state At length Canon Wilberforce suggested that the freaks should be henceforth designated as prodigies The freaks freab themselves solemnly adopted this thi title and the in incident Incident was finally closed after it had served its purpose admirably While these devices i served to t t at tract attention to the American Amerlean cir c ette of course the show has baa had bad to de depend I pend peed upon its intrinsic merits merit to sus sustain 15 lain tain a continued success There is no noway noWay noway way of cf explaining its remarkable pop except on the ground that It does appeal strongly to the British workman Row How ow aa an a English Circus Crowd Looks To 0 3 the Am n as a touch fruch fun as aa ast aste t te e St f is provided by b watching g the Cr crowds O W So that t gather to tl view it especially those th th tot that t assemble i r the t big manufacturing man W where h tile the of the th circus Mean a hell holi holiday day for or the workmen the running f t trains on the railways and the II influx of all the rural population for miles mila around As the crowd gathers along the line Una of the procession disbelief in the promised stories glories of ot the show js ja loudly expressed by many of those gathered g in the throng throne But when the forty horse bora team tm sweeps Interview all doubts ai a settled After that one could ouM not tell ted of 06 any My marvel that would stagger the belief ef of the crowd The scale seale on which everything is IsI I provided is a a source of unending won wonder wonder der d r The idea Ides of having thirty ele elephants elephants elephants instead of ot o two and anti three rings 1 instead ln tead of sue one strikes the audience as asan asan asan an example of o American extravagance by b which they profit proUt getting more i than their moneys worth Another thing thins that surprises them is 15 the fact that the performance moves at top speed They cannot accustom them themselves themselves selves to the fact that the horses homes gal gat gallop lop Jop Into the ring at full speed and that the performers run in and out The ways wan of the British circus have been more leisurely As Ad for tOI the circus itself It has been changed somewhat since it reached England C Co i account of or its popularity the department devoted dev tt d to the prod prodigies has been een enlarged The familiar living skeleton the man man the bearded ed lady the fat woman and the girl are retained but a large number of or others have been added There is an Egyptian giant eR el ett t feet tall of whom the English pap gravely publish the statement that diet t ho hu drinks four tour quarts of y and smokes twenty boxes of cigarettes in ina ina Ina a day There is the human pincushion If It such sueh excellent news newssheets newssheets sheets as the Aberdeen Gazette are to be believed can control the circulation of or his blood at will Like Likewise Likewise wise there is the tile human ostrich the theman theman man maD with an elastic chin and md others too numerous to mention Latest Late t Fashion In Freaks One Ona of the most unique tuque of or the re recently re recently recently acquired prodigies is JoJo ToJo the human Of JoJo it can only be said aid that he looks the part Another is Mile KUe Ivy who is lo described as the moss haired girl But the Pride and joy oy of ot the circus IB Is the pair of Chinese twin who are united much muchas as were the Siamese twins and wiio wito bid fair to beco n as u famous as that cele oslo heated pair They have been bet with the only a short time thus having been obtained front from the city of Wan Kong by one of ot the Barnum Bailey B il y agents According to Colonel Hamilton Hammon the British take a great Interest in gazing upon the freaks and abnormalities of ot nature than do Americans For this reason the number of prodigies has bees been increased t this the performance pe e has not been changed ex en except except by the addition addi oft of trapeze and other aerial acts and by taking on a number DUmber of English clowns The two latter features have also Iso found es especial es portal favor in England It is I difficult for an American to ap appreciate appreciate predate the weighty importance which is given to all the movements of the circus over here hete On the day of a parade it is customary for tor the mayor of the town it tt takes place to issue a proclamation which te las reprint reprinted reprinted ed ind ed distributed about bout the streets The proclamation usually reads some something something thing tike ike this thi thiB Bv B 13 t tie ie of the authority reposed ed i iii ia m me i A l the undersigned undera mayor m tOr of ol the city and aDd county ot herby y give ye no ne notice tice that st BO to carriage or other anc shall be allowed upon Ute the streets herein named d from front the hour hoer of 9 g a n m until um after atter the parade has haa passed etc ate etc ste Not only are ara persons summarily rny warned oft the streets in this manner other oth orders are issued j ed giving the exact points at which 8 shall be permitted to take up and an set down I passengers for the circus Railway j I superintendents su ts issue similar long longwinded longwinded winded orders for tor the moving of the special trains giving directions even as to the manner of coupling cars cans fitted with merican American 4 couplings The conse con consequence consequence e quence of all aD this fuss fo and feature is naturally that everything proceeds in ira inthe inthe the most orderly manner and that in itt inthe Inthe the language of the land from which the circus comes it owns the town during the period of its stay Si Since GNat Groat Britain has taken ken t the I dress to es warmly to its heart It t seems doubtful whether r it wilt will ever return to the United States Recently it was formed tomed fo British h limited company so eo that it k is now a full fun fledged Eng lish institution j It is I said by the directors of the cir circus dr cue CUB that the money making abilities of the show are greater greatel on aide de than IB lu because of or the Jong r SL se I son during which it can exhibit under I canvas awl aDd nan also because of or the distances between th the towns town in hr which it exhibits In the coming spring the circus will cross crose the channel and for the next few i years yean it will wUl be occupied In an exten extensive extensive sive tour of ot the continent By B the time that is 18 completed Great Britain will be i ready for another visit and an 50 so it t seems EIe more than likely Ilk that Europe has per permanently permanently permanently robbed the United States of the greatest show on earth |
